Think Before You Review ...

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
- Ernest Hemingway

Honestly no truer words were ever spoken about a writer. Especially for a writer that is offering up their hard work to someone else to essentially read, critique and rip to shreds. I'm an unpublished author and I desperately want to join the ranks of those that are published. But I know that when that day comes, if I put my work out there in the world, I will of course be subject to the same reviews that all my favorite authors are subject too.
I've read some of these reviews, on apps such as Goodreads, websites like Amazon and B&N, seen posts on Tumblr and Facebook. While some reviews have merit and come from a genuine place of critique and objectivity a large majority of them make my blood boil.
For instance completely writing off any series, story, or author because the two characters you 'ship' don't end up together is an opinion that is uniquely your own. Now while others may share your sentiments and agree with your opinion, it is not however a justified review of a book. Or perhaps the author threw in a plot twist to up the ante and make the story more exciting and interesting to the reader. Honestly those plot twists are fun to write, you keep thinking to yourself 'no one will see this coming'. If you didn't like the plot twist, well too bad, it's there for a reason and it serves a larger purpose to the story.
Moving on to characters, for anyone that is not a writer and simply enjoys the thrill of reading and a new book characters are probably some of the most difficult aspects to control when writing. Characters soon become their own person and sometimes, as hard as you try, you have no control over them. They take on a life of their own and sometimes they tell you, the writer, where they want to go next and what's going to happen. Trust me it is just as much a shock to the writer as it is the reader. But that being said the author has a plan for their characters, they each serve a specific purpose to the overall storyline, whether it's to be a martyr, to be a love interest, or to just get the ball rolling for the main character. They all serve a purpose!
Now there are many other review aspects that I can go into but it seems to me the trend of these so called 'reviewers' is to complain when the characters don't do what the reader wants. "Shippers" really make my blood boil because for some reason it seems to be a thing now if the main characters of any story don't end up in love, in lust or in bed together before the end of the book. I don't seem justifying the hatred of a book or story because 'so and so' didn't end up with 'what's her face', if that's the case and how you want to base your opinion stick to Disney movies; they always have a happy ending.