The Reviewers' Roundtable- Review Style

Inspired by all the blogs who do these joint discussions, The Reviewers Roundtable is our version of a weekly feature where we discuss a book related/blogging topic.

Meet the Reviewers:

Rachel from Rachel Reads (Saturdays)

Emily from Read Your Bookcase (Fridays)

Me (Michelle) from here at Pink Polka Dot Book Blog (Thursdays)

What kind of reviews do you write?  What kind of reviews do you like to read?

Everyone has their own style in the reviews that they write.  Some people use a lot of gifs, some people fangirl and use a lot of !!!exclamation points!!!  There are those that write short and sweet ones and those that are super detailed.  Also there are people who review harsh and people who seem to love everything they read.  Just tons of great styles and ideas out there, and honestly I love that everyone is different!

Here's how I view my own book reviewing style:

• First off, my reviews are usually pretty short compared to a lot of other people.  I usually don't like to give too much info out about the book because I don't want to give important things away.  But that's really not the main reason for it.  I prefer the short and sweet reviewing.  I like to get my thoughts out there and I just don't need a ton of words to do it. 
• I usually do my own little synopsis of the book (I like making up my own and not using the one on Goodreads... don't really know why), then most of the time I'll just go into my thoughts.  At the end of my reviews I usually say something that I didn't understand or could've lived without... then I do an overall recap.
• I use a 4 star rating system on my blog and then obv. a 5 star one on Goodreads, which is probably confusing, but it would be hard for me to change it now.
• Holy crap I LOVE funny gifs, but I never use them.  I just am not clever like that.  I think I'm funny in other ways... but no, I'm actually probably not very funny at all :(
• I do fangirl sometimes (My Life Next Door), and I also freely admit that I need to go to the next exclamation-use anonymous meeting!  I use WAY too many of them!  But I get excited damn it!
• My grammar is pretty laid back.  I am bad at commas.  I probably don't always use them when I should... also I use the "..." to separate my ideas way too much.  And I start sentences with and & but all the time.
• I try not to be too negative.  Although sometimes I get offended when a book is really bad.  I don't know why it offends me so much... it just does (Getting Over Garrett Delaney).  For the most part I try to see the good in books, but also be honest.  It's a hard balance!
• Here's one of my reviews that I liked.

Reviews I like to read:

• I love gifs when they're used cleverly!!  They make me smile.  Especially Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone gifs... those ones are boss.
• I like great quotes.  I'm not the best at picking out quotes, so I love it when someone picks out a cool line in a book.
• I don't really like loooo-ooong reviews.  I tend to skim if the review goes longer than 4-5 paragraphs.
• I  kind of don't like it when people post a summary of the book, but at the beginning of their review they summarize the entire book all over again... I just want to know what you thought.
• There are so many creative people out there that do awesome stuff with their reviews.  For example, Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner does a Review on a Post-It.  I think that's really cute and unique.  Also I like how Anna from Anna Reads writes SUPER short reviews, but you still know exactly how she felt about the book and her personality totally shows through.  Book Me! has little picture icons that I LOVE that tell you if the book contains heartbreak, ghosts, etc.
• I also tend to read a lot of reviews on books I've already read.  I don't know if that's weird, but I like to see what other people thought about a book I've read.

So now I want to know about you... what kind of reviews do you guys write & read?