Who Do You Write Book Reviews For? IWSG December

Dear Readers, IWSG Members, and Fellow Writers

How do I start, if not with a cliché, as we stand at the threshold of yet another year? I hope 2023 was healthy and productive for you and the next year is even better than all the previous ones.

Writing took a backseat for me this year. I had only a few publishing opportunities, and my children’s manuscript was unable to find a home. My presence on the blog was scattered. Unfortunately, when life throws lemons at us, we can’t always make lemonade, no matter how much we’d like to. I found myself unable to navigate through some real-life situations, and sadly, my writing suffered as a result. However, I have now decided to be more methodical and create a plan to help me find balance. I am hopeful that my writing will see better days in 2024.

I would still like to enlist some prominent writing achievements and thank fellow writers for their support.

1. Denise Covey and the WEP group gave me the opportunity to be a WEP host. It was a wonderful learning opportunity and I am grateful that I could write regularly for them this year and discovered a great community. We are open for the December Challenge. Please check the post here.
2. Word Warriors, my in-house supportive writing group, thank you for your support and motivation, despite my lack of contribution in 2023.
3. Thank you to IWSG for being the reason I show up here every month and for the amazing questions that help me analyse my writing journey. I was glad to be a host in September and hope to do it again.
4. I am grateful to the followers of this blog who continued to show up even when I couldn’t reciprocate. I will try to do better in 2024.
5. I was thrilled to have a poem out in Usawa Literary Journal, which is edited by a poet I look up to. I could not win the NLF Fellowship, but preparing for it helped me to finish my book, and I hope it will see the light of day soon. I was glad I could find time and energy to send two poems to the Commonwealth Poetry this year. Finally, I was happy to get a new opportunity at work.

Before I answer this month’s question, I’d like to give a shoutout to author C. Lee McKenzie, who is a very supportive member of the IWSG and has a new release. Her YA novel RATTLESNAKE is now available to buy.

BLURB: The desert town of Rattlesnake isn’t a destination. It’s a last resort. Seventeen-year-old Jonah Guthrie’s aunt sold their home in New England and fled to this place to escape the humiliation of his dad’s indictment for embezzlement and subsequent disappearance.

While their late uncle left them a house and a silver mine, the house is a shambles and the mine is defunct. They’re almost out of money, so they have no choice but to stay in Rattlesnake. And then Jonah discovers they’ve inherited something else. Her name is Catherine, and she’s been dead for over a hundred years. Now, she needs his help.

Click on the following links to purchase Rattlesnake now.

Amazon . Smashwords . Kobo . Barnes & Nobel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR   C. Lee McKenzie is a native Californian who grew up in a lot of different places; then landed in the Santa Cruz Mountains in her home state. She writes, gardens, hikes, and does yoga a lot, and then travels whenever she can. Her favorite destinations are Turkey and Nicaragua, but because she has family in England, Switzerland, and Spain she goes there when she can. 

She takes on modern issues that today’s teens face in their daily lives. Her Evernight Teen Publication, Double Negative was voted as one of the best top ten Young Adult books in 2020. Her most recent novel, Shattered, won the 2022 Indie Book Award.

Connect with C. Lee McKenzie

Substack . Goodreads . Facebook . Instagram . YouTube . LinkedIn

Email

I wish Lee all the best for her new book!

               Now, for this month’s question.

December 6 question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author?

I always write my reviews with the reader in mind. My focus is to highlight the aspects of a book that I enjoyed. However, I do not shy away from discussing what didn’t work for me, always from the perspective of a fellow reader. I firmly believe that readers have diverse tastes and preferences, and what may work for one person may not work for another. Therefore, by sharing my personal opinions on what worked and what didn’t, I can provide prospective readers with a clear idea of what to expect, allowing them to make their own informed decision. I only offer critiques when specifically requested to do so.

The awesome co-hosts for the December 6 posting of the IWSG are C. Lee McKenzie, JQ Rose, Jennifer Lane, and Jacqui Murray! Please visit them and show some love. Thank you to Alex for yet another wonderful year at the IWSG.

See you all in 2024!