I am known as the drama queen in my family. I exaggerate, I pretend, I’m dramatic, I have a wonderful (most of the time) imagination, but, while it’s great for writing books or playing with my nieces and nephews, I have to be careful that I don’t get carried away at the wrong times. There are times when such a gift isn’t helpful or appropriate.

Writing book reviews is one of those times.

Have you ever gone to look at a book’s reviews and seen things like this:

“It’s AWESOME!”
“I don’t know how I’m going to get back to real life after that.”
“It’s soooooooo amazing!!!!!!!”
“*dies*”
“It’s the best book ever!”

Or something similar. Or *gulp* perhaps you’ve written something like that!

First of all let me say that if you have written a book review like that, there is still time to change your ways. 🙂

Second, if you want to rave over a book like that, do it on your own blog or in an email to the author or your friends, not on an actual book review, please. It’s not helpful as a review because

1. It tells the would-be reader nothing about the book (except that some person raves over it).
2. It sounds like some silly schoolgirl with a crush (think about it!).
3. Most people looking at reviews are going to skip it because it sounds like a good friend of the author instead of an objective reader.
4. If you rave over that book so much, what are you going to do if/when you read a better one?

Come on, readers! Don’t tell me that you *die* over books because that is a big exaggeration. I know you didn’t die because you wouldn’t have written the review if you had.

If you tell me a book is “AWESOME” I’m likely to ask, “If this book, written by a flawed human is AWESOME how do you describe the wonder and glory of God’s Written Word? Or His creation?

If you say things like “How can I return to the real world after this?” perhaps you need to stop and ask yourself if you’ve spent too much time in an imaginary world. Are you using books as a way to escape from the problems of life? I do too at times, but if you can’t return to earth, take up your duties and focus on the work God has put into your hands to do, perhaps you’ve “escaped” too many times recently.

Writing reviews is fun. Or at least it can be. But writing helpful reviews is something that may take practice. Raving over books in your reviews is not helpful. But neither is saying, “I like this book. It is good. You should read it.” 😛 Put some real thought into the review. Don’t just start “fangirling.” THINK! What did you like best about the book? Why did you like the story? Were there things you didn’t like? Did the story inspire you to be a better person? Did it frustrate you?

Please, get real when you write a review!

It’s not helpful to the authors if you leave a “fangirl” review. I would much rather have a sensible review with real thoughts about my books than one that just raves about how awesome, amazing, wonderful, exciting, etc. etc. etc. it is. I’d rather have someone say, “I stayed up too late reading it because it was hard to put down,” than to have them say, “How can I return to real life? *dies*” I don’t want to kill my readers off! 🙂

Besides, raving like that doesn’t give the author any feedback except that someone exaggerated greatly. We know our books aren’t THAT good. 🙂

So please, next time you write a review, think before you write. If that means you have to wait a day or so to collect your thoughts, so be it. If you are really passionate about the book, tell why, don’t just– *hugs book to chest sobbing* *dies* Instead of that perhaps you should write something like– “I’m already looking forward to reading this book again even if I do cry at the ending.” Do you see the difference?

What about you? Are you a Raver or a Real Reviewer? Do you actually take the time to think about what you write before you write a review? Do you think Rave reviews are helpful?