Review Policy

I read and review books here. Recently I suffered something of a setback when Examiner.com changed hands and deleted all my reviews. If you sent me an ARC and now can't find my review, that is why. I have a new, rather abbreviated Reviews page, but please bear with me as I get myself organized again.

Review Policy

The books I review come from my own bookshelf, the library, friends, and advance review copies. I have either purchased, borrowed, or been gifted the book to review, and I don't accept direct compensation for a review. 

Nor will I go and rate the book highly on Amazon or Barnes and Noble at an author's request if I give it a favorable review here. I might do that on my own for a book that I really liked, but if asked to do so, I feel backed into a corner. I don't know what the ethical implications of that would be, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

All reviews are my honest opinion. Good or bad. I try to find something good even in the one-star reads. I might also criticize something in a great book. It just depends. I have genres that I favor (f/sf) but will be fair to books outside my preferred genres.

Diverse Reads

This is a review series inspired by the #weneeddiversebooks people. As always, everything is my opinion. Communities are not a monolith and you may also want to seek out reviews by others, especially when I don't share marginalization with the characters or authors. Feel free to argue and discuss, too. I'm not here to tell you what to think (unless it's this monstrosity), and comments make me happy. 

I review good, bad, and meh representation because I believe it's important to promote good rep and useful to critique less good rep. Also, when diversity intersects, one theme may be treated with aplomb while other themes are...less so. For instance, my review of The Accidental Afterlife of Thomas Marsden praises the book for its representation of an adopted protagonist and a food-insecure household; however, it falls on its face where race and ethnicity are concerned.

Spoilers

I try to warn for spoilers. It doesn't always work.

5-star rating scale

5 stars: Awesome, will recommend, will probably read again.
4 stars: Great, would recommend, may not read again.
3 stars: Good, probably not for me, won't read again, may recommend to someone with different tastes.
2 stars: Did not like, will not recommend, will not read again.
1 star: Actively disliked, avoid this book.