So I mentioned yesterday that One Night in Boston was just reviewed by Mrs. Giggles, a notorious no-holds-barred reviewer. I didn't expect her to get to it so quickly, since it just released last week, but there it was from Google Alerts yesterday morning, waiting in my email inbox.
Yikes.
She's been known to slice up authors for breakfast, giving scores below 50 (out of 100) without blinking an eye. In fact, on the same page as my review is one that got an 08. I kid you not.
What did she give me? A 73.
I know, not too shabby at all. But it was the review itself that made me laugh out loud. She HATED my heroine. In part, here's what she had to say about poor Maggie:
The heroine is such an irritating creature. She's stupid, which is bad enough, but she is also very emotionally needy, irrational, and neurotic. She overreacts too often. Maggie is like this black hole that sucks all the joy from the people around her because she demands that they cater to her all the time.
Perhaps it is fortunate that the hero in this story, Jack Major, is rich and has enough brainpower to ensure that Maggie will never have to worry about having a thought ever again.
If you want to read the whole review, go here, though WARNING! there are several plot spoilers in there.
My favorite paragraph, though, is this one:
Make no mistake, I recognize that under any other circumstances, I will love One Night In Boston. It can be a shamelessly manipulative story at times, but Ms Boniface's writing style is such that I can be easily persuaded to let her play me like a violin. The author takes the trouble to explain her characters' emotions so that I have a good idea what is happening inside her characters' heads. As a result, I find these characters pretty memorable. What I'm trying to say is that this book affects me, which is the reason why I grade this book pretty high despite my problem with the heroine.
Aha! I think there's actually a compliment in there, if I'm not mistaken. And the fact that my review is paragraphs longer than many she writes (she REALLY did not like Maggie) just leads me to think, hey if she despised the heroine, at least something about Maggie engaged her to that level of emotion, right?
Whew, you definitely have to have a thick skin for this sort of thing. I was cheered after reading this review to see that Google Alerts also let me know about a 4-star review of ONIB at the Mobipocket site.
Either way, it's OK, I suppose. I checked my writer's ego at the door a while ago - advice I will pass along to anyone else who's published or nearing publication or even thinking about it. :)
Have a great weekend!
6 comments:
You have a good voice and writing style -- that's what Mrs. Giggles was trying to say (regardless of how she feels about Maggie). Other stuff can be fixed or improved if you have good voice and style!
I haven't finished reading it yet, but I don't hate Maggie (if that matters).
Hey Allie, that's not bad at all! I don't know anything about Maggie but I do hope that your book reaches our shore soon. Then, I'll be able to get my hands on a copy... :)
You're right, if you don't have a thick skin in this business, you're doomed. One day on AW will teach you that.
All that said, the fact that she trashed your character only says to me that you created a powerful character. A weak character wouldn't have been worth all the effort.
Since Mrs. Giggles didn't like Maggie, that's really something how she read the whole book. Obviously, she liked your writing a lot and 73 is very high for her. Like you said, she gives very low marks a lot.
She's never bothered reading any of my books.
Honey, you are amazing. I would still be curled in a ball in the corner wiping my eyes. So if Ms. Giggles ever reads one of my books, nobody tell me, ok? ;)
In any case, I'm glad she gave you a... um... relatively high score and that you found the silver lining in the review! Good for you.
I was always afraid of Mrs Giggles. She did get to one of my books and it wasn't too horrible. I'm glad she hasn't done the others. I think all in all its a pretty good review.
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