When GoodReads Hates The Book You Never Wrote

Everyone remember JANE'S SHADOW? For a hot minute that was the working title of CONVERGENCE POINT. The preview went up on GoodReads the same time that THE DAY BEFORE was published and was never removed. I've been told it can't be removed, although I've sent a note to GoodReads to see the Ghost of Titles Past can be exorcised.

In the meantime, it's fun to note that someone is either furious that JANE'S SHADOW is not a real title, or they enjoy maliciously leaving reviews on GoodReads. Either way, a user named L went so far as to review a book that doesn't exist and leave one star for my nonexistent novel.

*sad trombone noises*

One-star reviews on GoodReads are usually notable for their hilarity ("The book is short!" on a free book labeled microfiction). This one is no exception.

I'm dying of curiosity here.

Did L read the rough draft and hate the book?

Is L angry that the book wasn't published under this title?

Does L hate the title?

It's laughable to suggest that L hates me, except that L has been storming around GoodReads leaving 1-star reviews for other authors. So maybe L just hates books?

Is L mad at me for sharing an initial?

The world may never know.

Soon the listing for The Book That Never Was will vanish along with L and the Curious Incident of the L Reviews. If it doesn't, who knows, maybe I'll try to write a story to L's demanding standards. Something that with mixed up tenses, head hopping, and name changing characters. Something worthy of the 1-star review.

I don't know, it kind of sounds like a fun project for a rainy day. To write the worst book in the English language, to garner nothing but 1-star reviews, to aim to be horribly, irretrievably bad!

Although there is Clippy the Word Helper erotica (save yourself! Don't google this!), so the bar for bad is set pretty low.