Member Reviews - March '26 > Likes and Comments
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Hi Steve. A notification for this just popped up and I clicked to read. What a great idea! Without further ado, here is a review that I posted yesterday for Wendy Hart's historical fiction novel, "Birds in the Nest":https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My 1st Recommendation for March 2026:Title of the Book: Married Men: A Calm Man Quietly Collects Britain’s Most Respectable Married Men
Author: Rory Calder
Genre: Queer Literary Fiction/Queer Erotica Literary Fiction
My GR Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My 2nd Recommendation for March 2026:Title of the Book - Embers of Forgotten Fate (Embers Saga Book 1)
Author - Ela Sharp
Genre - Romantic Suspenseful Fantasy
My GR Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My Recommendation for March 2026:Title: Becoming Catherine
Author: Jane C R Reid
Genre: Historical Fiction / Time Slip Romance
My GR Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My recommendation for March 2026:Title: Everheld
Author: Ela Sharp
Genre: Contemporary romance
My GR Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Change to my 1st Recommendation for March 2026:The author had not written his own book but used either an AI or LLM or a human ghost-writer to do so. For AI, I would say Gemini or Claude. He does not know a word of English & harasses as well as casts aspersions on Benedictine Catholic Nuns & their virginity online; not to mention abusing the nun's office staff & 70 year old aging maternal uncle in the bargain!
Steve, Mehmet & all - we need to sift through those authors posting ARC requests on our platform - I have noticed through my own support of these so-called authors that their books have been written by LLMs or AIs completely & they have zero knowledge of their own book, their topic of concern & the English Language for that matter.
Title of the Book: Married Men: A Calm Man Quietly Collects Britain’s Most Respectable Married Men
Author: Rory Calder
Genre: Queer Literary Fiction/Queer Erotica Literary Fiction
My 1 star GR Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I think there needs to be more ways to route out these fake "authors" and ban them! Sorry, you were subjected to harassment! I know there's probably not enough boots-on-the-ground moderators to catch all the nefarious perpetrators trying to fool readers! I'm grateful to you and to others who are aware of these scams and whistle-blow them out of here! Thank you ♡♡♡
Fiza wrote : '' ............. Steve, Mehmet & all - we need to sift through those authors posting ARC requests on our platform - ...........''Hi Fiza, thanks for the information. Unfortunately, this is not something we can directly control. Most likely, the process will take shape over time through reader reviews and feedback.
Mehmet : )
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, Fiza. Sadly, finding ourselves on the cusp of the AI system, we’re going to be facing many challenges along the way. It might be relatively easy right now to decipher what is and what isn’t AI, but it’ll get more difficult as time goes on. Artificial intelligence is a fast train with no intention of stopping.
My 3rd Recommendation for March 2026:Title of the Book - Omega Revolution: Before the Flame
Author - Perry Masen
Genre - Science-Fantasy Fiction
My 4 star GR Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My 4th Recommendation for March 2026:Title of the Book - The Strains of Malice (The Nessemiah, #1)
Author - Andrew Beardmore
Genre - Fantasy Fiction
My 5 star GR Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Andrew wrote: "Hi Steve. A notification for this just popped up and I clicked to read. What a great idea! Without further ado, here is a review that I posted yesterday for Wendy Hart's historical fiction novel, "..."Gorgeous review Andrew, I am going to try this one by Hart too once I finish some more of my pending indie-author books. Rooting for Hart as well as for you Andrew - amazing book & onward to your second book in The Nessemiah series! <3 :D :D God be with you always! <3 :D :D
I thank everyone who has sympathized with me regarding my experience with Rory Calder & I will reply to you all individually, but right now I have to cram for my upcoming exams in Catholic Theology & Machine Learning (ML) both at the same time & so will get back to you all shortly! Love to you all nevertheless - Choyang, Mehmet (super-cute!) & Jane! May the force be with all of us! <3 :D :D :)
Choyang wrote: "Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I think there needs to be more ways to route out these fake "authors" and ban them! Sorry, you were subjected to harassment! I know there's probably not..."
Thank you so much Choyang for appreciating my action on this & empthaizing with me - this means a lot to me & I will never forget this kindness of yours! God bless you abundantly! And I agree with you, we have to snuff out these AI & LLM fakesters because in the bargain, genuine & hard-working authors are losing out. This is simply because an LLM or AI will obviously write & edit better than a human writer or editor or a dozen human writers & editors - & that is simply not fair to all of us artists who put in our sweat & blood, not to mention hard-earned money over this. Readers start saying things like 'This book 'X' is better than book 'Y' because book 'X' is edited & written better than book 'Y' - but they don't consider that a bunch of talented & well qualified humans worked on book 'Y' while just Claude AI with Gemini worked on book 'X'!!! I am seeing this happening as I speak & it is frustrating to see - & as you already know Choyang, we artists, musicians & writers etc., have always been underpaid for our work - but now to not even value or consider an authentic human or man-made work of art because the AI does it better!!!!????!!!!......we can't allow this automation to take place, full stop. And the more whistle blowing takes place NOW the better for human artists everywhere. Thank you for supporting my Choyang - you are truly a compassionate, emphathetic & astute soul. May the force always be with you! I pray for you daily during my daily Lenten Stations of the Cross prayers. Love to you & yours! <3 :) :D Happy Reading to you always! :) :D <3 Love it when you are here!
Hey & you are free to share your own book reviews here on this page too, Choyang, as a member of this GR Group. The book need not be that of a writer from this GR Group. We just want to promote & check out more books & how people write their book reviews - do share your reviews as well. Looking forward to them! :) :D :D
Mehmet wrote: "Fiza wrote : '' ............. Steve, Mehmet & all - we need to sift through those authors posting ARC requests on our platform - ...........''Hi Fiza, thanks for the information. Unfortunately, t..."
Readers get fooled easily Mehmet - even indie-writers who claim they are AI & LLM professionals, believe me on that!
Many so-called reviewing sites in the market currently that are doing extremely well are also generating their so-called 'readers' & 'writers' with their 'genuine reviews' (of these aforementioned fake writers) through AI. Those so-called 'humans' are only AI or bots - & with their demise goes the stored up or collected reviews of the paying party.
AI is taking over & it is not only disturbing, it is deterimental to the time & effort not to mention money real human writers & publishing professionals put into this profession or vocation. It is sad, it is really sad & by October 2026 of this year - I fear the worst! That all social media platforms will be filled with more bots & AI than humans & they will undermine the human element to these forms of art.
We need to use AI & LLMs in a centaur- or cyborg-cooperative manner & not just 'give up' our latent skills & talents to them! We need to make our readers realize to respect the 'human in the loop' more than the AI or LLM - or as William Shakespeare said, 'or worse days endure'.
We need to be the 'human in the loop' & change our policy making workwide to this effect in relation to AI. Or I fear the worst. As a social reformer & activist in education - I fear the worst, period. And with this war going on, I think the idea is to distract our minds from this AI or LLM take over of our essentials as well as our cultural art forms & skills that define us as 'human'.
Aloha, it's very kind of you to mention that we can post our book reviews in this group. I was under the impression that was for people posting reviews for the authors posting their books in here...not just any review for any book. Sometimes I just wake up on the grumpy side of the bed. (grin)
Thanks for the info!
May all be auspicious regarding your tests!
Jane wrote: "Sorry to hear about your bad experience, Fiza. Sadly, finding ourselves on the cusp of the AI system, we’re going to be facing many challenges along the way. It might be relatively easy right now..."
I fear the worst Jane as I told Mehmet in this current chat just a minute back. I fear the worst & the thing is, I am not physically fit enough to tackle this issue head-on. My body & physical health have never cooperated with my highly goal-oriented & focused, not to mention strong, mind. What I am doing in the field of educational activism (among other things) via my website teaching portfolio for PGCITE fizapathansteachingportfolioforpgcite.com & through my Catholic Investigative Journalism (been doing that since the past 18 years, I am a veteran journalist now at age 36) is the most I can do because of my physical weknesses & the deplorable air pollution in Mumbai, India that has lead me to suffer from many respiratory ailments since last year 2025. Homeopathy is for now keeping chronic asthma, the oxygen mask with cylinder & the ventilator at bay! You may not know, but I also have a co-genital disease in my blood called the 'Punjab Strain'. So all these complications makes it difficult for my body to keep up with my mind.
My lungs are too weak to support my resolve as I said, but I hope more whistle blowers take up the challenge & take the time despite their heavy work or study schedules to call out on these 'fake authors' so that this vocation does not get automated completely by October 2026.
I am not ashamed to say that I do not appreciate authors who use AI or LLMs to write their books - this is NOT an ethical cyborg collboration between a human & an AI & I plead with policy makers to gear their policies & laws to curbing this 'lack of the human in the loop' stage of the AI Revolution that we are currently finding ourselves in.
Thank you Jane - God bless you always! You are a very kind, compassionate & loving soul & we need to get to know more about each other pronto! God bless you & yours! :) :D <3 Happy Writing & Reading to you this week - let us pray for the war to end & sense to return to all. <3 <3 :) :) <3 <3
Pardon me, Jane, if I am a bit distracted in my typing today, I am down with chikungunya (like Malaria & Dengue, it is a mosquito-borne vector disease) fever. :) :D <3
Fize wrote : '' Readers get fooled easily Mehmet - .........''Hi Fiza, while I agree with you in some respects, unfortunately there are also points where I disagree.
When we look at the history of humanity, we see that progress has always been inevitable. For example, when the printing press was invented, scribes lost their jobs. I’m not classifying this as good or bad — I simply see it as an unavoidable process of progress.
If we talk specifically about books on Amazon: if a book manages to pass Amazon’s algorithms, gets published as a book, and then receives very good ratings from readers, whether we call it natural or artificial will not really change the outcome. That is what I mean.
In the past, art — for example painting — was largely about successfully copying nature. Then the camera was invented and it began producing much more accurate copies. Today, artworks created with AI can even be sold for astronomical prices.
In other words, society ultimately decides what is considered good or bad. I believe that the value attributed to any work of art is shaped by how others perceive that creativity. Personally, I might not like an AI-generated artwork and prefer a classical painting instead. But in the end, the result will be determined by the general tendency of the majority — that is what I’m trying to explain.
Also, as a group we cannot realistically control this kind of issue. We cannot review every promoted book and declare according to our own standards which ones are “real” and which ones are “artificial.” If a book is already published on Goodreads, readers can make that judgment themselves.
Nevertheless, your opinions are important to me and I can say that I understand your perspective in many ways. However, as a moderator I try to look at the issue from a broader and more general framework.
Of course, the ideas of my fellow moderators and readers are also important. And if practical suggestions arise on this or similar issues, you know that I always value such ideas greatly.
Best,
Mehmet
My second recommendation for March 2026:Title: Caste Metal
Author: Fiza Pathan
Genre: Short Story
My GR Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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