They should add an "author reputation rating" on goodread. That way people could rate the behaviour of the author without messing with the book rating!
Agreed. It might separate out the issue with the author from the “this book is awful.” And also, I want to go on there and give props to the idiot author who celebrated their friend’s first book deal by publicly trashing the sell-outs who get book deals, for example.
I am a writer. If I get 4.5 stars I’m having a party! Also, it’s tacky and unprofessional to attack a reviewer, periodt! Full stop! That is never okay. Can’t believe she played the ‘your mama’ card! Wow
this woman also tweeted that playing fetch with dogs is animal abuse and then blocked a ton of people (including me, who did not know who she was apart from the twitter drama until this video) who simply liked tweets clowning on her lmao
Time to comment a whole year later... I love 4 star reviews, because it tells me they liked the book, and they're being honest about the degree of enjoyment. With how these ratings bombings and boostings work on goodreads, I have a harder time believing a 5 star is genuine unless it's a more detailed review. Same with 1 star reviews. I would be absolutely over the moon for two 4.5 star reviews on a book. 3 stars and up is a positive review, imho.
Social media was a mistake. Way too many writers are absolutely terrible people who can't take criticism and believe themselves brilliant. It's really annoying. While I sympathize with her horrible experiences while growing up, she needs to work on these issues with a therapist and not harass readers. It's amasing that there are no attempts to reign in on the side of the publishing houses, this is ridiculous behaviour for anyone, yet alone an adult.
What I’m seeing here is someone who wrote a book about trauma but maybe should’ve done therapy before that. (I don’t mean that in a rude way. Therapy is great and you best believe I’m at all of my appointments!) I think it’s a bit scary how far from reality her brain seems to be operating and hopefully she can get back into a better headspace at some point.
I should note, to be fair, she did go through mental and physical abuse in the cult she was a part of as a child. However, I think that her comparison in that tweet was made in absolute and complete bad faith in order to deflect from the fact that she was treating people poorly for absolutely no reason other than she thought she deserved 5 stars instead of 4.5.
Ms. Four and a Half Stars has been a booktwt main character again! In March she supported Sandra Newman’s transandrophobic gendercide (more accurately gametecide) book. In September she said dogs were “fetch junkies” and if you play too much with them, they will die.
it’s funny that she called reviewers nerds on a power trip when *checks notes* it seems like she’s the nerd on the power trip 🥴 honestly the book was on my radar before it was published, but after the drama i was definitely turned off. and then after this review it’s gonna be a definite no from me because it sounds mediocre at best lol
I can’t imagine being upset by a 4.5 star review on good reads considering, with all of the 5 star reviews I’ve seen on crappy romance books, I tend to instinctively not take 5 star reviews very serious. I’m also glad I’m not the only one who found bad feminist underwhelming. The essays didn’t seem to have much to do with each other thematically.
I think the distinction you made between 'understandable' and 'justifiable' is really important. I remember having conversations with a friend who entered a relationship with a somewhat problematic person and she used to defend that person's behavior because they were mentally ill and went through so much trauma, and it was such a struggle to make her see that being ill/needing help is different than being an asshole. This whole thing with Lauren was just... *sighs* And you're really out here doing the heavy lifting for the rest of us 😂 I saved the Bad Feminist live to watch after I read the book (I probably will because I own it), but I can already tell I'll have similar opinions on it.
I also snagged a “nerd on a power trip” t-shirt ASAP when Marines announced it 😂 Plan to wear it for my July TBR 💁🏼♀️ Every time I re-hear this shit I can’t help but laugh…who has that much time to be so angry and petty all the time? I have zero interest in this book…thanks for taking one for the team 🙌🏼
This has nothing to do with this video but there’s a book of essays by different queer authors called Fat and Queer. I’m not finished with it yet but I think you’d really like it! Also I have a class I’m taking from a professor who has literally met Angela Davis and had lunch with her in Davis’ house. She had pictures. I’m so jealous
I love how this book is essentially a baby step book. Very beginning of the road. And she can't handle it not being that. Like it's not a full burn, it's just only useful for people who aren't us and past that first step. Damn the saltiness from her is hilarious and depressing all at the same time.
but the rounding up/rounding down bits were funny 😭 honestly if i got those reviews id go "lmao" and move on with my day. they just didnt feel like giving a flat 4 or 5 and that's okay. that's what the .5 is for
If I ever published a book and it got more than 4 stars I would be over the moon!! The level of entitlement is through the roof. Love the way you articulate your perspective. Thanks for the great videos! I'm binge-listening to your channel while at work and I adore your content. 💖
This is 2 years late but as a person that lives with a user of MMJ... I find it ridiculous that Lauren doubled down on being high. I understand that THC affects everyone differently... but this behavior isn't because she was high and she needs to take responsibility for her behavior and own it.
I'm always confused when people insist that everyone have the same reaction to literature. Like, I think Neil Gaimen's plots are super interesting but his prose gives my brain the itch. I also think he's enough of an adult to not care what some rando thinks of his prose 🙄. I mean, I enjoy making things, but I make them to suit me and know that not everyone will like it. That's life. Maybe Lauren should take a crack at calming down a bit.
I dislike one star bombing because it makes it SO hard to find actual reviews about a book. It buries all the actual criticism of the book. i understand why people do it but its not useful, especially for other readers.
Sometimes you need to know to shut up. Imagine being a 4.5 author and ruining your whole reputation and sales cause you wanted 0.5 more points… like, at that point it’s in you.
Really enjoyed this video and your chat about your experience with feminism. This is a very long shot but do you know which lipstick you're wearing here, it's stunning and suits you well.
I haven't read Roxanne gay book bad feminist but I have read her memoir hunger and her novel untamed state they are really great the triggering to me but still great reads 🤔🤗😊😥😭😰
I have to admit, I scoffed hard when I read about "life doesn't give you tw". Yes. I don't however pay money to life, it's not sentient. It doesn't make conscious decisions what happens. However people do. People make conscious decisions. If somebody decides to be a dick to me and not warn me about something that would affect me negatively, why would I give my money, time and energy to that person? They are not entitled to it. I wouldn't. I find people complaining about tw to be oddly inconsistent, since they don't complain about food labeling, when accepting something without knowing how it will affect you or warning you if there may be something in it that may hurt you, is something they are fine with. Gay weirded me out because she explicitly talks about people engaging in harmful behaviour and then insisting that it's not fine to do that, it's absolutely unreasonable to expect a heads up in a controlled environment such as written text.
But if somebody has a crappy attitude it doesn’t make you want to go on and read something they’ve written. I don’t get how these authors can’t see the correlation. I am a beginning writer myself I’ve self-published a book of poetry,. and it’s certainly not an attitude I wish to carry.
Lol, I got blocked by her on Twitter for showing someone defending her screenshots of what she actually said when she started to try to gaslight people and deleted her earlier tweets. I hadn't even tagged her in my tweets. It was funny.
I feel like it would have been smarter to give her 1 star reviews on Amazon (bc like you said, no one really checks reviews, just the amount) than on goodreads bc someone’s gonna want to know why everyone gave it 1 star and why it’s so bad. But yeah, this author’s behavior was just a big no-no or if this was for PR, one hell of a PR stunt
Okay I know this drama is old and I'm way, way late to commenting on this but she charges people to teach how to do social media etiquette?! Lmao 🤣 Edit: okay I rewinded I misheard "how to use social media," that's still funny to me lol. Haven't read her book but after hearing about that scandal I definitely am going to avoid anything from her in the future because who's going to want to feed that huge ego. It's unfortunate because she was probably- or could have been a great voice for her community but she just kind of let it go to her head. The one star review bombing though kind of doesn't sit well with me I mean they could have just not gave her any more attention that would have been enough, in my opinion, but that's probably just my soft spot knowing that she's like a survivor of abuse.
"i'm being TORTURED for NOT SMILING" for fucks sake
They should add an "author reputation rating" on goodread. That way people could rate the behaviour of the author without messing with the book rating!
Agreed. It might separate out the issue with the author from the “this book is awful.” And also, I want to go on there and give props to the idiot author who celebrated their friend’s first book deal by publicly trashing the sell-outs who get book deals, for example.
“Nobody got cancelled, you’re not a TV show” is a top notch comeback
I am a writer. If I get 4.5 stars I’m having a party! Also, it’s tacky and unprofessional to attack a reviewer, periodt! Full stop! That is never okay. Can’t believe she played the ‘your mama’ card! Wow
this woman also tweeted that playing fetch with dogs is animal abuse and then blocked a ton of people (including me, who did not know who she was apart from the twitter drama until this video) who simply liked tweets clowning on her lmao
This whole situation was …. Ridiculous lol I will never get over getting over someone being mad because of a 4.5 star review 🤦🏻♀️
Imagine being this audacious
If I were high and then became sober and realized I had thrown a tantrum for no reason in front of 70k people, I would cancel myself.
Time to comment a whole year later...
I love 4 star reviews, because it tells me they liked the book, and they're being honest about the degree of enjoyment. With how these ratings bombings and boostings work on goodreads, I have a harder time believing a 5 star is genuine unless it's a more detailed review. Same with 1 star reviews. I would be absolutely over the moon for two 4.5 star reviews on a book. 3 stars and up is a positive review, imho.
@@Shalaena I agree. 3 stars and up is good in my rating system. 5 stars for me just means it’s one of my personal favorite
Social media was a mistake. Way too many writers are absolutely terrible people who can't take criticism and believe themselves brilliant. It's really annoying. While I sympathize with her horrible experiences while growing up, she needs to work on these issues with a therapist and not harass readers. It's amasing that there are no attempts to reign in on the side of the publishing houses, this is ridiculous behaviour for anyone, yet alone an adult.
Have people forgotten that 2.5/5 is average?? 4 stars is.... above average. Almost phenomenal.
As others have said of I got 4.5 I'd be crying tears of joy like "THEY LOVE ME! THEY REALLY LOVE ME!"
What I’m seeing here is someone who wrote a book about trauma but maybe should’ve done therapy before that. (I don’t mean that in a rude way. Therapy is great and you best believe I’m at all of my appointments!) I think it’s a bit scary how far from reality her brain seems to be operating and hopefully she can get back into a better headspace at some point.
Oh, to have the worst “torture” in my life be that someone gave my book a 95% instead of 100%. The entitled victim complex just oozes from her pores.
I should note, to be fair, she did go through mental and physical abuse in the cult she was a part of as a child. However, I think that her comparison in that tweet was made in absolute and complete bad faith in order to deflect from the fact that she was treating people poorly for absolutely no reason other than she thought she deserved 5 stars instead of 4.5.
I don’t think 1 star bombing helps but certainly calling out authors behaving badly does
I agree
As soon as I heard Children of God my blood ran cold. Absolutely horrifying group of people, with a lot of blood on their hands.
This is FASCINATING to watch because my only introduction to her was randomly getting blocked along with the rest of trans people/ writers lol
Ms. Four and a Half Stars has been a booktwt main character again! In March she supported Sandra Newman’s transandrophobic gendercide (more accurately gametecide) book. In September she said dogs were “fetch junkies” and if you play too much with them, they will die.
Ugh I KNOWWWWW what a frickin mess. I’m planning to read it and do a video about it.
Well crap, as a writer if I was getting consistent 4.5 star reviews, I'd be thrilled.
"youR mOM's a REd hERRing" What the?? 😂😂😂
Right?! The weirdest shit
it’s funny that she called reviewers nerds on a power trip when *checks notes* it seems like she’s the nerd on the power trip 🥴
honestly the book was on my radar before it was published, but after the drama i was definitely turned off. and then after this review it’s gonna be a definite no from me because it sounds mediocre at best lol
I hate to say it but yeah there’s just way better stuff to read IMO 🤷🏻♀️
Same here 😠😡🤯
With how much Lauren rewrites history you’d think she’d be a much better writer
I can’t imagine being upset by a 4.5 star review on good reads considering, with all of the 5 star reviews I’ve seen on crappy romance books, I tend to instinctively not take 5 star reviews very serious.
I’m also glad I’m not the only one who found bad feminist underwhelming. The essays didn’t seem to have much to do with each other thematically.
I think the distinction you made between 'understandable' and 'justifiable' is really important. I remember having conversations with a friend who entered a relationship with a somewhat problematic person and she used to defend that person's behavior because they were mentally ill and went through so much trauma, and it was such a struggle to make her see that being ill/needing help is different than being an asshole. This whole thing with Lauren was just... *sighs* And you're really out here doing the heavy lifting for the rest of us 😂
I saved the Bad Feminist live to watch after I read the book (I probably will because I own it), but I can already tell I'll have similar opinions on it.
We need a Lauren Hough/Gabbie Hanna collab. Greatest crossover since Infinity War
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE HORROR
@@ReadswithRachel I may have nightmares about this now
Please, no.
OMG!! *screams*
This is amazing 😂😂
I also snagged a “nerd on a power trip” t-shirt ASAP when Marines announced it 😂 Plan to wear it for my July TBR 💁🏼♀️
Every time I re-hear this shit I can’t help but laugh…who has that much time to be so angry and petty all the time?
I have zero interest in this book…thanks for taking one for the team 🙌🏼
Yay BEST T SHIRT!!!
This has nothing to do with this video but there’s a book of essays by different queer authors called Fat and Queer. I’m not finished with it yet but I think you’d really like it!
Also I have a class I’m taking from a professor who has literally met Angela Davis and had lunch with her in Davis’ house. She had pictures. I’m so jealous
**ADDS TO CART**
I love how this book is essentially a baby step book. Very beginning of the road. And she can't handle it not being that. Like it's not a full burn, it's just only useful for people who aren't us and past that first step. Damn the saltiness from her is hilarious and depressing all at the same time.
but the rounding up/rounding down bits were funny 😭 honestly if i got those reviews id go "lmao" and move on with my day. they just didnt feel like giving a flat 4 or 5 and that's okay. that's what the .5 is for
I'd seen all those tweets before but they still shock me every time - like what in wide world of sports even was that? the delusion is real
Wide world of sports 🤣🤣🤣
Sadly, we shall never fully understand what would possess someone to be this fucking obtuse.
If I ever published a book and it got more than 4 stars I would be over the moon!! The level of entitlement is through the roof.
Love the way you articulate your perspective. Thanks for the great videos! I'm binge-listening to your channel while at work and I adore your content. 💖
If someone thought anything I had written was 4.5 stars I’d be over the moon
You’re my favorite nerd on a power trip 💚
Bitch i love you
@@ReadswithRachel Bitch I love you most
This is so embarrassing for her. Some people cannot handle being on the internet.
I truly do not understand why you would choose to be an artist of any kind if you are incapable of handling even the concept of criticism or review
As a queer woman, we don’t want her or claim her.
I’m an author…I’d kill for a 4.5 rating! I’d be happy with a 3/5 rating 😆
I will never read Lauren as I really do hate her because of this.
Great review! I'm glad you went over the book itself instead of just her behavior. Thank you!
If her book was the best ever written, I still wouldn't read it after a reaction like that to a 4.5 review. Just unwarranted and immature.
as an aside, I do wish goodreads would let you give half stars as well, rather than the only way being to write it in your review.
This is 2 years late but as a person that lives with a user of MMJ... I find it ridiculous that Lauren doubled down on being high. I understand that THC affects everyone differently... but this behavior isn't because she was high and she needs to take responsibility for her behavior and own it.
I'm always confused when people insist that everyone have the same reaction to literature. Like, I think Neil Gaimen's plots are super interesting but his prose gives my brain the itch. I also think he's enough of an adult to not care what some rando thinks of his prose 🙄. I mean, I enjoy making things, but I make them to suit me and know that not everyone will like it. That's life. Maybe Lauren should take a crack at calming down a bit.
Insecurity is loud.
I dislike one star bombing because it makes it SO hard to find actual reviews about a book. It buries all the actual criticism of the book. i understand why people do it but its not useful, especially for other readers.
Man I would love for someone to give my book a 4.5 stars
Sometimes you need to know to shut up. Imagine being a 4.5 author and ruining your whole reputation and sales cause you wanted 0.5 more points… like, at that point it’s in you.
Lauren has got to be the absolute most immature adult I have ever encountered lol I’m flabbergasted, truly.
Really enjoyed this video and your chat about your experience with feminism.
This is a very long shot but do you know which lipstick you're wearing here, it's stunning and suits you well.
I haven't read Roxanne gay book bad feminist but I have read her memoir hunger and her novel untamed state they are really great the triggering to me but still great reads 🤔🤗😊😥😭😰
I’m still planning to read those! 😄
@@ReadswithRachel that great and yes in both books there's some tough scenes in them but they are worth a read 😥😰🙂🤗😊
I have to admit, I scoffed hard when I read about "life doesn't give you tw". Yes. I don't however pay money to life, it's not sentient. It doesn't make conscious decisions what happens. However people do. People make conscious decisions. If somebody decides to be a dick to me and not warn me about something that would affect me negatively, why would I give my money, time and energy to that person? They are not entitled to it. I wouldn't. I find people complaining about tw to be oddly inconsistent, since they don't complain about food labeling, when accepting something without knowing how it will affect you or warning you if there may be something in it that may hurt you, is something they are fine with. Gay weirded me out because she explicitly talks about people engaging in harmful behaviour and then insisting that it's not fine to do that, it's absolutely unreasonable to expect a heads up in a controlled environment such as written text.
This whole situation is beyond baffling to me, like I would be more than happy to get four stars on something I wrote, what?????
she really went off on a rampage! what was she smoking i wonder?? XD loved how constructive you were about her book xx
I feel like I had more to say but I was so done talking about a mediocre book I just wanted to get filming over with lol
You are competing with Marinese for the title Booktube's Book Jesus for reading this one.
She’s a true saint, I’m just a troll LOL
@@ReadswithRachel Troll on a power trip
Lol that’s me
Lol she talked a lotta shit for someone with a just ok book 😂
Did... did she think it was out of 10?
This whole thing is just wild.
To put it lightly, lol
She didn’t even write that tweet well: *your (no apostrophe) is a red herring. 😒 p.s. love your videos❤
Can we still get the "Nerd on a Power Trip shirt"? I need me one of those!
But if somebody has a crappy attitude it doesn’t make you want to go on and read something they’ve written. I don’t get how these authors can’t see the correlation. I am a beginning writer myself I’ve self-published a book of poetry,. and it’s certainly not an attitude I wish to carry.
Lol, I got blocked by her on Twitter for showing someone defending her screenshots of what she actually said when she started to try to gaslight people and deleted her earlier tweets. I hadn't even tagged her in my tweets. It was funny.
This is one of the best stories ever
I'm glad I saw this video. I haven't been exposed to Lauren or her books, but now I can safely avoid both.
I feel like it would have been smarter to give her 1 star reviews on Amazon (bc like you said, no one really checks reviews, just the amount) than on goodreads bc someone’s gonna want to know why everyone gave it 1 star and why it’s so bad.
But yeah, this author’s behavior was just a big no-no or if this was for PR, one hell of a PR stunt
agreed
"Acting a little bit like Donald Trump" is exactly it. Like just COMPLETELY twisting the narrative. Weird behavior, at best. lol
this
Okay I know this drama is old and I'm way, way late to commenting on this but she charges people to teach how to do social media etiquette?! Lmao 🤣
Edit: okay I rewinded I misheard "how to use social media," that's still funny to me lol. Haven't read her book but after hearing about that scandal I definitely am going to avoid anything from her in the future because who's going to want to feed that huge ego. It's unfortunate because she was probably- or could have been a great voice for her community but she just kind of let it go to her head. The one star review bombing though kind of doesn't sit well with me I mean they could have just not gave her any more attention that would have been enough, in my opinion, but that's probably just my soft spot knowing that she's like a survivor of abuse.
I'm sorry, but "You're mom's a red herring" is unintentionally the funniest shit in this already crusty shitshow 😆
The nerds on a power trip are… the people who liked your book?
i too love my antidepressants
THEY ARE THE REAL MVP
I bet that shirt turned up after this video went live. 😂🧡
It would… if I’d ever fold my damn laundry
@@ReadswithRachel did it finally show up a year later?
All of this because you're bitter a few people didn't give you half a star more on GoodReads? 🧐
nerd on a power trip 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yep that’s me 💁🏻♀️