FIVE HEARTS from The Romance Studio
Reviewer: Brenda Talley
http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/texasblueyeary.htm
Celia says: Last year, I took on the task of reviewing romance novels for a particular site. My career as a reviewer lasted about eight months, as I recall, enough for me to realize…it ain’t easy. First, it’s rather time-consuming, because I felt dedicated to reading the entire book, and then writing the review. In all candor, I have read reviews in which I believed the reviewer did not read the book, but used the blurb and maybe an excerpt to write a decent review. This actually can be done, I suppose, and by no means am I denigrating the practice. It’s not up to me to decide if it’s right or wrong, for there may be instances in which it’s either necessary or perhaps practical. Needless to say, an author most probably can tell if the reviewer did read the book.
Writing the actual review became a pleasurable creative activity…that is, if I thought the book deserved a high score. Now, this is the really difficult part—assigning a one through five number of whatever the site uses to a particular novel. I found that I actually lost sleep over it. Let me cut to the chase here—I gave more fours than anything, maybe a couple of threes, but if it fell below a three in my viewpoint, I turned the book back to the site. I just could not bring myself to tell an author her book was a piece of garbage and I wondered how the manuscript got past an editor. Well, I wouldn’t do that anyway, because as a reviewer, we should find something positive to write about the novel. Again, my opinion, here, and by no means am I an expert—I know just enough to be dangerous, I suppose.
One book in all those months caught my attention and I gave it a five. When the author discovered it, she was so thrilled she wrote a long message to me, saying she’d e-mailed every family member and every friend she had on the face of the earth gushing over the five. Well, that made a big impression on me, knowing I had made her so happy. But she’d done the work—she had written a wonderful book.
I stopped reviewing books for a number of reasons. One was the time factor—it took away from my own writing and blogging time. I also had to review a certain number each month with no compensation—and I’m not talking about money. Couldn’t do it.
One day I will do reviews again, and I have already promised one site that I’ll work for them when I do. I found that I like it, and I try to do a good job.
All this is to say thank you to reviewers, and especially today, I’m recognizing The Romance Studio for a Five Hearts Review for my latest release, TEXAS BLUE, a Western Historical Romance. This is not the first five I have received, but for reasons known only to me, I have worried over this novel. I had received two wonderful fours, and those made me very happy, that after all, I had done a decent job. But when I received this five, I did a little dance, and shed a little tear. The reviewer was Brenda Talley, and I loved the five…but…I especially loved the fact that she read the book, and clearly understood my plot and my characters. That means so much to me. Thank you, TRS--
Celia Yeary
Romance…and a little bit o' Texas
TEXAS BLUE-eBook and Print
SHOWDOWN IN SOUTHFORK—eBook
ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-eBook and Print
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
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