Dear Reader, are you okay?

I’m about a third of the way through writing book 25 at the moment and am finding it a struggle to concentrate in this muggy weather because I’m so tired. Procrastination is rife and I’ve fallen into a bad habit of writing a few hundred words then clicking off my manuscript and getting distracted with something online. 

My latest distraction has been to check my reviews. Behind the scenes on Amazon, authors can access something called Author Central. It shows reviews by country rather than title so an author like me who reads their reviews can see all their most recent ones gathered together without having to click into each individual book.

Most reviews are lovely and the vast majority of mine are 5-star. It’s lovely reading what has resonated with a reader about a book and some are so kind about my writing as a whole, giving me such a boost to keep going. I thought this would therefore be a nice quick distraction before returning to my MS.

But occasionally a 1- or 2-star review creeps in there. They’re usually only a few sentences long so there’s a quick sting and I can move on but today I spotted probably the longest 1-star rant anyone has left me for any of my books. This one was for Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow, the first book in the Hedgehog Hollow series.

As I’ve said many times, we can’t all like the same thing and what one person loves, another might hate and that’s fair enough. We don’t all like the same genres of work and, within a genre, we won’t all like books by the same author. What makes books different is the author’s voice and sometimes that voice just doesn’t gel with readers and that’s fair enough. But when something isn’t a reader’s cup of tea, is it okay for them to get personal and insult the author?

I’ve attached a screen shot of the review but I appreciate you might not be able to read that so I’m going to share and go through each point.

Readers are invited to give their reviews a title. The two reviews either side of this one are for different books but they’re all 5-stars with the titles: An emotional and heartwarming read, Another perfect book from Jessica Redland, A feel good tale of love and friendship and Brilliant as always. Awww! So it’s a little jarring to have a 1-star in the midst with the title: Utterly predictable story and not very well written. Ouch!

‘Predictable’ is a bug bear of so many authors of romance stories and is bandied about as an insult far too often. Of course it’s predictable! It’s a romance story and therefore boy and girl (if it’s a straight romance) are going to get together at some point and we know who they are because they’re typically both mentioned in the blurb – it is, after all, their story. Even if the main character’s love interest isn’t mentioned in the blurb by name, we know who they are at the point they appear in the book or why would the author introduce that character at all? In this case, the reader has gone on to explain what they mean by ‘predictable’ in the main body of the review so I’ll come back to this in a moment.

The next part of the title where they claim the book is ‘not very well written’ is a different matter and feels very personal as though that person is deliberately wanting to hurt me. I’ll say more on this later too as the final paragraph of the review returns to this point.

So we move onto the actual review, starting with the ‘predictable’ explanation. Here’s what it says…

Story line [sic] was totally predictable from the start – knew as soon as Sam met Thomas that they woudl [sic] become besties and he would leave her the farm…

While I appreciate that there are some readers who dive in without reading a book’s blurb, this information is given on the blurb of the book:

But when a chance encounter leads Sam to find friendship in Thomas - a lonely, grumpy elderly widower living at derelict Hedgehog Hollow - her life is about to change forever.

Glad to have a distraction from family feuds and match-making, Sam vows to fulfil Thomas and his wife, Gwendoline's, dreams of restoring Hedgehog Hollow to its former glory, and to open a hedgehog rescue centre.

Can a reader really claim predictability about that point when it is there in black and white and is actually the plot of the book?

The review goes on with a second point around predictability …

… Also so obvious who would turn out to be the love of her life (booooorring!!!!!) as they started off being so dislikeable.

This reads to me as though someone finding the love of their life is ‘booooorring!!!!!’which does beg the question as to why on earth this reader chose a book in this genre if they don’t like reading about people finding love. I don’t think they could possibly claim that they didn’t realise it was a romance book. The words ‘Finding Love…’ in the title are a pretty big clue, the blurb backs this up and the pink cover also screams it.

As for it being predictable that the love interest is going to be that because ‘they started off being so dislikeable’, I beg to differ. This is one of many tropes for a pairing. Yes, readers might recognise it when it appears but that’s because tropes and romance novels go hand in hand. What’s not predictable is the journey. How will they get together? When? Will it be easy-going? What obstacles will they face? Those aspects are not necessarily predictable in a romance story and, even when they are, why is that a negative thing? Surely it’s comfortable watching what you hope will happen unfold?

The review then goes on to criticise every single character. We start with the main character, Samantha…

Also Sam was a totally one-dimentional [sic] character – no one is that good-hearted all of the time and yet so irritating as she had no backbone and never fought back when most normal human-beings would. Noone is that much of a door-mat nor craves affirmation in the way that she did from the awful members of her family.

This isn’t the first time that Sam has been criticised for being kind-hearted and that is often accompanied, like in this case, by a suggestion that people like that don’t exist. This idea breaks my heart. Does this mean that those readers have never met a genuinely nice, kind individual who does put others first in an effort to keep the peace, who prefers to see the good in people and seeks to understand and help them rather than go on the attack? People like Sam do exist. *Sending emergency friends package*.

Another point to make here, however, is that books take readers on a journey with the main character. That MC starts in one place and ends up in another, having learned something and changed in some way. If they didn’t, it’d just be a story of everyday routine life and who wants to read that? If the author is writing a series, that overall character arc is going to take a little longer. Across the series, Samantha has moments where she does stand up for herself and push back, emerging stronger as a result. But she never loses the kindness and desire to see the best in others.

The reviewer moves on from Sam to the rest of the characters…

The other characters as well were stereotypes – the fragile and damaged cousin, the attractive but wimpy ex boyfriend, the gay friends the best friend who had a good marriage and a lovely husband, supportive Dad with Queen Witch of a mother – and so on and so on …

Stereotypes? Really? The cousin (Chloe) is damaged but she couldn’t be less fragile and I don’t remember reading many books myself with cousins in a main role. Cousin isn’t a natural stereotype.

James as the ‘attractive but wimpy ex’ isn’t a stereotype either. Quite often the ex is a bad boy who has cheated/lied but even that isn’t a stereotype – it’s life!

How is it stereotypical to have gay friends? Sam meets Rich near the beginning of the book, a friendship forms, he introduces her to his partner Dave and she ends up renting a room from them. I’m not seeing anything stereotypical here. When I think of ‘gay stereotypes’, I think of the romcom Isn’t it Romantic? starring Rebel Wilson where they poke fun about ‘the gay best friend’ whose sole purpose in romcom films is to be there for the female character, to shop with her, to speak in a camp voice, to be over the top, not have his own job or life and so on. Nothing like this with my characters.

I’m struggling to see how it’s stereotypical to have a best friend in a happy marriage. Happy marriages do happen. I’m in one!

And as for the last one, this isn’t a fairytale but, if it was, isn’t it Queen Witch of an evil stepmother that would be stereotypical? 

*Rushes to check meaning of stereotype in dictionary* Nope, I still don’t know how any of those characters fall into the definition of what a stereotype is.

What I’m also struggling with is why this reviewer kept on reading. Clearly they hated everything about the book so why waste the hours unless it was purely so that they could leave a nasty review?

So we move onto the final paragraph and a return to the insult from the title …

That said, it was an easy read and didn’t require much brainpower – it was a sweet story but hardly a literary masterpiece – anyone could have thought that story up, and written it probably better. It merits just about one star for the easy read

Wow! Can I just wave my hands in the air and say that I have never and would never claim to write ‘literary masterpieces’. I write commercial fiction and am very proud to do so. I do not anticipate any students studying my books in the present day, never mind when I’m long gone! I write accessible relatable stories that make my heart sing and will continue to do so as long as I have readers who love them.

Could anyone have thought that story up? I’m not aware of any other books set in a hedgehog rescue centre so either nobody had thought of that or they wrote it and didn’t get it out there.

Could they have written it better than me? This reviewer has already stated that I can’t write (see title) and I’m not standing for that. I can write and I don’t need my qualifications, three significant publishing deals, sales figures, and thousands of positive reviews to back that up. I believe in myself and I know I can write. I just don’t happen to write in a style or genre that engages this particular reviewer and it’s okay not to like how I write but it’s not okay to state that I can’t write and that anyone could have made this up and written it better. That’s unkind and unnecessary.

Which brings me onto something that often appears in my mind when I see reviews like this, whether for my books or those written by other authors: Tell me you’re a jealous/frustrated writer without telling me you’re a jealous/frustrated writer. Because, if that isn’t the case, why spend the time pouring out 200 words of criticism? Just give it a 1-star rating and move on. Or, even better, close the book at the point you know it isn’t for you and walk away.

The rub is that this reviewer didn’t even purchase their copy on Amazon because it isn’t flagged as a ‘verified purchase’. It’s possible that they bought a paperback elsewhere and has then shared their review on Amazon – a practice which is allowed – but it’s far more likely that this is a Kindle Unlimited read meaning this person has read it for free. FOR FREE! Yes, they have a subscription fee but they could have returned this and read a different book instead. So why didn’t they? And I keep coming back to the idea that they wanted to leave a nasty 1-star review.

And that brings me back to the title of this blog post, Dear Reader, are you okay? Because I’m concerned for this person. Pouring out your negative thoughts in a 200-word rant takes some time, energy, motivation. They’ve already ‘wasted’ six to ten hours reading the book (depending on their reading speed) so why waste even more time? Did it make them feel better? Was it cathartic for them to type out everything they hated about the book and personally insult me several times in the process? 

You know how I said earlier that there are kind people like Sam who try to see the good in people? The reason I know these people exist is because I’m one of them. I sometimes let people walk over me and let me down and I rarely say anything because I prefer to keep the peace. I’m therefore looking at this review and feeling so desperately sad for a reader who would leave a hurtful review like this and I want to know if they’re okay. I’m really sorry if there’s something hurting them to make them lash out in this way at a stranger. Or, if their kicks come from leaving negative reviews, I’m sad for that too. That’s an exhausting way to live your life. 

With so much misery going on in the world, reading is a more valuable form of escapism than ever but it should be enjoyable. If you don’t like a book, close the pages, switch off the eReader, take a deep breath and find something you prefer. But if you are someone who keeps going with a book purely to leave a negative personal review, maybe it’s time to find another channel for that anger and frustration.

I have no idea who this is but I really do hope they’re okay. I also hope they never, ever read anything I’ve written again!

I welcome comments on all my blog posts but please be kind. We don’t know what’s going on in this person’s life and I’m not looking for any negative comments towards them - not the purpose of writing this post. I wrote it to send my best wishes for them into the universe to hope they’re okay.

And as some of you might be concerned, am I okay? Absolutely. It sadly comes with the territory and it escalates the more success an author is perceived to have. Even having someone telling me I can’t write doesn’t destroy me like it would have done a few years back because I know they’re wrong. And, if they are a jealous/frustrated writer and they get a book out there, I hope nobody does to them what they’ve just done to me but, if they do, I hope they pause for a moment and remember the time when they did the same thing.

Right, I've procrastinated for far too long and really must return to my MS! Definitely got way too distracted here!

Big calming hugs

Jessica xx