When you hate a book

This year I have read 46 books with another 13 planned (minimum). So fair to say I read a lot of books. I don't love all the book I don't hate all the books. My average rating is average- or 3 stars. Maybe a few points up or down depending on the book.

I don't generally rate books 5 stars or 1 stars. For those that I do rate 5 stars, those tend to be the books that I don't review or go into intending to review it, and instead just enjoy the act of reading a book. Because unfortunately it is a different experience to read a book just for the fun of it and read a book knowing you are going to review it.

I have a few 1 star reads, but if I don't like a book it generally falls under 2 stars, because it takes merit to get a book published, and as long as I can physically read the words on the page and it makes at least a little sense, then it isn't a 1 star read in my opinion.

My problem is the discourse surrounding if it is okay to post a negative review, whether that be via video or a written review to a site. I think a lot of people have seen that Haley Pham book being reviewed, and that she as an person was being attacked. That isn't okay. It is okay to critique a book or the writing, but lets not attack people, unless they have caused real problems, rather than just mispronouncing a word (that she didn't actually mispronounce).

I recently read A Hexing Holiday and I am beyond disappointed. It had such promise, but it fell so flat. I am critical of the book, it is one that I hoped to read for fun, but unfortunately that didn't work out for me. I posted a "negative" review where I voiced my displeasure with how the book was written and it was removed twice. My current reviews remain up, but it just goes to show that no matter how gentle the criticism, if the author has thin skin, they won't accept it. Which just isn't okay. You put something out into the world, people are going to have opinions. Not to say that every single person will be nice about the review, but once it's out in the world you don't get a say in what people think/say.