Why I Review Books

So about a year ago, I had decided to review books more professionally, and posted my first formal review. I had just been offered my first contract and found out I was pregnant, so taking all this time to read was, well...

Kind of wonderful. :)

But it's also time consuming.

In the last year, I've reviewed 16 books. I know that's nothing for most people, but that number is on top of my personal reading, youth ministry, working full time, writing, being pregnant, and being in and out of the hospital all year. Most of them were books I received from publishing houses and blogger programs. A few of them were books I just loved so much I wanted to help spread the word about them.

This picture shows all the books I reviewed in the last year, as well as the three I will be reviewing soon. (Yes, I'm one of those people. I read more than one book at a time.)

So why did I decided to start formally reviewing books? Well, there was a number of reasons.

1) Books. That's a great reason.

2) Books again. :)

3) As an author, it's part of my job to read books. I need to know what kind of stories are selling, how they touch readers, and be able to converse about them somewhat intelligently.

4) It would help build my presence and readership on social media.

5) Because some reviewers can be mean.

Honestly, that was the main reason. I had read a review of a book I was interested in, and was shocked. I'm weird because I like to read the negative reviews, too, because they tell me things that the positive reviews don't. This reviewer ripped into the book. I was appalled. The worst part was this reviewer said they were also an author.

I just thought, "If you're an author, how can you be so cruel and derogatory about a story into which someone poured their heart and soul?" The author was just trying to convey this one important lesson, which they ignored. There was no respect.

I've said several times on this blog that a book wasn't my taste. Not every book or every author is for every person. I don't always like the popular story trends. However, I always try to look for the positive points in a story. And I hope reviewers will do the same for me.

The main reason is because God sees the positive in me, despite all my flaws. So I try to do that for that for others. That's why I review books.

God bless you guys! :) See you April 10th!

V. Joy Palmer