What Makes A Good Book Review?

A couple of weeks ago, Colleen and I recorded a new episode of the Blank Page to Bestseller podcast where we talked about book reviews, Goodreads, review bombing, and more. While I was editing the podcast a thought occurred to me… What makes a good book review?

We preach the need for authors to leave book reviews and we tell readers to leave reviews about the books they love. After all, a book review is one of the best ways to help indie authors spread the word about their book. But one thing stood out to me. We’ve never mentioned what goes into writing a good book review.

So let’s take a look at what makes a good book review.

A Good Book Review Is More Than Stars

First, let me begin by saying that technically, if you only leave a star rating after you finish a book, you didn’t really leave a book review. Amazon, Goodreads, StoryGraph, and most other retailers let you leave a rating, usually out of 5 stars, after you finish your book. I always make sure to leave a star rating after I finish a book but I don’t always write a book review. While leaving a rating is never a bad thing, a review can help a reader better understand the reasoning behind a rating and more of what they can expect from the book. So keep leaving those star ratings but go ahead and start writing book reviews too!

Hook ‘Em

The first part of a book review is to write a great hook. A hook is a sentence or two which grabs the attention of the reader and entices them to keep reading. Oftentimes when you see reviews, only the first few lines are shown and a reader needs to expand to read more so it’s important to remember a hook is short and captivating so think about what would catch your attention when scrolling through a list of reviews. Be catchy but don’t give it all away!

Plot Summary

Next up is writing a concise plot summary.

If you are writing a review for a fiction book you want to introduce any major characters and cover the major plot points in the book.  Don’t tell a potential reader what’s going to happen but give them an idea of what they should expect when they pick up the book for themselves.

If you are writing a non-fiction review, the same ideas apply. Tell the reader a little bit about what they can expect about the topics covered in the book. For example, there is a lot of writing on marketing so don’t tell the reader it’s about marketing; rather, explain the specific area of marketing covered by the author. Again, be sure to not give everything away in the review.

Warnings

Some books may contain a variety of sensitive topics or themes. You don’t have to specifically mention them in a review but a warning may be appreciated by readers. Your plot summary is where you would mention any specific content warnings if you are so inclined.

Spoilers!

No one likes to be spoiled for a book (or movie or TV show) so it’s important to avoid spoilers in your book review. Plus, you don’t want to give away the best part of the book before someone has the chance to read it!

Your Reasoning

The plot summary for most reviews is going to be similar. Everyone who read the book will have similar plot summaries. Here is where the meat of a good review lies. Be sure to tell the reader whether or not you enjoyed the book! By this point in the review you should have already mentioned whether or not you enjoyed the book but if not, now is the time to do so.

But you shouldn’t just say, “I enjoyed this book.” Here, you should give your reasonings behind your review. What did you like, what did you think could be better? Why did you enjoy the book so much? Why should someone think twice about reading this book?

Be Brief!

Many sites limit you to a certain character count for your book review but even if they don’t be sure to keep your review short and sweet. People read book reviews to see if they are interested in purchasing the book, not to read a separate book! There are places and publications which write long-form reviews on books and those are great but the book reviews you write in these areas are not for those types of reviews. This is a great place for you to master your short form writing!

More About Writing A Good Book Review

Now that you have a better understanding of what to include in your book review, you can listen in to the latest episode of Blank Page to Bestseller or watch me on YouTube as I delve into this topic a little deeper and include a book review along with the elements I mentioned above. Enjoy your reading!