Interesting point. I'd never read or review something I knew I'd hate (above and beyond books they made us read for school). But I will often read books that are more borderline for me.

For instance, I tend to prefer fantasy/sf/paranormal elements, but I'll read normal contemporary romances here and there. Sometimes they turn out to be gems, sometimes they support my preconceived notion that contemporary romances are predictable.

As for the "why". Sometimes it's morbid curiosity, but lately I've been reading a lot of borderline books just because they are free and money is tight.

Rebecca -- if there's a chance that you might like the book, then sure, that makes sense. [nod:] What I don't get is reading something you know in advance, for certain, that you're not going to like because of its genre or whatever, and then trashing its rating, even if it's a good example of its genre. If it's something you might've liked, but didn't for some reason having to do with the individual book itself, then a low rating is perfectly legitimate.

Angie

Have to agree Angie, as I know I don't even read a book if I don't like the cover! (shallow, I know).

I might be the wrong person to ask though, as I know I worry too much what others think - for example - I must admit to hesitating over writing a negative review, as I'm worried that the author may read it - silly I know as that's part of the growing process as an author, and when I've received feedback myself on stuff I've written I've always valued constructive criticism with the aim to improve writing.

I think I got a little off topic there - oops!

Luvflix -- as a reader, you should feel free to say what you think and not worry about the authors. For myself, I like constructive criticism, and if it's not constructive then it's easy to ignore. :) But yes, it's good to know what people like or dislike, what makes them laugh or confuses them. I won't always agree, of course. If one person says some device was confusing and everyone else understood it just fine, then I probably won't scratch that device off my list of stuff to use. But I'm always interested in seeing the data, whether I eventually decide to use it or not.

There are writers who'll fly off the handle at you if you give them a bad (or sometimes even a not wonderful) review. They're only hurting themselves, though, and public opinion is always against them, in my experience, so you can do what you want and no one will think poorly of you except for a few people who are idiots, and who cares what idiots think? [wry smile:] Reader reviews are for other readers, though, and when you're reviewing you should feel free to write what will be most useful for them. If a writer gets some valuable information, or an ego-boo, or whatever out of it, that's a nice bonus, but that's not what reviews are for, and most writers know it.

Angie

That's an interesting thought (and duh, rather obvious I'm aware) that when writing reviews I should be providing information that I'd like to see such as what was good or bad for them, so they can then choose to read or not read that book for similar reasons. I guess when I discovered this site last night I was just writing stuff down that popped into my head, just to organise my thoughts on what I'd read, and what I really loved and not so much.

This all began when I started a discussion thread on a Kish (OLTL soap) board on why straight women love gay romance so much. I was actually referring largely to that tv show and movies, but it soon turned into a discussion on gay fiction and fave authors. I hadn't even read anything other than fanfic up to that stage; needless to say I'm ridiculously absorbed in it now and my husband is getting a little irked!

Hey, most straight men think lesbians are hot, so it shouldn't surprise him that a lot of straight women think gay men are hot. [grin:]

And yeah, the reviews I like to read the best as a reader are ones where the reviewer gives reasons and examples. "I liked this," or "That didn't do much for me" isn't incredibly useful, because I might not agree. But with enough information, I have a better chance of figuring out whether I want to try a story. Even if I disagree with the reviewer -- she might say, "One star because there was a bondage scene, yuck!" and I'll say, "Wait, bondage?! Gotta get that one!" ;D

Angie

LOL! That makes me want to go back and edit my review on Tabloid Star, as one of the reason i didn't give it a higher review was the 'star' showed submissive tendencies with his partner also enjoying being a dom, but this subject wasn't explored further! (or with enough detail *grin*)

Well that's certainly disappointing, LOL!

Angie

Glad to see I'm not the only one out there with that particular kink!

Oh not hardly. :) Try Uneven by Anah Crow, and the Dr. Fell stories by Syd McGinley, beginning with "Pet Sitting." Also "Bad Case of Loving You" by Laney Cairo, and Cheating Chance by James Buchanan. They're all with Torquere too.

Angie

*mind self-combusting with all this potential heat*!!!!

This is such a fun way to spend a Sunday morning!

Happy to help! :D

Angie

Hi Angie,
It makes sense what you wrote i for one don't ever read a book i know i wouldn't like. and it's true that you can't review a book if you don't like that particular genre. So i will never read a F/F book because i don't like it. I would be crazy to read such a book and than give a bad review. And it's weird spending money on a book you know you don't like.. I don't understand people who would do that O and you will go on my to read list. Ah so many books to read and so little time LOL.xx

Melinda -- it does make sense, doesn't it? Most people naturally avoid stories they know in advance they wouldn't like, because why waste time on something you know you won't enjoy when there's so much out there you would like?

I'll occasionally read something outside my usual comfort zone if someone I trust recommends it, or if it's by one of my short-list authors. I've read and enjoyed f/f (I'm usually not into that either) and cross-dressing and WWII stories, all of which I'd usually avoid as a matter of taste. But if I took that kind of chance and it turned out that it didn't do it for me, I certainly wouldn't give the book one star and say, "I didn't enjoy this because it's set during WWII and I don't care for that period."

Ah so many books to read and so little time

That's it exactly! [nod:] Why waste your time?

Angie

Hmm. I can see what you are saying and it makes sense, but I can see the other side of it as well. I've read a few books that I've marked down because I didn't like the subject - most have been giveaways that I have read from curiosity. Others have been my accidental buys where I didn't read the blurb properly so ended up with something I would normally avoid. Or they have been sitting on my TBR pile for so long that the subject matter has moved from 'maybe' to 'no-way'.

If I don't give them a low rating and remind myself in the review why I shouldn't buy more then I will forget. I rarely give 1 star ratings though even if I hate the subject, unless it is very badly written.

To me my Goodreads reviews are my way of organising my thoughts on what I have just read.

And are a few low ratings by real readers really any worse than a load of high ratings by people that have no books or any other activity on this site? Sorry, that's a whole new subject... :)

Mara wrote: "Hmm. I can see what you are saying and it makes sense, but I can see the other side of it as well. I've read a few books that I've marked down because I didn't like the subject - most have been giv..."

See, to me, the whole point of rating things in public is that it's public. Other people are reading them, and what I do or say here affects other readers and writers alike, so I wouldn't give something an undeserved bad rating just as a way of writing a note to myself; it's not fair to other people who might use that data and assume it's based on a valid judgement.

If I buy something mistakenly and find I don't like it -- not because it's badly written or it's full of cliches or whatever, but because it's in a genre or contains an element I don't care for -- that's my problem, not the writer's. Seriously, I've seen people (someone on ARe recently, in fact) give a 1-star/heart/whatever enjoyment rating, and say in comments that she didn't like all that man-on-man stuff, when the fact that the story was m/m was right there in the blurb. Wouldn't it annoy you to see that someone brought down the rating of one of your stories for a reason that stupid? It sure would me. It's one thing if someone doesn't think I did a good job with the story, but trashing my rating just because they don't like m/m? Umm, no, I'm not going to understand that, ever. In fact, I'm kind of wondering whether that person isn't a homophobe going around trashing m/m ratings deliberately. Especially with free reads, it doesn't even cost her anything. :( But whatever her reason, I still wanted to thwap her a good one, and she wasn't even rating one of my stories.

Bottom line, to me, is that when I rate something in a place like this, or at one of the vendor sites, I'm doing it in public. It's not primarily for me; it's for the other readers, and partially for the writer. Like I said in the original post, it'd be like me buying a Western without bothering to read the blurb or even see what genre it was filed under, then giving it a one-star rating because it's a Western, and I don't like Westerns. It might be a great example of its genre and a favorite among Western fans; it doesn't deserve to get a one-star rating just because I was careless that day. My own carelessness is my own problem, not that of the other readers or the author.

Others have been my accidental buys where I didn't read the blurb properly so ended up with something I would normally avoid.

See, to me, that's a reason to remind myself to always read blurbs in the future. [wry smile:] Again, that's my problem and no one else's.

And are a few low ratings by real readers really any worse than a load of high ratings by people that have no books or any other activity on this site?

Depends what's up with the people who are rating and not doing anything else. I'm not sure what you mean by high ratings by someone who has no books -- how can you rate a book if you have no books on your shelf? (That's probably a dumb-newbie question, I expect.) But if someone's just here to shill for themself and their friends, then yeah, that's an issue, I agree. It's a completely different issue, though, and whether or not it's "worse" than giving one-star reviews to books that don't deserve them is irrelevant. If someone stabs me in the gut, I'm not going to welcome with hugs and kisses someone else who punches me in the face, just because the stab was "worse" than the punch. I'm going to complain about both of them. Maybe that's just me, though. :)

Angie

I have had comments from idiots in the past. No they aren't pleasant, but I have tried to be dignified about it (scream and complain to my friends in private). A one star review from someone who doesn't like the genre or sub-genre and says so is there for fans to laugh at and ignore. A one star review with no comment would worry me more.

There are new members that appear when a book is released and rate that one book usually as 5 star - they have no friends, no other books and no other activity on site. Other billy-no-mates-or-books members add unpleasant comments to less than stellar reviews for a particular book. Some authors rate their own books as 5 star. Combined rating and review sites like this or ARE or Fictionwise aren't perfect and the results are easily skewed.