u-handbag has done it again with a ‘rather cheeky’ purse tutorial.

Periodically I am sent books from publishers to review, check out and hopefully mention on whipup. When I do a review I try to see the good in a book, but of course I also look how it could be improved upon and if its interesting or different enough to want to actually buy it. I recently mentioned in the comments of a post how I go about doing a book review …

when I review a book, I look at it from various angles. design, layout, writing style, content. If I don’t personally like the book I try to look at it from another persons perspective - would this book be suitable for beginners, or as a source of inspiration.

If the book has some great features but is not up to scratch in some ways then I say that too. However I am not going to burn a book for not being everything for everyone, and I am not going to criticise a book harshly on one point when it may have other points in its favour. In this way perhaps I am diplomatic.

The aim of my reviews is to give readers a balanced view and a chance to see if this book might be suitable for them - if it is modern funky and hip I will say so, if it simple and basic and functional I say so, if it old fashioned or has a particular style I say all of those things so that the reader can decide for themselves if this is a book they might want to own.

What I want to know from readers is …. What do you look for in a book review?