• Like my friend Kelly, I like to start my review as soon as I finish the book. It’s very rare that I’ll postpone a review till later in the week or month, which could be tempting since many of the ARC’s I read won’t be published till months after I read them.
• Even though book blogging has no hard & fast rules, I still try to write in journalistic form. I want a hook at the top, nice flow between paragraphs, and a sharp close.
• My biggest weakness is a tendency to over-summarize the story. I’m trying not to do that as much.
• Very few books are just soup-to-nuts perfect. If there’s something minor that bugs me about a great book, I’ll mention it, but point out that it was a tiny little complaintlet. Similarly, even the most horrible books tend to have one redeeming trait. When I two-starred “Tender is the Night,” for example, I went off on the nebulous plot and flat characters, but I still gave F. Scott Fitzgerald credit for having some lovely imagery and beautiful prose. It was the truth.
• If I review a book that has been published, I’ll copy the review to Amazon.com. However, if I trash a book–especially with Indie authors–I won’t put it on Amazon. I don’t want my two-star rating next to the author’s name and the “Purchase” button.
• My language and tone differ from review to review, depending on what book I read. My review of “Rape Girl” is very serious, where my review of a lighthearted YA-Paranorma. novel might be a lot snarkier. I let the book’s style dictate my own. Unless, of course, the book is serious and terrible, in which case I’ll destroy it with fusillades of sarcasm missiles.
• I just write for myself. I’m not trying to create a blogging persona or anything. I’m just some guy who enjoys reading books and writing about them, so that’s what I do. I let the review come out naturally, then sharpen it during the edit.
• If anyone reads my reviews and develops an opinion about a book, that’s just really awesome gravy.
• Those are the basic quirks I can think of at the moment. I’m sure there are more I haven’t identified.
• More likely, I’m just in denial. 😉

Happy Tuesday. Besos, t