Do Book Ratings Have Anything to Do with Critical Reading??: My Thoughts on Why I’ve Been Rating Books Highly Lately

I’ve been questioning everything about me being a “critical reader”.

For example, the other day* I said “cortical reader” instead of “critical reader” and I was thoroughly shocked. How could something like that possibly happen.

Okay but all jokes aside (apparently cortical has something to do with the brain??), I’ve really been having a small existential crisis over high book ratings and critical reading, until like two months ago when I figured it all out.

So today I’m here to discuss something that’s been plaguing me for quite a long time now: high book ratings, its connection to critical reading, and what it means for me!

And this post is going to be kind of weird because I couldn’t figure out how to organize it right but HOPEFULLY YOU GUYS GET IT??? Because this is something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a long time and I don’t think I’ll ever get my thoughts organized it but. I’m pretty proud of how this turned out.

*I’m lying, I wrote this draft in June but could never write it properly so it wasn’t actually the “other day” but BEAR WITH ME PLEASE I need some jokes.

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ARC Review: Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd // 4 Reasons to Avoid this Book (Including Furries and Tragic Dead Gays)

Sometimes there are books that you wish you had never read and… this is one of them.

Hi, this is my second one-star book of the year and I couldn’t be more excited to rant about it!!

(I’m kidding. I don’t want to have this discussion. Why do books like these—books with tragic dead gays—still exist. In 2018?? 20GAYTEEN????)

I’m sad that this book didn’t turn out to be better than I expected, but unfortunately, this book just makes me extremely angry. Though I received the ARC in order to promote it, I cannot, in good conscience, do anything but speak out against it, and that’s what I’ll be doing today, by listing reasons why you should AVOID THIS BOOK as much as you can!!!

All About ARCs: the Pressure, the Privilege, and the Issue of Payment for Creators (aka Compensation)

I think we can all agree that the concept of ARCs is really cool.

I mean, getting to read books before they release? Without having to spend money? THAT’S REALLY NEAT.

Unfortunately, the reality of ARCs is a little less cool.

Today I’m going to be discussing some issues with ARCs that exist right now and aren’t being talked about enough. I think it’s super important to discuss these issues so that we can work towards finding a solution, because these are things that can and definitely should be improved!!

Disclaimer: I am fully aware of my privilege in being able to receive ARCs from publishers, and I am very thankful and grateful. This is not a post complaining about my privilege; rather, it is about how yes, ARCs are great, but there are issues with it that need to be addressed and discussed.

Discussing the #OwnVoices Label and the Negative Pressure it Puts on Both Authors and Reviewers (A Long Overdue Rant)

If you’ve been here for some time, you know I’m big on discussions (aka rants).

This is no different! An issue arises, whether in the book community or outside of it, I observe it for some time, and then decide to talk about it.

This time, I’m going to be talking about the pressure of the #ownvoices label, on both authors and reviewers. I think people have discussed the pressure of the label on authors (though not enough, which is why I’m here), but not really on reviewers? And it’s a pressure I’ve felt myself so I think it’s important to talk about.

I’ve got a lot to say and I’m pretty sure y’all don’t have enough of an attention span to read more than 2000 words of me ranting so I’m just going to end this horribly written, awkward intro and get on with it.

Furyborn by Claire Legrand // Great Premise, Bad Execution, Bland Characters, and ?? Bi Rep [ARC Review]

There are books I can’t remember for the life of me, and there are books I wish I didn’t remember.

Furyborn is one of the latter.

I enjoyed parts of it? I hated others of it? I was confused about it, but also really bored, and I found it hard to actually care about it sometimes? (Which basically describes how I feel about myself.)

But I can say with all the confidence in me: my feelings towards Furyborn are not positive.

There are a lot of mixed reviews, so it’s possible that I just may be one of the people who didn’t like it, and you might be someone who loves it! But I really… did not enjoy it. So here’s a rant on the bland characters and the very unclear bi rep.