I wasn’t going to blog about this, because out of all the book and lit blogs I follow in my feedreader, I’ve never thought any of them reviewed a book more positively simply because it was an ARC or a review copy.

Let’s Do Some Math

Honestly, the amount of time it takes to read a book, then sort out your thoughts about a book enough to review it, and then sit down and actually write the review, is worth far more to me than getting a book in exchange for that time.

I mean, really, if you think about the numbers, it looks something like this: let’s assume that, on average, it takes you six hours to read a 250 page book. Then it takes you another hour to think about the points you’d like to mention in your review and maybe some nice turns of phrases that have you smiling, and then let’s say, another half an hour to write the review.

That’s 7.5 hours for a 250 page book.

Here in Ontario, the current minimum wage is $9.50 an hour (this converts to USD $8.92). Now, my time is worth more than $9.50 an hour, but even assuming my time is equivalent to minimum wage, that “free” book the publisher or publicist or author sent me cost me $71.25 to review. Granted, this is in Canadian dollars, so let’s do a quickie conversion, shall we, and see how much this is in U.S. dollars.

In U.S. dollars, at today’s exchange rate, that comes up to $66.87.

Call me crazy, but for that USD $66.87, it would be much better for me to just go out and buy all the books I want to read, don’t you think? In hardcover. The moment they hit the bookstores. And still have money left over for some takeout to go with the books.

Honestly, don’t you think that would be a much better option than earning the distrust of your readers by writing an unwarranted positive review in exchange for a book that will cost you $66.97 of your time to read and review?

Update: An even simpler calculation just occurred to me. Let’s say the average price of an ARC, if you bought it in a bookstore, was $20. Using our 7.5 hours to read and review the book as an example, you’re “making” $2.67 per hour. Nuts, right?

Sure, there’s the advantage of being able to read a book a few months before the general public gets to read it, but honestly, there are only a handful of books that I am that anxious to read. Time flies by so quickly these days, before I know it, the kids are all another year older and all those books I was looking forward to yesterday have all been released.

So you see what I mean? It’s simply silly to think that one would keep writing positive reviews in order to keep getting “free” books from publishers.

And, I suspect no-one ever questions newspaper reviewers about this kind of thing. I wrote a video and PC game review column for a Florida newspaper for two years, and got all sorts of games sent to me in the mail; it never even occurred to me that people might suspect I was writing a positive review simply because a publicist sent it to me. I got dozens and dozens of games, and since I only wrote one review a month, most of them didn’t get any coverage. I was totally honest in my reviews, and the publicists (who, I suspect, were simply glad to see their game getting picked to be reviewed) understood this.

Yes, I got paid for my monthly review column, but it definitely didn’t come close to compensating for the amount of time I spent actually putting a game through its paces and then sitting down to put my thoughts into a coherent article.

My time is my time, very valuable to me, regardless of whether I’m writing a review for a newspaper or for my blog.

So, Where Did The Last 20 Books I Reviewed Come From?

I know I said I wasn’t going to blog about this, but then I saw that so many of the bloggers I followed are posting about this issue, and you know me. I’m influenced very easily, very easily indeed. So here I am, blogging about it.

Of the last 20 books I reviewed:

16 Bought

2 ARCS

2 Library

(If you’ve ever read any of my posts about my book buying binges, these numbers would make perfect sense.)

To add insult to injury (so to speak), out of these last 20 reviews, 19 of them were at worst lukewarm and at best raving recommendations dotted throughout with I loved this! Why aren’t you running out to get your hands on this right now? OMG this was such a great read! The book that received the one negative review was an ARC. It was also the first book this particular publisher has sent to me, no less.

As far as I know, they’re still talking to me, and  I still have a standing offer to choose from this publisher’s list of upcoming releases. And yes, I will likely send a quick email if anything does come to my attention.

Now, having said all of this, I do feature every book that comes into my hot little hands in my Incoming! new book arrival posts, whether I’ve bought them or received them from a publisher or publicist, or won them in a giveaway or got them at the library (I’m a little behind in my Incoming! posts at the moment, as you can imagine). I do this mainly because I always love finding out about different, new-to-me books on other blogs, and if you all were to rely on stumbling on good books through my reviews (I only write one to two a week), you’re not likely to find too many here. So my Incoming! posts are are the best way I can think of to share with everyone the books in my TBR pile. Not to mention, on a slow day, it gives me something to blog about.

So you see? In the words of John Ceepak (from one of the books I recently raved about), it’s all good.

Wait a Minute. Why Only One Bad Review?

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “How come only one bad review out of twenty?”

The thing about my reading habits is this: I am an extremely moody reader. What this means is that I have a lot of books lying around partially-read. I can’t even call these books DNFs (did not finish’s), because most of the time, I’ve put the book down because I just didn’t feel like reading that particular type of book at that particular moment.

So you see why it would be totally unfair to review a book that I haven’t finished, especially when the DNF status might very well be only temporary?

Now, there are books that I just don’t have any intentions of finishing – my “true” DNFs, so to speak. I don’t review those, either, simply because my threshold for not wanting to finish reading a book, ever, is very low – not even the 50-page point that a lot of people have.

I figure it’s just as unfair to review a book that I’ve only read a handful of pages of.

So what this all means is … if I’ve finished a book, it’s likely I’ve enjoyed it. Or at least, it was readable enough for me to give it my time and finish it. The result? At worst, a lukewarm review, at best, a raving recommendation (see above for full description of raving recommendation, complete with quotes). In the case of the negative review of that one ARC, I didn’t realize it was a book I didn’t like until the end. There’s not much a moody reader can do about something like that.

And that is why it’s rare for me to write a negative review. Except, of course, if the book is an ARC. (Just joking!)

From the jacket flap:

Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected – and she needs Spenser’s help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego, for her daughter’s wedding. Spenser is unsure of what his role as personal bodyguard will entail, but he consents when it’s decided that he can bring his beloved Susan Silverman along.

It should be a straightforward job for Spenser: show up for appearances, have some drinks, and spend some quality time with Susan. Yet when his old nemesis Rugar – the Gray Man – arrives on Tashtego, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. With a hurricane-level storm brewing outside, the Gray Man jumps into action, firing fatal shots into the crowd of wedding guests and kidnapping the bride – but Spenser knows that the sloppy guns-for-hire abduction is not Rugar’s style. Unable to prevent the attack, Spenser will stop at nothing to recover the kidnapped bride and figure out how the Gray Man is connected.

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Snappy dialogue, and that great camaraderie between Spenser and Hawk.

The But: Reactions to the murders are a bit unbelievable.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: A good, fast read – Spenser fans should enjoy this one.

Read the Full Review of Rough Weather

Synopsis:

A present-day bombing rips through London and claims the life of eighty-year-old detective Arthur Bryant. For John May, it means the end of a partnership that lasted over half a century and an eerie echo back to the Blitz of World War II, when they first met. Desperately searching for clues to the killer’s identity, May finds his irascible old friend’s notes of their very first case and becomes convinced that the past has returned … with a killing vengeance.

It was an investigation that plunged the fledgling detectives into a complex and lethal puzzle. It began when a dancer in a risqué new production of Orpheus in Hell was found without her feet. In a city shaken by war, a faceless killer was stalking London’s theaters, creating his own kind of sinister drama. And it would take Arthur Bryant’s most unorthodox techniques and John May’s dogged police work to catch a criminal whose ability to escape detection seemed almost supernatural – a murderer who decades later seems to have claimed the life of one of them … and is determined to claim the other.

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Great quirky characters, and wonderfully adroit handling of shifts between the past and present.

First Line: “It really was a hell of a blast.”

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: This book, the debut novel in the Bryant and May series, is a wonderful look at a young Bryant and May.

Read the Full Review of Full Dark House

Something mysterious is happening in Skeleton Creek. Something scary. Something sinister.

Ryan came close to it … and nearly died. Now he’s trapped in his house. He can’t trust anyone – not even himself.

He is forbidden from seeing his best friend, Sarah. So while Ryan is isolated and alone, she plunges back into the mystery, putting her life on the line to get to the truth.

Ryan is desperately trying to write down the full story. And while he does, Sarah takes videos of what she finds, then sends him the links so he can watch.

Together, they discover: The past is dangerous. The present is haunted. And the future is deadly

The Snapshot Review

Here’s the Thing: This is definitely one book you shouldn’t be reading by yourself, in the dead of night, with only your computer monitor for company …

BUT: it is absolutely spine-tinglingly delicious when you do.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: This is a fun, innovative and very suspenseful book that seamlessly marries text with video– a fabulous read!

Read the Full Review of Skeleton Creek

From the Back of book:

When Enola Holmes, sister to the detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her mother has disappeared, she quickly sets off to find her. Disguising herself as a widow, Enola embarks on a journey to London, but nothing can prepare her for what awaits. For when she arrives, she finds herself involved in the kidnapping of a young marquess, and must fee murderous villains and try to elude her shrewd older brothers – all while attempting to piece together clues to her mother’s strange disappearance. Among all the mayhem, will Enola be able to discover the necessary clues and find her mother?

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Strong, independent and smart, Enola is a very likeable protagonist; pace is fast and intense; the writing paints the world of Sherlock Holmes’ London vividly. Not one, but two mysteries …and there are ciphers!

First Line: "The only light struggles from the few gas street-lamps that remain unbroken, and from pots of fire suspended above the cobblestones, tended by old men selling boiled sea snails outside the public houses." (From the prologue – the rest of the novel is in first person.)

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: A good read, with the action really kicking into high gear as we get further into the story. Very nice wrap-up, too. I finished reading this with a smile, eager to jump into the next book in the series.

Read the Full Review of The Case of the Missing Marquess

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Likeable protagonist, a very intriguing and over-the-top (read: fun) story line, good dose of humour.

And I Learned: Cheerleading really is a tough sport. And the girls on the squad work hard!

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: Spy stories with a difference! These books were a fun and delightful read – I’m definitely watching out for more from The Squad!

Read the Full Review of The Squad: Perfect Cover and The Squad: Killer Spirit

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Bryant and May and all the other wonderfully quirky characters at the Peculiar Crimes Unit.

But: I didn’t get into the book until about a third of the way.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: If, like me, you have difficulty getting into the book initially, stick with it – when the plot lines take off, they really take off, and you’ll find yourself unable to put the book down.

Read the Full Review of White Corridor

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Em Watts is just wonderful, the dialogue is very realistic (says this mother of a 15-year-old girl) and the story is pure fun.

BUT: it’s more of a prequel, and at the end, I felt like it wasn’t really a complete story on its own.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: A great read for Meg Cabot fans; just be warned, you’ll be really wanting to get your hands on the sequel as soon as it comes out, because Airhead doesn’t really feel like it has a proper ending.

Read the Full Review of Airhead

From the Jacket Flap:

Mibs Beaumont is about to become a teenager. As if that prospect weren’t scary enough, thirteen is when a Beaumonth’s savvy strikes – and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, it promises to be outrageous … and positively thrilling.

But just before her big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. Suddenly, Mibs’s dreams of X-ray vision disappear like a flash of her brother’s lightning: All she wants now is a savvy that will save Poppa. In fact, Mibs is so sure she’ll get that powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus, with her siblings and the preacher’s kids in tow. But when the bus starts heading in the wrong direction only one thing is certain: After this extraordinary adventure not a soul on board will ever be the same.

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Unusual premise, strong characterization, engrossing plot, great fantasy elements set within our contemporary world. This book also delivers some very wonderful messages without being at all preachy.

Fantastic First Line: When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: This is a wonderful book that will have you laughing, crying and rejoicing with the characters. Highly recommended.

Read the Full Review of Savvy

From the Jacket Flap:

As Harry well knows, there’s hardly a place on earth cozier than Crozet, Virginia, at Christmastime. The snowflakes drifting lazily down, the soft glow of the winter light, the sound of old carols in the streets … even cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter get into the spirit, battling ornaments and climbing the holiday tree. In fact, it’s this year’s tree that Harry and her husband, Fair, have gone to fetch when they find the one they’ve chosen grimly decorated with a dead body.

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Mrs. Murphy, Pewter and Tucker are as fun as ever; Crozet, Virginia, is as cozy as ever; and the snow and lights and merry-making add up to a Christmas-y feel, in spite of the murders. The mystery is a good, solid one. And the illustrations by Michael Gallatly are lovely.

Not Thrilled With: Unlike previous Mrs. Murphy mysteries, the characterizations just aren’t quite there. Dialogue in particular is a bit clipped.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: A fun read for Mrs. Murphy fans, though readers new to the series should make sure to check out a previous book in the series, too.

Read the Full Review of Santa Clawed

From the Jacket Flap:

Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something less savoury – a human hand.

The body, as Chief Inspector Wexford is informed later, has lain buried for ten years or so, wrapped in a purple cotton sheet. The post-mortem cannot reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man’s ribs.

The police computer stores a long list of missing persons. Men, women and children disappear at an alarming rate, something like 500 every day nation-wide. So Wexford knows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse.

And then, only twenty yards away from the woodland burial site, in the cellar of a disused cottage, another body is found.

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Sitting down with Wexford and Burden again; the subplot which, as often happens in Rendell’s Wexford novels, deals with a complex socio-cultural issue, one which Rendell handles well.

The “But”: Plot was predictable; characters not as finely detailed as in previous Wexford novels.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: Wexford fans are always thrilled with a new Wexford novel, but this one isn’t quite up to par with previous ones. Still, very readable.

Read the Full Review of Not in the Flesh

I was bitten by the book review bug earlier this year when I started writing some guest reviews at my friend Ann-Kat’s blog, Today I Read. Now that I have my own book review blog (thank you to all the book bloggers I’ve been reading for their inspiration, and Ann-Kat for her encouragement), I thought I’d link to the reviews I wrote at Today I Read, so there’s a sort of continuity.

I’m a big fan of Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache novels. Here’s a “Snapshot Review” of The Cruellest Month:

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: Well written mystery; the Three Pines setting is wonderful as always; enjoyed meeting all the old familiar characters again; Gamache remains as likeable as ever.

Disliked: The entire Arnot subplot. It really strained my credibility; I couldn’t see the crimes involving Arnot happening without national outrage and the initiation of a full-scale government inquiry, making the attacks on Gamache’s reputation difficult.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: Read the two previous Gamache mysteries first (Still Life and A Fatal Grace) so you’ll fall in love with the setting, the characters and Penny’s writing. If you’re already a fan, the book is still good read.

As you can see, it wasn’t my favourite out of the three Inspector Gamache novels; the background plot just didn’t work at all for me. Aboriginal rights and issues fall within federal jurisdiction in Canada, and given the extent of the crimes involved in the subplot, it was difficult for me to believe the whole case wouldn’t have resulted in a formal federal inquiry. Despite this, I still enjoyed the mystery part of the novel, and am looking forward to new Inspector Gamache mysteries from Louise Penny. Ms. Bookish’s Rating: B: Good Read ?

Click here to read my full review at Today I Read.

From the jacket flap:

In chapter four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world’s most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.

In 1932 Mitchell Siegel was killed by two gunshots to the chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world’s greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain’s murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.

Today in Ford Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his own family tragedy: His long-missing father has been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel’s 1932 murder. But soon after their surprising reunion, Cal and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the ancient marketings of Cain.

So begins the chase for the world’s first murder weapon. It is a race that will pull Cal back into his own past even as it propels him forwrd through the true story of Cain and Abel, an eighty-year-old unsolvable puzzle, and the deadly organization known for the past century as the Leadership.

What does Cain, history’s greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world’s greatest hero? And what to two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common?

The Snapshot Review

What I Liked: The action is fast paced, and the pace never lets up; the characters are a little bit different from your run-of-the-mill best selling thriller novel; the plot is interesting and consistent. A real page turner.

And the Bonus! No gratuitous, graphic violence. There is violence, yes, but it’s definitely not gratuitous. Or particularly graphic.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: Try to have a nice bit of time to sit down with this one, because it’s not an easy book to put down once you’ve started it.

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From the back cover:

Sugar Maple looks like any bucolic Vermont town, but when the tourists go home, it’s a different story – inhabited as it is with warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches, and an ancient secret. And I know all about secrets. I’m Chloe Hobbs, owner of Sticks & Strings, a popular knitting shop where your yarn never tangles, you always get gauge … and the knitter sitting next to you comes out only after dark.

I’m also a sorcerer’s daughter – a single sorcerer’s daughter with Sugar Maple’s future in her hands, which means the whole town is casting spells meant to help me find Mr. Right. Who’d have guessed I’d find him in Luke MacKenzie, a cop investigating Sugar Maple’s very first murder? Bad news is he’s 100 percent human, which could spell disaster for a normal future with a paranormal woman like me – in love, in danger, and in way over my head.

The Snapshot Review

I Liked: The knitting shop! I don’t knit but it sounds just like a place I’d like to be, so cozy and comfortable. I also enjoyed Sugar Maple, the town, and the assorted weird secondary characters were great fun, too.

Not Thrilled With: The story started off with a discrepancy that bothered me throughout; some minor inconsistencies and not fully developed characters also prevented the story from really taking off for me.

Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: A pleasant-enough, fun read.

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What This Book is About:

“In this fabulous new installment in the bestselling adventures of Isabel Dalhousie, Isabel is asked to help a doctor who has been disgraced by allegations of scientific fraud concerning a newly marketed drug. Our ever-curious moral philosopher finds her interest piqued. Would a doctor with a stellar reputation make such a simple but grave mistake? If not, what explains the tragic accident that resulted in the death of a patient? Clearly, an investigation is in order, especially since a man’s reputation is in jeopardy. Could he be the victim of someone else’s mistake? Or perhaps he has been willfully deceived by a pharmaceutical company with a great deal to gain.

Not every problem prompts an investigation (take, for example, her ongoing struggle with her housekeeper, Grace, over the care of Isabel’s infant son, Charlie), but, as we’ve seen, whatever hte case, whatever the solution, Isabel’s combination of spirit, smarts, empathy, and unabashed nosiness guarantees a delightful adventures.”

Ms. Bookish’s Quick Take: I have always had a place in my heart for Smith’s gentle mysteries involving Isabel Dalhousie, and The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday didn’t disappoint me. Isabel is true to form in this book: a very delightful and kind woman who thinks a lot. Her boyfriend Jamie might say she “thinks too much”, but the places to which her thoughts roam are just delightful. One caveat: if you’ve never read any of the Isabel Dalhousie books before, be warned that aren’t really mysteries. The mystery is more of a side story. What you get in The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday is the opportunity to spend time with Isabel Dalhousie and her outlook on life as a moral philosopher. Interesting and sometimes thought-provoking, but not very mysterious.
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Synopsis

The Gamble of a Lifetime

It took a while for Abby’s FBI agent boyfriend, Dutch Rivers, to accept her psychic gifts as the real deal. But these days he knows better than to question Abby’s visions. So when his cousin Chase is kidnapped after a bloody shoot-out in a Vegas alleyway, he agrees that her clairvoyant skills could be invaluable, and they both catch the next flight to Sin City.

Abby’s inner eye insists that Chase is still alive, but nothing else about the case adds up – especially Dutch’s reluctance to involve the FBI. On top of everything, Dutch is battling a mysterious illness, and Abby keeps having disturbing dreams that predict his death. Dutch wants Abby to promise that if the investigation goes south, she’ll head home to safety, but when the chips are down, Abby won’t fold without a fight.

Ms. Bookish’s Quick Take: Death Perception is a fun paranormal mystery. While the mystery itself is quite serious, the book veers toward the light-hearted side, which is a nice combination when you’re in the mood for a good mystery but you want something fun, too. I enjoy novels where the protagonist has a support network that she calls on; this is one such novel, and it made the read all the more fun for me. There were a few things I didn’t like, but these were minor and didn’t seriously affect my enjoyment of the novel. The solution offers a bit of a twist, and the mystery itself is complex enough to lead you through the book at a good speed.
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