Week Five Prompt

The Billionaire's First Christmas does not seem like Romantic Suspense to me. The tone is described as "light and cozy", not uneasy. The heroine does not seem to be in danger, unless the Santa-hating guy turns out to be a serial killer. The hero does seem to have a little of the "villain or hero?" mystery about him, but a guy named Winters, who heads Winter, Inc. but hates Christmas because of childhood trauma seems more like the plot to a Tim Allen comedy than a modern gothic thriller to me, so I'm voting Romance, not Romantic Suspense.  Cozy Romantic Suspense, perhaps?

The two reviews were reliable if you were just thinking for yourself about reading the book, but not if you are a collection librarian considering it for purchase. They lacked the professionalism and finesse one likes to see to get a better grasp as to whether the ebook would be a good purchase for a library.  I think that the longer ebooks are around and the more they are read, the more ebook-only titles will be reviewed. But right now I guess it would be a problem for collection developers in deciding which ebook-only titles to purchase. I think it is definitely a problem for this particular ebook, since the genre doesn't even seem to be clear. But wouldn't vendors have a thing where they give you so many ebook-only titles with your purchase of X other titles? Sounds like a good business deal, anyway.


The reviews of Angela's Ashes would make me definitely want to purchase it for my library's collection. It's the kind of book that is good to have multiple copies of when it first starts circulating, then after the first popularity dies down to keep several copies in the system because it will continue to be checked out and probably even studied in classes or book clubs.

I don't think it's fair that some types of books never get reviewed, while others are reviewed to death. It may have an impact on collection development if you have the type of collection developer that concentrates on what a colleague and I call the sheep list ( NY Times bestsellers), but if you have a savvy collection librarian, or different ones for different genres in a larger system, hopefully they would have a good feel for what the reading public of their specialty likes and would have cultivated sources to assist their buying decisions. I don't have a problem with negative reviews, but I can see how it wold have an impact on purchasing decisions one way or the other.

I have never been much of a book review reader for choosing my own reading material. Maybe because movie critics and I almost never agree, so I don't even try with book reviewers? I usually rely on a book's synopsis, on Amazon, Goodreads or similar places, or on the inside of the cover. However, I am starting to get into reading reviews more often with an objective view in mind: increasing my skills at RA and getting a better feel for those genres that I don't read for personal pleasure so that I can be informed in making suggestions for patrons. I enjoy Kirkus and Booklist reviews, particularly. Also I like them short and snappy. Too long and it does feel like you might as well have read the book.