Review!Whore

I am very pro review. Yes, I am sure that is shocking to you all. But a review doesn't make or break if I buy a book. I might buy a badly reviewed book, if the subject interests me or something about it grabs my attention. I might buy a book that got a good review for the same reasons. Good or bad, I love to read reviews. Blog reviews, All About Romance, Mrs Giggles, The Romance Reader... wherever reviews are, I'm there. There are some people, like xina at the AAR board, if she says she likes something I am almost always sold. Because history has shown more often than not we like the same type of books. But really one person's thoughts very rarely make or break a book for me. For me when I think of reviews, I think of the old saying... as long as they spell the name right (ah something like that). To me it is just a way of getting a title out there, and if it comes with a summary of some sorts - score! The reason I like to post what I have bought is to - A. remind me later I have it, B. it might bring a book to someone's attention, C. it might push someone into reading a book or trying a new author they were thinking about getting, and D. I really like looking into other people's shopping carts so I think other people like it too. I blog about books for pretty much the same reasons as above. I don't think my opinion is the be all end all for anyone but me. But while chatting with a friend something came up that I honestly hadn't given any thought to and I figured I would ramble about it here and ask you guys what you think or do. If you win a book from an author, respond to an author offering books to reviewers or request a book from an author to read to review it - do you feel the need to give it a good review? Honestly it had never entered my mind. I say what I think, good bad or indifferent regardless of how the book landed in my happy lil hands. To me a book is a book and an author is a person selling a book. Is the book the author's baby, prolly. Do bad reviews hurt? I am sure in a way they can sting, but if you put something out for public view you are inviting opinion. And as with any child, you send it out into the world at some point and it has to survive on its own. Doesn't it? And if I don't like an author's books, that has no reflection on what I think of the author as a person. Some authors such as PBW, Katherine Sutcliffe, and Laurell K. Hamilton have expressed their displeasure at reviews and reviewers, which is a whatever. But authors who do send out books for reviews - how do they look at it? If they give a book away knowing the reader will blog about it or review it for a site, do they expect a good review because it was a free copy to the reader? Do authors look at books they give away in contests as a different animal than a book they give for a review? In this day and age of blogs, many readers are talking books and have blogs (and more should). So any book an author gives out has the potential to be 'reviewed'. Does that play into your thought process as an author at all? What about as a reviewer or a reader with a blog? Do you feel the need to give it a push because it was free? Do you feel the need for that push to only be a great glowing review? I think in terms of traffic, traffic, traffic... if a highly visited site (Mrs Giggles, Rosario's Reading Journal, All About Romance, McVane, Smart Bitches, crankyreader and so on and so forth ) mentions a book, no matter what they say about it or if they say anything about it, I see it as a commerical that will make some people go hmmmm. What is that about? And might lead to buyers and readers. Is that incorrect? Just wondering what others (reviewers, readers and authors, oh fine even the people who were googling for porn and ended up here can answer) honestly think...