What Do You Do When You Read a “Bad” Book?

It happens to all of us. You pick up a book that looks promising – maybe the cover caught your eye or the story sounded interesting – and then, a few chapters in, you realize… this one just doesn’t resonate with you.

So, what do you do next?

Do you:

• Leave a bad review online?
• Quietly move on to something else?
• Or maybe even warn your friends not to waste their time?

As both a reader and an author, this is a question I think about often.

Personally, I’m hard-pressed to ever leave a negative review. I know how much heart, time, and hope goes into writing a book, especially for self-published authors who often do it all themselves. Even when a story doesn’t connect with me, I try to remember that it might still resonate with others.

I also know that readers, on average, are more likely to take the time to leave a bad review than a good one. Human nature, maybe? We feel more compelled to speak up when something disappoints us than when something delights us. But I can’t help but wonder what it would look like if we all made just a little more effort to highlight what we love instead of what we don’t.

So I’d love to hear from you:
What do you do when you read a book you don’t like?
Do you say something publicly? Keep it to yourself? Or maybe try to find something kind to say anyway?

Let’s talk about it in the comments.