I finished Bonnie Vanak's The Cobra & The Concubine the other night and really enjoyed it. It's not a "perfect" book and wont be going on my "keeper" shelf, but I liked it. If I were giving it a grade it would be a B-/B. Most of the book takes place in 1895 Egypt. Great time period and location. I love books set in Egypt.
Like most books the first page is used for praising earlier works, so I have the names of her other books in this series (and yes, this book can stand alone.) Curiosity sent me looking for reviews--why? I don't know, because I'm now kicking myself. I'm still going to read The Tiger & The Tomb and The Falcon & The Dove but in the back of my mind I'm going to remember that AAR and Mrs. Giggles disliked both of these books. I would have been much happier being totally oblivious.
I'm going to make a point to avoid reviews of books I want to read, but I still love reading bad reviews. I've blogged about this before. It's like a guilty pleasure. If a reviewer at AAR or Mrs. G gives a book a really bad review
- The reviews are usually very sardonically (is this a word? yes, encarta says it is) funny and I hate to admit they make me laugh out loud.
- I'm always left wondering "can it really be that bad??" Probably, but I have to admit there are a couple of books I'm truly tempted to put to the test.
I already have Jennifer Skully's Sex and the Serial Killer Mrs. G gave it a 28 and she gave Patricia Grasso's To Catch a Countess a big whopping 03. I'm still looking for a copy of TCAC. I've read Patricia Grasso in the past and have always run hot and cold with her books (lukewarm and ice cold is probably a better description.)
So sometime in the next couple of months I'm going to do "The Bad Review Test". I'll let everyone know the results.
8 comments:
I visited Mrs. Giggles yesterday & she gave three books I really, really like less than 40 each! LOL :P
So I too shall likely refrain from looking at reviews until after I've read it.
Mrs. Giggles is so funny though!!
It makes me sad when they give bad reviews to books I liked. And you're right, when I read a review first I find myself nitpicking the book more than I would normally. Now I try to skim the review for plot points and just gloss over criticisms.
I meant to ask - How was George & the Virgin? I picked it up after it was rec'd like 40 times on AAR but I haven't gotten to it yet.
Amanda--I don't always agree with Mrs. G, but she is funny.
Jay--I liked George... you need to suspend belief, but hey, there's a real dragon in the story, how real is that--LOL.
I've learned not to go by the grades but by what they write about the book. A number of times I've given a book an excellent grade only to see it got a rotten one at a review site. I'll always remember Linda Francis Lee's Nightengale's Gate and really liking it. Mrs. G gave it a 04. She is a hoot though.
Oh, and I finished the Vanak book and I'd give it a 4 - 41/2 out of 5 so I'm really looking forward to reading the first two. And even though I'm not normally a fan of series, I really hope she plans on writing one for Graham.
I hardly ever agree with Mrs. Giggles. But I do find her review entertaining! I like to read books that got bad reviews just so I can compare.
I always search for reviews for books that I put on my to buy list. The more info and any spoiler is always a plus for me.
As an author, getting a bad review often hurts, but we're close to our work. In the grand scheme, a positive review probably does more good than a negative review does harm. I think most readers are willing to give a book a shot if it catches their interest -- or if they've heard a lot of buzz and word of mouth about the story.
What I really dislike are reviews that aren't just negative but mean-spirited. If you don't like a book, fine. Explain why and leave it at that.
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