I just read the reviews. But I look for certain things while scanning the reviews. I look for how many reviews say "Such and such didn't tell me what I wanted to hear". If I see a lot of those, I tend to go ahead and try that one. If I see a lot of reviews for a reader that say "Still waiting. I know the timelines are pushed out because of POI free will etc." I skip right past or if I see a lot that just say "Thanks. Was really sweet", I skip past that too. I don't care if you're sweet or not, I just like truth, even if it's harsh and maybe even cold. Lastly, I look at the usernames and if I see a bunch of different ones, I'll try that person out so long as they meet the above requirements as well but if I see the same username leaving a review every day or every other day and that's what is creating their high scored reviews, I skip past it.
Also, if I see a reader that charges more than 7 dollars per minute, which is really pushing it, I will not read with them. They are taking advantage of their "gift" that they were given to help others. Charging such high amounts isn't helping others. It's draining them of money big time and I'm quite sure these readers know that most are calling during a stressful and emotional time which is just wrong on every level. It's highly probable that these particular people don't really even have a gift. They, like most frauds, use psychology, personal experience, statistics, and "best guesses". Anyone who has a true gift has ethics and follows spiritual morals, values, and principles and is grateful for their gift of being able to help others. Those are the truly gifted readers and you won't see them charging your entire paycheck to speak with them for 5 or 10 minutes.