Introducing: Coffee Time Reviews

A publication for pour-your-heart-out book reviews and any other kind of books-related content

Image created by the author on Canva.

I launched Coffee Time Reviews for one main reason: I’m tired of being told how to write book reviews. I’m tired of respecting a certain format, making sure I always do it in a particular, rigid way, that severely limits what I truly want to say about how that book made me feel.

I’ve been living with this frustration ever since I reviewed one of my favourite books of all time for a university assignment, and I was severely downgraded because I didn’t criticise it enough. I understand balance is important in journalism. But I also know the beauty of reading lies in how you connect and relate to a book, and a review should give you the freedom to fully embrace and express the emotion that a book awakens in you.

I’ve been a top writer in Books and Reading on Medium several times, but, oddly enough, the only true book review I’ve ever written since joining the platform is this one, in My Selection. The reason for that is I always hesitated to write just a book review and strived to add more value to every piece. All my reading-related pieces have mostly been published in Books Are Our Superpower and A Thousand Lives, both of which are incredible publications I love contributing to. BAOS…