Thursday, January 1, 2009

Whats in a CursingMama Book Review?

What makes up a CursingMama Not So Humble Book Review and what can you expect when asking me to read and review a book for you?

All of my reviews typically include the following information:

  • Complete & Proper Title
  • Author Credit
  • Publisher Credit
  • Genre
  • Pages in my review copy
  • Date the book went on sale
  • A link to the Authors Website
  • A link to the books listing on IndieBound
  • Official Synopsis of the book
  • My Review
  • Disclosure stating what I received in exchange for reading and reviewing the book (review copy, payment, etc)

My reviews also include a picture that includes the cover art for the book and I sometimes include a “quick view” review. These quick reviews illustrate my personal feelings of the book in hearts & stars.

Stars for how well I liked the book:

  • 1 Star - I finished it
  • 2 Stars - I'll give this author another read
  • 3 Stars - I liked it - what can I else add to my Shelves?
  • 4 Starts - WOWZA! Excuse me while I run to the library to get more of this authors books!

Hearts for the heat level:

  • 1 Heart - I am comfortable with my daughter reading the scenes about bumping into
  • 2 Hearts - Maybe when she is in High School
  • 3 Hearts - Oh MY! That child seriously needs to be married with children before I'm letting her read this.
  • 3+ Hearts - Extra Spicy! My child should never even think about reading this book -

**Nothing is scientific here of course - and you may give your 13 year old daughter stuff I wouldn't give mine.

So, what happens to the books I’m not particularly fond of, how do I handle those? I don’t necessarily have a “No Bad Reviews” policy because that wouldn’t be honest, but I will admit that if I don’t like something I’m not going to pan it, but I’m also not going to review it either.

Somewhere along the line I mentioned that when I find a book I don’t care for I simply stop reading. I typically give a book at least twenty-five pages to interest me, this is more than enough time to feel a connection. If there is no connection or if I find the book unreadable (because this does happen) and it is a book I have received for review from an author, publisher, publicist or agent I will offer the book as a raffle without review.