The first obvious reason—I’m not very good at it. I suppose that’s not something I should admit, considering I write for a living. Although, most book reviews I’ve read—even from other authors—aren’t that terrific either.
Writers have varying skillsets—which may or may not include review writing. However, every once in a while I will stumble across a beautifully written book review and I long to stretch those writer’s muscles—but then I remember the other reason I can’t be a book reviewer: I won’t critique a book I dislike—because then I’d have to leave less than four stars.
These days I find it harder and harder to leave a bad book review—I just don’t have the heart to rip out another writer’s heart. This doesn’t mean I’ll blow sunshine under an author’s bloomers. I’ll simply pass on writing a review if I dislike a book.
Plus, I have little free time, and I’ll only finish a book I enjoy. Unless I’ve read the entire book I don’t think I should leave a review. So if you think about it, even if I was willing to leave one or two stars, I don’t have the time to read bad books.
If I aspired to be a book reviewer I’d have to be willing to leave a negative review when necessary—because if I didn’t, readers probably wouldn’t trust me. Of course, there might be a niche out there for a reviewer focusing solely on books to read as opposed to books to avoid.