I went into this topic a little bit on a previous post during this challenge. I personally have to write my reviews immediately after I finish a book or everything about it starts to fade for me, and then I don't feel like I'm doing it justice with my review. So there's the simple answer, but if I just leave it at that, this is going to be a very short blog post, and I just don't think I can do that right now. So prepare yourself to go deep inside my head as we explore my review process.
So I have to read my books in the order that the reviews are due. Books with no review deadlines are like black holes for me, and I'm becoming increasingly reluctant to take them on because I feel like I don't treat them with the appropriate respect. If a book has no review deadline I have no problem putting it off to the side in favor of reading something else with an impending deadline, and while I can keep story lines straight while reading multiple books at the same time, I can't provide satisfactory blog reviews when I do that. Maybe if I was better about taking notes while reading I could, but taking notes feels like writing in the book (yes, even the ebook) and I don't like writing in my books. My other option would be to stop signing up for blog tours with review deadlines and only accept books with no deadlines and then just read them in the order they are received (that might be a better course of action actually.)
When I finish reading a book, I sit down and write up my Goodreads/Amazon review, which is usually shortish, hitting the highlights of what I liked and didn't like about a book. Then I usually get out my handy dandy notebook and write up my long review for the blog longhand. For me, that is easier than trying to fit the blog tour info around a review I already have typed up on Blogger. It also allows me to write my reviews anywhere in the house instead of just sitting at my desk. If I manage to finish a book while my son is working on his schoolwork at the dining room table, I sit down across from him and work on writing my blog review. It works quite well.
I mentioned in my last post that when I write a review for the blog, I like to start it with a brief personal synopsis of the book I read, and then write my thoughts out from there. I usually follow a pattern where the first paragraph consists of my likes, the second paragraph consists of my dislikes, and then I conclude with my overall rating, and what about the book justified that rating. I'm pretty sure my high school English teachers would be proud of my book review "essays."
So there you have it. And yes, my review process is as hard to understand as this explanation of it has been. - Katie
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