I am not much in the way of blogging tips, so I am just going to focus on things I look for when I am reading a book blog.
1. No Spoilers. This is my ultimate Pet Peeve. Spoiler Warnings help, yet I urge people to hide spoilers as well, in case someone is scrolling, and missed the warning. One word of advice, what may be a spoiler to one person, may not be a spoiler to another. When it comes to spoilers, I always try to err on the cautious side.
2. Write in your own voice. I am reading your blog because I want to know what Twila from from Tuscaloosa thinks. If I want a professional review I will go to Publisher Weekly, or search newspaper archives. The Beauty of book blogs is that I am getting opinions from everyday people.
3. Describe what you think of the book. I for one don’t uses summaries in my reviews, because there are much more professional writers out there writing summaries. Remember, you are not writing a book report for school. So many reviews I read spend three or four paragraphs describing the book, and one telling the reading their thoughts on that. Personally, I would like to see the reverse.
4. Be aware of spelling and grammar. Everyone makes typos. I do. I often find a typo in when of my posts three months after posting it. Yet, be aware of your spelling and grammar. The other day I read a book review where the writer described the the book as “macob” meaning, I suppose, macabre. We’re all using the internet, if you are unsure of how to spell a word, look it up.
5. Be honest about your biases. I hate sexy vampire novels. Now, I could spend a lifetime writing negative reviews about sexy vampire novels, yet who will that serve. If you take a risk reading something outside of your breadbasket, let the reader know. If you are an utter fanboy of a particular author or genre, also let the reader know.
6. Have Fun. Readers can pick up on your mood when you write. If you are enjoying yourself, it will show through.
Thanks for reading. This has been a fun week for me.
The Guilded Earlobe 
Great advice. I probably don’t always adhere to each one, but I sure try. It’s been great getting to know your blog this week.
definitely good advice, particularly in being honest to your readers about your interests, biases, and experiences that might shape the way that reading a certain book might be very personal.
and i am so very with you on typos. although… macob sounds like it might be some yummy ethnic food.
Great tips!
I hate spoilers. I will not read a blog (and possibly take them off of the follow list) if they constantly have spoilers. I don’t want to know what happens in the book, I just want a general feel of what they liked. That’s it! Tell me the characters were amazing. Tell me you loved the magic or the love or whatever. Don’t tell me the plot!! So, I totally agree with you.
I agree with everything you said! Those are all qualities I look for in a blog to read.
Jennifer of Little Shelf
sound advice.
As everyone else, I hate spoilers too! They do not appear in my reviews, even if it means I can only describe the story up to the first 20 pages of a book.
I very much agree on the spelling/grammar point, too. Just re-reading a blogpost once or twice before hitting the Publish button can make all the difference. We’re not professionals, but our posts don’t have to look illiterate!
I agree with so much in this post! Thank you for your take on it. I do agree with you on summaries. I put in a summary from goodreads. I figure they do a pretty fine job and I use a header so if you want to skip the summary you can.
Really good point about pointing out weather you are reading out of your genre. I don’t have a niche but I have stuff I don’t usually read and I’ll use this advice in future reviews 🙂
Spoilers are one of my pet peeves too! I have forgotten all that I learned about grammer, darn shame too as I got As, I bought myself a book, but haven’t read it yet!! When I do I’ll review it. LOL Blogging has encouraged me to read out of my comfort zone and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Thanks for your great posts this week.
I definitely agree with “write in your own voice.” That is what makes good book blogs so engaging-the sense that a real reader is alive in there….