Ahem. I’m sorry I interrupted everyone’s weekend, but I couldn’t help it. I had to share that review of Blood in the Past. Unlike many of the reviews I’ve reblogged here in the past, I didn’t ask Peter Germany for a review. He bought Blood in the Past of his own volition, read it, and reviewed it. Yes, we have a online rapport, but I never asked for or expected that kind of support. And that made his words just a teensy bit sweeter. Have a great weekend guys. After that review, I know I will.
I’m just posting a quick book review here tonight as I want to get stuck into a bit more writing tonight.
Blood In The Past by Jordanna East is a prelude novella which tells the story of three people who’s lives cross over during times of personal suffering. Jillian falls for a married man. Lyla finds her mother dead and a young man has to deal with the loss of his father.
I couldn’t put this novella down. The story sucked me into it to the point where I was staying up late to read more of it. The characters have a lot of layers to them and I found that I could understand their pain and why they were doing what they were.
The story is well tied together and never feels rushed which I liked because each character had a good amount of time for me to…
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journeyofjordannaeast 
Okay, I am a book reviewer, and I have done both – emailed an author a list of mistakes found in a novel, and commented on mistakes in the novel. I have also had varying levels of success in these endeavors of response.
One author, with a grand total of 147 mistakes in her novel, thanked me graciously, even went so far as to ask me to proofread her next novella after it had been gone over by an editor. I still found a lot of stuff… On the flip side, she also tried to pressure me into not writing about the mistakes in my review. I ended up caving only so much as she promised there would be an update to the book live VERY soon, which I mentioned in my review. I mentioned there were some mistakes (but not how many), and suggested readers wait until the update.
Now, I also based whether I’ll read a book or not on how clean it is. And certain things (like mixing the action of one person with the dialog of another or poor comma usage, which can confuse the meaning of a sentence), are almost immediate nixes. I’ve gotten to where I won’t response to a request for a book review if I won’t read it. I get too many mad diatribes about how they HAD a professional editor. I also get called names regularly. I’ve been called a pedant (which I had to look up the precise meaning of because I’d never heard it used with quite so much animosity before). I had to eventually block that guy’s emails from coming in. He was practically email stalking me in the end. He wouldn’t let it go…
I DON’T comment on editing if an ARC is sent to me. I do stress that it was an ARC if there were a lot of mistakes in it, though… I warn people that ARCs are not fully edited, thus I can’t fully make comment on the polish of the piece.
Now, interestingly enough, I had one author who read my review, and fixed all the mistakes I commented on in the review (I updated my review later). I found a bunch of fact checking mistakes, and she went back and fixed it later. I’m still in contact with this author, and reviewed her second book as well.
See, authors? It PAYS to play nice with your reviewers. Sometimes, developing relationships with them means getting reviews is easier the second time around! And, sometimes we’re willing to do things for you later. At least, I am.