My Review Policies


**Update May 2017: There are other areas in my life that I've needed to focus on the past few months, so my reading and reviewing is dramatically scaling back. I will most likely not review for an author that is new to me who contacts me directly. I will decide all others as they come up, with timeframe being a main factor.**

I love to work with authors, whether indie or published, as well as publishers. You may contact me through my Contact Form or send an email to Melanie at melsshelves@gmail.com.

Reviews:
My reviews are solely my own opinion. I often receive ARCs, ebooks, or physical copies of books and often participate in blog tours, where I receive books from the publisher, author, or tour hosts. I will state that if this is the case. These free books in no way influences my opinion and review. I read for enjoyment and don't rate a book highly based strictly on how intellectual it is. If it makes me smile, feel good, touches a part of me, engages me to the point that I don't want to put it down, or causes me to think about it all the time, then I give it a high rating.

What I like:
My favorite books are clean romance (contemporary, suspense and historical), contemporary fiction, YA, middle-grade, dystopia, mystery/suspense, and religious fiction (including Amish, Christian, LDS), and children's books. I will on occasion read some fantasy, or self help. There are some middle-grade and fantasy books that I read with my children so they may take longer to get through. Paranormal is my least favorite genre and I will only accept a few of those.

Requesting a Review:
My blog has really grown and it's not possible anymore for me to accept every review request that comes my way, as much as I would like to. I am now scheduling reviews about three-four months out and will only be able to accept one or two books a month from an author new to me. If I am interested in your book, I will reply back. Please make sure your book is a good fit for my blog before requesting me to review it. If there are mature adult themes, extreme language, graphic violence, or sexual scenes as described below, I will not give it a good review or rating.  I review the books I read honestly and my intention is not to hurt the rating of a book or the credibility of an author just because it's something that is offensive to me. With that in mind, please note that out of respect to authors and publishers, if I am not able to finish a book or give it a 3 or higher rating, I am under no obligation to post a review. If I am unable to review it due to scheduling or if you'd like the publicity sooner, I would be happy to do a spotlight or guest post, if it is clean.

I used to give authors specific dates for reviews but because my life gets hectic at times, I will send you a link to my review when it is ready. I will post reviews to Amazon and Goodreads, but sometimes it will take a while, so please be patient!

Content:
I try to include a content warning with all of my reviews so that a reader can decide if this book is appropriate for him/her. I understand that everyone has a different idea of what clean is and that's why I include an account of what to expect. I prefer only books with clean content. For me, that means:
  • no extreme swearing (especially the "F" word) 
  • no sexual scenes, including anything explicit, detailed nudity, groping, graphic French kissing, and graphic foreplay (keep anything more than kissing behind closed doors, please). Kissing is great!
  • no descriptive, mature, adult content
  • no descriptive or excessive alcohol/drug use
  • no extreme violence, abuse, or gore 

    0 comments:

    Post a Comment