Reviews, as you may know, are so important for all authors but for us self-published ones, they are even more important.
We don’t have a big publisher or agent to do all the work, we do it ourselves and it’s a tough world.
So when I get reviews in, good or bad, they are all a learning curve for me.
I love to hear what readers think of my books and take all opinions on board. The readers help me and encourage me, as well as support me in the most fantastic ways, with their views and reviews being high up on the list.
When other authors read my work and then leave amazing reviews for them, it further pushes me into my love for all things writing and spurs me on once more.
Yesterday, I was tagged in a post on Instagram by another author who had just finished reading, ‘Reasonable Lies’, and needless to say, she loved it!
Chloë L Blyth (more details on her book under the review section), not only wrote a fab write-up for it but had to continue the review in the comments of the post as she wanted to say so much about it and how it made her feel.
Read the full review below which was posted to Amazon…
Chloë L Blyth
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Review 5/5 – Well-written tearjerker
“First of all, I just want to say that I read the ebook version which begins with pages and pages of praise and warnings from reviewers that you are going to need tissues and you’re going to be a blubbering mess.
I should also tell you that I am a tough nut to crack, I don’t cry easily, and I personally made it to 80% before admitting defeat and succumbing to my emotions. (Not to say this wasn’t sad and heartbreaking from the start, just that if you’re worried about reading in public, it’s bearable til 80% – unless this is a raw subject for you, in which case I’d recommend reading at home).
This is a very well-written and heartbreaking novel. Jane is a strong woman who decides to keep her terminal diagnosis (which she sort of stumbles across thanks to a breast cancer screening day at work) to herself for as long as possible. She doesn’t want her husband or children to know, and so begin the “reasonable lies.”
Some of the things she manages during this time are incredible, and the lies just keep getting bigger. When she has to come clean, it’s tough. Especially for her husband. I really felt for him, he doesn’t find out in the nicest of ways and it hurts just to imagine the emotions he would have felt in that moment.
Jane’s best friend Sarah is the type of friend every woman should have in her life. Once she knows, she is so supportive and helpful. Their friendship is brilliant and right into her weakest days, Jane tries to set Sarah up to secure her happiness in the future.
I want to say more, but I also don’t want to ruin it for others.
Going into a book like this, you know it’s going to be sad, but you don’t know how much you will like the main character, or the supporting characters. I loved them all.
This won’t be for everyone (it’s certainly a change from my usual genres), but it’s a really good, deep, read. Big trigger warnings for cancer and death (obviously) but after the saddest parts that made me need my tissues, the author has tied things up for a happier ending.
The world doesn’t end when your favourite person dies, no matter how much it might feel like it, or you wish it would. The world keeps going, and the book keeps going, too. It’s nice to read what happens next.
I highly recommend this book.”
Check out Chloe the author of ‘Duplicity (The Dangers of Dreaming: Book 1)’ AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON!
Read more reviews by clicking here
