Oooh A New Book… And Just Who Is Harriet Klausner?
Sunday, November 13, 2005Posted in: Uncategorized
I got the Access Romance, Sneak-A-Peek newsletter in my in-box today, and found an excerpt of Jeanie London’s, In The Cold . It sounds fabulous so I’ve ordered it.
The excerpt is excellent, you can read it HERE .
How fantastic is that excerpt?
I can’t wait to get my grubby hands on it, mind you, I’ve had to buy a few more books, to get the free Amazon delivery. I’m such a sucker.
BTW, just who is Harriet Klausner, and does she even exist? Her reviews are everywhere. She has to be the most prolific reviewer on the net.
I ask, because when I went to order In The Cold, she had yet another review up.
I have to say though, I don’t think she’s ever read a crap book in her life. All her reviews are positively gushing.
I think she just might be the Pollyanna of romance book reviews. Like the romance world needs another one of those. Sigh.
I must admit, seeing her 5 star review of In The Cold made me think twice about buying it, but hey, I guess some of the books she reviews must be good, right?
So does anybody actually know who she is? It’s all a bit “Who Is Keyser Soze” (The Usual Suspects) for me…
UPDATE: Apparently this is what Harriet looks like…
Anybody else feeling a little sceptical right now? Yeah, me too.
Anne
November 14
1:12 am
Wow! That excerpt was phenomenal! I’ll be reading this book too.. and definitely NOT because of Ms. Klausner’s review. I’ve seen some of them and none of them are less than 4’s even though they should be
Nicole
November 14
2:08 am
I’ve read the book and it’s fantastic. Which um, reminds me that I need to finish up my review of it.
Sam
November 14
9:52 am
I think she’s real. A lot of publishers sends her their books hoping she’ll spread the joy all over the net.
LOL
She’s reviewed all my Jennifer Macaire books – I never sent her any copies – she gets them from publishers I think.
Lisa
November 14
10:28 am
I’ve always wondered about Harriet Klausner, I’ve just googled her, and apparently she’s done about 6000 reviews since 2000, which works out at 100 reviews per month. I’d like to know how she does it. A few people seem think that she doesn’t actually read the books that she reviews.
If you read her reviews, she doesn’t really go in depths about any of her books, so there may be some truth in that.
Scott
November 14
12:15 pm
Harriet Klausner is real, and she is the bane of readers’ existance! She is the equivalent to a crack whore! She more then likely gets paid to give these flowery reviews, and gets the books for free before the rest of the public can buy them. I make a point at Amazon.Com to click the “NO” button when it asks if her review was helpful. Every review, as stated above by others, it gushy and always a 4 or better. And that is complete bullshit!
My advice to everyone is to avoid her like the plague.
Tara Marie
November 14
12:53 pm
It’s a conspiracy, a conspiracy I tell you.
She’s an evil plot thought up by the publishers (every blessed one is in on it) to review every book ever published and have it have at least one good review.
Okay, how’s that for an explanation? She’s probably real and must be a skim reader missing all the crap that somehow the rest of us seem to find.
Jasmine
November 14
1:45 pm
Why would any author want her to review their books when readers don’t take her seriously?
Sharon
November 14
1:57 pm
I’d say she skims at BEST. Ive read reviews where she had glaring errors about the plotline. But I’ve never seen a less than 4 star review from her, so honestly, how much credibility can she have?
Sorry but if you actually read 100 books a month, I guarantee at least ONE of them will be a clunker.
Now having said that, if I had nothing to do but read and review books, I could read more than 100 in a month. I’m a very fast reader.
Anne
November 14
5:43 pm
Okay, I get the feeling that Scott doesn’t really like Harriet… what do you all think? LOL I don’t trust her reviews because they are all fluff.
Sam
November 14
6:12 pm
She gave me glowing reviews, but they don’t mean anything to my readers, and one has Glaring errors in it, so how do you all think I feel?
My publisher sends out the books, I have NO say in the matter. So I sort of grin and bear it.
(My mother cheered me up. She told me a bad cover was worse than any kind of review, and I have to agree there…)
Dramedy Girl
November 14
6:51 pm
HK is a real person who supposedly has the ability to speed read — really, I’m not making that up — which is why she has so many freakin’ reviews out there. I think she reads the first chapter and last chapter and the back blurb, because I’ve seen a lot of her reviews with errors like character names and basic plot points!
Like Scott, I click on “No” on Amazon too. Her reviews mean nothing and since she has so many errors all the time, I’m not too certain what I’m reading pertains to that book anyway.
Eve Vaughn
November 14
7:03 pm
Uh, Scott. Deep breaths hon. I’ve never heard of HK, I guess that goes to show how much attention I pay to reviews, I usually go by the blurb and the genre, because ultimately reviews are one person’s opinion. I’ve read things that got crap reviews that I absolutely loved and books that got great reviews that I hated. Even me and Karen disagreed on a couple books, but that’s life. Not everyone will like the same thing.
But reading a hundred books a month, which breaks down to about 3.5 books a day? Speed read or not, I don’t think that’s possible and then on top of that write the reveiws.
Scott
November 14
7:46 pm
Reviews are a relative thing really. It’s hard to judge by reviews. HK’s though are a joke. But (and this is for you Sam), I and many other readers don’t look down on those books that she has reviewed. Kind of tough to since she has reviewed so many. It is terrible that she has reviewed a work of yours and made errors, but at least readers that know what they are looking out for will not hold that against you.
OK, like Eve said, big cleansing breath.
There, that should calm me.
Nope, still hate her. : )
Angela James
November 14
8:01 pm
I’ve actually heard the expression from authors “I’ve been Harriet Klausner’ed” when she reviews them. I do laugh at authors who post a review of hers and talk about what a wonderful review it is for their book. Because yes, she has no credibility with savvy readers in the romance community.
meljean brook
November 14
9:02 pm
I was Klausnered! 😀
I saw a piece on 60 MINUTES once (a year ago, I think?) — I didn’t think she was real, either, but apparently she’s a lady to whom publishers send free books.
She got a copy of my book before I did, hehe.
Kristie (J)
November 15
12:39 am
Wow!!! Totally awesome new look Karen. And I LOVE the twinkling stars.
Lori
November 15
2:37 am
LOL!!! She is everywhere, Karen! And she never has anything substantial to say. Although, neither do I…. LOL!