My Must Reads Reviews

by Rjames222222

MyMustReads only lets you store bookmarks so you can’t save/highlight text for review later.

When you try to select text to save a section or take notes, most of the time it only works once then you need to restart MyMustReads .

After you select the text to take a note, it leaves a magnifying glass area over the text that won’t disappear if you select elsewhere or change the page.

by Joy R. M.

Yes, the interface is old and clunky, but like someone else said, at least it does function to be able to read the text. But I may as well have never bought the e-book version of the library book in my hand. The only reason I did was to support local bookstores and highlight a passage, and MyMustReads doesn’t allow you to highlight or take notes or search or sync across devices or easily locate a page. The highlighting though is the dealbreaker. Let me know when you get that.

by Camino Real

I wanted to support independent bookstores so I got MyMustReads to read American Dirt for my book club. The only favorable thing I can say is that the text is mostly legible. So I will resist the urge to purchase a Kindle version and persevere to the end.

Where do I start with its failings? The table of contents, font and bookmark tabs don’t appear half the time when I tap the top of the page to open them up. The bookmark feature worked once I was able to find it, but after a few days lapse from reading, all my bookmarks have disappeared. I read on my IPad, but when I tried the same app on my phone, I had to scroll from page one to find my place. The text has many typos and weird spacing errors, especially with possessive words and apostrophes. There’s no way to highlight passages or look up words.

After this experience, I’m sorry to say I’m returning to my Kindle. MyMustReads needs lots of work before I’ll use it again.

by PVDtoNYC

I use MyMustReads because I want to be able to support independent booksellers but I find that I rarely touch the ebooks I have downloaded because MyMustReads’s interface is so slow, unresponsive, and devoid of useful features. I read a lot of nonfiction and academic texts, for which it would be useful to annotate within MyMustReads . This is not possible beyond simple highlighting and bookmarking (and the highlighting function barely works—it’s as if MyMustReads doesn’t recognize touch inputs on the screen or does so in a very delayed way). Most books, no matter what settings I apply, also have irregularities in the layout—odd character or word spacing, unnatural page or paragraph breaks, etc. I would not recommend MyMustReads to anyone who has reading or visual processing challenges. The dysfunction in MyMustReads and the lack of user settings options make make it virtually inaccessible.

by Dreaminpng

I really want to support independent bookstores, but this ebook app barely functions. You can only bookmark pages, not specific lines of text. You can’t remove bookmarks from the bookmarks side bar. The TOC doesn’t have chapters, only sections. Once I open the TOC or bookmarks, I can close out of them.

I’m going to try and stick it out on principle, but if I want to actually enjoy reading the ebooks I read, I might end up back with a big company like Google Play or Kindle for my eBooks just because MyMustReads is such a miserable experience to use.

If you really want to incentivize people to support indie bookstores, you need make sure the proprietary app you’re forcing people to use is robust and supports the basic functions users are going to need (like navigating to chapters from the table of contents) or allow users to read their ebooks in other apps.

by FOAppst

I wanted to support my favorite independent bookstore and so I downloaded MyMustReads to get an ebook. MyMustReads is so basic and inconsistent. That would be fine if you could at minimum see or save your current page. You can’t adjust the type or lighting mode. Often when you turn your iPad the text doesn’t fit the page. Now I can’t advance the page. I’m hoping they can upgrade MyMustReads soon. I wouldn’t download another ebook to it again.

by Rootiscute

I purchased an independent ebook before realizing I couldn’t just download a pdf version of it and was so disappointed when I downloaded MyMustReads and saw how outdated it was. I would much rather read books in Adobe than use MyMustReads. I feel bad, but it’s really terrible. I want to support local bookstores and small publishers, but I also want quality products for the premium price I’m paying for these things. I honestly don’t know if I’ll even be able to read this $15 ebook now because MyMustReads is so bad.

by Average Educated Layman

When I set it for black background with white print, it worked for the first few chapters, but then got glitchy. The first page I open to is okay, but every page I turn to after that just displays an unreadable gray screen, so I end up using the sepia screen with the lowest brightness I can read. I do most of my reading in bed at night, so this is a dealbreaker for me, especially since the book I bought is a long one (The 1619 Project). I’ll try to get through it, but may end up re-buying the book elsewhere to finish on one of the more popular readers. I won’t be buying again through MyMustReads unless the problems get fixed. A disappointment, because I really did want to support local bookstores.

by Iceangel898

Really disappointed because I wanted to support a local bookstore by buying through MyMustReads and it’s completely backfired. Unlike other eBooks you really have no access to the book other than through their app. If you happen to have an iPad you can read it on then that’s ok but otherwise you’re stuck reading it on your phone which is so dumb. You can download it or access it anywhere else. You’re better off buying a physical copy of the book in person. Support team isn’t helpful at all either and they don’t do returns/refunds probably because they know they’d be out of business if they allowed them.

by JarJar.Thinks

MyMustReads falls short in many ways where other e-readers excel (even compared to the average performing apps tbh). However, my main issues are that it’s sorely lacking in the accessibility arena, you can’t adjust the appearance of the pages, you can’t highlight or search words, and while you can zoom in on a page, you can’t actually make the text bigger (which I guess leads me back to the accessibility issue). App not very compatible to iPhone built-in accessibility features imo. Then there’s the syncing issue. Overall ux design is meh. Will probably continue to use it on my tablet, but not my phone for sure.

by BloodyWonder

I want to like MyMustReads so much because buying eBooks from Indie and Black owned stores is important/necessary, but it falls short in so many ways. First, it doesn’t fit to screen so you’re left with a small reading area. Second, there are no different font styles. I mostly read eBooks because I have the option to use OpenDyslexic because I’m Dyslexic. I’m very disappointed MyMustReads doesn’t have that option. Third, and the most egregious of all, YOU. CAN’T. HIGHLIGHT. How am I supposed to take notes if I can’t highlight?! MyMustReads could be such a good alternative to Kindle but it just isn’t there yet

by Kittypimsreads

I’d love to use MyMustReads more, I’d certainly like to become less dependent on the big River for my eBooks, but MyMustReads is too minimal to be useful. There’s no way to sort my library, not indication of what books I’ve read, and it doesn’t even reliably open a book to where I was the last time I read. Please improve, I’m sure there’s a market!

by Snow-raven

I love being able to support my local bookstore while reading on my phone, where I’m comfortable. However, MyMustReads needs some improvements before it will be a great reading experience.
For the e-book reader, please maximize the reading area & remove distractions. I don’t need a progress bar when I’m reading; this isn’t a race. It’s highly distracting & it absolutely has to go if you want me to purchase any more books.
I don’t need a half-inch margin at the top & bottom of my device, nor much of one at all on the left & right. The more space you waste, the more often I have to tap the screen & wear out my joints. I would prefer the option to read full-justified, rather than left only.
I haven’t tried an audiobook yet, but will find a free one to test before I buy. I hope they have read rate control enabled.
MyMustReads navigation seems simple & straightforward, thanks!

by Illarai Blue

I agree with many of the other reviews that MyMustReads could use some upgrades and offer readers more useful features to be in more direct competition with Kindle’s customizable experience. Supporting my local bookstores is more important to me than having a luxurious app however, so I’m grateful such a thing exists.

I love the suggestion that other bookstores could be saved in a directory feature. I personally track my progress and cite locations in academic papers and in simply talking about books with friends, so it would be helpful to have a way to navigate and reference locations within a book more easily. The suggestion of including a dark mode would also be nice, though I love the sepia option to lessen contrast and eye strain.

It would also be great if I could sort my library by genre or rating or some other method. I do wish my library was the home page rather than the bookstore. Adding this extra step to the navigation means waiting for a bigger page to load when I might not have a great internet connection. It slows down the whole app before I can navigate to the books I’ve downloaded.

by GwynneZ

I purchased an ebook through a small bookshop and was really disappointed by the quality of MyMustReads which is the only way to read the book. I can’t even get it on my desktop. MyMustReads itself is really clunky but I could move past that if it had a couple of useful features, like the ability to see where you are in the book (not just the chapter) and highlighting! You can’t highlight an important sentence, you can only bookmark the page.

by Msmerelee

I downloaded this so I get support my local bookstore. MyMustReads , however, is lacking two basic features that I use all the time:
1. There is no syncing between your devices. So if you’re reading a book on your iPad, it doesn’t register on your iPhone.
2. There is no word search function. I find this incredibly helpful, for example, if I want to search a character’s name to remember how/when they were first introduced.

Other than that it basically works.

by DaisyMom17

I’m willing to deal with it to support local bookstores, but I’m really hoping this is a VERY early version that will be getting better. No darkmode (which I have to have to read in bed when I’m the only one awake), no font changing, the font sizes jump from way too big to way too small with no in between, the text doesn’t actually fit the screen so there’s big blank sections at the top and bottom, and even the page turning feels clunky in some way I can’t articulate. It just feels really, really simple, but crossing my fingers it’s because they rushed it and will keep improving as quickly as possible!

by Tennicks

I really enjoy MyMustReads. It’s a cute little app I like to use with my favourite local bookstores. There are are a few changes I would do though. There should be a list of the retailers who use MyMustReads so if your local store doesn’t have the book on MyMustReads you could get it at another store. I also think there should be slight changes just to make MyMustReads more appealing like font changes. Anyway great app I recommend.

by Apprevieweramonda

Works wonderfully on my iPad, and has a great selection of books! I wish the bookmarking feature could be updated, and there could be a feature where you're able to highlight text, because I love to take notes when I read.

by Metasilk

An ok basic e-reader. Text scales nicely but sometimes needs to be reset when I reopen MyMustReads .

Dark mode setting vanished recently :( I hope it comes back soon— that’s necessary for me.

I agree w the review who wants ability to highlight; I do that also so I can find and share quotes.

by Seajay1221

the two most recent iphone screen sizes aren’t supported. no dark mode. very basic text reading functionality. i’ll use it for this one book i bought since it’s locked to MyMustReads, but i’m not happy about it.

by Kenzles

Ugh, what a bummer. I’m glad I supported my local bookstore with a book purchase but the fact that I can’t highlight anything in any way is a deal breaker for me. I’m going to have to wait until the ebook is available at my library, I guess!

by Ciaobella4168

Bookmarking is a problem. It’s very antiquated.

by MaeryR

I wanted to support my local bookstores so I gave this a try but without highlighting and note addition ability, I end up having to copy and paste what I want to remember into a separate document, making reading very slow going. I hate to do it but back to Kindle purchases I go until these features are added.

by Leo_1962

Love that I can purchase ebooks through my local bookstore, but app does a poor job of holding a bookmarked page. It will not maintain font size selected and changes back to the default, which throws off the recent bookmark. It would also be nice if there was the ability sync to read across devices.

Hopefully these changes will happen in the future.

by ZachHOfficial

I looked forward to being able to get ebooks from my local bookstore, but MyMustReads is not good. I haven’t been able to really read at all. It freezes and won’t let me turn the page. It won’t do anything. It loads slowly. The book is downloaded but it seems to still struggle. I’m pretty disappointed

by Julia Listens

Consistently crashes on y iPad on the same place in the book I’m trying to read. Also offers no note taking or highlighting function

by 183761930

Bookmarking does not hold at correct page, only shows percentage complete and not page numbers.

by Footbit

I really wanted to support my local bookstore and also read ebooks.... sadly MyMustReads is not very usable. You cannot highlight text with MyMustReads and also it’s impossible to select text close to the edges of the screen without turning pages involuntarily. You cannot add notes. These are basic functionalities that go with both real books and kindle books. Layout options that are good for larger screens like being able to see two columns of text instead of one fat 13 inch column are also missing.

At least you can change background color to beige and have a night mode... I haven’t checked to see if syncing works but MyMustReads is already not usable to me without highlighting. Why must Amazon be the only book selling company to take technology seriously? This will be my last ebook on MyMustReads until further updates.

I hope they make it better and comparable to kindle so I can support my local bookstore. I have wanted such a solution for a long time and it’s sad to see it isn’t there yet.

by Superuser

Maybe MyMustReads isn't 100% perfect. But buying books this way helps your local bookstore, and that's really, really important these days.

by Markspam

I can buy books from my favorite independent sellers and read on all my devices. I'm pleased with the way it works. So far so good.

by Jmettee

Can get books from different retailers, and they are all in one app. Easy to read too.

by Nheartsfrogs

I had no issues at all reading on MyMustReads . Was able to pick up where I left off easily. Highly recommend using MyMustReads!