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There are so many ways to write a book review. Don’t overthink it too much when it comes to writing a book review. When I explore other book bloggers I instantly compare my blog to theirs. I have to remember we have different styles. Whatever I wrote never seemed quite right. Until I developed a template that I have used over and over again. The Book Review Template has sped up my process to write reviews because now I can copy and paste the information into my blog post. The template has helpful phrases, positive and negative descriptors to help write the book review.
What else helps to write my book reviews is using the basic 5 Ws’ and 1 H from English class. Let’s refresh the 5 Ws’ are Who, What, Where, When, and Why plus How.
Learn how to use the template. Watch this video: https://youtu.be/AQCXd1txWik
I like to begin with an introduction to how I came to read the book. Most of the time I choose the book from my interest. As a book blogger, I do get asked to do book reviews. It is best to be upfront at the beginning about solicitation of the book review. Also, remind people the review is your honest opinion.
Don’t forget to tell your readers where you found out about the book. Lately, my book recommendations have been coming from Twitter. Since I am a librarian most of the time the books I read are books I come across at the library.
Continuing in the introduction there is a brief explanation of what the book is about and briefly introduce the author.
After the introduction is the main part of the review. This is the place to express your thoughts on everything about the book. Tell the reader What is the book about, but don’t spoil the book. I hate having books spoiled for me. However, TV shows and movies are a different story. Let the reader know if it’s something they’ll like to pick up or not. Many reviews like to ruminate on the plot for way too long and eventually ruining the experience for the reader. It’s like those movie trailers that show you everything and now you don’t need to see the movie anymore.
The best thing to focus on is your own experience while reading the book.
Tell everyone what you liked about the reading experience. Then explain how that reflects on the book.
Additionally, in the main part of the review share your likes/dislikes with the readers. This again can be the plot, characters, even writing style, setting, and anything else. Tell us what made you connect to the character, what about the plot kept you turning the pages, what themes resonated with you, how the writing style read to you. I dislike writing about the flaws of the book especially when it is an overall good story. However, there are times when grammar and spelling errors are completely distracting to the story. Write about the flaws of the book in your review to let readers know what they can expect while reading a book.
*Each paragraph can be as long as a few (3-5) sentences.
In my concluding paragraph, I like to wrap everything together, giving a summary of everything I talked about and explain why someone should read the book. Don’t forget to tell us your star rating for the book. I like the 5-star rating scale. You could a letter or number scale. At the end of review, since I am a librarian; sometimes, I like to suggest read-a-likes as well.
In the book review, we have covered the who, what, when, where, why, and how by following this very basic formula.
Thank you for reading my advice on how to write a book review. I have also provided a Book Review Template that helps me formulate my reviews. Please check it out. It is completely free but there is an option to pay what you want if you so choose to give a little more. I appreciate you.
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5 Responses
I don’t have a particular style in writing a review. I follow the basics and develop from there.
This is incredibly useful, thank you so much for taking the time to make this post and guide!
Great tips!
Nyc ideas to some extent we have same review style 😍🥰