In the past, I've always started my reviews with a short summary where I basically paraphrase what the Goodreads summary says but with my own words and insights. For some reason, I always get stuck on writing the summaries which is kind of strange since I read the book. 8 out of 10 times, I will have some notes on the book but I don't summarize the book in those notes so I end up staring at a blank review screen for a while.
Summaries are difficult to write because I'm trying not to spoil the book while keeping everything interesting to draw people in. Also, like I mentioned before, I post the Goodreads summary above anyway so it becomes a struggle to reword everything without the final product being too similar to the printed synopsis.
Surprisingly, there have been times where I have opened review posts with the intention to write out my thoughts and post it, but because I blank out at the summary I close the post without editing. I have no idea why summarizing is so difficult, but I've realized that I tend to skip it when describing a book. I've done a couple of monthly wrap ups on the channel and every time I have to remind myself to actually talk about the book, but it's a constant struggle.
On the positive side, summarizing books helps me to be able to recall the general idea of the story especially when I'm recommending it to a friend. I just need to figure out a more eloquent way to describe things other than using "so" "like" "you know."
So my question for you guys: Should I continue to include summaries in my reviews?
I'm going to try a couple reviews without to see how it feels and if reviewing becomes a easier task. There might be a couple books where I include a review because it comes easy to me, but I'm going to give it a go. Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Foreverly Obsessed,
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