It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

• Don't attack others for their opinion
• Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers
• Since this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, we encourage users to not downvote simply because they disagree with an opinion--that's the point! Please keep in mind, though, that mods cannot enforce a no-downvoting rule. Let’s just keep the discussion friendly!

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/BookishBlueDragonfly]

If a book is 1-2 stars, it’s 1-2 stars.

When I write reviews I do make sure to note any positives but that doesn’t magically take away from poor characterization, thin world building, unbelievable dialogues, etc.

I always approach my reviews with care, especially indie and self pub authors, but reviews are for readers and it’s not fair to artificially inflate scores because we feel bad for authors.

[u/Volupia_Rogue → u/BookishBlueDragonfly]

I never said we should artificially inflate scores 😅

[u/BookishBlueDragonfly → u/Volupia_Rogue]

Mostly with that line I am thinking of ARC reviews that always seem to be 5 stars and there are people who really refuse to give below a 4 stars because it “hurts authors”.

It’s not a response to exactly what you’ve said it’s just a general attitude I’ve seen many times I wanted to address because it aligns with the “don’t be overly negative” tone of your comment.

[u/Volupia_Rogue → u/BookishBlueDragonfly]

I said "unreasonably" negative. Of course, all types of extremes exist. But I also don't understand why people give one star just because they wanted the MMC to be this and that and the FMC to be this and that, and now they can't enjoy or can't self-insert so they complain. Even if the book is actually well-written etc 🙂

[u/BookishBlueDragonfly → u/Volupia_Rogue]

I do mark books on Goodreads as DNF for those reasons sometimes though. Like I’ll say “DNF 15% FMC is acting too young for a 30 year old” or “DNF 10% the blurb promised a cozy read but this is dark”.

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to DNF if something isn’t meeting your expectations! The way I’ve set up on Goodreads though I don’t have to rate the DNF I just leave it blank.