The Love of My Other Life’s most scathing reviews

Honestly, some of these are hilarious.

I mean, maybe it’s odd that I want to share the absolute worst of the reviews I’ve seen for The Love of My Other Life, my debut novel. But after a while, and when you’ve got enough good reviews to feel confident in what you’ve put out there, the bad reviews start to become funny.

Lots of people tell authors not to read their reviews (good or bad) as it’s only ever either vanity-boosting or depressing, neither of which are good things. But for me, it’s been very educational as a first-time novelist — not to mention, a lot of fun. Sure, the first handful of less-favourable reviews stung a little — especially when you know the review was written by someone who really doesn’t enjoy this genre of fiction (like, why are you even here?) But the fact that the poor reviews have been so dramatically outweighed by good reviews and high star ratings has taught me that, like every other book in the world, my work will have both its fans and its detractors.

Truly, the wonderful, kind things readers have been saying have thrilled me so much, nothing else matters. The Love of My Other Life has more five-star ratings than any other rating type on Amazon, across nearly 2,000 as of November 2022, and averages 4.2 out of five stars. So I’m not at all worried!

And come on – even Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, widely acknowledged as (and in my opinion) one of the all-time greatest books of the English language, has a bunch of one-star ratings and reviews using words such as “boring” and “pompous.” Literally every book ever written has some haters. And what a dull world it would be if we all loved the same things.

With that in mind, I would like to share the most scathing one-star reviews of The Love of My Other Life. Here goes!

I’m halfway through this book and won’t be plodding any further. The story is unlikely and confusing and I’m struggling to bond with it or with the main character. I’ve never given such a poor review so I’m sorry, but this is not for me.

Cherry-drop, Amazon

Cherry-drop, that’s totally fine. And yes, a multiverse parallel-timeline switch-up romance is indeed unlikely. I couldn’t agree more. PS: your name is also unlikely. But very cute.

The fat phobia was enough to make me hate this book, but the ridiculous sci fi aspect to this romance really sealed it. 

Gwen, Goodreads

I would like to say something here, as two or three reviews mentioned the weight thing… The “fat phobia” some have inferred was literally me (as someone who struggles with weight yoyoing rapidly from average to significantly overweight and back again) sharing my own, genuine, lived experience of what that feels like. But I’m genuinely sorry it made anyone feel that way. As for the book’s premise being ridiculous, you’ll get no arguments from me there.

I initially liked this story; it held my interest. But as it went on, it really got confusing to me and after a while, I was left wondering what the heck was happening.

Kindle Customer

Apologies, KC. Yep, it’s definitely not a simple story, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A really silly and boring storyline.

Fliss, Amazon

Honestly, Fliss, I get it with the silly. And if someone being thrust into a parallel universe, waking up married to a handsome millionaire she’s never met, is boring to you… I don’t know what to tell you. I got nothing. You probably have a way more active imagination than I do.

I gave up! Quite unbelievable. Having read part 1, I couldn’t face any more of the same.
Not the sort of romance that appeals to me.

Amazon Customer

Hey, AC, if unbelievable is not your jam, it’s all good.

The cover is a catfish.

Allison, Goodreads

Haha, okay. I definitely wouldn’t use the word catfish, but I think there may be some truth to the book being a slightly different vibe than the cover suggests. See my post about this. That said… Maybe rate a book based on the book, not the cover?

And finally, my current favourite that made me LOL 😀 and spit out my coffee:

This is the biggest….and I mean the BIGGEST load of old rubbish I’ve ever read!! I can’t believe a publisher has read this and deemed it worthy of publishing!! What a waste of my time and money. Will avoid this author like the plague in future.

Audrey, Amazon

Super-happy to hear you’ll be avoiding my work in future, Audrey! That’s one fewer one-star review on my next book. 😉

Seriously, though, if you want to see the real balance of reviews and ratings, check out The Love of My Other Life on Amazon and Goodreads.