I suck at book reviews. I really do. I never know how to give a good description without giving away spoilers. Since I have many reviews to post, I figured I should create a standard formula of sorts that will not only help me with the review but it will also help me remember what each book was about. My memory can only attain so much at one time. When you add a new item, another item gets pushed out. Since I read so many books, it's easy for me to forget what each one is about. Writing book reviews will not only help me track my books but also help me remember each book. But, like I said, I suck at writing them, so I decided to create a template.
In each book review I will include the following:
1. Title and Author
2. Three categories (such as romance, young adult, fantasy)
3. Three keywords (such as college, heartbreak, guilt)
4. Stand alone/Series
5. Location/setting
6. Lead Characters
In order to give each book a valid rating, I've created a guideline. It looks like this:
1-star - Are the characters likeable or just plain annoying? Can you relate to them? What would you change about them?
1-star - What did you think about the POV? Whose POV was it? Were there multiple? Would you change anything?
2-star - Was the plot/story enjoyable? Did everything make sense? Was the content appropriate for the genre? What was your favorite part?
1-star - How was the ending? Was it a cliff hanger, either in a good way or bad way? Were there too many unanswered questions? Was it predictable?
I'm not sure if my guideline will make sense to others. It makes sense to me though, and I think that's what's most important. In the past, I'll usually just give a book 5-stars if I loved it or 3-stars if I thought it was okay. Now, I'm actually allowing myself to delve into the book and actually figure out which parts I liked and didn't like. It should make sense when I actually do a book review.
Also, sometimes I like to pretend that I'm a casting director who turns books in movies. I like to cast the lead characters of each book. Most of the time it's a couple, but sometimes it's a group. If I have time to figure out the actors, I will include pictures in each book review I write. I think it's a fun way to make the book come alive. Especially nowadays when a lot of books are becoming movies, it'll be nice to see how my vision compares to the movie producers.
I'm almost finished with my current book so my first review should come soon. If you review books, do you have a formula that you use? Do you also like to play casting director with the books that you read?
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