Lately, I’ve been more conscious of the amount of time I take between finishing a book and writing its review. You’ve probably noticed that my reviews come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they’re long, detailed, and thorough. Other times they’re short, to the point, and a little vague. Less frequent, but never to be discounted, are my fangirl-y, caps-locked, gif and emoji-employed ones. Depending on how I felt after reading a book, it will result in one of these three reviews, and the process with which I write them. So, let’s talk review writing!
The Long, Detailed, Thorough and (hopefully) Eloquent Reviews
First I’ll note that these reviews often stem from books that I either really enjoyed, or really didn’t. I also find myself writing longer reviews for historical or fantasy books, probably because there are more elements to cover, from world building to magic, etc. That’s not to say other genres don’t get long reviews from me! I’ve just noticed this pattern.
These types of reviews are normally ones that have been simmering a little bit, whether it be through the course of me reading the book, or through having jotted down notes after finishing. Yes, I very often times find myself pre-writing a review in my head while reading. I also spend a lot of time on word choice and structure of the review. They’re definitely the most formal reviews that I write. They’ve got a clear beginning, middle, and end, often times with a “blurb-like” start or conclusion.
As timing goes, I tend to write these reviews shortly after finishing the book, like the next day. I don’t like to have started another book before I write the review — I like the details to be fresh and flowing from my memory!
The Short, To-The-Point, But Sometimes Vague Reviews
I find myself writing these kinds of reviews for contemporaries, and books I felt on the fence or “meh” about. Even when I really loved a book, because it’s sometimes hard to find the right words to sell someone on a book, and you just want to scream “READ THIS AND YOU’LL GET IT OKAY?”
I also end up writing short reviews when I fall victim to lazy procrastination and I neglected to take notes about specific points I wanted to mention before too much time passes. So, these are reviews of books that I’ve had trouble with and have taken me a long time to write, even if they’re short. They result from a few days, up to even a week of not writing the review since finishing. Funny enough, you’ll see these kinds of reviews when I’ve been really reading like a maniac (AKA this summer), and I can’t keep up with reviews because I just read TOO MUCH TOO FAST! Haha, just kidding there’s no such thing as reading too much too fast, am I right?!
Fangirling, Caps-Locked, GIF Employed, Rambling Reviews
Hehe, these are my favorite to write. You’ll see these when I can’t contain my emotion over a book, meaning that I probably LOVED IT LIKE A LOT. Many of my favorite books and series have resulted in pretty incoherent, rambly, and crazy reviews.
Immediately after I finish a book, I can tell the review is going to be like this, because I just have to get all of my feelings out of me immediately. I take extremely emotional notes on my phone, often featuring lots of OMGs, keyboard slams, heart eyes emojis, CAPS LOCK, giggles, tears, or a combination of all of the above. After getting all of that out, I go straight to review writing, where the actual review turns out basically the same as my notes, only with a little more substance and possibly the inclusion of GIFs. Now, I rarely use GIFs, so if you see a GIF in a review, you KNOW that I had major speechless GIF-needed FEELS.
But in all seriousness, I don’t really have a review style. I just tend to write what and how I feel after finishing a book! It keeps review-writing super fun and fresh for me!
Books & Cleverness 
I’m still a newbie in book reviews 😆 but I think it’s better written straight after you read it, or that’s just how it is to me 😂 historical fiction/romance is my favorite genre ☺️
Writing reviews immediately after finishing them definitely has its positives, but I’ve also found that overwhelming endings can often distract me from my overall feelings about the book. Sometimes it’s nice to take a bit of a step back to gain perspective! 🙂
My reviews are mostly short and to the point! I don’t invest much time in writing them! 😀 I just go with the flow lol! 😂😂
Haniya
booknauthors.blogspot.com
Going with the flow is always great, too! And mini-reviews are sometimes my favorite to read!
I always write all types of different reviews. It really just depends how I feel at the time I’m writing. I love using gifs in reviews though because I just feel like they convey my emotion so much better than I can put into words!
GIFs are fun! I don’t use them often, but when I do, you know I had major fangirl feels!
I usually write mini reviews when it comes to actually writing reviews, and I do it much later than I probably should because I’m lazy. 🙈 I do write notes after I finish reading a book so if I write a review late, I’ll at least know what I’m talking about so it won’t be TOO vague. 😂
My reviews tend to be on the shorter side for the most part as well. I actually prefer to read mini-reviews over longer ones also. Sometimes longer reviews, even spoiler-free ones, tend to give away too much of a book for me before I read it.
Great post! I write super long reviews, generally ranging from 1500-2500 words…I just have a lot to say haha! I try writing a review straight after reading the book because everything is super fresh in my memory. I have this policy to not start another book until I’ve reviewed the one I just finished. It’s a good motivator to not procrastinate and get the review done as quickly as possible so that I can read another book. XD I don’t generally take notes whilst reading review copies but I think I should because I’m pretty sure there are certain things I forget!
Thanks, Kyra! Yes your reviews are SUUUUPER long haha I have to dedicate some special blog reading time just for them! 😉 I also like to try and get the review written before I start reading another book, but I admit, sometimes I’m just too eager to read instead of review!
I have such a bad memory, I have to write the review at most one week after I finish reading the book. But most of the time I don’t and end up forgetting most of what I want to share … 😡 It helps that I take notes when I read, but my notes always end up saying “AHHHH” “OMG” OR “THIS IS SO CUTE” haha. And I think we are in the same boat here — the shorter my reviews are, the more time has passed since I’ve read the book. There’s a strong correlation, hahaha. I like that your reviews differ depending on your rating/enjoyment, it makes it fun to read!
That wasn’t supposed to be an angry face!!! It was supposed to be similar to the “speak no evil” monkey emoji!
My notes can tend to be that way too, but I’m glad my reviews make for fun reads because of it! Sometimes I worry that I don’t have enough personality in my posts, so it’s good to hear! 🙂