The Struggle of Writing a Coherent Positive Review

Hello everyone! ♥

Remember my post about the struggle of writing a negative review last month? Apparently, a lot of you commented and said that most of the time writing a negative review is A LOT easier than writing a positive review of a book you really loved! I thought about it and OMG… that is so true! When it comes to books I love, all I want is just yell “THIS BOOK IS AMAZING YOU NEED TO READ IT” …but can we? Yes, we can, it’s our review, but it wouldn’t be helpful 😂

So today we’ll be talking about the struggle of writing a coherent positive review! I’ll also be quoting some of the comments from the previous post 😀

It’s difficult to explain WHY we love something

With books we dislike, it’s easy to elaborate the reasons why. Like when I ranted about Vassa in the Night, I knew I hated it because of the vague world building, plot holes, and disappointing ending. I could explain in details why those things didn’t work out for me because I know why they don’t in the first place. But when it comes to books we absolutely love, it’s harder to explain why!

I mean, why do we love something? We just… do. Is it because the story is amazing? The characters are amazing? The writing is amazing? WELL THE BOOK IS AMAZING and that’s that 😂

Milou @ Simply A Book Drunkard also said this on her comment

“I secretly kind of enjoy writing negative reviews. Of course I don’t enjoy reading a book I don’t like, but my reviews tend to be better/funnier. It is just easier to write about why I didn’t like something than about why I loved something.”

It tends to be boring

The Bookish Underdog said this on her comment

“I quite enjoy writing negative reviews! Whenever I write a really good review I always worry that people might find it quite boring, because I feel like I’m just saying ‘this was amazing’ over and over again.”

Emily @ Rose Read also said it

“I enjoy writing and reading negative reviews because I think they are much more interesting. Just gushing about a book is kinda boring.”

This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. When it comes to books we love, we tend to just say how amazing and awesome and excellent the story, the characters, and the writing are. And frankly… it’s… boring. Sure it is fun to see that level of enthusiasm especially for books we’ve read and also loved but really, we’re just repeating the same adjectives over and over again.

…and less helpful

This is because most of the time we can’t really explain why we love it and tend to just flail endlessly. On the other hand, negative reviews contain a detailed analysis of why the reviewers don’t like the book and that’s honestly more objective. Let’s say that I don’t like a certain book because the pace was super slow and the plot was predictable. Just because I don’t like it, doesn’t mean the others won’t. Other readers who don’t mind slow pace and predictability might still pick up the book and end up enjoying it. But with positive reviews… well, it’s hard for other people to see the objectivity if we just gush around about it.

Jess @ Beaucoup Books said this on her comment

“I really like reading negative reviews – I think a lot of the time they’re way more informative than a glowing review. I just wrote a pretty negative one for my blog and writing negative reviews are so much easier to write!!”

I’m also scared of overselling the books

A couple of months ago I wrote a 1000-words, ultra glowing review of The Serpent King where I just flailed and rambled of why and how much I loved the book. People who read it were like “your review is so convincing” and “you make me wanna read this book so much” and “I GOTTA BUMP IT RIGHT UP MY TBR” and I was like… did I oversell it??! 😂

I mean, I know I didn’t. I know the book is so great it deserved all the hype and praises. I even explained in details WHY I loved the book, but still… when it comes to a great book like this, I rarely leave the room for the negatives. I don’t look for it, whereas when I write negative reviews I always try to look for something positive to balance it out. That’s why I’m afraid I overlook things that people might not enjoy and end up overselling it.

Is it okay if our review is all of the above?

It’s up to YOU. If you don’t mind your reviews to be all feels and all that, that’s fine. But if you’re like me and you want your reviews to not only portray your enthusiasm but also helpful for people who want to know the technical aspects, we need to work on it.

The truth is… I don’t know! I mean, I’m still working on it myself hahaha plus I didn’t say anything about giving advice on the title, right? 😛 But well, for the sake of this post being helpful, I am gonna list down some tricks that work for me 🙂

1. Maybe don’t post your review 10 seconds after you finish reading the book. I said don’t post, not don’t write, because I personally write my reviews as soon as I finish the book 😂 it’s easier for me because if I don’t do it right away, I will forget (plus I never take notes) buuut immediate reviews tend to be full of emotions and random flailing, so I usually take some times to let my thoughts sink it. Therefore I usually go back to edit my rave reviews before I post it.
2. There must be a reason why you love the book, you just have to find it. I can’t explain this one because to me this is something that comes naturally with practice. The more I review, the easier it is for me to explain the reason why some things work for me while the others don’t.
3. Break down the elements of the book to avoid praises like “THIS BOOK IS AMAZING”. You could love the book but dislike the tiny little elements, so this might help you write a more comprehensive review. However, if ALL the elements are amazing as well, you’ll probably end up praising each of them, which brings us to advice #4
4. Use different adjectives to avoid repetition. I mean, technically, you just replace the word amazing with something equal, but it will make a difference and make your review sounds less boring 😛 here’s a helpful guide to do so! ♥

Alright everyone, do you also struggle with writing positive reviews? What do you do to deal with it? Are my tricks helpful… or are they not? 😂 Share me your secrets because I’d love to hear your thoughts! ♥

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