Liking or hating a book is really subjective.

I recently finished Switched by Amanda Hocking and I wrote a small review on Goodreads. So, while I have added my opinion, I take some time to read other reviews about it. As I scroll down the page, I see four, five and even three stars next to the title but when I see one single star, well, I have to stop and read it.

I must say that I wasn’t content with that book even if I wanted to read it so much. I gave it three stars and I have my review at the end of the page if you want to read it. To my point, this book sold millions of copies, Amanda Hocking made a ton of cash and many people loved her work. I am one of those who like Amanda’s work and even if I didn’t go crazy with the first book, I admire her work and what she managed to succeed, but…loving or hating a book doesn’t mean that the book is excellent or bad.

I am not a book reviewer or a critic but I do have an opinion as a reader. Everyone who reads a book experiences it in a unique way. Each of us has different expectations, different likes and dislikes and that will form our opinion. Reading a bad review shouldn’t make people not want to read a book or the other way around. How can we judge something without even reading it? Of course a negative review may cloud our judgment and we may not want to read a book after all, but I don’t think that’s wise. At the end, we might end up loving something that another person hates. That’s not new or weird, we just have different tastes and this is acceptable. As a young writer who is going to publish her first novel, I understand that my work will have good and bad reviews too when people will read it (and that 'when' may take a lot of time!) and I understand that. Of course accepting a negative review is going to be hard but this is the way it is. Personally, I read books that I like the mystery that floats in the air and that’s all I need to grab it and read it. I am the one who will judge if I liked it or not and after I have an opinion, I will read reviews and make comments.

A book review will tell some truths about a novel but we must remember that this is the reviewer’s/reader’s truth and every single of us have another truth to add and that is important.