Why book reviews?

Since this blog is soon to be dedicated to only book reviews, I thought I'd tell you a little about the how's and why's I rate and review books .

For the most part, I receive complimentary copies and advanced reader copies from a variety of publishers.  If I don't like a book, I can say so. But really, why would I request a book that I know ahead of time I'm not going to like?   Most of the time, I can say that I have liked the books I have reviewed.  There have only been a couple that disappointed me.  (My next review is one of those, sadly).  Many of them I have REALLY liked (I've got one of those coming up too!).

I'm not one of those readers who reads for reading's sake.  I have to be interested in what I'm reading, so  I try to request books that I anticipate enjoying.  I'm not a literary genius and I don't want to feel like I'm preparing for an English test.  If I have to have a dictionary next to me just to get through a chapter, it's not for me.  I also don't want to have to figure out what deep, philosophical meaning the author is trying to convey. I want to be interested in the characters and be involved in their lives, loves, struggles, etc.  I want to be able to picture the landscape and surroundings.  If you haven't guessed by now, I tend to read mostly fiction, preferably Christian historical romance or Amish romance.  Non-fiction reminds me too much of a textbook....been there, done that, not doing it again.  That's not to say I haven't learned anything from all this fiction reading.  I've learned that not all Amish orders are the same, that women really did get on a stage and travel for weeks to marry a man they had never met and that Western New York state was once 'the frontier'.   I've also learned to be thankful that I don't live in the bygone years.  I like buying my soap at the grocery store and throwing my clothes in the washing machine instead of hauling them to the river. I like plugging my vacuum cleaner in to clean my carpets instead of dragging them outside and beating them with a stick.  We can complain all we want about how hard our lives are, but we don't have it anywhere near as hard as our 'founding mothers'.  

So, there it is....why I read and write reviews.  Oh, and did I mention I really like getting free books? Well, I do, alot.  I have quite a library now, and my daughters will tell you that I am very protective of my books.  If they want to borrow one, it gets signed out to them. Not kidding!