Review Policy

***Please note, I am now (as of September 1) taking only a very select number of review copies. The books that will be most strongly considered are audiobooks and high quality children’s books for my upcoming feature “Saturday Story Spotlight”***

About This Blog
I have been operating this blog since late February of 2008. I have approximately 800 subscribers to my feed and about 11,000 page views per month, according to WordPress’s native stats program.  According to the numbers from awstats and my web host’s server logs, I receive  a little over 10,000 unique visitors per month and a total of over 146,000 page views. I also frequently tweet about books I am reading and publicize my reviews on Twitter to my over 2,000 followers.

How and when I respond to pitches:
I evaluate review requests once a week  and responding accordingly in order to limit the number of books I accept, as I am currently accepting very few books for review. I will always respond to publicists and authors with whom I already have a working relationship, but I reserve the right to simply not reply to pitches that do not match my blog at all from people with whom I have not worked.

When I Will Review
I am currently scheduling for January and February of 2011. All books sent to me are considered for review, but I cannot guarantee a review for any title.

How I Review
I will give my honest opinion about all books I review, regardless of the source from which I acquire them.  I will not be cruel for the sake of being cruel, but I may give your book a negative review if I feel it warrants it.  If this is not acceptable to you, please do not offer me your book. If I cannot finish a book, I will write a “DNF” review, using the publisher’s summary and will enumerate the reasons I could not finish, as well as noting if there is someone to whom I think the book might appeal.

Unsolicited Books
I will do my best to review unsolicited books when they appeal to me. If I am not interested in an unsolicited book, I will attempt to pass it on to another blogger who may review it, but I may also donate it to the library. I cannot guarantee reviews of unsolicited books.

Books I Like to Read

• Historical fiction (less so that set in America)
• Women’s fiction
• Literary fiction
• History
• Narrative nonfiction
• Cozy mysteries
• Literary thrillers
• Historical mysteries/thrillers
• Young adult literature
• General contemporary fiction
• Audiobooks (of one of the above genre classifications)

I am also now accepting board books and high-quality picture books for a new feature I will be rolling out called “Saturday Story Spotlight”

Books I Will Not Accept

• Self-help
• Self-published
• Fantasy
• Science fiction
• Romance
• War novels
• E-books (I do not currently have an e-reader and will not be reading on my computer. If and when I get an e-reader, I will be happy to accept e-galleys).