SALUTATIONS! I’m Maddie, and I LOVE to read!!!! Because of this, I’m always trying to find new books to read. So I thought, why not help others find new books to read? I thought it through: if I did this, then I’d have to read more books (bonus!), and you guys would get a quick easy spiel to look over, then BAM! You find your new favorite book! (And yes, this WILL happen EACH AND EVERY TIME you read a book I review. OBVIOUSLY ;). ) Here’s how it’ll work: I’ll read a book, review it, and put it under a category. You can look for a certain book using the search bar, or you can look by genre (or you can close your eyes and click randomly. That’s always fun.) If i don’t have it, let me know and I’ll try to get to it. In my reviews, I’ll have a synopsis, then I’ll cover three things: character quality, plot, and appropriateness (don’t laugh-it’s important!). You can read it, buy it, love it, whatever.
Also, I don’t know about you, but when I read a book, I want to go there (usually-not Hunger Games. But Hogwarts or Narnia? YES!). Some places I can’t go. But some I can! So some things, or places, or if I meet an author, I’ll take pictures and post them to the book, JUST FOR YOU GUYS (and so I can cross it off my bucket list).
That’s basically how this whole thing will work! I hope you guys like it!
REVIEW CRITERIA:
Why these three?
Poor characters, plot, and appropriateness are the first three things that will get me to put down a book. First off, who’s going to read a book with characters they don’t like? Not me! As for plot, if a book is boring, then characters alone usually won’t get me through it. Sometimes I will, if I love the characters enough. Or sometimes I’ll skip to the last couple chapters and see what happened (usually exactly what I thought would happen). Appropriateness is the third thing. I know some people like reading that kind of thing, but I hate it. It’s really important to me that what I’m reading is appropriate as well, and I know for some of you it’s important too, so I decided I’d add my two cents on it.
Character Quality:
For me, I have to have good characters. I need a character that I love. Usually they have some kind of virtue that I really like. A lot of times they’re funny, considerate, and/or naturally amazing in some way. I really don’t like characters that are mean for no reason (makes it easier to dislike bad guys). I really like it when there are groups of these characters, like the Herons in Brotherband, for example, and they care for and protect each other.
Plot:
I’m not going to read a boring book. Who would? THAT’S SO BORING! And quite a few of the books I read a lot of people think are boring. A good plot has to have a hook. I need to WANT to find out what’s going to happen next. There need to be parts that I’m anxious about, and parts that I LOVE.
Appropriateness:
I hate reading a book that is inappropriate. If it gets to be too much, I will put a book down. This kind of covers a lot of things, like language, inappropriate imaging, or just something I don’t think is ethical (even for a book). Some things I am more okay with than others, so this category can be very complicated.
I put this on a scale, for simplicity’s sake. Sometimes I might put in a little reason why, or something, but for the most part, I’ll just put a number. Something to remember, is that these are on a spectrum. So for example if a book was a number three, then that means I considered considering putting it down. Sounds dumb, I know, but I needed a middle. This could mean for a fleeting second I thought maybe I wouldn’t read it, or maybe it crossed my mind a few times. So it could be a high thing for that number, or a low. Also remember, this is MY scale. Not yours. Yours is probably different, so feel free to judge a book on your own.
- Perfect! No Complaints.
- Not perfect, but still okay
- Middle. Maybe kinda considered putting it down
- Thought about putting it down
4.5 This is a funny one. It means I would put it down, but it was a historical fiction or non-fiction book. I feel like there’s a difference between being educated on what has actually happened, and what can actually happen, than reading inappropriate things for fun. That said, I WILL still put a book down because of it being inappropriate even when it’s in a genre that I make exceptions for.
5. Put it down (stopped reading because it was too inappropriate)
6. Won’t pick it up (This is for books that I’ve been banned from reading, whether by myself or someone else, like 50 Shades of Gray. Chances are you won’t see this one too much, because I won’t really review these books. I’ll just do a page on it if someone asks me to review it, or some case like that.)