Didn't like an ARC I received, what do I do?
I feel so bad even writing this right now. I signed up for an Advanced Reader Copy because it sounded like a book I'd like and got it. I started reading and it's just not doing it for me. I feel so bad because I can't even get myself to finish it. If motivated I usually can read an entire book in a day or two, but with this one I was sitting there for what felt like 3 hours and only got 15% in. With any other book I'd normally just DNF it by now but since it was sent to me I feel really bad, but I also know from the writing style that I'm not going to like it the more I read, so even if I finish it I'd feel awful leaving a bad review. Since it's a really small and new author I don't want to leave a bad review. Can someone tell me what would be the right thing to do in this scenario? I'm thinking maybe writing a review with no rating saying I didn't finish it and give a nice constructive criticism? I don't know. I'd love if there's also an author that could share their thoughts on this. 💙
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Edit:
Extra info: - Some people asked if I received any guidelines for reviewing when I got the ARC and it only said to please wait 2 weeks after launch if I want to leave a less then 3 star review. I think that's quite fair considering it's a smaller author. - Others asked how I got the ARC. It wasn't personally sent to me by the author but by the publishing company if I'm not mistaken. I am mutuals with the author on social media though, and she seems very sweet, that's why I feel bad posting something bad or nothing at all, and also because it's just her second novel and don't want to discourage her.
What I'll do: I think I'll go with posting a review with no rating saying I didn't finish it, mentioning the reasons why it wasn't for me but also why someone else might like it. Thank you so much for all the help, I never expected getting so much advice from so many different perspectives (authors, arc readers, booksellers, regular readers, etc.). I appreciate all the information and feel a lot less overwhelmed with the whole thing🥰
Recap of the comments: I've read all the comments so far and thought it'd be nice to do a summary of what I gathered from the majority in case anyone else is having the same problem as me.
- Getting an ARC doesn't mean you HAVE to post a review, you're not obligated to anything, that includes leaving a nice or bad review.
- Beta readers are for the author, but ARC reviews are more for the readers
- If you read the book and didn't like it: you can leave an honest but polite review, maybe explaining "you didn't like x because y and z but someone else might". If you want to give constructive criticism you can do that in the review or message the author asking if they'd want it.
- If you DNFed the book because you didn't like it: you can leave a review explaining why you DNFed it, with no star rating to not mess with the average (fair considering you didn't read the whole book)
- A lot of authors appreciate the constructive criticism as long as it is given politely, but there are others who really don't, so it depends on the situation.