I learned a hard lesson after submitting a terrible review a month ago. I’ll spare you the awful things I wrote about the book, even if you can still go online and see it posted on a major bookseller’s website. I ended up revising the review on Goodreads two weeks later.
I didn’t feel bad after posting the review for a couple of weeks. But then I went on a road trip for Spring Break with my family, and my husband innocently asked me what I had been reading lately. Even though I had read a few books, I spent a good ten minutes retelling the amazing story in the same book I wrote a terrible review about.
I realized that it was a great story, and I had judged it too harshly. I immediately logged into my Goodreads account and rated the book higher.
I preach proofreading and editing. This is how I make money! In my heart, I believe you should only publish work that is clean and flows smoothly. Stories should have ups and downs, characters should be interesting and developed with great timing and dialogue.
That being said, I also preach the merits of first-time authors, and here, we need to give slack to the storytellers that had enough guts to put their amazing stories out there for us to read, despite the rough edges.
I’m so happy I didn’t abandon, “Fred Myers Chronicles: A Case for the Kids” after a slow start. This book tells the true story of a detective in Arkansas, and one case that made his career. Myers, at his own peril, tracks down a father who illegally takes his two children to Libya.
This book reminds me of this past Easter holiday. I was sitting on the back of my in-law’s tailgate in the sun, listening to my father-in-law tell me a story about playing baseball in Louisiana. I could have easily tuned out hearing the play-by-play, but there is always a reason these stories are passed on and become legendary. “And John Grisham played on the other team,” he said. “I always loved his books because he always wrote something about baseball or the South.” If you really listen to someone’s story, there is always a shining gem inside them. This is why I like the real, heartbreaking, and nerve-racking story in “Fred Myers Chronicles”. I can’t wait to read Myers’ next adventure.
