Into the Fire

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Friday Five

 

                            
Gold-number-5

Almost finished with No Easy Day by Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer.

Next up is Placebo by Steven James.

Five books staring at me right now impatiently waiting their turns:

the making of isaac hunt by Linda Leigh Hargrove

The Telling by Mike Duran

Borders of the Heart by Chris Fabry

Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin

40 by Travis Thrasher

Waiting on Kristen Heitzmann's new one The Breath of Dawn.

My fifth point is a question for you: Do you use reviews to decide if you want to read a particular novel?

 

Father, you've blessed me so much in so many ways. I'm so grateful. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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10 responses to “Friday Five”

  1. Barb Riley Avatar
    Barb Riley

    I am inexplicably drawn to reviews, and I can’t undo my fascination with them. However, they don’t necessarily determine whether or not I’ll read a book. Whenever I load up with a bunch of books at, say, my library’s book sale, one of my favorite little pleasures is to come home and look them all up on goodreads and amazon and see what all the reviews say. I have no idea why. I guess I just like to see what others’ opinions are. How about you, Nicole?

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  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    I read a few reviews AFTER I read a book, so, no, reviews don’t influence whether or not I buy a book. It’s an exceedingly rare time I’ll read a review before I read a book. However, if I really enjoy a book, I will give it a good review in hopes that I can influence others to invest their time/money on it.
    Thanks, Barb, for answering the question. You’re a good reason to keep writing them! 😉

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  3. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    I rarely choose books based on reviews, although I read reviews after I’ve read the book to see if others felt the same way about it. All too often books get glowing reviews for what I deem is an okay story.
    Good choices of reading selections above. I’ve ordered Placebo and am waiting for it to arrive. I’m also looking forward to reading Borders of the Heart and The Breath of Dawn. I’ve already read The Telling, Wrapped in Rain (loved it!), and 40, all excellent choices.
    Right now I’m reading Contingency by Paula Wiseman–it’s quite good.

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  4. BK Jackson Avatar
    BK Jackson

    I only occasionally read reviews beforehand. I’m more of a stickler than most–I don’t like people to give away anything about the story, and nearly every review does. It ruins the process of discovery for me.
    I also find that most folks are way too soft on the books they’re reviewing, which if any influence, drives me AWAY from reading books.
    I tend to read reviews after, to see if people picked up on the same good and bad points I did.

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  5. Tim George Avatar
    Tim George

    Here’s the things about reviews. Many people say they don’t read them before buying a book. I understand their reasons (like you Nicole). At the same time, they are the life blood of a site like Amazon. No reviews, no stars. No stars, a book gets buried in searches for the genre a person likes to read. Same is true in book stores. No notice, few lookers and even fewer buyers. And the beat goes on.

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  6. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Bren and Brenda, I agree about the superlative reviews being overdone. I mostly do the review thing on Amazon when it’s required by the publisher for reviewing a book. I rarely read them there but do occasionally. I usually read reviews from friends I trust (i.e. Bren and Tim here) and again it’s after I’ve read the book because as Brenda said, so many give away too much. So when you see a high octane review from me, it means I’m sold out for the book.
    Tim, you’re right. I have few and zero reviews on Amazon. I have little traffic there for my novels. Not sure reviews would help my sales unless a bunch of them showed up suddenly, but I agree they fuel the purchases – or at least the interest – in books. How ’bout you, Tim? Do reviews influence your interest or purchase of a book?

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  7. BK Jackson Avatar
    BK Jackson

    Whether or not we read reviews doesn’t preclude posting of reviews. It’s a separate thing. I’m just saying I’m not going to read a review BEFORE reading the book–but I likely will after. So to me, one doesn’t exclude the other.

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  8. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    I don’t read them before the book either. I agree they’re useful and definitely serve a purpose. Some people maybe aren’t such good or bad references and don’t really give decent reviews, but, hey, so far it’s a free country. So far.

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  9. Tim George Avatar
    Tim George

    In fact, as odd as it sounds, sometimes negative reviews often make me want to see for myself if it’s something I might not have read otherwise. I’m the same way with movies – let whatever supposed all-knowing critic tell me it was terrible, and I might just want to go see it. I guess it’s the latent revel in me.

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  10. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    I’ll definitely respond to the leaning-toward-negative film reviews in the two to two and a half stars range because today’s film critics tend to exalt the truly secular/humanistic films so I don’t trust a lot of their reviews. Generally speaking, however, if they give a one star review, the film pretty much is atrocious and just another waste of lots of dollars.
    Since I don’t (generally) check reviews before reading a novel, I won’t know until afterward if the reviews were negative or positive. I will say if I don’t plan on reading a novel, I might read a review of it. And I did read your review of Kirk Outerbridge’s sequel, deciding to read it from your review. Wasn’t disappointed.

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