Review Queries/About Me


Featured Book ReviewerCurrent Status:

Going forward I will be using KU, Netgalley, BookSprout, BookSirens and my very sad & neglected tbr pile for most of the books I review.

I am taking a much needed break and am closed to author submissions. 

Please do not email me.  It’s nothing personal. I desperately need a rest. 

About My Reviews . . .

Hi there, thanks for visiting! My name is Laurie and I have been reviewing books for a very long time but please know I am not a professional reviewer. I'm just a reader with a big mouth! 

I LOVE books and there is nothing I love more than spreading the word about the good ones. I grew up reading King, Koontz, McCammon, Barker, and Poppy Z. Brite and my tastes run to the darker side. To read more about my lifelong horror love affair click here to read the piece I wrote for Divination Hollow Reviews.

My reviews are written for fellow bookworms whose reading time is precious. I let my reviews write themselves. My experience with each book is different and so is each review. I don't stick to a format and I don't like review rules and will never impose them on myself. I try to keep things light but know that my reviews will always be painfully honest. I am stingy with my five stars but I can promise you an honest review and cross-posting via Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram as I read your work.

If you've read a few of my reviews, perhaps my PSA posts, and you still want a review, the odds are much higher that you know how I operate, and you might just have something I'd love to review. Please remember I post the good, the bad, and all of the stuff in the middle and will gleefully post it to Goodreads and this blog because that's where I keep my reading log. I will NOT post 1 & 2-star reviews to Instagram & Twitter. If, after reading all of this, you still want a review of your audiobook or your horror or romance novel (novella) please complete the form below.

Please warn me if there is a pet death, a suicide attempt, or suicide beforehand! DOING THIS DOES NOT SPOIL THINGS FOR ME. I will still read it if the story is my kind of thing, but I will be better able to prepare myself before going in. Thank you so much for your consideration.

What Do I Read?

  • Horror & Dark Fiction
  • Romance Fiction, Erotica (no Christian romances)

Things I'll Never Read

  • Everything else 
  • Books with a cliffhanger
  • Mid-series books
Please do not ask me to make an exception for your work because it won't happen.

What Formats Are Acceptable?

  • Paperbacks (they're easier to photograph for social media and I share them with the Little Free Library project in my community when I finish)
  • Audiobook codes/link
I cannot accept any other formats. 

When Will I Hear from You?

I cannot respond to every review request, and I do apologize for that. You will only hear from me if I have room in my schedule to review your book. I appreciate every review query and the time you put into contacting me, but I simply cannot accept them all due to time/personal taste. This is why I created the Horror Reviewer Directory for everyone. Someday I hope to create one for other genres but alas, there are never enough hours in the day.

When Will Reviews Be Posted?

Review books always get priority over my personal tbr pile which is why it hasn't budged in years, haha. With that said, I have a job and commitments and life always happens. I cannot make any promises timewise but if you submit a book to me, it will always get tweeted & Bookstagrammed and eventually reviewed unless it didn't work for me*

What do your Stars Mean?

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved it, a very rare & special book. 💗

⭐⭐⭐⭐I liked it a whole lot

⭐⭐⭐ I might not remember it tomorrow, but I liked it. Get off my back already!

⭐⭐ I disliked more than I liked

⭐ I murdered it with my hatred of it & it is now buried in the backyard 💀

*What Does DNF Mean and Will it Happen to Me?

DNF is when I do not finish a book. It's a horrible, mean thing to do to a book but sometimes it must be done. Not all books resonate with every reader for various reasons. I reserve the right to DNF any book received for review and will sometimes write a review saying why it drove me to such drastic measures. If you are not okay with this, please do not submit your book.

Where Will Reviews Be Posted?

Reviews will be posted here and at Goodreads, Amazon, and Horror Spotlight (if applicable). A tweet and an Instagram story will go out when I receive physical #bookmail, again when I start reading with updates on Twitter & Goodreads, and again when I finish the review. Please note, life happens, and acceptance of a review copy does not guarantee a review. I will always do my best to make it happen. I'm not here to collect more books. Believe me, I already have more than enough!

Wait there's more!

Please visit my horror reviewers list for a comprehensive list of active horror bloggers who may be interested in reviewing your work.


Last Updated October 2024

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories by Angela Carter | Horror Fiction Review

Image
Hmmmm The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter Released January 1979, 162 pgs Source: Bought with my own $ Goodreads  |  Amazon For the 75th anniversary of her birth, a Deluxe Edition of the master of the literary supernatural’s most celebrated book—featuring a new introduction by Kelly Link Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic liter...
Read more

Got My Eye On (8)

Image
I saw a post over at  Mailbox Monday  that was encouraging readers to share their best finds of the week via their  Books That Caught Our Eye  posts. I love, love, love that idea so this is my warped version of it. Here are the books I've added to my wishlist over the last week or two with credit to my enablers :) Bookfanatic @  Booklikes   Buy  /  GR What Remains by Garrett Leigh (m/m romance) Web designer Jodi Peters is a solitary creature. Lunch twice a week with his ex-girlfriend-turned-BFF and the occasional messy venture to a dodgy gay bar is all the company he needs, right? Then one night he stumbles across newly divorced firefighter Rupert O’Neil. Rupert is lost and lonely, but just about the sweetest bloke Jodi has ever known. Add in the heady current between them, and Jodi can’t help falling hard in love. He offers Rupert a home within the walls of his cosy Tottenham flat—a sanctuary to nurture their own brand of...
Read more

Tackling the TBR List in 2018: Time to Vote!

Image
I tried this meme last year and though it was incredibly fun I never revisited it because I spent the rest of the year breaking my promises to myself and reading ARC's and review copies instead of my TBR pile.I hope to change it this year and read at least one book a month from the TBR stacks. Michelle @  Because Reading  created and hosts the meme. Here they are, three actual books randomly plucked from one of my piles. Perfect for the Valentines season, right?!  Please feel free to let me know if any of these are not worth reading! I am determined to learn how to DNF properly. The Books              I actually picked these out for a Twitter post in January and meant to do the meme then because the Twitter-verse wasn't interested in my tbr pile. I did have one vote for Blood Rubies & In Cold Blood.  Click Cover for More About the Books             ...
Read more