I Read a Review Today, Oh Boy!

Today we have a guest post from Megan Slayer!!
I am super excited as I have read this author and adore her work. Since she had a new release yesterday, if you haven't heard about her, you may want to pick up Permanent. You can grab it here. Here is a short bit about the book before we get to the blog~
Sometimes love just ain’t enough...

River Cortland trusted the person he loved. His faith couldn’t protect him from the bitter sting of a cold-hearted Domme. If he’s going to learn to trust again, he’s got to deal with his past. His roommate and best friend, Tory, has seen the physical damage and hasn’t walked away. Can he deal with the emotional scars as well?

Tory McClellan wanted the carefree life...until one night with River changed everything. There’s more to the shy art teacher and Tory wants to know everything-how he tastes, the scent of his skin, the feel of his body as they make love. What terror lies behind River’s brown eyes? Better yet, how can Tory make the sadness go away and be in River’s life, permanently?

Available December 26th From Total-E-Bound!

I wanted to thank Virginia for having me on her blog. Love being here. Always fun to hang out at the different blogs and when it’s the blog of a friend, it’s even better.

So why did I use the title I picked? I’m an author, I shouldn’t be complaining about reviews. Well let me state here and now, this isn’t about my reviews or a review of my books. It’s a general impression of reviews.

All in all, I think reviews are fantastic. Even the negative ones. Why? When an author gets a review, it’s nice to know what the public thinks. Just because I might like the book, doesn’t mean the general public will. One of my favorite reviews for my books was a terrible one. Honest. The reader noted the book was confusing, trash, and they thought it was written too fast. Why would that be a favorite? The reader taught me to not take myself so seriously and to really look at the book. The one thing the review said that stuck with me was that the book needed to be longer and the characters more fleshed out. PING! The light bulb went off in my head and the characters started chatting. Yes, they wanted more time to talk. So, I listened and I’m glad. I’ll probably never make that reader happy—can one ever make everyone happy at once?—but I made myself happy and learned something.

Now for the oh boy! part of the post. I like to read the reviews of books I’m buying. Why? I want to see what others think about the book. Is there something in the book that might turn me off? Is there a twist ending? I’ve done my fair share of reviewing. I love to talk about the books I’ve read and why. You never know where you’ll find your next favorite read.

What I do not understand about reviews is quite a bit, but here’s one thing: “I didn’t really like the book and it wasn’t XYZ’s best. Still, buy it.”

Um. Hmm. I saw this and cocked my head. I’m all for short reviews. Tell me and be done. You didn’t like it. It wasn’t the author’s best, but I should buy it? I might very well like the book. I tend to like books that get panned often. But still, this doesn’t tell me what about it was so terrible.

Here’s another: “This book is s*&^%”

The review is your opinion. That’s fine. But swearing like this in a review makes less of an impression of the book and more of the reviewer. I scratch my head and think, well do I want read more of the reviewer’s reviews? I’m not really learning anything about the book.

So what do I want to know about a book when reading the review? What turned the reviewer on about the book? What made the book special? What really stuck out and made you want to bang your head? Did the characters stick with you? What would you like to see if the book was revised?

Why? Answers to these questions give me the author a better understanding of what to improve on, what worked, what didn’t and what characters really spoke to the reader. I can run with that. If you like a book, tell the author. There’s nothing more fun than getting fan mail in the form of a review. If you had mixed thoughts, put that in the review. Honestly is the best policy. If you didn’t like the book, honesty works. My suggestion? If you didn’t like the book, tell why. Saying it’s garbage doesn’t really work. If the author knows why, then there is room for growth.

You never know. Your review just might be the catalyst for the author’s next book.

About Megan:
When she's not writing the stories in her head, Megan Slayer can be found luxuriating in her hot tub with her two vampire Cabana boys, Luke and Jeremy. She has the tendency to run a tad too far with her muse, so she has to hide in the head of her alter ego, but the boys don't seem to mind.

When she's not obsessing over her whip collection, she can be found picking up her kidlet from school.

She enjoys writing in all genres, but writing about men in love suits her fancy best.

Currently hanging out every Wednesday and Friday at the Menagerie Authors site, hunting Hotties for the Saturday posts, and working on the next great story brewing in her head!

The cabana boys are willing to serve, unless she needs them. She always need them. So be nice to Javier or he will bite--on command.