I wrote a review of Beautiful Creatures, the worst book on the planet, on amazon.com a couple of months ago and got a lot more (read: any) attention than I expected. It served as my impetus to get on Goodreads.com, which is a fantastic book review website that I’m currently addicted to, and where I’ve made a couple of new friends due to the popularity of my Beautiful Creatures review.
artist rendition of me being a book reviewer
I got another comment on my review today that read thusly:
Ok, so I haven’t read this book yet but when I do read reviews of books, I like to read the people who gave a bad review and discover why they didn’t like the book or what irritated them about it. I love your sense of humor with your review and how you go into detail about the specific parts of the book you didn’t enjoy. I am a writer and have recently self published my first young adult novel called Seeds of Eden. This is probably going to sound a little odd but I was wondering if you would read it and do an honest review of it. As an author I am still trying to find my reader base and connect with new readers. I can email you the epub version of my book if you would like to take a look at it. If you aren’t interested that is also fine, it’s up to you. Let me know what you think about this and get back to me!
Here is the link for my book on amazon: Seeds of Eden (The Concilium Series)
You can also find it on Goodreads too!
I was pretty dumbstruck. Was this a tricky way for this person to get someone to buy her crappy $0.99 ebook on amazon, or was she actually, genuinely asking for a review? I sat statue-still at my computer and thought, “Is this my first ever official request as a book reviewer?” I’m choosing to think so because that’s awesome, and the book looks pretty awful and should be fun to hilariously critique, lol. Still, I’m excited about it. Kinda stupid-excited.
Be Random, Be Clear 
I think your review of Beautiful Creatures is funny and insightful, but instantly assuming someone else’s novel will be total crap without reading a word of it just makes you come across as kind of an asshole (sorry, just being bluntly honest). Having written a novel myself, I know the process is a long and arduous one and opening yourself up to the criticisms of others can be difficult. Since she is giving you her e-pub book for free, she probably just wants an honest review and nothing else. I suggest you give her the opportunity of at least attempting to do this.
I appreciate your honesty; it’s always welcome here.
When I said “the book looks pretty awful” I was not “assuming [it] will be total crap.” Have I developed a very minor opinion on a book based on the synopsis? Yes, which is the whole point of providing a synopsis. Will it taint my experience of the book to the point where I will inevitably give it a horrible, potentially mean-spirited review regardless of how much I might actually enjoy it? No no no. I’m anticipating that, given the subject matter and summary I’ve read, it is unlikely to make my top ten. However, (and maybe I didn’t make this clear enough with the last couple sentences), I’m excited to read it, and will do my best no to let this bias color my experience of the book.