I mostly read YA and adult Fantasy and Paranormal, so that's what I'm going to be reviewing. However, I do not limit myself to any particular genre - I got into YA Contemporary over the course of the year, and because of my English Literature studies I might also occasionally review a Classic I've just read.
I do not get any money for my reviews, and I will always post my honest thoughts and opinions. I have two different formats for my reviews:
1) Extensive, two-part review: an objective (as far as that's even possible), spoiler-free review, and a second part where I express my personal thoughts and feelings about the book. This part may contain spoilers.
2) More concise review combining objective assessment with some personal thoughts. Usually no spoilers. I use this when I don't think that a spoilery part is necessary for me to vent my personal thoughts that I couldn't include in the review without spoilers.
I will choose between these formats as I see fit. (EDIT: I'm mostly using the second format now - it tends to be long enough...)
At this point, I do not receive many books for review from publishers or authors yet, so I mostly review what I buy and I buy what I'm fairly sure I will enjoy - therefore, the reviews I post will probably be mostly positive ones because I won't waste money on books I think I'm going to hate. However, if I do post a negative review, I will always list my reasons for disliking the book in a respectful way and I will
never attack the author personally.
EDIT, November 2014: I am not currently accepting review requests from authors via email. There are so many books, both eARCs and finished copies that I bought myself, lying around my house. I have so many books that I want to read very badly, so unless I have worked with you in the past, I won't be accepting requests or replying to emails. If I feel like I just NEED an ARC of a certain book, I'll take my chances on Netgalley. Now that I've finished my MA degree, I'm back in the blogging game - but I want to find a less stressful way to do it.
EDIT: As of November 2013, I will no longer accept review requests. I have quite a few Netgalley and Edelweiss books on my plate, but the main reason is that I have to write my MA thesis in 6 months (instead of the usually allotted 12) so I can finish my degree in the summer. As you can imagine, that is rather stressful. Also, since my major is English literature, I will be reading mainly for that and less for my own non-academic pleasure. I also have a 40% job. And a life (sort of). And I want to revise my novel too, and write new stories. So the blog will have to take a backseat, much as it pains me to do it. I just can't invest all those hours into reading and writing posts and answering comments on memes anymore. I fully intend to be back once all of this blows over, but for the time being reviews will be sporadic and if I get to read outside of academia, I want to choose the books myself and not feel pressured by yet another reading schedule.
Attention! Due to being backlogged on writing reviews & too many NetGalley books piling up, I am not accepting any additional review requests for the time being! I'm sorry, but I need to get on top of things again and I don't want to back out of assignments I've already agreed on. Thanks for your interest, and please check back in a few weeks!
Authors / publishers:
If you would like me to review one of your books, please send me a proposal to shelfspaceneeded(at)hotmail(dot)com including a blurb of the novel, the length, and the genre. If you need the review by a certain date, please include that information as well. If I agree to write a review of the book, I promise to deliver it on time. If requested, I will also post in on my goodreads profile and on Amazon (including a rating).
I do not rate books on this blog.
Self-published authors: I'll be happy to take a look at your book and review it if I think it sounds interesting (please take a look at the 'About' page of my blog as well) and can fit it into my reading schedule. However, it needs to be available in kindle format. Please do not send me a copy attached to your initial email.
