Policies

Hello! Welcome to the big long page of legal boring. The Table of Contents is alphabetical to help you find things easily.

Review Policy

If you are a young adult publisher or an agent of a young adult author and you would like me to review your book, please email me (addressed to Jessica) at booksatruestory@gmail.com. I am also willing to work with indie and self-published authors if you don’t have an agent.

Review Request needs to include a direct link to the book you’d like me to review on Goodreads (or Amazon), a book cover, and a synopsis in the email.

I read most young adult and middle grade books. I like to read sci-fi, fantasy, dystopian, paranormal romance, fairy-tales, re-tellings and some general fiction.

I will not read horror or books that have explicit sex, graphic violence, and excessive language. Any YA book that has “PG13″ content is fine.

I accept Kindle compatible format ebooks (No PDFs) and print books, but ebooks are preferred.

I post my reviews on my blog, Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and The Book Depository.

Priority is given to Advanced Reading Copies of books. I can’t promise a time frame of when I will review your book. I can’t guarantee a review on my blog if I accept your book for review. I almost always review a book on my blog if I finish it. I will not post a review of your book if I didn’t finish it. The biggest reason I don’t finish a book is because of objectionable content. I post reviews for books that I don’t like, but I keep my reviews as professional as possible.

If you give me a book for review, you are accepting these policies and the fact that I may give your book a negative review.

I am more than willing to participate in blog tours, author interviews etc. to help promote your book as long as I have read the book or a review copy is provided.

Blog Stats

As of June 30, 2012, according to Google Analytics.

1120 twitter followers
820 facebook “likes”
Blogger since June 2011
1819 unique visitors for the month of June 2012
2375 hits for the month of June 2012
11,394 pageviews for the month of June 2012
3-5 posts written per week
Total books reviewed: 82

Book Reviews

I like book reviews to be short and sweet. I never read long book reviews because by the time you get to the end, you might as well have read the book. Anything that happens after Chapter 1, I consider a spoiler. So most long book reviews spoil the book for me. If you like in-depth, rambling book reviews my reviews are not for you. I also won’t post the synopsis of a book because I hate reading them. They always spoil a book for me . You can assume I get all my books by purchasing them or borrowing them from a library unless I say otherwise. Plus, I post every Monday under the category In My Mailbox to say where I’ve gotten my books for the week.

Star Ratings

Awesome (5 stars) – Books I loved the whole way through. I will hunt you down and make you read it.

Great (4 stars) – Books that are surprising, unique or unpredictable. There might be a few things I didn’t love, but overall it’s definitely worth reading.

Good (3 stars) – I like these books and found them entertaining and fun to read. They were good but nothing blew me away.

Okay (2 stars) – Sometimes I had to make myself finish these books. I’ll give my honest opinion and who knows, maybe you’d like them even if I didn’t.

Didn’t Like It (1 Star) – I don’t recommend these books to people. If I finished it, it was just barely. I give books that I don’t finish one star.

Content Ratings

I got the words and most of the colors for my content rating system from Rated Reads. I will post some sort of rating for the content of the book kind of like movie ratings. After each content rating, I will add a few descriptions (like they do with movies) about why I thought it should be rated that. For example, it might say something like “Medium, for some language, some violence and a few kissing scenes,” all of which would be at what I think is a PG13 level since that’s what I rated the whole book. Any book that has more than 2 f*** words will automatically be rated high just for language. These ratings are all my own opinion, but I hope they help you make a more informed decision about what you read.

None (Classics and non-fiction that don’t need ratings)
Everyone (similar to G)
Mild (similar to PG)
Medium (similar to PG 13)
High (Rated R or worse)

FTC Disclaimer

If a book was given to me for the purpose of a review from the author/publisher, it will be explicitly stated at the bottom of the book review. I am not told what to say, I am not paid to write reviews and all the opinions expressed are my own. The disclaimer at the bottom of my reviews looks like this:

I received this book for review from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not told what to say, I was not paid to write this review and all the opinions expressed are my own.

If that disclaimer does not appear on a review, you can assume I either purchased the book, borrowed it from a public library, or won it from a giveaway.

I am an Amazon Affiliate and I will receive a small percentage of sales from my Amazon links.

Contest Policy

Must be 13 years of age or older to enter my contests/giveaways.
All contests open to US/Canada residents only unless otherwise stated.
I have the right to end the contest, eliminate entries, and close the contest altogether without warning.
I collect email addresses from everyone for my contests and mailing addresses from the winners. Please see my privacy policy for how your personal information is used.
I will contact the winner through email and the winner has 48 hours to respond with a mailing address or another winner will be chosen.

Privacy Policy

Please don’t leave personal information in the comments including email addresses. I have the right to delete any comments that contain personal info.

My site is not intended for children under the age of 13. If you are under 13, and would like to enter a giveaway/contest, please have your parents enter their information. I do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you are a parent and have concerns that your child has given me personal information please email me at booksatruestory@gmail.com.

I do not share or sell any personal info. All information collected for the purpose of giveaways/contests is deleted after the giveaway/contest is over.

I am not responsible for content of other sites that are linked on this blog.