Reviews: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
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The Perils of Reading Reviews of Your Novel The day The Mermaid's Sister went live on Amazon was one of the weirdest days of my life. A mixture of excitement, fulfillment, and terror consumed me as the reviews began to appear. First, the five stars (yay!) Then some fours and a few threes (okay, everyone is entitled to his/her own taste and opinion)...and eventually, the dreaded one star. (If I remember properly, the reason the reviewer gave was that he didn't like Young Adult novels. Still shaking my head over that one.) I admit I kept reading reviews for a while--maybe a week or two--before I realized it was messing with my head. How could I have written someone's new favorite book that also was the most cliché piece of trash ever? How could a simple story draw such personal, hateful attacks from some and inspire others to joy? You just can't wrap your mind around that. And you shouldn't try. To quote a grammatically revolting cliché (because apparently I ro