Reviewing with River

I'm never sure where these posts end up on this thread..

River You mentioned if characters are dull you have a dull story I'm going to throw this out there. I love Kristina McMorris. She's a great person with a gift for finding good plots. That being said I read her last book (Edge of Lost) then started to read her latest (Sold on a Monday) She has an incredible blurb writer. I got hooked when I read it.When I read the book, her characters didn't grab me. The concept of SOM is great. She seems to have a huge platform who love her books. I don't get it. I don't think her characters are all that great. I tried to like EoL but it wasn't about families living on Alcatraz. It was about a man who immigrated to the USA and got tangled in some seedy business, ended up on Alcatraz. He met a little girl who lived there and in the end decided to take her with him when he escaped. I kept waiting for the story about the families on Alcatraz she promised.
In SOM I started it, but the story is about a journalist and another woman who try to help the mother find her kids...…… I haven't finished it. I passed it to my mom ((90)who said she had a hard time getting through it too.
Sold on a Monday is in COSTCO. some people get all the breaks.

What constitutes good writing? Are people today touting a book because the like the writer and the idea? She recorded on the Meghan Kelly show the day MK was fired. They did play her segment the next day. Any thoughts? How do you review a work when you seem to be the minority?