Some see it as a privilege, others, a curse. I see it as a book. A book that sometime I really really want but mostly just a book. An ordinary, perhaps sort of early, book.

Those books carry a lot of weight.

Mainly because it has a stigma of prestige (which really isn’t always true). You are a Big Blogger. Publishers like Big Bloggers for marketing purposes. They send you Incredibly Coveted Book six whole months before it releases, and the bookish world is in awe.

The subject of ARC envy has already been discussed, in great detail and in great depth so I’d rather just leave that specific nest alone, because I’m shining light on something else.

We all love to read. We all love to love reading. But there are books that we honestly don’t give any fucks to finish, and sometimes those books are ARCs. This usually makes us unsure of what to do. Do we discontinue? Will the publisher get mad?

Answer: no.

Or rather, they shouldn’t. Maybe a publisher is extra sensitive. Maybe they’re just being dicks. But they really should not get mad if a reviewer DNFs a book because they didn’t like it.

Isn’t that the whole point of a review? To give their honest to goodness, unbiased and uncoloured opinion of a story? I think publishers already acknowledge the fact that yes, we are all human beans (not beings, beans) and won’t love everything we get. We request the books in hopes of liking it, but there’s never a guarantee. I am a firm believer in that this an inherent risk publishers take, and that in sending out those arcs anyway, accept that risk in getting a measly DNF.

(Besides, as an author, I’d rather have a reviewer tell me the book sucked so they had to stop, than they trudge on not because they liked it but because they were afraid of the publisher getting mad.)

Of course, promo tours are another thing. Promo tours are usually made solely for sprinkling all the golden fairy dust over a book and making it as shiny and loud as possible. All the five four four and a half ratings get showcased and you’re just covered in glitter because this book is awesome promo everywhere. I understand if a publisher wants you to refrain from sticking a big red I DID NOT LIKE in the middle of their tour.

BOTTOM LINE THOUGH.

If you don’t like an ARC, dump it! Life is too short for this. Say you didn’t like it, detail why, and move on.

what do you guys think about this? do we owe it to the authors to finish it, even though we don’t want to? or is that a risk they accept when sending it out to us?