What Can Christian Writers Learn from Studying Book Reviews?

Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.
— Proverbs 15:22 NLT

I enjoy reading a variety of books, especially quality Christian fiction. Also, I collect nuggets of wisdom buried in the reviews of those books.

I’ve observed that even the most popular writers experience a range of positive and negative reviews. Also, I noticed that readers’ comments serve as advice from many advisors.

What Can we Learn from Book Reviews?

Today, I’m studying the readers’ comments about Michelle Shocklee’s 2025 historical fiction, The Women of Oak Ridge.

To be clear, I purchased a Kindle copy and enjoyed reading this dual-timeline novel. Also, I’m not reviewing this award-winning author’s book. Instead, I’m evaluating what aspiring writers can learn from readers’ comments.

Lesson 1: Ignore Anti-Christian Comments

Christian writers find it necessary to ignore hateful comments from people who wanted the novel to represent secular values instead of those from the Bible.

Although the cover of The Women of Oak Ridge doesn’t disclose it’s a Christian novel, had readers looked inside the book’s opening pages (e.g., several endorsements that praise the Christian content, the copyright of scripture, the dedication verse, and the epigraph verse) they would have seen clear signs of what to expect. However, a few found the Bible references offensive.

For instance:

• “The story devolves into unnecessary christian [sic] sermons that do nothing for the plot. Checked this book out from the library and DN’d after the 2nd sermon.”
• “Preachy Christian cr** and sappy. Very disappointing.”

✦ Takeaways: Even if the author had put a warning label on the cover, it would not have stopped hateful comments. The solution is to ignore the haters of Christian fiction and pray for them.

Lesson 2: Readers Have Decided Opinions

Over the years, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern in reviews. Readers who write three-star reviews often have decided opinions, adding their perceptions, personal insights, and suggested improvements.

For example, some reviewing The Women of Oak Ridge disclosed they wanted to give a five-star review, but then listed the specific reasons they marked it as a three-star review.

When you come across such detailed reviews, it’s like a wheelbarrow full of golden wisdom rolled to a novice writer’s front door.

I’ve listed a few excerpts of their opinions.

• “It was an interesting book. Good, but not great. The history behind the story is fascinating but these characters were a little too predictable. The romance, a little too cheesy. I would love to now read more about the war history, but the story itself was lacking.”
• “This book earns 3 stars for effort in the author’s research of the subject matter but as for holding interest as the author takes the various characters plodding along a fairly dull and tedious plot three stars is quite generous. The book could have been edited to one half the current length and the reader would have missed nothing in that the same ideas were repeated endlessly which created a longer story and a dull one in the process. After readding [sic] some of the author’s works this book was a disappointment.”
• “I really enjoyed this novel about Oak Ridge and its relevance to the atomic weapons program up until the end when the novel changed from historical fiction to evangelism. Its [sic] a pity because the [sic] was good character development for Mae’s story.”
• “I love, love, loved reading about Oak Ridge… But almost stopped reading because some of the writing was irritating:”
  • “Overuse of phrases, such as “flutter in my stomach” from Laurel.” [GPF Note: I checked and found similar phrasing used four times.]
  • “For a PHD [sic] student in psychology, Laurel seemed not to know much about psychology or how to help her aunt.”
  • “The future Mae was made out to be an elderly woman, but if she was in her early 20s in 1944, she’d be in her late 50s in 1976.”
  • “The past Mae made one bad decision after another. I had to forcibly tell myself that without the bad decisions there might not be a plot. But it was irritating. I had hopes that she would be a strong woman and that the book would take a different direction than it did.”
  • “It got religious and preachy at the end.”

✦ Takeaways: For most of the three-star reviews, the comments from readers reflected an imbalance between the mix of history (i.e., too much), character development (i.e., too little), and editing (i.e., more needed). Some noted a preachy tone, an opportunity to balance the blend of character, plot, and theme.

The solutions to these problems vary, and there’s no one-size-fits-all fix. The cited issues serve as motivation to identify and fulfill readers’ expectations.

Lesson 3: You Can’t Please Everyone

The four-star and five-star reviews applauded the author’s historical detail. One reviewer gave writers a huge nugget of golden wisdom.

A reader dissected the character development issues, citing that the complexity of one character’s development (i.e., Mae’s) added to the story’s intrigue, but the lack of similar development in the other point-of-view character (i.e., Laurel’s) disappointed the reviewer.

This same reviewer also emphasized the author’s chief strength. The Women of Oak Ridge is a powerful example of “hidden history” done right. [GPF Note: An over-used strength can become a weakness; thus, the many comments hinting at the need for a more balanced mix of character development, historical plot events, and Christian themes.]

To balance out the praise, the reviewer shared concerns:

• “As noted, I do wish Laurel’s character and individual story were more developed.”
• “I also noticed Michelle as the narrator, and the characters, repeating some of the same information different ways throughout the book.”
• “Many times, I felt Mae was unnecessarily naive about issues like segregation. Meaning, she grew up in the South and is aware of the practice, but [s]imultaneously [sic] acts shocked race relations exist, while never truly moving beyond ‘this isn’t right.’ Maybe that wouldn’t have been realistic for her era, but again, I thought she, Sissy, and some other 1940s characters came off naive.”

Then, the reviewer closed with this summary:

• “With those notes in mind, The Women of Oak Ridge is a strong book.”
• “I’ve learned to love this ‘hidden history’ subgenre, and I found this novel to be a good addition.”
• “I definitely want more from Michelle Shocklee as soon as possible.”

✦ Takeaways: Even favorable reviews revealed opportunities.

If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.
— Proverbs 15:31-32 NLT

Dig Deep for Your Nuggets of Wisdom

I encourage you to read The Women of Oak Ridge. Then form your opinions about the accuracy of the reviews.

✦ Takeaways: Please keep in mind that comments from readers are merely their opinions. Look for consistency in the opinions for potential actionable ideas. Many readers loved the book, so I’m merely providing a few excerpts to help you see how digging into comments can turn those many advisors into actionable advice. For example:

• Balance the development of the dual-timeline characters (i.e., turn an irritating character into a more relatable character).
• Vary the pacing and intensity of the story with more dialogue and action (i.e., show) and less character and author exposition (i.e., tell). Click here to download a free infographic (PDF file) about a scene’s intensity and pacing (i.e., the balancing of show and tell).
• Make the dialogue more realistic (e.g., clipped to represent actual speech).
• Edit to minimize duplicate details and descriptions.
• Deliver interesting characters that balance the fascinating history and provide plot events that elicit the range of emotions expected by fans.
• Remove the perception of the author’s narration.

Note: If you want more information about writing terms and how-to steps, download the free Trellis Method.

Another Popular Dual-Timeline Novel

Some love dual-timeline books, and others not so much. If you want to study another, consider Lisa Wingate’s 2017 bestselling novel, Before We Were Yours.

As a Christian fiction writer, what have you discovered from reviews that has helped your writing?