Niki's Reviews: An Update

Well hello there! I wanted to change the way I did reviews moving forward and I thought I should explain what you'll be seeing and how they will be different than the first ones I've posted. Hopefully, they will be more consistent and more informative.

See, I've read a couple of books I have really struggled to enjoy lately (notably, Beautiful Creatures, which I made pretty clear in my review). As an author, I realize how hard it is to write something. I understand how close to your heart it is. Also, I realize how hard it is to let it go and put it out in the world. And I don't want to be that person who shits on someone else's work.

As an adult, I realize that there are different people in the world who like different things. And even I change my mind on things I like and don't like and the way I feel about things and why. Change and growth are normal and healthy, even if they are sometimes painful.

This isn't to say I intend to lie about what I read, no no no. I just don't want to review something I would not recommend. If I can honestly say "I hated this, why would anyone read this?" (And let's be real, we've all read SOMETHING that made us feel this way) I'm just not going to post about it.

I still stand by the things I said about Beautiful Creatures, I don't think the slut-shaming and the lack of diversity, and the general concept of choosing who you are forever at 16 are healthy things that should be in a YA novel. And I really did love that series for a long time and have read it multiple times.

So there needs to be a balance.

What does this mean for my reviews?

Well, it means, first, that I will be getting rid of the star ranking. My opinion on how many stars a book gets is pretty fallible and so much based on my mood, I'm not sure it's very useful at all. Now, if you see a review of mine on Goodreads or Amazon, it will have a star rating but that's because it's required. But I don't intend to trash anyone's work there either. So I just won't review anything that I'd give less than three stars to. I just don't want to put that negativity out there. I'd rather tell you what I loved than what I hated.

Here's why I'm doing this. The first time I read Little Women, I was in such a bad mood that I hated it. I stopped reading less than halfway through and spent years spouting off that it was the worst piece of trash I'd ever read. And then someone gave me a copy of my own. Not one to waste books, I angrily started reading just so I could tell that person I'd read their present. You know what? I loved it and I've read it several times and watch all the movies and mini-series and love that bit on Friends where they talk about it. I was wrong. When I first read it, I just wasn't in the right place for it. And that's not the book's fault. It's not my fault. It's just a thing that happens.

There could potentially be an exception here if I read something that I somehow thought was so damaging that it needed commenting on, but I can't imagine what that would be. The very few books or series (one comes to mind) have been extensively covered, and better points have been made than I ever could.

My reviews will be structured much more like the one I posted for the Unveiling, by Zel Winter. A quick list of what I liked, maybe touch on some things that I struggled with. A very bird's eye overview with few to no spoilers, and then a spoiler section where I detail the plot point by point. Well, the big points, at least.

I'm going to keep my goofy little pictures that tie into the book because I think they are fun to make. I'm going to pretend people like looking at them and figuring out what part of the book I'm tapping into.

Why am I doing this? Well, because as I said, my opinion is super unimportant. You like to read what you like to read. There are different genres and thousands of books because people like different things. And who am I to say what you should and shouldn't like? What you should and shouldn't read? What if I detail the plot of a book that I almost couldn't finish and you're like "oh hell yeah, that sounds amazing!" and you love it? That's freaking wonderful. And that's what I want. I want to talk about books, not tell you what to like.

I'm pretty sure absolutely no one will read this. But, if you do, tag me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram in a picture of you reading anything and I'll send you a nifty bookmark I had made for my book, Last Time She Died. Bonus points, and swag, if it's my book :)