About Me: Which reviews do you read?

Posted August 30, 2014 by Lola in Lola's Ramblings / 10 Comments

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About Me is a feature on Lola’s Review where I talk about me. Usually these posts are everything that doesn’t fall under any standard header, like blog tours, book blitzes, cover reveals or review. About Me posts usually are about books, but are more personal discussions of a certain topic. If an About Me post is about a non-book topic it gets the non-book content posts tag.

Around the blogosphere I sometimes hear bloggers mention that their review posts aren’t their most popular post. And if I take a look at my own blog, my review posts usually have less comments then for example my Sunday Posts. I think that’s mainly because a post like the Sunday Post appeals to most bloggers and most have something to comment on it as I talk about myself, while with a review post only a limited amount of readers would be interested in reading that. So that brings me to the following question: Which reviews do you read?

Which reviews do I read?
When scrolling through my bloglovin feed I don’t click on a lot of reviews links, so which reviews do I decide to check out and what makes them different from those I don’t?
So here are some things that make me read a review post on a blog:

  • Reviews for books I’ve read. I guess this one is kinda obvious, if I see a review for a book I have read I usually check it out to see what other bloggers thought of the book. Also because I’ve read the book I always have some content for a comment as I can share some of my own opinion of the book.
  • Reviews for books I plan to read. I like to check out reviews for books I plan to read, just to see what people thought about it and sometimes they can even change my descision to read a book or not. I usually check out reviews for books I want to read on Goodreads, but if I see a review on a blog for a book I consider reading I often check it out. For example recently I’ve been reading some reviews for Isla and the Hapily after Ever (Anna and the French Kiss #3) by Stephanie Perkins and all the positive reviews for this series convinced me I want to give the first book in this series a try.
  • Reviews for books I consider to read. If I am not sure whether I want to read a book or not, I like to read some reviews of it. Usually on goodreads, but also on blogs. Those reviews often help me decide whether to add a book to my to-read list or not.
  • Reviews from a person who commented on my blog. When someone comments on my blog, I always try to comment back. Sometimes it can be hard to find a post to comment on and then it can happen I comment on a review for a book I had no intention of reading or never even heard of. I remember a few instances where reading such a review actually convinced me I wanted to read it!
  • Reviews that somehow catch my attention. This are all those reviews I read because something in the blurb or most often the cover caught my attention and I want to know more about the book and the reviewer’s opinion about it.
  • Reviews from my favourite bloggers. I sometimes read reviews for books by my favourite bloggers, because I value their opinion and enjoy reading their reviews.
  • Reviews for books a blogger specifically mentions to love or hate. There are a lot of memes and posts with lists around the blogosphere, anything from ‘best books I read this year’ to specific genres. In this case I can be tempted to check out someone’s reviews for a book if it is mentioned in a list of some kind.
  • Reviews for books I heard a lot about. It can be fun to read reviews for books that get a lot of publicity, I like reading what people thought of such a book. Even while I might have no motivation to ever read the book, it can still be fun to read the reviews.

This seems like a long list of things that can make me decide to read a review. But in reality it happens more often that I come across a review post and decide not to read it. There are a lot of reviews out there and a lot of books and while I can decide to read a review for a lot of different reasons, the chance is still higher that I won’t read a review post.

Reviews on my blog
I like writing reviews and I would say that one of the reasons I started this blog was to share my reviews of books I read. So it is kinda surprising when I realize that those posts actually aren’t the posts that get most attention. On the other hand I do get it, because I don’t read that many reviews books on other blogs and it can be difficult to leave a comment on a review post if you haven’t read or aren’t interested in the book. So while I things it makes sense that review posts don’t get that much attenion, it also seems a bit weird that review post which are usually one of the main focusses of a book blog aren’t the posts that get most attention.

So my question to you is:

Which reviews do you read?

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10 responses to “About Me: Which reviews do you read?

    • I have to admit that negative reviews can be amusing, although it depends on the reviewer. But yeah I’ve been know to read low rating reviews as well. In general I think I do read more positive reviews.

  1. The biggest draw for me on picking a review to read is cover. If I like the cover I’m more likely to check out the review. I read a lot of reviews though. I think it’s interesting seeing what people think on different things. It’s always surprising to me how many reviewers don’t read reviews. I know quite a few like that.
    anna@herding cats & burning soup recently posted…Tasty Delights/Cookbook Review–Meatless All Day by Dina Cheney–ALT Sandwiches w/ FriscoMy Profile

    • I do read reviews, but if I am not interested in the book I probably won’t read the review either. The cover is really important for me, when reading a review of a book I don’t know.

  2. I don’t read reviews for books I want to read unless I’m not sure if I want to read it or not and looking for an opinion. I tend to read reviews on my favorite blogs but I like original content a lot better. Sometimes a post that tells about books or a weekly wrap up. That makes the post more original. I don’t comment on blogs just because they comment on me and if I do I tend to look through the blog to see what interest me and not just read the one that commentluv picks. Like these post of yours are great and I love reading and comment on them when I can.
    Michelle@Because Reading recently posted…Not a Review of The Forbidden Library #MyTBRLMy Profile

    • I read almost all discussion type of posts I come across on bloglovin for blogs I follow. Although I like reviews, discussion type posts are just the kind of posts where you always have something to say and they are very interesting to read.
      Sometimes I comment on the post communtluv picks, but if that one doesn’t interest me I always look at the other recent posts on that blog to see if I find something more interesting.

      And thanks! I love writing these posts and reading people’s comments on them, although comming up with a topic can be difficult at times.

  3. It’s funny because the only thing I read on blogs (most of the time) are… reviews !
    I don’t care about cover reveals, or what book is going to be released or what book is being released and what the cover is going to be like and so on because let’s face it, when you visit blogs with the same interests as yours, they *all* advertize for the same books.
    I love reading reviews because it allows me to know about books I would never hear about otherwise, or read different opinions that allow me to make my own. These days, I tend to avoid contemporary romances (because of the drama llama) and focus on paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi or thrillers but if I’m familiar with the reviewer, I’ll read her review whatever the genre is.
    Apart from that, I love to hear about the people themselves, how they came to blog, what problems they meet as bloggers… or anything else, depends on the time I have to surf the web.
    Of course, I read anything with cats, but I grew to like rats too 😉
    Red Iza recently posted…Review / Penny Reid : Neanderthal seeks human : A smart romance (Knitting in the city #1)My Profile

    • I agree it’s true it sometimes seems like the blogs I visit all advertise the same books, although even during blog tours, cover reveals and such there can be original content. I mostly read reviews, discussion type posts and recap posts like the Sunday Post. As I find those most interesting to read and they are easy to comment on.
      I certainly love reading reviews, there just are a lot of reviews that I don’t read as well.

      Your comment about rats made me smile 🙂

  4. I hate to just say “I agree with everything you wrote” but seriously.. I agree with it all. Reviews aren’t something I always look at either. I just sometimes have nothing to say. Especially on all the blog tour reviews. I do love to read reviews on some blogs no matter what the book is… then I read them all!!
    Angie @Angela’s Anxious Life recently posted…Sunday PostMy Profile

    • Thanks for stopping by! While I love reading reviews, there are just so many reviews out there and if I am not interested in the book or blogger I’ll probably won’t read the review.

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