To feel really irritated by my friend asking me to review her book…

[RunicWords]

So a friend of mine has self-published a book for kids. It seems nicely written with cute illustrations. But I don’t think it’s exceptional. She’s asked me to help her by reviewing it on Amazon.
Of course I’ve said I will… once I’ve purchased it of course, otherwise it won’t be a ‘verified purchase’.
I looked on Amazon and she already has multiple 5-star reviews (nothing less) … they must all be from friends as it’s only just come out and how would anyone know about it otherwise? Now it’s really bugging me as I often rely on reviews when I buy books and other stuff, and the thought of being hoodwinked by reviews like that enrages me.
On the other hand, fair play to her, she’s gone for it, she needs the support and encouragement, and it would be really mean not to help, right?
I can’t decide what to think, please help!!

For a book surely you’d look at reviews elsewhere (I.E. book groups etc) rather than just Amazon ?

Of course I'd not rubbish it.And nor does OP plan to. She just doesn't want to review it at all, and she's irritated that her friend is asking people who havent even seen the book, to lie and publish 5* reviews. I'd be disappointed and irritated by that, soo.

That's what friends do, they try to help. She doesn't have to lie, just write a sentence and give a good review. It's not much to ask.

@Maggiethecat agree. There are some right idiots on here 😔

Honest amazon reviews, good one 😅

But she WOULD be lying. I don't know how you don't understand that. It's the exact reason why OP doesn't want to do this. She doesn't think that the book is good, yet she's been asked to say that it's a 5* book and give it a glowing review. That's called lying.

This isn't Uber where 5* means 'yeah, it was okay'.

You cannot leave a friend a bad review. if you saw her out getting coffee with her boss would you tell her boss she was disorganised and shit at getting details right? Because you felt you had to be honest? Find something nice to comment on.

Again, OP is NOT going to leave a bad review. She's just annoyed that the friend asked her to do this, and as she wasn't impressed by the book, she doesn't want to leave a review at all.

My BIL has a friend who is paid to buy items on Amazon in return for a five star review, he also gets to keep the items

Always be very wary of reviews, particularly on Amazon!

What the hell??? Surely you'd just help your friend out?? Jeez!
Also the majority of Amazon reviews are paid for - companies send out their products for free in return for a positive review. Tonnes of my friends at uni were signed up to it.

I rely on reviews too and empathise with people who can’t afford to be duped so I wouldn’t want to lie either - even for a friend.

I have a book on Amazon. It's currently at 4.6 stars and every review is genuine, I've never asked anyone to review it. So yes be cynical, but it's not fair to slag every book or think that you're participating in a universally fake process.

They do not have the ability to remove negative reviews, unless those reviews break the terms & conditions (like focusing on the delivery, personal attacks etc..)
Even then they cannot personally remove the reviews, they have to get Amazon to do it.

If I give something a 1 star review (which I do if it's really bad & have done many times in the past), as long as my review is honest & about the product, the only way to get rid of it is to completely delist the item, then relist it so it now has no reviews.

This

Oh, ffs! So are you always completely honest with your friends? Do you tell them they look good in an outfit when you think they look crap? No-one is ever completely honest, and if they are, it's highly likely they can't ever stay in a job or a relationship. Stop being so holier than thou.

I'm not suggesting that OP tells her friend the book isn't good (I wouldn't either). I'm not telling her she should leave a poor review (Of course not. I wouldn't either).

I'm simply saying that I understand why she doesn't want to leave an untrue review, and resents her friend asking people who haven't even read the book, to leave a 5* review.

So no, I wouldn't tell a friend that her outfit didn't suit her, though if she asked I might tactfully divert the conversation and mention styles that I particularly like on her.

Not giving a 5 star review to a friend's self-published book which you've said isn't bad would be one of the pettiest things I've ever heard.

She's self-published it. It will sell hardly any copies, if any, even if it's a really fantastic book. What a friend you are...

Can I ask? Why are you so bothered. If you don't want to buy it, ask for a copy so you can review. Is it expensive?

Even if my friend published a book I didn't like, I would still give it the best review because to me it means nothing.

But to her, it would mean everything

@saraclara that’s not clear at all. She says this It's just that anything less than 5 stars will look really mean-spirited now. Probably worse than no review. It just irks me because, like I say, I really rely on reviews, especially when weighing up books to read. Guess it's the principle.
certainly sounds like someone thinking about giving 2 stars and thinking that’s kind!

In the time it took you to post a thread on Mumsnet about writing a review....you could have written a review.

You don't sound like a great friend to be honest.
You could write a review in less than a minute if you wanted to. "Cute illustrations" would literally be fine.

Not sure what’s so difficult to understand about my original question…

It’s nothing to do with the effort required or encouraging and supporting my friend. If that’s all there was to it, of course I’d write the best review ever, give her five stars.

if you were looking for a present for your child and did a search on a particular subject and came across a book with 20 amazing 5-star reviews and bought it on that basis… Then it arrived and you discovered it wasn’t what the reviews had promised… nothing like in fact… you’d feel disappointed, no? Or would it be fine because the fake reviews were there to encourage the writer? And it doesn’t matter that they encourage people to part with their hard- earned money?

Or you bought something much more expensive based on a bunch of fake or dishonest reviews. Is that OK too?

It’s rubbish to say everyone knows Amazon reviews are fake because they don’t. I read them and try to work out if they look genuine or not but you often can’t tell. But I bet many people don’t even do that. They look for the stars, get pulled in by gushing words, and buy. And lots of people wouldn’t notice a book was self-published or realise reviews were from friends and family.

And actually ‘cute illustrations’ is not what she’s after, since she’s the writer, not the illustrator. But even if she was, that to me is the worst review ever, like you couldn’t even be bothered to string a proper sentence together. Two words amongst 20 gushing reviews of several lines each is going to stand out a mile.

You can just get a refund. Amazon isn't like sports direct. I don't think it's the moral dilemma you want it to be. Especially as it's a subjective fictional kids book, not a language dictionary or textbook on jackhammer operation, that absolutely needs to be perfect otherwise people could get hurt.

No I wouldn't prioritize Amazon strangers over a friend who's asked for my support. I'd just do the review and not think twice tbh. Anyway you might leave a genuinely rave review and another purchaser might still hate it. It's just a book.

I'm glad I'm lucky enough not to have friends like you