Amazon's acquisition of book recommending site Goodreads has sent shockwaves across the book industry as well as members of the website.

Amazon shocked the book industry and members of Goodreads with news of its acquisition of the book recommending site. While majority of the people affected by this acquisition call it "totally devastating" only a handful of them term it as "cool".

The terms of the deal that will close in the second quarter of 2013 have not been revealed by Amazon. Founded in 2007, Goodreads has more than 16 million members, who according to a news report by The Guardian add more than four books per second to their "want to read" shelves.

"Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike," said Amazon's vice president of Kindle content, Russ Grandinetti, announcing the buy. Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler said the deal with Amazon meant "we're now going to be able to move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world", adding on his blog that "we have no plans to change the Goodreads experience and Goodreads will continue to be the wonderful community we all cherish".

In spite of this, many members of the site as well as the book industry have reacted negatively to the acquisition. American writers' organisation,the Authors' Guild, called the acquisition a "truly devastating act of vertical integration," which means that "Amazon's control of online bookselling approaches the insurmountable". Bestselling legal thriller author Scott Turow, president of the Guild, said it was "a textbook example of how modern internet monopolies can be built".

However, not all authors were against the acquisition. Hugh Howey, author of "Wool" said the acquisition was "like finding out my mom is marrying that cool dude next door that I've been palling around with".