I retire, for now, from reviewing

No choice involved here, I do have to stop while I can still look back on my reviews with both pride and pleasure. All were written from the heart. But the perils of reviewing are far more complex than I'd thought.

I remembered Rachel Abbot's tale of what happened when she was asked to review a book she thought third-rate.  She contacted the writer forthrightly to tell him why she couldn't review his book. He responded by posting a one-star review of her best-selling novel.  Rachel stopped reviewing. And now so have I with great thanks to her for freeing me to read for pleasure and for growth while focusing on my own writing.

Cheers.

And, for the record, my last review gave a well-earned five stars to Sparks: A Year in E-Publishing.  Check it out!