Random Thoughts: Book Reviews - For Good or Bad?

Originally, I wanted to make my title "Book Reviews - For Good or Ill?" But in the subject, the word "Ill" came out as "lll", so I changed it to "Bad" instead. Oh-kay, that aside, what I want to discuss here is: Did the book reviews I read online steer me toward books I want to read?

To a certain extent, I would have to say "yes". Because of bloggers' and readers' recommendations, I've found excellent books that I love such as Not Quite A Husband by Sherry Thomas, Roxanne St. Claire's Bulletcatchers series, and Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James. Indeed, my life would be far less richer if I hadn't read those books. Seriously! I love NQAH so much I told everyone about it and even lent my cousin my dearly beloved copy (she has orders to return the book to me in the same pristine condition on pain of death!). I can't wait to see what else Sherry Thomas has in store for me, and I hope I love it as much as NQAH. Julie James, too. In fact, I pre-ordered her next book, Something About You.

However, not all books are created equal, not even if they're written by the same author. I didn't like Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas so much. In fact, I stopped reading after the first few pages and went on to other books before I came back to it.

With regard to the much lauded Tairen Soul series, I found it a bit tedious, the way the story was being dragged for sooooo long, over what--five books now? (Silver and I still disagree on this. We may write a conversation review some day. It's more exciting when parties have differing opinions.) I still like King of Sword and Sky because we see Fey'bahren and Rain's development as a character (which we didn't see in the previous two books), but neither Rain nor Ellysetta nor their relationship developed in Queen of Song and Souls, and the revelation of Ellysetta's origins and her time in Elvia just made for tedious reading, making me want to scream and put my claws onto Tairen Soul, the final book in the series, where I'm sure all the juicy details are.

That aside, I'd say book reviews do more good than bad for me. Without them, I wouldn't be brave enough to try new authors. I was burned once and threw away good money on an author who pens adult fiction with juvenile writing. Needless to say, I steered clear of her ever since, not even when her other series was being lauded by some bloggers/readers. I guess the saying "once bitten, twice shy" applies to me.

Also, there are so many good books out there and not enough time to read. Hence, it really helps that the good books are sifted out.

However, that's not to say I only read what bloggers/readers have recommended. No, I do still venture forth into the bookstores (both online and brick-and-mortar) and browse through the books to get the ones that catch my attention, whether it's the gorgeous cover, the back summary (like Stephanie Tyler's Hard to Hold) or the name of my favorite author.

And there are as many opinions as there are people. This is to say that a book that may be judged as good by one person may be disliked by another, as I've proven above. It's always good to see differing opinions on a certain book, although that does make it more confusing for the reader. Should I buy the book or not? I think, in such a case, I'll fall back to the library, and if it turns out that I love the book, I then go out and buy myself a copy.

What about you? How are your book buying patterns being influenced by book reviews?