Book Reviews Deciphered

Not terrribly long ago I found myself with a large stack of books to review; finding a way to condense 20 plus books into just four short days of posts was a challenge. Initially I thought it would be easy to tackle; just pick 5 and talk about them or - since some of the books I'd read were part of a series I could group them that way....but what to do with those that didn't fit into a group.

I was perplexed. Possibly as perplexed as the heroins (and a few hot hero's) trying to figure out who done it. It appears that every single book I read featured some kind of nefarious activity surrounding MURDER - if there wasn't a murder - there certainly was an attempted murder.

For someone who never used to read anything resembling a murder - I have apparently stepped way out of my box. Sure, a lot of what I read is still Chick Lit - but now there is blood, guts, and occasionally the heroin bumps into (euphemism alert) a hot hero. In some of the books they are bumping into each other a lot and every detail is there for your eyes (and if you aren't careful your 13 year old daughters eyes too).

All of this thinking led me to wonder.... should I have a personalized book rating system? Because really, what would a book review be without some kind of fancy review system?

I choose Hearts & Stars for my codes; hearts for the heat level and Stars for how much I liked it.


1 Heart - I am comfortable with my daughter reading the scenes about bumping into
2 Hearts - Maybe when she is in high school - or college, yeah, college!
3 Hearts - Oh MY! That child seriously needs to be married with children before I'm letting her read this.
3 Hearts plus a drop of blood - No way she is ever getting her hands on this - I'd rather take a mother/daughter field trip to Sex World before I'd give her this book...


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

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

So You'd Like Me To Review Your Book or Product

All review requests are more than welcome and should be addressed to me at:

cursingmama(at)gmail(dot)com

I will consider all requests made, but may not accept all requests considering the commitments I have already made.

Products:

I generally accept products for review which I would use in my own day-to-day life. I will not accept products which are contrary to my own views and beliefs or which I already know I will not like. Keep in mind I am your fairly typical suburban working mother, I have two teen-aged children, a dog, 2 cats and a busy life. I enjoy knitting, reading, gardening, movies, all things tech, and all things girly ~ I'm also a big fan of cars. Big fan.

Books:

I enjoy many genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Generally my favorite non-fiction subjects are health, diet & exercise, and travel. When selecting fiction books to read I tend to gravitate toward romance, mysteries, and paranormal-lite. My previous reviews should give you a good idea of the kinds of books I enjoy.

Reviews:

I will review every book or product that I receive at my own pace, keeping in mind any predefined guidelines that were disclosed when I accepted the book or product for review. Generally I like to review ARC's as close to the publishing date as possible, for book or product tours I will post my review on the assigned tour date. If you need a review to be published within a specific time frame please include that information in your email.

My reviews typically follow the guidelines as I've outlined them here. If you would like me to include anything else please include that information in your email. I value honesty in every review I write but if I find that I do not like a particular book or product I will contect you to discuss the best way to proceed; I do try to find everything positive I can as well as what I didn't like but I will not change my review. If it means offering the product or book as a giveaway without a review or simply not posting at all there are ways to have good resolutions to difficult situations.

Giveaways:

I enjoy offering giveawys to my readers in conjunction with reviews. If you are interested in sponsoring a giveaway please include that information in your email

If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact me directly at

cursingmama(at)gmail(dot)com

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.