Week 5 Prompt

The Billionaire's First Christmas by Holly Rayner is not a book that I would be likely to buy for the library. At least not based on the reviews offered. The Amazon review was confusing and completely put me off the book. The blog review was more helpful by offering more information about the title. It was also easily readable with clear language, appropriately short, and honest with its assessment. This title does not appear to belong to the romantic suspense genre. There doesn't seem to be any of the characteristics of romantic suspense; fast pacing, uneasiness, threatened and resourceful heroine (Saricks 37).

The reviews for Angela's Ashes make me more likely to add this book to a library collection than those from The Billionaire's First Christmas. The reviews are from professional publications giving them a familiar structure and a sense of reliable authorship, even when anonymous.

I don't have a strong opinion on the fairness of books being reviewed more often than others. It may be that books that are reviewed more often are more deserving of notice, although some of my own favorite books seem to receive little notice, or have few available reviews. This may mean that a library misses the opportunity to include a book in the collection, one that may be appropriate, or desirable, based on the community's needs, but is unknown to the buyer due to little/no press.

I think there is a place for reviews devoid of negative content, although users should be made aware of this fact. I don't think avoiding negative press is inappropriate. Negative reviews have value although I think their value is greater for an individual's personal reading rather than for a library's collection purchaser.

For me I tend to avoid reviews of books. I do not trust that the reviewer's opinion of the title will match mine, nor do I have much interest in that opinion to begin with. If a book is reviewed a lot it will probably catch my attention and I will check it out.