Come discuss with us!
You guys might know that I am a nitpicky reader, and that I love to rant about books I didn’t enjoy. No, really. It’s an awesome feeling when you finish typing out a rant, because you’ve finally got everything off your chest, right?
Well, what if someone comments something like, “It sounds like a bad book. I’ll probably skip it,” or something like that, on your review? Do you reply with, “YES! SKIP IT!” or “Maybe you could give it a try?”
I’ve gotten the “I’ll skip this one” comments on some of my 3-star reviews, even. If you ask me, find this kind of sad. If I gave a book 3 stars, that means it did have a lot of redeeming qualities that I hope you guys would find in the book, too.
Personally, I don’t like getting the “I’ll skip this one” comments because these people could actually be missing out on the chance to read a book they could love! Like they wouldn’t know how amazing it is because they decided to skip it based on my (or some other) review.
So what do I do when I get these kinds of comments? I usually reply telling them to still give it a shot if the synopsis interests them. After all, everyone has different tastes.
Then again, I do see some people who encourage others to skip a book. Okay, then. That must be some shitty book. We all handle these comments differently, so I want to know your take on these kinds of comments!
Do you encourage people to skip a book you rated 1 star? Or do you still ask them to give it a shot?
 
I Adork You 
Sometimes I get this comment if others are iffy about a particular book, and are reading my review to figure out if they should read it or not. I agree that everyone’s experience is different – even though I hated one book, someone else might love it (and vice versa!). I always try to keep an open mind when I’m reading, for that reason.
This is a great discussion topic, I’m interested to see what others think :) *stalks comments*
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Right! Which is why I also get a bit nervous when someone wants to read something I raved about! xD
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Great discussion Aimee, I see a lot of these types of comments on my blog as well! Usually it makes me sad if I know other people who give the book a chance might like it more, but I usually tell them to pick it up if it’s something I’d think that person will like. Or if they picked up things that I ranted about and didn’t like, then I’d tell them to stay away.
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Same here! I usually have a section in my review where I recommend the book. But then if I say in my review that the heroine was annoying, other people might not find her annoying at all, lol!
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it depends on the book. I just wrote a scathing review of The Loch yesterday, and I thought this book was awful (yes, everyone should skip this one he he ). Gave it a 2 star rating. However, next week I’m posting a review for Curses! A F***ed-Up Fairytale, which I also didn’t like and rated 2 stars, but this book I’d still recommend for others to read, because I think it’s one of those love/hate books. To me there’s a big difference in a bad review about a book that was written poorly, and a bad review about a book that just didn’t click with the reader. Does that make sense? (it does in my head lol).
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So true! But then sometimes, I think of a book as a really shitty book, but then I see my friend who loves it! Don’t worry, you totally made sense and I see your point! =)
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I do encourage people to still try the books but I understand if they want to skip it. We all know what we like/don’t like as readers at this point. If I point out that there’s an unexpected love triangle in a book and one of my reader HATES love triangles, obviously they’re going to be inclined to skip the book. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’d much rather get a heads up for you (or another reviewer) about something in a book and THEN make my choice about reading a book than read a book and get hit over the head with something I know I hate and end up hating the book.
Great discussion!
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I totally get you! But then if we say that the heroine was stupid, and then a reader skips it, she might’ve thought of the heroine otherwise if she gives it a try. These things are so conflicting, haha!
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I think it absolutely depends on the book. I’m really not going to be a benevolent person for a one star rating book, but if it was a three star book and someone says they won’t try it? I’ll definitely try to persuade them to give it a chance. But as said, it depends on the book. Maybe there was something only I could hate, and I’ll try mentioning that in my comment. It just absolutely depends on the book.
But anyway, great discussion Aimee!
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I actually get a lot of “I’ll skip it” comments on 3-star reviews. Does that mean I’m too harsh? :P Anyway, I get that there are some books that you just don’t want anyone to suffer through!
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I always encourage people to give the book a try because my opinion doesn’t have to be theirs. =) When I don’t like a book, someone else might and I don’t want to tell anyone to skip a book because I don’t like it.
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True! That’s basically what I think also. :)
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Oooh, yeah there is that. I’ve been someone who said those kind of comments maybe once or twice. I guess it is a bit sad, when someone skips a book because of a review. Tho that didn’t stop me. Some books you rated low were the ones that I loved lol :P
Great discussion Aimee :D
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Hahaha! I think we’ve already established how different our tastes are, Jules! :P
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It’s all up to them, whatever my rating is; I always make it a point to give the entire decision on whether they’ll read or not to them. I don’t want them to completely rely on what I said. And if I said I’ll skip it that’s MY decision and while the review influenced me it’s not the only reason why I did. It does kinda make you guilty but you’re just being honest and the decision like I said was still on them.
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Thanks for sharing, Mitchii! I totally get what you mean, though. Everyone has their own minds and can make decisions for themselves.
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I usually let the commentator know that they might actually enjoy the book, because sometimes it could just be an “it’s not you, it’s me” kind of book.
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Same here!
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Even if I’ve given the book one star and someone comments that they’ll be skipping it, i do tend to ask them not to since everyone’s got a different opinion, but sometimes if I really really really hate the CHARACTERS of the books and they come off as extremely stupid or unrealistic and selfish, I don’t think is be telling ANYONE to not skip it.
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Hahaha! I’ve never actually experienced NOT asking someone to skip a book. I guess it’s because I’ve come across so many people who loved the characters I hated.
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I tend to have a very subjective opinion on my books, so I always encourage (and even put a disclaimer at the bottom of some posts where I’ve ranted a lot) any readers to read it for themselves and form their own opinion.
Some books I dislike so much that I can’t even tell anyone to read it for themselves, but that’s a very rare case and usually it’s when the book has some serious issues. Most often it’s when a “romance” is actually dysfunctional, unhealthy, and creepy but still glorified. I can’t stand those stories *coughtwilightcough*
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Hahaha! xD I felt that way for a lot of NAs–that the romances were toxic and that I didn’t like them one bit. I know a lot of other readers like that, though. .____.
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Oh that is a difficult question! I like to think that I want people to try any book even if I didn’t like it, but for me, if I read someone’s review that talks about specific things that I know I don’t like seeing in a book, then I feel like it’s best for me if I don’t even bother. I do sometimes pick up books that I know others haven’t liked just because I’m still interested in it, but I like reading reviews of books that I’m unsure about because they can sway me. I don’t know if I made the right decision, but I feel better moving on to a book I’m much more sure about enjoying!
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I see! I would definitely prefer a book I know I’d really love rather than a book some reviews are making me hesitant to read.
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You’ve actually raised a good point! I never want to put people off of a book when I write a review, I just want to let them know the issues I’ve had and then they can decide whether it sounds like their cup of tea.
If someone leaves a comment like that on my blog, I’ll usually say that, yes, there were some issues, but fans of ‘xx’ may like it. Or I say that I’m probably being a bit of a grump lol.
Personally, I won’t ever ‘write a book off’ based on ONE single review. I’ll only decide not to read it if I’ve seen a bunch of different reviews that all say the same thing, as then I think it’s more than likely I’ll have the same issues.
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Haha! Same here. I usually make it a point to let people know that I’m just really nitpicky. :) I also don’t skip a book based on just one review. Actually, sometimes, if I see multiple negative reviews of a book, I make sure to give it a shot to see if I feel the same!
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I think it depends on what exactly you were raving about. If it was a lack of character development, and that’s something a person thinks is really important, it makes sense for them to skip it. But if it’s just “she didn’t like so I probably won’t” I think they might be missing out on something. I hope that makes sense?
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It does, definitely. Thanks for sharing, Anika!
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This is such an interesting topic and I was actually just thinking about this the other day! I think, no matter if my review is a 1-star or a 3-star, I will always feel guilty for making someone want to skip a book. And I know that makes zero sense because that’s what constructive reviews are for but I just feel SO BAD for some reason.
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I don’t really discourage people from reading the book I don’t like, I would rant about why I ended up hating the book but that doesn’t mean everybody would. When I read a review and agree with a reviewers points, I would probably lessen my desire to read the book but there are negative reviews that do get me curious about the book and I’ll read it because of it. So it’s really more if the reviewer’s points match my reading triggers, that is when I end up not reading a book. Like if the main characters end up cheating for example.
Great discussion Aimee! :)
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Awesome discussion post, Aimee :) I’ve gotten these kind of comments from my range of reviews, but if a person says that, then I will respect it. Like you said, people will form an opinion, and if their opinion tells them they want to skip a book based on my insights, then I’ll leave it at that. They’re all adults and know what is good or bad or right or wrong. If they decided not to read something based on my review, negative or positive or neutral it may be, then that could only mean they saw something in it that they’re sure they won’t like as well :D
Faye at The Social Potato Reviews
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I suppose it depends on how well I know the person. If it’s someone I know absolutely detests instalove (which is probs everyone lawl), and the book has the worst case of instalove known to mankind, then I’d probably tell them to skip it. On the other hand, if it’s someone who’s commenting on the blog for the first time, I might say something like “well, x was positive and y was done well, so maybe give it a go if you don’t mind instalove so much”.
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I never, ever tell someone to skip on a book because I am a firm believe in the fact that every single person has different tastes.
Even some of my blogging friends which have EXTREMELY similar tastes to me have disliked some of my favourite books, and vice versa. It’s just the way the world goes.
So, no, I don’t discourage. I usually reply with something that’s neutral, or forgiving of the problems that *I* had with the book, because they were my problems, after all. I don’t want to project.
And I definitely don’t want someone to skip on a book just because of my review. Reviews aren’t meant to be read once (and by that I mean, read one review by one person). They should be read widely – good and bad – because if someone bases their reading lists off reviews, they definitely need to know the wider opinions.
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I don’t usually mind getting comments like this on books which I have DNF’d, but still I would never encourage someone to skip a book like you said, there may end up liking a book more than you did. That has happened to me on numerous occasions, so I usually don’t tell a person to completely fob the book off. This is a great discussion post Aimee!
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I guess I leave it up to the person reading my review to decide! I always make sure to clearly describe what about the book made me like/dislike it. If they read my review and decide to skip it, then I’m assuming it’s because they know that the things that bothered me would bother them as well. So I honestly don’t mind. I think it would only ever really bother me if they based if off the star rating alone and not read my reasoning. You know what I mean?
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If I say I’m going to skip this one, it’s usually not because of a particular review, just that the story doesn’t sound like something I’d click with. I actually have picked up books because of negative reviews, so don’t feel bad if someone says they’re going to skip a book after reading your review. Great post, Aimee. :)
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To me, it really depends on the book. If it was a book I hated with everything I have in me, and people say “I’m going to skip this” I reply with something like “yeah, that’s probably a good idea :\”. However, if it’s a book I still found to be enjoyable, I don’t really know what to say. If someone says something like, “I don’t really like this genre, so I’ll probably skip it” I also don’t really know what to reply, but I usually go for something like “I did really enjoy this, but I can understand why you might not like this genre” or something.
Great discussion! It’s something I’ve been thinking about as well lately.
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I honestly see where your coming from and I have to admit I’ve left them on a few reviews but mostly just for books that are below two stars I don’t typically write them for three stars books. That being said I recently put up a review for a book that quite a few bloggers have given two stars but I gave it three and listed how there were a lot of things I didn’t like about the book but in the end the humour saved it for me (and the fcat that it was meant as a fluffy summer read and didn’t pretend to be anything else) and some people commented things like “oh i’ll skip this one than because you didn’t like it” an didn’t like it” and i’m like I NEVER SAID THAT! You could potentially love it it just wasn’t for me!
so yeah…I know where your coming from!
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Lol I get the same comments when I review books with less than 3 stars. I tell them to give it a try too because you might never know that this book is the one for you HAHA
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When they say that on 1/2 star reviews, I understand it when people say ‘I will skip the book’ and I will say it might be a good idea, haha. When it’s a 3 stars I always say they should give it a shot :) Because 3 stars is still good.
I think it really depends on what someone says in the comments! Sometimes they say ‘I really hate that kind of romance’ then I think it’s a good idea to skip it. When they say ‘oh, that doesn’t sound good’ I might tell them to give it a try after all :)
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I’m also the type of person who hates to discourage reading a book no matter how bad, but don’t feel bad. There is a reason people flock to your blog: they respect your opinions on books and whether you like it or not, you play a factor in their decision making.
Cheer up. :)
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I don’t think I’d really ever ENCOURAGE people to skip a book but then I do understand that most people just have so many things on their TBR. I might say things like “if you already have it, it’s still worth it” or “maybe later on.” I do think that everyone likes different kinds of books though. There are many books that people absolutely hated that I loved and it goes the other way too!
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I never come outright and say ‘don’t bother’ – I don’t try to put someone completely off the book, but I do often say something about how, if they’ve got loads to read, this probably isn’t top of their list. But I don’t want to ever encourage someone to not read a book because what if it’s their favourite book in waiting?
On a 3 star review? 3 stars is still good, to me! :o It’s my solid ‘good’ rating, but I guess the reasons for it being good can differ wildly :P
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Oooh, I hate the idea of someone saying they’ll skip a book because of my review! The thing is, even if I downright hate a book, I always remember that it took the author ages to come up with the story and then write it and then get it published, and that’s really impressive. Also, just because I hate a book doesn’t mean the world should hate it.
The way I remedy this is whenever I write a negative review, I’m sure to write clearly why I didn’t like it and then which kind of people might enjoy it. E.g. I recently read a book I didn’t like but in my review I said that people who liked Pretty Little Liars should give it a try.
It’s hard though. The only time I think it’s not too bad when someone skips a book because of my review is when we are known to have very similar tastes in books. Then it’s okay!
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I doubt people skip a book because of ONE review, unless they know they have the reviewer’s exact tastes. Do people do that? If someone gives a book a negative review, I usually check into other reviews and see if there’s a trend.
I don’t encourage people to read or not read a book. That’s up to them. I just say what I liked or didn’t like about it in my reviews.
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For me, it comes down to WHO reviewed it. There are a few bloggers who basically have an identical taste in books as I do. Chances are, if they hate a book, so will I. On the other hand, there are a few bloggers I love and follow, but our tastes couldn’t be more different. In that case I might pick up the book. Also it’s extremely helpful when reasons are given for why they didn’t like a book. Maybe they aren’t into long-winding, descriptive sentences. That’s SO my thing, so I might still check out the book.
If it’s a book I’ve been on the fence about, a three-star review might be just what I need to make the decision not to read it and, instead, move on to something better.
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Several factors determine the weight a review holds for me. How well I know the blogger and how similar our tastes run has a lot to do with it. I really hate that people feel a three is a bad review. It means I liked it, enjoyed it but wouldn’t re-read it.
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Err. I feel evil now. Hahaha. I would totally tell them to skip it, but I they show some interest at all in the book then I would try encouraging them to really it. But honestly, I skip a lot of books because of negative reviews. It’s not like we have local libraries where we can try a book by borrowing it. Someone should invent an online library. But anyway, books are too expensive for experimentation. :P
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Hahaha! That’s totally not evil, Francine. xD We all treat these things differently. :) I totally get what you mean! I wish we had a lot of awesome libraries like they do in the States. ;(
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