@Keira Soleore:
“Personally, I don’t see why a reviewer wouldn’t want to have this be above board. After all, being honest increases readers’ respect for integrity about reviews.”
Exactly. After all, what’s there to hide?

@Nicola O.: Like you, I usually read several reviews of books I’m interested in buying. If a book is liked by a few reviewers whose taste usually mirrors mine, then I’m inclined to buy it.

@heidenkind:
“Besides, I think you can sense when most people are being disingenuous.”
Very true.

Whether or not I buy a book rarely– actually, I’m going go out on a limb and say NEVER– depends on what one single blogger has to say. For a new author, I still rely a lot on the blurb, a sample page or two to get a feel for the writing, and sometimes overall reputation or buzz. And sometimes just because it has a pretty cover.

Also, I tend not to go by reviews much. I find it blows the story for me too much. However, if I enjoyed the book and like the reviewer from elsewhere in Romancelandia, I’ll read their review for the pleasure of a well-written piece.

Having gotten to know people over time, I can spot their biases and so take their recommendations with the appropriate grain/pinch/shovelful of salt.

And then of course there are the review sites that will simply not rate a book lower than 3.5 and mostly in the 4′s and 5′s. I distrust them.

But if I get a bit slapped about, if I think there’s a preponderance (sorry, is that spelled right?) of books by one publisher rather than another, or there’s “an agenda”, well then I get hypercritical.

Let’s spell this out in brass tacks: one site could review nothing but HQN titles but if I respected them and their reviews, well whatever … I’m there and I take them at face value. But that wouldn’t/doesn’t necessarily hold true across the board for me. I guess I prefer lots of info: like are you reviewing someone you’re really close to, a critique partner, oh, you’re a writer … you get the drift. I really don’t really care or think about this stuff until something extraneous raises a red flag and then I go all ovaries to the wall. Not really very analytical eh?

While I honestly can’t see how my writing affects my impressions of the books I read, I respect the fact that it’s important to some visitors to know that I also write romance.

@Keishon: Well said, Keishon. Most of the review blogs on my blog roll are ones I’ve been visiting for a while. I’ve gotten to know the bloggers’ tastes and interests, and seen how they grade the books they review. I agree with you that it all comes down to how I perceive a particular blogger. When I spoke about being sceptical about published authors who review books, I’d forgotten about Lynn Connolly, one of the reviewers at The Good, the Bad and the Unread. I know Lynn is a published author, but I’ve always enjoyed her reviews. As you said, it all comes down to the person.

@LVLM: I’m also wary of sites which never seem to give below 4.5 stars, for example. Perhaps their policy is only to review those books which they enjoyed, but it definitely puts me off visiting them.

@Wendy:
“Not every book blogger is one-size-fits-all.”
So, so true! And those who try to please the masses rarely succeed.
I’m also with you re: authors who behave badly. Unless I discover an author I’ve previously enjoyed is a convicted paedophile, or something equally heinous, their personality rarely affects my enthusiasm for their books.

@Lori:
“I don’t care if you’re a writer, if you got an ARC, or whatever. Do your tastes match mine? Ok then.”
That was pretty much my thinking when I started visiting review blogs and started my own. Recent discussions on Twitter and elsewhere got me thinking more deeply about this topic, but ultimately, shared taste in books is what really matters to me.

@K.C. (Smokinhotbooks):
“I do not like published popular author’s reviews of other authors. This seems more of a marketing plan vs a well thought out review. “
Exactly. Unless the author in question has a proven track record of providing reviews with a variety of grades, I can’t take them seriously.

I do not like published popular author’s reviews of other authors. This seems more of a marketing plan vs a well thought out review. Great food for thought!

2) What Keishon said. Exactly. Of course this does make “work” for the blog reader. I tend to lurk on newbie blogs for a while, to get a “feel” for the blogger. And sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. But hey, that’s the Internet. Not every book blogger is one-size-fits-all.