As a new author, one of the most valuable and painful lessons I learned was that not every soul in the universe is going to adore my books. Before becoming published writers, many of us who eventually get there harbor delusions about throngs of fans clamoring to read our books and that every one of them will fall in love with our stories. Alas, that dream vanishes with a quiet, rueful sigh. The agony of reading that first acrid review is something only a published author knows and lives with. Knowing full well that Amazon and other sites, especially blogs, will serve up reviews crawling with fangs, talons, needles, and venom, we still visit the sites with anxious yet hopeful hearts. Every time we see terms like cheesy, poorly-written, clichéd, total waste of time and money, tawdry, tedious, and pedestrian, we wince and try to quell the tears burning our eyelids. To read more of Shoban’s blog about reviews please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.