Alison Hodgson, author of The Pug List, is the patron saint of our show and has dropped by to talk about complexity as well as thriving on “misery, complaints, and sadness.”

Josh Harris’ runaway bestseller has not entirely stood the test of time. He and Lex discuss how public critique helped him reexamine.

Horror novelist Aric Davis talks about getting the details right and we learn what title tops The Worst Book List.

Memoirist and children’s writer Jennifer Grant talks with Alexis about reading things we don’t agree with and being curious in our present public discourse.

Clay Scroggins set out to write to ministry and community leaders, but some of his reviewers were looking for a little bit more. He and Alexis discuss reader expectations and how to process not meeting them.

Shawn Smucker’s insight and depth is not only relegated to his writing. This week the award-winning novelist joins Alexis to discuss what merits at least two stars and what does and does not go with scifi.

Romantic comedy writer Bethany Turner knew her Christian fiction novel was dealing with some edgy content, but did not expect the hilarious backlash that came her way. (more…)

Award-winning historical fiction author Susie Finkbeiner talks with Alexis about what it feels like to get her first reader reviews, how her relationship to anonymous opinion has changed, and some public critique that might be a little, well, depressing.

All authors get bad reviews, but sometimes a reader’s negative thoughts are too funny to take seriously. The Bad Book Reviews Podcast gives authors a chance to laugh off some rough critiques and talk about growing from critique, how we discuss books we don’t enjoy, and what makes a helpful book review. Alexis De Weese sits down with a different author each week to laugh off some of the silly bad reviews they’ve received and find a grain of truth in rough public opinion.