A few weeks ago I went to a bookstore where they had an author promoting their book. The concept seemed cool so I spoke to them and bought a copy.
Y'all. This book is BAD. Like, the descriptions are so terrible I could barely figure out what characters were doing or where they were, the plot was boring, the characters were as memorable as the extras in a B horror movie. Just bad.
I went on Goodreads after reading it to see it had like 4 stars! Apparently this person is popular on TikTok and has a large following who bought their book and gave it 5 stars.
I want to give this book like 1-2 stars. It is certainly the worst thing I have read in years. I just kinda feel bad because this is a newbie author who is really excited. There is only 1 other book I have read in my life that is worse than this – its that bad.
Do y'all give honest ratings online?
by Severe_Prize5520
27 Comments
I do, though i always feel a little guilty.
Yes. Garbage is garbage.
I do not unless it’s something absolutely bonkers. Just because a book isn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean it isn’t someone else’s. And given that I don’t write reviews, just click on the stars, I’m not willing to give a bad review without an explanation. Every book gets 4 or 5 stars, unless i don’t like it, then i don’t rate it at all.
No, I either give high ratings or I don’t leave one
Three’s usually as low as I tend to go. I gave a two once to a book I won from a giveaway that was truly awful. It was written in earnest, so I feel like that deserves a bit better than a one.
Depends if it’s bad as in “not my thing” or more “this is objectively poor or portrays something badly”.
Most of the time I do, but usually those are books with thousands of reviews. If it was an Indie author with maybe 4-5 reviews, I probably wouldn‘t rate it at all because I wouldn’t want to damage their career. After all, tastes in books differ and someone else might like it.
Garbage yes. Just not for me no
I’ve seen people say that they don’t give ratings below 4 stars to books because it may affect the sales of the book and hurt the author’s career. It made me realize that goodreads ratings are very skewed.
There is one book in particular that I thought was awful, but it has excellent reviews. I simply cannot believe that everyone thought it was great except me. The writing was so bad and the characters were flat. It made me question any and all reviews.
I say go ahead and give it a bad review. Be honest.
Yes. I almost never leave reviews, but when I do I’m honest. As an author myself, I know that a bad review can sell a book as well as a good review, especially if the reviewer details what they didn’t like.
Well, you carefully avoided telling us the title of the book or author, so I guess you’re a bit hesitant as well.
The way I see it, every reader is different and some people enjoy books that bore the hell out of me and others are bored by books I love. I doubt I’d ever go online to give a book a one-star rating, but I most certainly would not give a bad book a four or five star rating just because I felt some connection with the author. I love a good Stephen King yarn, but he wrote a hell of a lot of three-star books.
Absolutely. Why wouldn’t I? Reviews don’t exist just to stroke someone’s ego or give them confidence. There’s no participation awards for life.
You don’t have to write a full roast for them, but be honest in your review. How would future prospective readers ever know to not waste their money, or do some more research before they buy?
I don’t give ratings online too often because I generally don’t track the books I’ve read on a site or anything. But when I do I am honest and also write why I thought that way.
I’ve found some amazing books from 2 star reviews because what was not someone’s jam was exactly something I was looking for. In my opinion ratings are about personal opinion not the actual quality of the book 99% of the time.
I only do if I finish the book. Usually if I book is 1 or 2 stars for me I don’t finish it🥲
I generally only rate books that I finish. If I care enough about a book to finish it, it’s usually going to be rated at least a 3/5 (otherwise, I’d probably have DNF’d it and moved onto something I enjoyed more).
That said, if the author is alive, I try my darned hardest not to rate anything lower than a 3, unless they made something truly abysmal that I feel morally obligated to warn people about.
I’m a serial hater at my core.
Of course reviews exist to express our thoughts.
I do, and I explain why in the review.
Your review could save someone from wasting their money on a bad experience too.
ETA: I do specify if it’s the writing style or story I don’t like. Different people look for different things. It’s helpful to others down the road regardless.
Of course. I’m generally sceptical when there’s a relatively new popular book that has been reviewed well mainly from book influencers.
Oh yeah. That’s went rating systems exist on these apps.
Absolutely! If a book is poorly written I want people to know about it.
There’s nothing more annoying than purchasing a book, finding out it’s crap, and then having a shitty book just sitting on the shelf never to be read again.
Let people know!
Sometimes for small and new authors I just don’t rate the books if they are bad.
Of course criticism is important, but I bet they are already receiving enough of that.
New authors need more practice and positive feedback encourages practice.
I can’t bring myself to lie and give them more stars than the deserve, but I don’t want to shit on them either
I don’t think you have to feel bad about giving a 1 star rating to a book you honestly thought was 1 star. If everyone only rated the books they liked there would be no point in the system. You don’t have to write a review with it explaining everything you thought sucked
Yes. Write a helpful critique of what was wrong with the book. You aren’t helping anyone by giving something that sucks a 5 star review. I can’t stand it when false reviews trick me into buying a book. Sometimes negative reviews actually get me to read the book because what the previous person felt was negative, I may not.
When I was in art school we would have to present our work to the whole class at the end of each week. Everyone in the class had to give at least one critique on the work to help the artist improve. People should be able to take constructive criticism.
yep
reviews are not for the writers, they are for the readers
there are books i would rate 0 stars if possible
I do. If I recognize the story is decent but the book isn’t for me it’ll be 3 stars. But if the book is bad? 1-2 stars.
I have been reeled in by too many positive reviews and I’d like to give pause to others. I purchased the book and gave it my time, why wouldn’t I review it? Also, if an author is actively seeking to grow and has only 4-5 stars praising them… They will never have the chance to do so.
Honestly, it depends on how popular the author is. A newer author trying to break into the industry, I’d probably give an extra star than it really deserves or just not rate it at all. A really popular author I’d be more willing to give it one star and then call them stupid in the review.
But I easily avoid both scenarios by not reading books I don’t like. If it’s that bad, I’d’ave stopped by page 25 or so.