Review Policy

General Information

I am accepting YA novels for review, self-published or otherwise. If you are interested, I ask that you kindly complete reading my review policy to assure I fulfill your requirements. If you find that I do, please head over to my Review Request Form page. If you have questions, you can contact me through my ‘Contact‘ page or send an email to analee.suomynona@yahoo.ca. Please note: if I do not respond to your email in 3-5 days, it means I am not going to be reviewing your novel. Apologies! But my schedule can get very busy and I don’t always get the chance to write a reply.

I accept e-ARCs and finished copies, in either Epub or PDF format, preferably the former. I do accept select print copies as well, however I do not accept any audiobooks. I will accept select self-published books if they interest me or are already on my TBR. As I do not read books out of order, if the book is part of a series, I will request the previous book(s).

Genres I review

As mentioned on my ‘About‘ page, I review all sorts of genres. Genres I would be open to reading and reviewing from (of the YA category):

Fantasy
Thrillers*
Mystery*
Dystopia/Utopia
Science-Fiction
Paranormal
Romance
Contemporary
Historical fiction*
Fairy-tale Retellings

*Not accepting at this moment.

Genres I do NOT read:

Erotica
Historical Non-fiction
Poetry
Religious
Political

Reviews

All my reviews reflect my personal opinion, and therefore I can’t guarantee 5 star reviews. I will always be respectful to the author and any disrespectful comments would be unintended. Once I finish posting a review, I will send an email to the author to inform them that the review had been posted. A link to the review will be included.

For any book sent to me for review purposes (ARCs and such), I will always cross-post my review on Goodreads. If you would like the review to be posted anywhere else be sure to let me know. I do not post reviews on Amazon. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

My reviews are not meant to be objective or overtly critical. Also, I usually finish a novel, but if ever I don’t, I will post on that book explaining why I didn’t finish the novel.

Review Features

My reviews will always include:

Cover art (as the featured image of the post, as well as in the post)
Link to Goodreads (by pressing on the image of the book cover)
Title of book and author (in the title of the post)
Series Status/Stand-Alone
Release Date
Official Synopsis (usually from Goodreads)
My rating out of 5 stars (following my review system, shown below.)
Book Information if applicable (in the following order:)

Publisher
Genre(s)
Page Count
Format
ISBN

Intro to review (why I chose to read, reason for the rating, etc.)
Summary in my own words
My review (divided into 3 parts; plot, characters, writing style)
Recommendation (who I recommend it to, overall rating)
Book trailer, if applicable

*My reviews are always spoiler-free, unless otherwise noted. Minor spoilers can be expected for books that are sequels and part of a series (if the reader had not read the previous novel).

Review Rating Policy

My rating for a book comes from the following:

Plot: How much I liked it, the world-building [if applicable], storyline
Characters: How enjoyable they were [judged by how relatable they were, their personalities, etc.]
Writing Style: Whether it suited the story, flowed nicely, etc.
Personal Reading Experience: This is something that cannot be clearly explained; it’s simply my reading experience. It may be possible that the plot, characters or writing style weren’t that good, and the book still got at least 3.5 stars or more, as these factors may have not swayed my overall reading experience. However most of the time my reading experience is translated directly from the plot, characters or writing style, and the rating is the result as such.

If there was any issues I had with the above factors, I mention them and explain the reason I was not satisfied.

Rating System

I use the star system, out of 5 stars. I also give out half stars (1.5/5, 2.5/5, 3.5/5, etc.) like in the picture below.

Just to keep in mind:

1. I don’t give out 0 stars.

The lowest rating I will give will be 1 star. I don’t believe in 0 stars because every book has some value, even if I disliked it. I also give out 5 stars, but very rarely. Usually it would be in a series perhaps if the next books in a series outshines the first, vice versa. If a book gets 5 stars, it’s definitely a rare pick (for me, anyway)!

In words, my rating system would look like:

1 star: Terrible/Extremely Disliked

My Definition: Never reading it again. Left me horrified, extremely tempted to abandon before finishing.

1.5 star: Poor/Disliked

My Definition: Probably never reading it again. Hardly any parts I enjoyed. Tempted to abandon.

2 stars: Tolerable (but just barely)

My Definition: Unlikely to read it again. Some small parts I enjoyed. Able to finish without many thoughts of abandoning book before finish.

2.5 stars: Okay/Meh

My Definition: Small possibility of re-reading it. Most parts were tolerable at best, and was able to be finished without too many degrading thoughts.

3 stars: Decent/Did not dislike

My Definition: An okay reading experience. Several flaws, but not too many unsatisfactory parts. Not the best book, but not the worst either.

3.5 stars: Pretty Good/Liked it

My Definition: A good reading experience. Some flaws, but overall book was likable. Relatively interesting, kept my attention most of the time.

4 stars: Really Good/Liked it very much

My Definition: A very enjoyable book. Some flaws, but were able to be overlooked. Kept my attention until the end. Mostly on my ‘favorite’ shelf.

4.5 stars: Amazing/Loved it

My Definition: Great story. Few flaws, and got me flipping the page quickly and steadily. Definitely part of my all-time favorites.

5 stars: Outstanding/Speechless, Beyond Adoration

My Definition: Exceeds all my expectations. Little minor flaws that barely caught my attention, got me re-reading the book several times, obviously an all-time favorite.

Ratings are based on my personal reading experience and while two books’ rating could be the same, there may be different reasons as to why that is.

Pictures

Disclaimer: No pictures are my own unless stated so. Book covers are mostly gotten from Goodreads, although there are the occasional covers from other websites. All images have been simply searched from Google Images and image credits goes to owner.

In your review request…

make sure to include:

Book title
Book information (author, publisher, release date, page count, series name if applicable)
Series Status
Audience (YA, NA, or MG)
Genre(s)
Content issues such as level of sexual content, coarse language, violence
Synopsis
Short Excerpt
Cover art
Review Deadline
Format you’re willing to offer (epub, PDF, mobi)
Why you think your book would be a good fit for me and my blog
Anything else I should no or any requests you may have

Or simply head over to my Review Request Form.

For any extra information or questions you may have, like I mentioned above, please contact me at analee.suomynona@yahoo.ca, or simply head over to my Contact page.

-Analee @ Book Snacks