My first reviews!
I started pleasure reading again back in 2013. I was mostly reading my daughter's books, and only leaving ratings on Goodreads. Then, the kid gave me a talking to about leaving my thoughts, and I started doing so. I mean, these thoughts were like a sentence. I found one early review that was just two words. I have come a long way since then. I joined WLABB at my daughter's request back in 2017, but I feel like I started reviewing my books a little more seriously after my first BEA/BookCon back in 2015. Because, I was not consistent until I joined the blog, I decided to share my first ten reviews from WLABB.
Note: It was pretty fun looking through all my old reviews on Goodreads. I was particularly fond of my review for Looking for Alaska. My favorite part of the review:
I loved it. I love John Green. He is unpredictable with a distinct voice that speaks volumes to me. My life with John Green:Wow! So much fangirling going on there. 😂
"The Fault in Our Stars" -- WAAAHHHHHHHHH!
"Paper Towns" -- Awwwwe.
"Will Grayson, Will Grayson" -- LOL
"An Abundance of Katherines" --- Awwwwe
"Looking for Alaska" -- WAAAAAAHHHH!
- Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
- Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist
- Poison's Kiss by Breeana Shields
- Lessons in Falling by Diana Gallagher
- By Your Side by Kasie West
- The Radius of Us by Marie Marquardt
- Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage
- Optimist Die First by Susan Nielsen
- The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend
- Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
How have your reviews evolved?
Let us know in the comments!
I really enjoyed By Your Side. I feel like a lot of people were disappointed because the "trapped in the library" aspect was relatively brief, but I thought is was such a good story. I loved the MC and how she handled her anxiety issues and how supportive her family was.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's a case of reality vs expectations with By Your Side, but I agree, liked it a lot. West always writes great families.
DeleteI spent like an hour reading my old posts for this and omg the cringe!
ReplyDeleteThis one took me a long time, because I couldn't decide how to approach it, and I was going through a LOT of GR reviews, in chronological order. Sometimes I feel like my reviews were a little better, because I didn't write as many. I feel repetitive sometimes, but I am writing like 8 reviews a week, whereas I used to only write a review if I was so compelled to do so.
DeleteGreat looking 10 books !! So many I loved and the rest are pretty much on my TBR or even physically on my shelf!
ReplyDeleteAll but 1 had great ratings for me. I hope you get to some of them.
DeleteI love your review of Looking for Alaska. So much fun! That's what I like to read in a review...honest thoughts, honest sharing. If I'm looking for a professional review, I'll take a look at Library Journal!
ReplyDeleteThat one cracked me up. I used to do too much summary, when I started, and now I do more reaction, and try not to fall into the "book report" review style, where I basically just tell the whole story and share little opinion.
DeleteMy reviews have evolved in that I do way more mini-reviews now. I think maybe I've gotten lazy about writing reviews?
ReplyDeleteI will tell you right now, when I open a review and it's like 30 paragraphs, I read the first and last one. I encounter too many reviews that are summary and very little opinion. Should an opinion really go on for as long as some reviews do? Nothing wrong with getting to the point, as long as you clearly explain your feelings about the book.
DeleteHaha, I love your John Green fangirling. I reacted pretty much the same way to his books.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
After I finished my daughter's dystopians, I started reading a lot of library books, and green was really popular at the time (2014-ish). It was love at first page.
DeleteI love the John Green review. Pretty much sums his books up though. LOL I really liked Goodbye Days and Labyrinth Lost. :)
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
Had to share that one, because it cracked me up. Zentner is always good for me. I think him and David Arnold are my new John Green.
DeleteHaha, the fangirling reminds me of when I discovered Rick Riordan lol!
ReplyDeleteMy co-bloggers are big Uncle Rick fans. I love fangirl reviews. They are always fun to read even if they aren't very informative
DeleteI was quite amused by the fangirling in your review. Funny!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT.
It was probably my favorite old review I found. Totally made me laugh.
DeleteOmg, I LOVE your John Green review! So many of my early reviews are probably like that as well lol
ReplyDeleteWhat, my reviews are still like that. Ha!
DeleteI was surprised to see Goodbye Days on your first reviews because to this day you've recommended me that one! So your love for it is going strong. It's always entertainig to look back on our first reviews ^.^
ReplyDeleteI will always recommend a Zentner book. They were all fabulous.
DeleteOptimists Die First sounds like such a good read.
ReplyDeleteHere is our Top Ten Tuesday.
I enjoy Nielsen's brand of humor, and her books - YA and MG, have all worked for me.
DeleteHa! I explained the plot more in my early reviews. Now I'm more about my feels. Not sure if that's good or bad lol
ReplyDeleteKaren @ For What It's Worth
Same. I think, when I first started reviewing, I modeled mine more after what I was seeing out there, but now, I think about what I want to see, and it's reaction. I want to know what you liked and how the book made you feel.
DeleteI need to know what this two word review says. "Real good"? "So bad"? I really need to pick up a Marie Marquardt novel.
ReplyDeleteIt said, "nerdy fun". Totally to the point
DeleteI didn't realize you joined the blogging world so recently!! It feels like you've been here forever. I lovedddd THE OTHER F-WORD.... not so much BEAUTIFUL BROKEN GIRLS-- too weird.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was started by my daughter and her friends when they were in high school (almost 6 years ago). When they all went to college, they couldn't keep up, so the kid asked if I wanted to do some posts. Then she gave her blessing for me to do what I wanted. I have enjoyed all the books I have read from Friend. BBG is my lowest rated on the list. It was odd, but I did think the writing was beautiful.
DeleteI love your quote from your John Green review! And your list is full of books I've never read... a lot of them I hadn't even heard of before this. Labyrinth Lost is going on my TBR list, though (if it isn't there already. My TBR list is scarily long.)
ReplyDeleteHe's still a fave for me. I tend towards the smaller, less hyped books for review, since I can get the BIG ones at the library.
DeleteOh nice! I wasn't real consistent myself when I started my blog. My reviews were somewhat terrifying. I cringe looking at them. Doesn't help that I never reformatted them with the blog changes. I'm content and maybe a tad lazy with my current theme, so hopefully that won't ever change! Lol.
ReplyDeleteHere's my Tuesday Post
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower :)
Part of me thinks some of my early reviews are better, because I wasn't writing as many. There are days, when I feel like I have no words left for my reviews.
DeleteFun! Love those John Green thoughts! And ooh I remember Poisons Kiss- that cover jumped out at me. I was like woah snake lol!
ReplyDeleteI liked the Poison's Kiss duology. The ending was so good. Still think of it and smile.
DeleteIf all you need is a few words to get the point across, I don't see anything wrong with that! I've read two of your books -- the Kasie West one and OPTIMISTS DIE FIRST. West is always fun, although I can't keep up with her. She publishes every other week, I swear!
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
West has been putting in a lot of writing time, and with her putting books out with Harper and Scholastic, there have been multiples each year. I am a solid fan of her's and try not to miss any.
DeleteHahaha I love that John Green review! XD Sometimes it doesn't take much to get a point across!
ReplyDeleteI often lament that some reviews could be a LOT shorter, if the person wasn't retelling the story. Cutting out summary makes my reviews shorter and more palatable, if you ask me. Tell me what you liked and how you felt. I don't need you to tell me so much of the story, that there is no need to actually read the book, you know?
DeleteI think these are new to me? A couple of them look familiar though.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to look back and see what people were reading when they started out this week.
These are just the books I blogged about first. I was reading all my daughter's dystopians and paranormals when I returned to pleasure reading.
DeleteLove & First Sight!!! I always forget about that book and I loved it! And Kasie West! Such a great author.
ReplyDeleteI wish more people screamed about Love & First Sight, because it was wonderful!
DeleteI have always loved the cover for Poison's Kiss! 🐍
ReplyDeleteThe covers for both the books in the duology were great, and I loved the way she ended it.
Delete*dies laughing* That Looking for Alaska review is THE BEST!
ReplyDeleteI really need to write more reviews like that, because it totally amused me.
DeleteI am so afraid of going back to my first reviews !!!
ReplyDeleteI will go back, and read early reviews, and think they are brilliant. I didn't used to write as many full on reviews, so I spent more time on them or maybe just had more words, because I wasn't writing as many. It was fun trip down memory lane.
DeleteI love that review for Looking for Alaska! Nothing wrong with a little fangirling. ;-)
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Fangirl reviews are my favorite. I love reading them and it's fun to write them. I hate having to say something not positive in a review. It pains me!
DeleteIt has been so much fun this week watching everyone look back on their early reviews. Love yours, especially the John Green one, lol.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was like "nope" for this topic, but then I enjoyed doing it and reading everyone's thoughts about it so much.
DeleteI was thinking that your first reviews were a lot of more recent books and then read what you write and realised they were just your first reviews from your blog. You read some good books.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter convinced me to start leaving reviews on GR and Amazon, when I really liked a book. I have almost 2000 books on my read-shelf in GR, and I have reviews written for many of them.
DeleteI don't know if I can go back and look at my starting reviews! I am going to BookCon this year!!! June 1 & 2nd. Are you going to be there?
ReplyDeleteMary
I always went to BookCon with my daughter, and last year she moved to Chicago, so we haven't been since 2017. I hope you have an amazing time.
DeleteSad to hear, I was hoping to meet someone from the blogging community and well it would have been super cool! =)
DeleteMary
My reviews at least look better than when I first started blogging! I don't think my style or content has changed that much though.
ReplyDeleteMine have definitely evolved. Not sure if they are better or worse, but I do approach them a little differently these days.
DeleteI love the Brooklyn Brujas series. :)
ReplyDeleteA series that I think got better with each book. I can't wait to see how it ends.
Delete