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There are many things that, as a buyer of books, you can do, but that is not to say you will do them.

As an author, what is reasonable to expect of readers?

Well, I’d like to think that people will access my books legally, whether by buying them or legitimately borrowing them.  I get very unhappy about readers downloading them illegally - that makes me angry.

But that’s about it in terms of my expectations.

Amazingly, though, some readers have exceeded these modest expectations by reviewing or rating my books on blogs and on customer and reader forums.  Not masses of people, but yeah, some.  In fact, some people appear to have gone to some time and trouble to set out their thoughts in detail, and I’m grateful to them for taking the time.

We live in a world where we are constantly encouraged to share our customer experiences and to rate every purchase we make.  We are invited to ‘share’ and ‘like’ every product and service we utilise.

Has this endless participation in sharing user experiences  given us unrealistic expectations when it comes to our products? Have we reached a point where anyone with something to sell – whether it be a book or something else – thinks they’re entitled to some kind of response from their customers?  As though the customer’s obligations don’t end at the point they part with their hard-earned cash?

A couple of times recently I’ve seen comments to the effect that readers shouldn’t leave 1 or 2 star reviews of a book without some comment to back it up. I can’t fathom that view at all. Firstly, if someone hates your book, they hate your book. Frankly, any comment they leave to explain their feelings isn’t probably going to make you feel any better.  Secondly and more importantly though, once a reader’s paid their cash over, they can do whatever they want with your book.

Including saying nothing about it at all.

Every time Amazon sends me an email asking me if I’d like to rate a purchase, I feel a little frisson of rage. Then I delete the email.

Goodreads makes it really easy to rate and review books. But I don’t.

Facebook and Twitter make it simple to share the love. I don’t do that very often either.

This is how I feel about reading: I am not just a book lover, I am evangelical. If I love a book, I will press it on others.  It’s why I kept a reader blog going for five years.  Even now, I will occasionally have to  blog about something I’ve read – see for example my last post on Captive Prince - but I still don’t rate my purchases.

That makes it all the more remarkable to me that anyone’s bothered to do that for my books (and thank you, by the way, even if you disliked my books).

It strikes me that, aside from the dedicated book bloggers, there are two main reasons for readers to rate or review. One is that they are frequent users of the particular forum or site on which they are leaving their rating or review and as such, they tend to rate or review many/most of their reads (frequent reviewers).

The second reason is that the reader had a strong enough reaction to the book (whether positive or negative) that they were motivated to write about it (motivated reviewers).  I am a motivated reviewer.

So what do I take from all this, as an author?

Only that I’ll keep writing, keep trying to get better.

And I’ll do it with this objective in mind: if I motivate readers to speak well of me, maybe they will do so.

This book – or rather these two volumes of a planned trilogy - have garnered a lot of attention recently.  Janine Ballard wrote an excellent review over at Dear Author, Sunita has posted some thoughts on the first part of volume 1, and a number of people, including yours truly got into long chats on Twitter about it at the weekend.

I knew I’d end up blogging about it.

This isn’t a review, so you’ll get no plot summary here, no considered view of the volumes of whole (I’ll give you the result in short form – it’s an A+ from me).  Instead, I want to talk about something that I found tremendously satisying and enjoyable and, yes, from a writerly perspective, instructive.

I’ll need to put some context around this now.  Volume 1 begins with the enslavement of Damen (properly Damianos) the prince and heir of Akelios and his delivery to Laurent, the crown prince and heir to the throne of the neighbouring enemy state of Vere.

Pretty obvious who the eponymous Captive Prince is, you’d think?

It took me a little while to get my head around the fictional Akelios and the fictional Vere. (And I’ll pause here to say that you really ought to go and read Sunita’s comments about this, with particular reference to orientalism – I’m not going to talk about that in this post, but I do see her point).

There’s a wonderful balance in this story. It starts with the characters of Damon and Laurent, and it’s worked right through every aspect of who they are and where they come from.

Damon and Laurent are opposites in many ways, as their homelands are, as their cultures are.

Damon is straightforward, direct, utilitarian. When he needs to escape a room in a building, he tears a hole in the wall. He’s simple. Determined. Unstoppable.  He thinks in straight lines. He sees what needs to be done and does it. He’s implacable.

Laurent is devious, Machiavellian. He plots and strategises like a chess Grand Master. His moves are worked out far in advance, the purpose of his actions at any point in time only becoming clear later.  His motives and overall purpose are shrouded in mystery.

The characters’ homelands and cultures reflect them.  Significantly, Pacat has chosen to set this story in a fictional world, one which she can shape to her purpose.  Thus, Akelios, Damon’s homeland, is a martial sounding place in which clothing is loose and functional and architecture is plain and utilitarian. There is slavery, a cultural fetish for accomplished submission and a system of formal manners between masters and their bed slaves. Damon’s attitude to this form of slavery suggests the slave culture goes largely unquestioned in Akelios.

Vere, by contrast, boasts ornate architecture and intricate clothing that takes time to get in and out of. Whilst pleasure “pets” are kept at the court for Vere, the pets choose to sell themselves and Damon (who is from an enemy country) seems to be the only slave at the Vere court.  Furthermore, there is none of the passive mannerliness of Akelion slaves. The pets are outspoken attention-seekers for the most part.

The whole story is told through Damon’s POV and we are very clear, as readers, at the start of the story that Damon is good while Laurent is bad; Akelios is noble while Vere is decadent.

Gradually, however, the reader’s perspective changes.

There’s a beautiful to balance to all of this. We have all the pleasurable tension between these forces of opposition: Damon and Laurent; Akelios and Vere.  We get the pleasure of the contrast and texture this brings to the story, and the conflict, of course.  But then we have, too, a moving towards one another of these seemingly polar opposites. A slow growth to understanding, and trust.  Common ground is found and qualities are discovered by both Damon and Laurent, in each other, and in their peoples and cultures.

We start volume 1, in Damon’s POV, in a clear and unambiguous place, and we end volume 2 somewhere else entirely, still in Damon’s POV. A more mature place, a place he has gained from his hard experiences. It is a more complex world he finds himself in, one in which waging a bloody war against his lifelong enemies begins to look less glorious.

Oh, this is very accomplished and patient writing.

Damon doesn’t even have to earn our sympathy at the beginning of volume 1 – he is the captive prince, A noble warrior brought low and made to suffer horrors, yet displaying courage and resourcefulness throughout. He’s a hero to the tips of toes.

It would have been so easy to let him always be that.

Instead, we get something so much better.  We learn, slowly, that despite these virtues, Damon is far from perfect. The negative side of his directness and straightforwardness is naivete and complacency. His trials force him to face up to reality.

He is redeemed by his slavery. And we end volume 2 with a very different Damon – free in more than one sense. The shackles are off, both those of the body, and those of the mind.

This. July 2013.

Lowborn David Lauriston lacks the family connections needed to rise in Edinburgh’s privileged legal world. Worse, his latest case—defending powerless weavers accused of treason—has brought him under suspicion of harbouring radical sympathies.

Troubled by his sexuality, tormented by memories of a man he once platonically loved, David lives a largely celibate life—until a rare sexual encounter with a compelling stranger turns his world on its head.

 Cynical and worldly, Lord Murdo Balfour is more at home in hedonistic London than dingy, repressed Edinburgh. Unlike David, he intends to eventually marry while continuing to enjoy the company of men whenever he pleases. Yet sex with David is different. It’s personal, intimate, and instead of extinguishing his desire, it only leaves him hungry for more.

As David searches for the government spy who betrayed the weavers,  he begins to suspect that his mysterious  lover has more sinister reasons for his presence in Edinburgh. The truth could leave his heart broken… and more necks stretching on the gallows.

Yes! Release day for Unforgivable, book of my heart, is almost upon me! Tomorrow, 15th January by lovely Samhain Publishing!  Tres exciting, mes chums!

I’ve already had lovely reviews from Joyfully Reviewed and Night Owl Reviews. What’s more, Dear Author has (both excitingly and slightly nerve-wrackingly) indicated it’s a recommended read for January – but I won’t see the review till tomorrow.  *bites nails*.

What else?  Oh yes, I have blog posts and giveaways lined up at Novel Thoughts tomorrow, at Smexybooks 16th Jan and at Book Binge at some point next week hopefully (details to follow).

And FINALLY, I am also giving away a copy here, tomorrow.  Please leave a comment for a chance to win.  Go on, it’s free!

It’s time to talk about my readerly activities again.  I enjoyed lots of good books over Christmas and new year so I’m spoiled for choice.

First up is Ricochet by Xanthe Walter. Since reading this debut novel, I’ve discovered that Ms Walter is a longstanding writer of slash fanfic and that it was while writing these stories (available on her website) that she came up with her ‘BDSM Universe’ an alternative world in which people’s primary orientation is dominant or submissive and otherwise, the norm is to be bisexual (‘monosexuals’ whether gay or straight are a minority).  Richochet is her first novel using original characters – Rick and Matt –  set in this universe.  ‘Ricochet’, Matt’s safeword, is a play on Rick’s name (Rick O’Shea).  The characters are actors who play roles in a popular TV show.  Matt craves a serious Dom and considers Rick to be too goofy for him, whilst Rick fears any kind of commitment following on from the mistakes he made in the past.

The fun of this read, for me, was in the high concept setting; the portrayal of  D/s relationships as something beyond merely acceptable but actually the norm, even down to the ordinary domestic stuff.  It was nicely detailed: instead of the typical BDSM ingenue, we get characters who’ve been brought up within a settled D/s culture.  Their fairytales have D/s characters (with gender being entirely immaterial); popular films and TV shows rehearse D/s romance cliches that characters alternately groan and sigh over.  I’ve read parallel worlds stories before - steampunk stories etc. – but I’ve never come across this conceit, namely the switching up of ’normal’ and alternative lifestyles before and it was a lot of fun.  Great characters too – I particularly liked Rick’s secret serious side.

Dark Space by Lisa Henry was a book I really loved.  Sci-fi (of which I’ve not read much) and another high concept story.  Brady is a low ranking soldier and medic on a spaceship.  Cam is the golden-boy officer who was used by the army on their recruitment posters until he was abducted by the Faceless, the terrifying aliens Earth is at war with and with whom communication is impossible.

When Cam is returned, four years after his abduction, in a fluid filled alien pod, Brady is summoned to be present when the pod is cut open.  In the chaos that follows, Brady ends up saving Cam, only for them to discover that Cam needs to Brady survive.  Only Brady’s touch can regulate his heartbeat and keep him alive.  At least until Cam’s Faceless captor, Kai-Ren,  arrives to fix him.  And Kai-Ren’s on his way, having sent Cam as his messenger, to prepare the authorities for his intended arrival, for peace talks.  After four years with them, Cam can communicate with the Faceless.

I loved the concept in this one - so smart.  The two MCs are forced into constant contact, and a further side effect of the link they share is that they can read one another’s thoughts, and are unable to hide their attraction from one another.  I loved too how high the stakes were in this book.  The MCs suffer on their road to a HEA (and I loves me some suffering).  My one and only complaint would probably be that after heaping so much suffering on them, the resolution felt a bit sudden, a bit abrupt.  Perhaps it could have been drawn out a little more.  Otherwise, a fantastic read.

I Spy Something Christmas by Josh Lanyon was, as ever with this author, an utter pleasure to read.  Josh’s year-long sabbatical has, I gather, come to an end and I am looking forward to reading more Lanyons in 2013.  I adore his writing and have I think read everything he’s written.  This is the third novella in this series, about Mark, a former British spy, and Stephen his American doctor boyfriend.  Their relationship felt pretty resolved after book 2 and to be honest, I was expecting a mince pie of story – something sweet and festive.  Instead I got the full Christmas dinner.  Lanyon mines another facet of the MCs’ relationship that in no way felt repetitive.  You know what I love about Lanyon?  Everything is about character.  The story serves the character journey, not the other way round.  My only complaint?  Over to soon.  That’s always my complaint.  He could write a 200,000 word book and it wouldn’t be enough for me.  (Incidentally, for mince pie reads, you could take a look at the Christmas Codas on his website - checking in on various characters from his oeuvre – these were a lovely festive treat for me over Christmas).

The last one to mention in this post, very briefly, is Half Moon Chambers by Harper Fox.  Fox is another auto-read for me and this one is set in Newcastle with, Vince, a recently disabled policeman and Rowan, a junkie witness as the MCs.  This is the usual (by which I mean excellent) Fox fayre.  The writing is lovely and has a slightly magical quality.  A patience too, in the pace of the prose.  A poetic sensibility.  If I’ve made it sound a bit poncy, I assure you it’s not.  It’s gritty and painful and hot.  A great book, and I loved it.

The point of interest, for me, as a regular reader of her work, was her depiction fo Jack Monroe, Vince’s ex-lover who betrayed him.  Fox quite often presents us with a brash, unsympathetic ex-lover.  It’s a character-type I’ve become familiar with.  But in this story, while Jack is as brash as they come, he’s far from unsympathetic.  I’d very much like to read his story.

That’s my festive reader report, then.  What’s been occupying your readerly eyeballs?

I’m participating in this blogfest and giveaway on 21st December but it’s going on all week – check it out.  Lots of authors giving away books and other goodies!

Josh Lanyon tagged me in the Next Big Thing Blog Hop.  This is the deal: I answer ten questions about my ’next big thing’ and then I tag some other authors to do the same.  Simple!  The idea is it lets you find out what your favourite authors are up to while being introduced to authors who might be new to you.

Although I have a book coming out in January (Unforgivable, released by Samhain 15th January 2013) which I am super-thrilled about, the purpose of this blog hop is to talk about what I’m working on now, my current WIP, which is a M/M historical set in early nineteenth century Scotland.

1. What is the working title of your book?

It’s very much a working title…  A Provocative Gentleman

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

It’s been at the back of my mind for years – I kept trying to make it work as a M/F but it never clicked – then I thought of writing it as a M/M and everything fell into place.  I wanted to set the story in the masculine, professional world of early 19th century Scotland.  I wanted to have my protagonists moving freely in that world.

3. What is the genre of the book?

Historical M/M

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

They wouldn’t be perfect, but maybe Elijah Wood for David (serious, sensitive) and John Hamm for Murdo.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When David Lauriston shares an anonymous sexual encounter with a compelling stranger, he has no idea that this single reckless act will come back to haunt him when he goes looking for the secret government agent who sent his friends to their execution.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency/publisher?

It remains to be seen - I’m about to submit to the editor I worked with on Unforgivable and have my fingers crossed she’ll like it!  Edited to add – it will come out with Samhain in August 2013.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Six months - I plan three books in the series and some of that time was devoted to planning the other two books. That was the first draft, I have to stress!

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Oh, I’m not sure! What I can say is that my aspiration was to write a historical M/M that reads as a plausible account of a homosexual man of the time.  So whilst I wouldn’t compare this to an Alex Beecroft, she is the kind of writer I think does that very well.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Lots of things in lots of ways. The biggest inspiration was my home country, Scotland. As a longtime romance reader, I’m very aware of the ubiquitous Highlander romance hero, but as a living, breathing lowland Scot, I don’t relate to that character at all.  I wanted to write about a different kind of Scot.  A Scot of the 19th century, of the British Empire.  A city-dwelling lowlander who would never put on a kilt or know a word of gaelic. A Scot who has come out of the Enlightenment and who views himself as a citizen of the world.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It’s kind of a love letter to Edinburgh.

I’ve tagged Carolyn Crane, Kate Rothwell, Katie Porter and Ruth A Casie to continue the hop!

Check out Josh’s blog hop post here: http://joshlanyon.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop.html

I think I’m going to make this a regular feature because I miss blogging about reading and enjoyed writing this post.  Here are some impressions and observations on five recent reads:

1. Hot Head by Damon Suede

This book got a lot of attention on its release last year.  Why did it take me so long to read it?  It’s the story of two firefighters, Griff and Dante, who were in 9/11 and are longstanding best friends – only Griff has loved Dante for years.  Then Dante asks Griff to help him out with his money troubles by doing some porn with him. The plot was immediately appealing to me, just with being so big and sensational but it’s what Suede does with all this that’s so good.  He really uses the setting and the characters’ professions and he works the fire and smoke metaphors to great effect.  I particularly liked his comparison of Griff and Dante to the Twin Towers - strong and together but separate. This was a highly enjoyable read with uber-masculine characters.

I read this book after picking up Suede’s latest release Grown Men which I also greatly enjoyed.  Grown Men is the story of Runt – dropped on a planet-in-the-making by a ruthless corporation and struggling to make his way as a farmer – and mute Ox, who is dropped in to be his new partner.  I was drawn by the cover which reminded me of the sort of SF books my brother used to read when we were teenagers.  This was a terrific, imaginative read.  In both books, Suede uses lots of “sound effects”: Lub-dub for heartbeats, plip-thwip for…um…liquid dropping onto skin…  Fun and entertaining but with meat and heft too.

2. Wacky Wednesday by J A Rock

This one had been popping up in my Amazon reccs for a while before I decided to sample it.  (By the way, is it just me, or has the “Your recommendations” fallen away from Amazon? Annoying if it has- I used it a lot).  Anyhoo, although I liked the sound of the basic premise (dom and sub wake up in each other’s bodies, a la Freaky Friday) I’d never picked it up, principally due to my having given up on BDSM romances.  This was not because I don’t think they can work, but because a lot of them seemed to me to be terribly formulaic and, well, I just wasn’t thrilled by them.

This book, however, proved me wrong!  Not only did JA Rock write a great switch-up-the-bodies-and-brains book, she also depicted a BDSM relationship that felt real  to me (a first), with a core of tenderness and care I really liked.  And it’s very, very funny.  What’s more, the characters’ roles in their BDSM relationship actually come from who they are and what they need, and when they switch bodies, they learn important things about themselves and each other so, as a story, it all works beautifully.  Rock brings the whole story home at the end in a satisfying way and I closed this book (or rather, went back to Home on my Kindle) with a happy sigh.

3. Calling the Show – J A Rock

Yes, I am nothing if not a glommer!  Having loved Wacky Wednesday, I went on to Calling The Show.  This is another very funny book with characters I loved, particularly Jesse, an  uptight, obsessional student stage manager who meets, clashes with and ultimately falls for Sim.  The characters in this story have BDSM desires but no idea how to act on them or indeed, what it is they really want.  I liked the fact that these desires were a bit of a side issue (i.e. it seemed to me that it was a happy coincidence that they both liked the same things in bed, but not central to them falling in love) and I liked the fact that they intended to explore them together in their own particular and somewhat amateur fashion, rather than immediately signing on for the local ‘club’ and going out to buy a nice collar together. 

4. The King’s Jaunt – John Prebble

I’ve been reading this non-fiction account of King George IV’s trip to Scotland in 1822 as research for my next WIP, book 2 in a trilogy.  It’s an excellent book, full of rich detail about the players involved but it’s slow-going in the sense that I’m taking notes and thinking about where I can use some of the events in question in the story.  I’ve done more research for these books than previous ones.  Another useful book has been Michael Fry’s Edinburgh which deals with the full history of the city and its environs from Roman times to date. My books are set in a tiny part of this panorama of time, namely the 1820s, but Fry’s layered history has proven to be very useful in terms of understanding the political and religious history that underpins where Edinburgh stood at that time. 

5. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

Another rich source of recommendations for me is Reviews by Jessewave.  Recently Wave posted a long best of list, which featured this book – now 10 years old I think.  Warning: this is not a romance and there is no HEA.  It is the story of violent, self-deceiving but oddly sympathetic Jacob Cullen and his love for Christopher Ferris, a beautiful, charismatic idealist. Set in the English Civil War, this story portrays – among a great deal else – a man discovering his desire and love for another man in a world where there is no blueprint of such a thing.  The masterful depiction of how Jacob stumbles his way blindly, terrifyingly into Ferris’s arms goes well beyond the well-tried path of a character who conceals their true nature.  This is a depiction of man who is making a new path altogether, a man who doesn’t know his own nature or even the possibility of it. The writing is beautiful, the visual scenes rich, the dialogue perfect. The last, imploring words, are this:

Speak to me. 

I realised something pretty fundamental at the start of this year and it was this: 1+1+1+1+1 does not equal 2.  I was burning out trying to do too much and feeling constantly that I was failing.  I had to decide what I most wanted to do and why.  The answer was, write, and for the love of it.

I therefore made a conscious decision to stop doing some stuff I enjoyed so as to devote my limited spare time to the thing I loved most: writing.  That meant giving up my beloved reader blog and pretty much all my other online activity.  I slashed my Google Reader subscriptions to 14 sites (all of which I still faithfully read though rarely comment on), all but gave up Twitter and abandoned my then nascent attempts to start using Goodreads and Facebook. 

It is yielding results.  I have just completed the second draft of a book I started only 6-7 months ago (hence me taking a night off and writing this post tonight) and I’ve written a short story in that time frame also.  That is swift for me.  Bear in mind, I have a demanding job and 2 children so my ‘free’ time rarely starts before 9pm, including at weekends. By avoiding online activity, not watching TV, having a pitiful social life and not getting as much sleep as I ought, I’m able to secure regular, if limited writing time. 

I have no doubt I’m doing the right thing, but I do miss the contact with online friends.  And even after so short a time, I feel like I’m losing the ability to communicate as readily and confidently with them as I once did.  During recent, brief visits to Twitter, I’ve found myself swithering over whether it’s appropriate to reply to tweets, suddenly unsure  of the proper etiquette (though in fairness, that’s not something I’ve ever been entirely au fait with).   As I’ve run my eye down the lists of tweets, I’ve also been struck by how very little content is there.  The stuff I’m interested in is swamped by endless promo tweets and it drives me away, even though I know  it’s my own fault for deciding to follow fairly indiscriminately.

All this has got me thinking about lots of stuff.  About what I miss about being online (content, community, trusted opinions, a sense of connection) and what I don’t (promo, inability to find the content I want, inability to reach an audience, poor content, time commitment).  Unfortunately, my solution to the problems of being online has largely deprived me of the benefits.   

It’s got me thinking, too, about how I as a writer can connect with readers in the future.   In the past, as an active member of the community, I felt I had some goodwill, I suppose.  I felt my blog contributed something to the community by way of content.  It wasn’t much, but everything that was in there came from me and was genuine – an honest attempt to grapple with the genre and being a reader and what those things mean to me.  But what about now that I’ve gone to ground?

There are no easy answers, I think, but if you think you can make 1+1+1+1+1 equal 4 or even 3, do let me know.  Though chances are, I won’t believe you.

Image: Roberta F. [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This blogpost has been bouncing around in my head for a while.

I’ve not reviewed any books in a long while – in fact, I gave up ‘reviewing’ books not long into my blogging career over at the old blog.  This was mainly because reviews were not really the right medium for what I wanted to say about books. I’ve written various blogposts in my time about that it so I won’t repeat any of that here (though, if you’re interested you could take a look at this, or this, or even this). Instead, I want to talk about how readers’ views of books change the more they read of a particular author.

I’ve noticed that, like any other fangirl, I always feel disgruntled when I see someone giving my favourite authors poor grades.  This is so even when I didn’t much like that particular book or haven’t yet read it myself. Why should that be?  I’m a rational person!  I know the value of reviews!  I don’t actually WANT reviewers to grade the author rather than the book!  But isn’t it interesting that readers do this?

Have you ever read a book by a new-to-you author and you were kind of *meh* about it, but it was good enough that you tried the author again, and then, when you read more, it changed your view both of the author and that original book? 

Let me give you an example: my first ever Mary Balogh was a book that is generally much-loved by Balogh fans: More Than A Mistress. I was intrigued to read this novel, which I’d spent ages picking from Amazon,trying to the find the one I thought was most likely to appeal to me.

I thought it was ok.

Despite this lukewarm response, I went on to pick up Simply Love (which I adored) and then another and another.  Eventually, I re-read More Than A Mistress, and this time, I loved it. I’d tuned into Balogh’s world by then. I’d come to like her deceptively straightforward (actually very graceful) prose and the strangely sacred quality to the relationships that MTAM is a perfect example of.

It’s a bit like when you buy an album and you start off loving the flashy songs that made it into the charts but you’re not awfully keen on tracks 4 or 9. And then, gradually, you get to like all the other stuff, though still not 4 or 9. And then, eventually, 4 becomes your favourite track, and whilst you’re still not that keen on 9, it doesn’t make you switch off anymore.

Another thing I notice is that while some of the individual books by my favourite authors are pretty much routine ‘B’s, as a whole, I think of the author as an ’A’ grade author because either they very consistently give me what I’m looking for or because there’s just something I particularly like that they do. 

That’s exactly the kind of thing that always made reviewing so hard for me.  And why I gave it up.