Agony and Ecstasy

Book reviewing isn't always fun. Yes, I love getting packages of books in the mail, I love discovering great authors I haven't read before, I love reading those rare books that rate 5 out of 5.

Writing reviews for books I don't love is challenging. Today I wrote a review for an author's first book, which ended up being 2 out of 5. I don't enjoy criticizing someone's work, especially that of a first-time author. It isn't fun, but all I can do is what any reviewer can do: offer my opinion and give as much information as I can so that people who read the review can make their own decision. If I'm not as honest as I can be about books that receive a 1 or 2, then that invalidates the power of a book that receives a 4 or 5.

Here's hoping the next one will be one of the latter.

Alyssa