Another week of school is done and I am very excited to start the weekend (I don’t have to study as much haha)! Today’s topic for Let’s Talk Bookish hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books is the question whether bloggers have to review every book they read. Let’s get started!
My definite answer: no
Bloggers are allowed to post or write whatever they want, whether that be reviews, tags or discussions. Reviews are always very important for me because it’s what I base my TBR on, but there should be in no way be a pressure to review every book you read.
Reviewing bad books can also be a guideline
I know many bloggers that don’t review books which they rate only one or two stars, but instead write about them in tags or discussions. I get why people wouldn’t want to only talk down a book because it’s the work of someone and somebody poured their heart into it. I never write reviews about the books I don’t finish, but I do like to read about blogger’s experiences and how they handle a certain situation, meaning where is their cut for not continuing, why do they give the book one and not two stars etc…
I often base my TBR on other people’s reviews and therefore reading many reviews has its upsides for me, either prioritizing a book or deleting it completely. And because I think many people also tend to do that, reviewing bad books can also be a guideline!
Reviews might not be as “creative” as other posts
Many people believe that reviews are the conventional types of posts to publish and would much rather read tags, discussions or any other creative post that isn’t just one’s opinion on a certain book. To be honest, I also tend to enjoy discussions or tags more because I love the Q&A theme and also enjoy seasonal posts or pictures and all that “creative” stuff most people love! So I get why people wouldn’t want to write a review for every single book if most people enjoy more creative content. Furthermore, it is true (at least on my blog and I’ve talked with a bunch of other bloggers and they agreed!) that reviews tend to get the lowest like average while tags and discussions are more likely to be liked… On my blog, it’s often a 10-20 likes difference and that with every post I write!
conclusion
So, reviewing every book can be a guideline for readers, yet it should never be mandatory. On the other hand, many people enjoy the more creative posts like tags and discussions and are not as drawn to reviews as one might think… Personally, I write a review for every book I read and also enjoy doing so!
Final conclusion: do what feels right and never let anyone else talk you out of doing something you love! Enjoy your weekend and happy reading!
Blogger Books 
I don’t ever review books that I DNF because I don’t feel like I can give an honest full opinion. If I finish a book I try to always write a review (preference, not because I think I have to). If it’s not a book I love, I just put my review on Goodreads as a record to myself really. If I think it’s worth encouraging others to read, then I share it on my blog. I like to think of my blog as my happy space. As to your question, I agree that bloggers should be able to review whatever they want, however they want. Nice post!
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Same here! I also just sometimes have nothing to say because I just didn’t click with the book and that’s just not worth writing a whole review about, I just mention it somewhere then!
I also think of my blog as my happy space and am also really passionate about sharing my favorite books because I want everyone to have the great experience I had! And thanks so much, happy reading!
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Sometimes- even for books I generally like- I simply can’t think of anything to say. So reviewing every book I read would probably not work out well 😉
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Same here! Sometimes I just didn’t enjoy a book but can’t express that feeling with words… like just not connecting – there’s no explanation, it just didn’t click! Thanks for commenting and happy reading!
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Great blog! I’m very new to writing blog post, and as a newbie I felt a lot of pressure to write book reviews. I’ve written about my favourite book by Laura Purcell, but other than that, I tend not to like writing reviews unless I really love a book or feel that I could write about it for agessss! Otherwise I leave reviews and goodreads – or like you suggested, get involved in the comments! 🙂
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Thanks so much! Totally understandable, I was the same at first! Sometimes I have troubles expressing my feeling using the right words and then I decide against writing a review! I also love to comment and read other reviews, it’s a great way of getting in contact!
And good luck to you, I’m sure you’ll write great reviews! Happy reading!
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Totally agree! I find it so useful to read other reviews and chat with others about it!
And thank you so much!
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You’re welcome! And yesss!!
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Lovely post Jane… I kinda agree that I try to write reviews for every book I read, but I do end up not being able to do that for some books.. maybe I just don’t have things to say for some books and I just write a few lines for them in my GR review.. but for others where I have a lot to say, whether it’s praise or a rant, I try to express as much of it as I can…
And I totally agree that reviews are important.. they are my personal favorites to read as well and I read a lot of them for every book before I decide to add it to my tbr.. and I think I do like writing them the most, even if they don’t get the same engagement…
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Thanks so much! Me too, sometimes I just think a book was bad but can’t express my feelings through words and then decide against writing a review (mainly because it would suck content wise haha)
Me too! I do a lot of research for the books I read and reviews are my main source of judgement! And while I also love writing reviews, I sometimes have troubles deciding how to phrase certain aspects because I don’t want to talk down a book or hype it too much! Happy reading and thanks for commenting! 😍
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Wow you are actually very wise about writing reviews then if you are already thinking about the phrasing and unnecessary hyping… I’m all about writing how I felt and what I liked or didn’t like.. I think I just try to make it a post about my feelings about it rather than if I want to recommend to others… but I guess I do end creating a lot of hype if I love a book too much 😂😂😂
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Haha it sounds wiser than it actually is lol! And I also create a lot of hype easily! I’m a very hyped reader, I really almost read every hyped YA book out there lol!
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Ya I’m totally the same… I remember writing a post about 10 things I look for before I pick up a book and the first point was hype 😜😜😜 Reviewing hyped YA books is the best way to have conversations 😊😊😊
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YESSSS!!!! And the best thing is that the hype is almost always justified! And then everyone freaking out about that awesome book together is so much fun!
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Great post!!! I’m very much a reviewer type person and I write some sort of review for every book I read. The bulk of my blog is book reviews whether they be books I adored or books I didn’t. Reviewing books be they good or bad is what brings me the most joy when creating posts for my blog :)))
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Thanks so much! Also for commenting 🤓🤓 I also write reviews for every book because it helps me make up my mind completely! And I wish reviews were the majority of posts but I’m not able to read as many books in a week as I write book tag posts hahahah! And I really enjoy answering tag questions haha!
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I agree with you! You definitely don’t have to review everytghing you read, it is your blog, do whatever you want!
Also reviews for books you didn’t like can be very useful! I might decide that I would like the books based on the things the reviewer didn’t!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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Totally agreed! And yes, bad reviews are super helpful! Of course, I don’t agree with everyone’s opinion, but it’s good to have a general expectation about the book!
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This is an interesting discussion and I agree with what you’ve said. I think as well, writing reviews takes time—time that you might prefer to spend reading or writing other blog posts or (dare I say) doing another hobby!
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Exactly! I often don’t have time to write my blog because of sports, friends and school and sometimes I feel like other people don’t understand… There are so many bloggers who post every day or every second day, but I just can’t accomplish that!
Thanks for commenting, happy reading!
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Great post, Jane!! The thing with reviews garnering less “attention” than other creative posts is so true and can be so frustrating. It kind of makes me not want to write reviews, because people don’t really engage with them, and also because they can be time consuming as well as pretty boring. But they’re also the backbone of the book blogging community, and like you said, are also super helpful when it comes to adding and removing books from one’s TBR, so they are still super important.
I don’t really like reviewing books that I rated negatively, unless it was horrible and I need to scream about my frustrations, but I know how valuable they are as well. So, you just have to do what you want, and what works for you. If you want to review a book then fine, if you don’t, nobody can tell you what or what not to do.
Thanks for participating love 💖
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Thanks so much! I know, the “attention” is also sometimes the reason I’m hesitating about writing, and I also don’t enjoy reviews as much as writing tags/discussions!
Yes, exactly, reviews really are the backbone, great way to put it!!!!
And yes, that’s the best you can do!
And happy reading to you!
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