Here's a Thought: Insta-Love

Girl sees guy for the first time. 
They say hi. 
They look at each other for a really long time.
They fall deeply in love.

Uhh... No! I don't think so!

Insta-Love is a term often used  in the young adult reading and blogging world to describe a book (usually romance) which has two characters who fall in love with each other in a very short amount of time.

Portraying love in young adult literature in this way can be both incorrect and misleading, though many times teens will drink it up. For those people who don't read a lot of young adult fiction they might not notice how unrealistic the story is being.

Insta-love is often seen in paranormal and forbidden love stories, many of them being in some way or another a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet.  As described in the photo to the right, Shakespeare's love story lasted three days, and in the story it took Romeo and Juliet only one night of meeting at a dance for them to decide to marry. Though Romeo and Juliet is a very popular and classic book, many people think that Insta-love is a proper aspect of Young Adult stories written today.

Some reasons people might like insta-love stories are that they are often shorter stories or they are part of a series to develop the love story a little more than was written in the first book. Young Adult romance is a very commonly written and read genre, and people might be looking for any variation of it. The may also not realize how instantaneous the love may seem. In general some people some people just like the idea of the possibility of love at first sight, which may draw them to these types of books.

Most avid readers will avoid reading insta-love because they are thought of as books without good development, good reasons behind all of what is being written and contains a lack of book planning. Many other don't like insta-love because it is very unrealistic and could show poor or misjudged ideas.

Though insta-love is generally opposed by readers, it is still a very commonly written and read sub-genre of romance books. What do you think? Do you read and enjoy insta-love books? Are you opposed to them? Comment below and share your thoughts.

Book Haul 4/29/12

 Book Haul Link Page

This week I only got one book but it is a very exciting book. I went to meet and greet at my indie bookstore and was able to receive an arc and get it signed. After hearing the author talk about her book I am  really interesting in reading Bluefish, it sounds really good.

Bluefish

Review: Vibes

Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: October 6th 2008
Pages: 249
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal
Goodreads

Nothing is beyond Kristi Carmichael’s disdain—her hippie high school, her friend Jacob, her workaholic mom. Yet for all her attitude and her mind-reading abilities, Kristi has a vulnerable side. She can hear the thoughts of her fellow students, calling her fat and gross. She’s hot for Gusty Peterson, one of the most popular guys in school, but of course, she’s sure he thinks she is disgusting. And she’s still mad at her father, who walked out on them two years ago. Soon, a school project brings her together with Gusty, her father comes home and drops a bombshell, and a friend comes out of the closet, and suddenly she is left doubting that she can read people at all.
Bitingly funny but ultimately poignant and positive, this YA novel is completely on the mark.

Vibes is a fun, lighthearted story about a girl named Kristi who is anything but normal. Kristi is a somewhat of a rebel with her recycled clothing and her snappy attitude, but inside she isn't as tough as she might seem. Her rebellion began years before when her father left her and her mom and she began to hear bits and pieces of what people are thinking, mostly negative thoughts about Kristi herself.

Kristi is a very unique main character with a rebellious don't-mess-with-me attitude that stems from her own insecurities. Kristi seems to have the attitude of an average teenager instead of the glorified attitudes that some other books portray. She has real faults that teens have to cope with in real life, and the author had a cute fun way of making this a very interesting story. Kristi has a genuine heart and I absolutely adore her as a character. Gusty is Kristi's partner for a school project, and it just so happens that Kristi has a (not so) small crush on him. When Gusty is first introduced in the story he seemed like he had a  very negative attitude and I didn't really like him as a character, but eventually he is a better person and her becomes very loveable.

The story line was very light and simple as it goes though the troubles of a teenage girl. At the very beginning of the story the plot wasn't very well set and it took a while to figure out what path the story was going to follow, and once it did choose a path it seemed to follow nothing but events that effected what was being followed.

Overall this is a quick, fun read for someone who either wants a fast read or for someone who wants a little laugh after reading to many depressing and serious topic book.

Waiting on Wednesday 4/25/12 Anything But Ordinary

Anything but Ordinary By Lara Avery
September 11th 2012
Hyperion

An inspiring, bittersweet love story about making every day count.
Bryce remembers it like it was yesterday. The scent of chlorine. The blinding crack and flash of pain. Blood in the water.

When she wakes up in the hospital, all Bryce can think of is her disastrous Olympic diving trial. But everything is different now. Bryce still feels seventeen, so how can her little sister be seventeen, too? Life went on without her while Bryce lay in a coma for five years. Her best friend and boyfriend have just graduated from college. Her parents barely speak. And everything she once dreamed of doing—winning a gold medal, traveling the world, falling in love—seems beyond her reach.

But Bryce has changed too, in seemingly impossible ways. She knows things she shouldn’t. Things that happened while she was asleep. Things that haven’t even happened yet. During one luminous summer, as she comes to understand that her dreams have changed forever, Bryce learns to see life for what it truly is: extraordinary.

Top Ten Tuesday 4/24/12

 Hosted by the Ladies of Broke and Bookish

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is 

Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters in Books

Girls

Juliette from Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

 I love Juliette because she starts out such a broken character and then she has such significant character development by the end of the story.

Lola from Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

I love Lola because she has such a unique personality that I really wish that I could meet her and become friends with her.

Lena from Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margret Stohl 

I love Lena because she is such a unique character and has a very interesting image.

Piper from Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

I love Piper because she is such a fun and interesting character and she is able to do things that people wouldn't think of a deaf person being able to do.

Katniss from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I love Katniss because she is a very brave character who is very selfless and very strong.

Boys

Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I love Augustus because he is such a nerd and he has a huge and hilarious personality.

Finn from Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

I love Finn because even though he is not the strongest or richest person in the world he would do anything for the girl he loves.

Adam from Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I love Adam  because he never gave up on Juliette (Above) even when she disappeared and he found out what has happened to her in the past.

Cricket from Lola and The Boy Next Door

I love Cricket because he never gives up on his love of Lola (Above)

Puck from The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa

I love Puck because he has such an amazing, comical and funny personality and I absolutely would love to meet him.

Review: Evermore

Evermore by Alyson Noel

Publisher: St. Martins Press
Publication Date: February 3rd 2009
Source: Gifted
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Goodreads

Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people’s thoughts, and know a person’s life story by touch.   Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste . . .

Ever sees Damen and feels an instant recognition.  He is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, and he holds many secrets.  Damen is able to make things appear and disappear, he always seems to know what she’s thinking—and he’s the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head.  She doesn’t know who he really is—or what he is.  Damen equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies.

I started this book not really knowing what to expect. At the beginning of the book it started out as a very interesting paranormal about a girl who has been physic ever since she lived in a car accident that killed the rest of her family. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book but once I got toward the middle I became a little bit worried that it was shifting into a insta-love story, and by the end it was in many ways a mash up between the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and the Fallen series by Lauren Kate.

Ever, the main character is a very quiet, anti-social teenager who has to deal with both the loss of her entire family and the fact that she has to keep her new physic powers to herself. Though at the beginning of the story Ever was very anti-social and often ignored everyone around her, in many ways I liked her better as a character towards the beginning of the story than I did towards the end. In the end she gets thrown into a lot of emotional and mental confusion and it really messes up her choices. Near the beginning of the story, Damen is introduced. Damen is a very attractive boy that happens to sit next to Ever in class and eventually becomes her boyfriend. After a while it becomes more and more obvious that Damen is not in fact human, and for a long time I became very worried that this was going to be another vampire book, that is not that case though it is very similar.

The story reminds me a lot of a Twilight series and Fallen series mash up. Both contain insta-love with different forms of portraying the paranormal aspects. It seems like this book takes place over a few weeks if not days and in that time Ever and Damen have seem to have fallen in love very very quickly. The paranormal aspects I did generally enjoy and I am glad that they were included in the story.

Overall this story was great in the beginning but slowly it became less enjoyable for me. 

Review: The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Publisher: Dutton Books
Publication Date: January 10th 2012
Pages: 313
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Challenges: Contemporary, Standalone
Goodreads

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

 Oh my good golly John Green you almost made me cry. Almost. And that takes a lot.  This is a beautiful and heartbreaking tale of Hazel, a cancer patient, and Augustus Waters, a boy in remission. This story was so utterly breathtaking that I read it in a 24 hour time frame and after word I couldn't think of anything to say about it, still can't.

The story starts out with Hazel explaining her situation, she has had type four thyroid cancer for four years and was about to die when a miracle shrunk her lung tumors, but she still might not last much longer. Now her mom forces her to go to a Cancer support group to make her less "depressed". At the support group she meets Augustus. Now, Hazel and Augustus. I love both of them with all my heart, and they are just so perfect for each other. They are both very smart, very funny individuals and they will always have a place in my heart because they seemed like such real characters to me.

Plot was very simple, but very cute and very nerdy. If you have ever seen any of the Vlogbrothers videos (Go Nerdfighters!) you can tell that John Green has put a lot of himself into the characters' voices. There is a part in the story that got me very close to crying, which is very, very hard to get me to do. While reading this story you become very connected the characters and it was just very heartbreaking.

This story is easily my favorite of the year so far and I really suggest that you give it, or any other of John Green's books a try.

Waiting on Wednesday 4/18/12 The Temptation

The Temptation by Alisa Valdes
April 24th 2012

His touch was electric.
His eyes were magnetic.
His lips were a temptation....
But was he real?

After crashing her car on an empty highway, Shane is miraculously saved by Travis, a mysterious cowboy who walks out of nowhere. She is instantly attracted to him, and for the first time, she believes in “soul mates.” But Shane soon discovers that Travis is dead and that strict rules from the Underworld govern kindred spirits of different dimensions. Breaking these rules could destroy both their souls. And while Travis is almost impossible to resist, temptation proves to be the kindest enemy they encounter.

Can true love surpass the power of pure evil? Part love story, part supernatural thriller, this first book in the Kindred trilogy will leave readers lusting for more!

Top Ten Tuesday 4/17/12

Top Ten Tips for New Book Bloggers

1. Join Twitter. Twitter is a great resource to communicate with other bloggers, authors, and publishers and a good way to share your blog and get more views.

 

2. Don't expect that you will get free books all the time. People who get ARCs and free books often are often established bloggers who do not blog just for the sake of free books. If you are only blogging for free books, you are going to be pretty disappointed, because most people don't get things like that until they have had a strong, established blog for at least six months. 

3. Don't attack a book or author in a review or any other form of post. Attacking a books is disrespectful and very unprofessional. Examples of attacking a book or author is calling either one an inappropriate name, accusing the author of something, or saying nothing but mean things about either.

4. Be yourself! Feel free to express your self, your blog is yours! There are no rules to what you can post, how you can post it, or how your blog has to look.

 

5. Don't clutter. No one likes a blog with forty different widgets on the side that are worthless to the reader's experience. Keep only necessary ones. 

6. Don't use free blog backgrounds and headers from free sites. Free backgrounds and headers are available to everyone, and there is more than likely someone with the same background. It is fairly easy to create a simple background with image editing sites and programs. 

7. Post consistently. At first you may only be able to post a few times a week, but do post often. Only posting once every few weeks seems like you are not committed, and people are more likely to read what you have to say when you post often. 

8. Comment on other people's blogs. This is a great way to get your name out there, as well as a way to make new friends. 

9. Don't be afraid! Blogging can be really scary at first, but it can be really fun and easy when you are willing to give it a try. 

10. Ask questions! If you have a question, ask twitter, ask other bloggers that you look up too, ask me. 

If you are a new blogger and you have any questions, feel free to ask me on twitter (@Erikablogger) or in the comments if you want.

In My Mailbox 4/15/12

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren to showcase what book bloggers have bought/received/borrowed over the past week and share it with others.

From Library

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction -- and the price that's paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.

 Haven Moore can't control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother's house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then, an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is and who she was.
In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

Review: Of Poseidon

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: May 22nd 2012
Pages: 324
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Challenges: Debut Author Challenge
 Goodreads

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

Of Poseidon is a story about a girl named Emma who goes to school on the first day to find Galen, a boy she met on vacation to now be in all of her classes. Not only that, but he is one of the few people that witnessed the death of her best friend and now he's following her around and won't stop trying to talk to her. Galen is the prince of the Syrena (Mer-people) and on a trip on land he meets a girl who has the same eye color as his, and now he's on a mission to figure out how a human like her could be hiding on land without his knowledge.

The first thing that really stood out was how cute and fun the voice of the narration was. Emma was such a fun narrator and all of her thoughts and dialogue were very realistic rather than scripted. I love how happy and bubbly the writing is. It seems like things people would really say and think. This story is told in two perspectives, Emma's first person perspective and Galen's third person perspective. This is probably one of the best books I have read with split narration as far as how smooth the transition is.

My favorite character in the book is going to have to be Emma. Emma has both a very fun narration and she doesn't let anyone push her around even while getting submerged (no pun intended) in all of this Syrena craziness. Galen was also a very interesting character. When he is first introduced into the story he is portrayed as a very cold character, but you eventually can't help but love him once you get to know him.

There wasn't really anything I disliked about this story, but over all the thing that made this book great for me was the very unpredictable ending that is making my itch for the second book.

Waiting on Wednesday 4/11/12 Timepiece

Timepiece by Myra McEntire
June 12th 2012

A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?

Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.

Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...

The follow-up to Hourglass, Timepiece blends the paranormal, science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres into a nonstop thrill ride where every second counts.

Helpful Websites for Readers and Book Bloggers

When a reader or a book blogger starts getting really involved in the online reading and blogging world things can get really confusing, and really crazy really fast. Being prepared for any crazy reading and blogging situations is key to having a good take off in your reading or blogging experience, and some websites can help make that happen, so I've compiled a list of websites I use in my reading and blogging that you might find helpful.


Both Bloggers and Readers

Twitter- Assuming you  have already created your blog as a blogger or have begun an interest in the online  blogging world you might want an easy way to connect with other bloggers, publishers, reviewers, readers, etc. A great way to connect with others of the same interest is through twitter. Twitter is a great resource for both bloggers and readers where they can get updates and advice from one another as well as the ability to make online friends of the same interests.

Goodreads- Goodreads is a good resource to gather a list of books you want to read and have read, as well as a way to post reviews and get information about nearly any book you are interested in. Goodreads is probably the most useful resource of all of these because it has so much information that can be useful to a reader or book blogger.

Youtube- Youtube is a great resource for both readers and bloggers, but in very different ways. For bloggers it is a great resource if you want to make videos or video blogs as a way to share information. For readers it is a great resource to watch vlogs and videos by bloggers, authors, publishers, and other reading related groups.


Bloggers

Formspring- Formspring is an easy way for people to ask questions about your interests in order to create a greater sense of community between you and your readers.

Klout- Klout is a resource that measures your level of influence online. Klout is a resource that should not be used as a way to rate your blog, but as a way to understand what you influence in people.


What are some websites your as a blogger or reader use?

In My Mailbox 4/8/12

For Review from Feiwel and Friends:

This is a duplicate copy for me so I am holding a Giveaway for the ARC [HERE]

From The Library:

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Of Poseidon ARC Giveaway

When I opened my mail a few days ago I was very surprised to find a second copy of this fabulous book which I enjoyed very very much, and though I did love it I don't think I'm going to need a second copy, so I will pass it on to one of you! This giveaway will be going on until the end of April when I will pick the winner and send it off right before it's May 22nd release date. Sound good?

MY REVIEW OF OF POSEIDON 


The Requirements:
You MUST live in one of the 50 United States to enter this giveaway
You MUST be at least 13 years old.
You MUST fill out at least one of the portions of the Rafflecoptor to be at all eligible.

Alright? Good.

If you can't see the Rafflecopter, click Read More.

Review: Hourglass

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Publisher: Egmont USA
Publication Date: June 14th 2011
Pages: 394
Format: ARC
Source: Young Adult Book Central Bag of Books Giveaway
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Goodreads

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

This is a story that had me sucked in from the moment I started the first chapter. It is a beautifully and well thought out story of Emerson, a teenage girl who has been seeing people from the past for four years. Starting just before her parent's deaths, Emerson has no idea where these hallucination are coming from and her brother is doing everything he can to to make her better. Then her brother finds a new person who might be able to help her, Michael. And Michael says he can do something much like she can, and together they would be even more powerful. And of course he's gorgeous.

This story has a very engaging and exciting plot that never became boring. The writing was all very well done and I enjoyed McEntire's style very much. I loved the paranormal aspects that were in the story- all of which involved the manipulation of time. The paranormal powers of each character were all very unique and interesting. The romance in the story was both sweet, and a bit annoying. The boy love interest is very very hesitant and I really didn't like that.

Emerson is a very loveable character that grows so much from the beginning to the middle to the end of the story. Emerson begins very worried about what was going on with her and desperate for it to stop. When she meets Michael for the first time you see the first glimpses of her stronger self, and then in the end she is able to stand up for her self and be a confident girl.

Overall this is one of my favorite paranormal stories because it is so unique and interesting. This story is highly recommended, and  I can't wait until I can read Timepeice, the next book in the series to find out what is going to happen next.

Waiting on Wednesday 4/4/12 Hemlock

Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
May 8th 2012

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.

Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf.

Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.

Top Ten Tuesday 4/3/12

Top Ten Books to Read in a Day

These first books I have actually read in approximately a day because they were so good:

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Wake by Lisa McMann

The rest are books are books that could easily be read in a day:

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Here's a Thought: Negative Reviews

Negative reviews have been causing a lot of drama in the blogging world recently over the issue of weather or not a person should post reviews that are negative about a book.

Negative reviews can be both a good thing, and a bad thing, depending on which side of the situation you are on. Negative reviews are beneficial for people such as publisher, readers, and sometimes even the writer who wrote the book. When a publisher reads a negative review they get to see the opinion of a person who may not have liked an aspect of the book, and if that topic is something that is commonly not enjoyed in the story, they know that they should avoid publishing books that might have that issue. Readers can benefit from negative reviews because they are given the opinion of someone who did not enjoy the story, so if they think they might also not enjoy the story they will choose a different book. Authors can also benefit from negative reviews, both of their book and other authors books so they can see common things that readers do not enjoy seeing in stories so they can avoid them. The author of the book can benefit because they can see what they may want to consider when writing again, though I do know that some authors do not read reviews of their own books as a personal choice.

Negative reviews can also negatively impact people. Reviews are a key aspect of book sales. If a book is often given negative reviews, both the author and the publisher will loose money because of the lack of good thoughts. Negative reviews can also turn people away from books they might enjoy very much, but because of the negative review they have decided to stay away from the book.

Many bloggers debate about weather or not to post negative reviews about books they have read. There are some people who refuse to write negative reviews entirely. Some people think that refusing to write bad things about books they didn't enjoy a way not sharing the truth, especially if they only write the good things about the book.

One of the major things that has been brought up by those who do write negative reviews is that there is a difference between a negative review and disrespectful, mean, violent review. Bloggers like this think reviews that say only the bad things about a book or attack the book or the author about the views or thoughts portrayed in a way that is disrespectful is not the right thing to do. They think that describing things they did not enjoy in a story, such as the characters or character development or the setting or the way the plot was set up is alright. Calling the author names or accusing them of believing in something is considered attacking the author, and this is a very unprofessional way to review.

Personally, I do write negative reviews. I do not, however attack the author in anyway and I always try to say both good and bad things about a book. What do you think? Do you think people should write negative reviews? Do you write negative reviews? Comment below!