Saturday, April 11, 2015

Reviewing the Reviewer

You know how it is with reviews. If you write, or do anything in the public eye you'll get some sort of review, or write-up about how you did.

With four of my vampire series (and btw these books are NOT paranormal romance, they are urban fantasy, but publisher went with paranormal romance, and I really really wish he hadn't), out and under Creativia's helm, I've got two that have gone on sale for $0.99. Ascension and Trill.

Lately I've had two reviews by reviewer who goes by the name of E. Foly I got a 3-star review on Ascension, and got a 4-star one for Trill. From her profile I'm easily to determine this is a woman. And if you care to check out her profile which I've provided, she's never given anyone a 5-star review. Even those books she really likes. She's a stickler for punctuation, and spelling, and possibly other issues. After reading a number of her other reviews, I'm happy with a three. Believe me. I dread to see what she might say of number three, but here is her review of Trill. Since her highest rating is a 4, I think I did pretty good in her reading eyes.

In this one, Sabrina learns that she will indeed turn at the full moon. At least Dante is there to help her... and their relationship is interesting and complicated.

And then lets make it more complicated by adding all the men/vampires/demons/shifters/wolves who want to sleep with her:

-- Vasyl, the sexy French master vamp who's been protecting her his entire vampire life.
-- Hobart, the dreadlocked Wolf
-- Bill, her neighbor's grandson who is not what he seems
-- Tremayne, the master vamp who can't resist her and summons her to donate blood so he can build up a tolerance
-- Jacob, an incubus she meets on the way to the Dark Realm

Good lord.

But what made this better than book 1 was the connection she forged with Dante... and the ending which was bittersweet because they love each other and can't be with each other. So I rounded up from 3.5 stars. There are still significant issues with homonyms and typos which weaken the writing rather than strengthen it.

9 comments:

  1. Well, it does work- and you want a variety of reviews.

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  2. That's true, William. Better to get a 3- or 4-star than none.

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  3. Some reviewers just save that 5-star ranking for a very select few books. 4 starts are good.

    Miika tagged Chasing the Wind as a paranormal--something I would never have thought of (to me, paranormal is ghosts, shapeshifters, vampires, werewolves, etc., not the kind of supernatural activity I wrote about--but it seems to be translating into sales, so I'm good with it. I'd be yelling my head off if it were backfiring.

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  4. Yep. I guess I would be too. But still...

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  5. Three is good from a tough reviewer. And at least she was interested enough in the book to purchase, read, and give a thoughtful review. It sounds like she'll get the next book, which means you did your job.

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    1. Oh, for sure, Heather. At first I felt disappointed, but once I saw her other reviews, I figure 4 is good! She's probably reading the third one by now!

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  6. No matter, your books are great. I've read some A plus grammar and punctuation stuff that put me to sleep.

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    1. Haha! Me Too! If you don't have a story, or if the reader can't associate with the characters enough to care about them, and what happens to them, then no amount of good grammar will excuse the writing.

      And thank you, Shelly. You're a dear!

      Delete
    2. Haha! Me Too! If you don't have a story, or if the reader can't associate with the characters enough to care about them, and what happens to them, then no amount of good grammar will excuse the writing.

      And thank you, Shelly. You're a dear!

      Delete

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