Real reviews come from people who don’t know you: readers, editors, professional reviewers, etc. But sometimes a good friend can get past being positive to just being honest. My friend Siah did that for me. He reads for escape, and westerns are his favorite form of escape. He acknowledges that they are formulaic, and has read so many of them that he makes a game of anticipating the direction of the book. He expects a predictable ending.

He has no connection to bicycling and this book is not based in the west, so normally he wouldn’t pick it up. He did it because he knows me. His reaction?

He waded through the bicycling parts and admitted at one point that he wasn’t sure if he could get through the book, but an interesting chapter a third of the way in hooked him. Suddenly he found himself reading later into the evening than anticipated and finished the book within a couple of sittings. He admits that a couple of characters made unanticipated reentries and the ending wasn’t as predictable as he would have liked, but he liked the book overall and considered rereading it to pick up on details he missed on the first pass-through.

Frankly, his reaction is reassuring. I managed to hold his attention on a subject that doesn’t interest him. He wasn’t falsely positive about his reaction to the book, and he is even considering rereading parts of the book. What can be more satisfying than a reader choosing to go back and read something a second time?