GUIDELINES FOR REQUESTING A REVIEW:
* Request MUST be addressed to a specific reviewer.
* Request MUST include – synopsis, genre, and links to Goodreads or Amazon (if applicable).
* Please scroll down to see what type of book works best for each of us. or click a name to be taken to that reviewer: Jen or Chelsea or Cassie or Arielle
* Please email all requests to starcrossedbookblog (at) gmail (dot) com
Jen:
I will accept either e-books or print copies. I also prefer books/series that end with a Happily Ever After instead of a Happily For Now.
Genres I Love:
Contemporary Romance
Fantasy
Historical Romance
Paranormal
Urban Fantasy
Dystopian
Science Fiction
Genres Not For Me:
Erotica
Horror
Reverse Harem
Mystery (unless I already love the author’s other books)
What I Love:
* YA/NA/Adult
* Romance
* HEA – I will always prefer HEA (Happily Ever After) over a HFN (Happily For now), unless it’s YA. And books with epilogues make me oh so happy!
* My Top Favorite Tropes – I love so many more tropes than this, but my top favorites are Enemies to Lovers, Star Crossed/Forbidden, Fake Dating, Small Town, Brothers Best Friend, and Grumpy/Sunshine.
* Male Characters – Books where the male character starts out cold/indifferent towards the heroine but then warms up as the story progresses are always my favorite. Especially if they are tortured from their past and are infuriating, haughty and sarcastic yet they reveal glimpses of a nicer or softer side.
* Banter – I always love characters that have banter that makes my heart race or giggle while smiling.
What I Hate:
* Plot holes – I love to highlight details & situations that should be answered in the future or foreshadows something. I always go back and look at those “orange” highlights to make for sure almost everything is wrapped up with the book/series.
* Too many mentions of religion
* Horrible decision making – If the heroine/hero are constantly making decisions that place themselves or others in danger, I will most likely grow irritated.
* Child/Dog cruelty – A child or dog that has been tortured or murdered, especially if I’ve become attached to them, is a huge NO for me. I’ll not finish or downgrade the rating of the story.
* Personality Transplant – I can’t handle a character changing drastically, without previous hints. I also don’t like when a character pulls a stunt that is uncharacteristic to them.
* Rape – If it takes place within the story and has a descriptive scene, then that is a huge trigger for me. I don’t handle that well. At all. But if it has happened in the past and they talk about it, no flashbacks with descriptions of the actual act, then I’ll be okay.
* Cheating
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Chelsea:
I prefer ebooks so I can highlight them (I’m a highlighting fool) but will also accept print copies.
Favorite Genres:
YA
Fantasy
Contemporary
*Some* NA
Dystopian
Sci-Fi
Top things I love:
-Tortured Heroes
-Enemies-lovers
-Hate-Love
-Fantasy
-Almost anything YA, really, especially YA Fantasy
-Re-tellings
-Damsels in distress
-Peril, peril, peril
-Snarky heroes
-Prince Heroes
-Castles and things of that sort (Royalty)
-Anti-Heroes (Think Kaz, Prince Magnus)
-Conmen (Again, Kaz, Han)
-Morally Gray Heroes
-I’m sure there’s more, I’ll add onto this list if I think of any top favorites!
My No-No’s:
-CHEATING. NO.
-Time-Travel
-Cheesiness
-Bad dialogue/cheesy dialogue
-Babies are a trigger-this should be self-explanatory. Only healthy happy babies. Period.
-Animal deaths
-Animal cruelty
-ANYTHING BAD ABOUT ANIMALS
-LGBT…just not for me
-A guy (or girl) sleeping with someone after a ‘break’. THIS IS HUGE.
-Novellas
-Lots of traveling in book
-Books set in foreign countries (I don’t know why…only like a few of those)
-I accept love triangles if handled correctly, but am very displeased when it is not wrapped up in a believable-or acceptable- way
-Changing a character’s personality halfway through a series to make an easy out for love triangle-NOT COOL, I WILL RAGE
-Unnecessary and for-no-logical-reason main character deaths (I can accept deaths, but not without reason-I want to BELIEVE this was crucial to the story)
-Incest
-Romances bogged down with only sex, not enough substance to story
-Erotica
-Fantasy that involves otherworldly main characters, such as, but not limited to: Animal heads, human face but hooves or any other such thing, etc. You get the point
-Too much religion
BOYS:
I like ‘em loyal, tortured, sweet, broody, and love when they’re willing to risk it all to save the heroine-even at the cost of their own lives.
This list may grow or change, but for now I am satisfied that I have made myself abundantly clear on what doesn’t work, namely cheating, cheesiness, or cop outs.
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Cassie:
I will accept both e-books (Kindle compatible) and print copies.
Genres I love:
Suspense/Thriller
Dystopian
Young Adult
New Adult
Fantasy
Contemporary Romance
Genres not for me:
Science Fiction
Erotica
Historical
What I Love:
-Strong female leads/character – She can be flawed/complex/make poor choices, but as long as she perseveres and continues to try, I’m here for it all.
-Dystopian (a la The Hunger Games/Red Queen/Ash Princess) – Anything along these lines I’m absolutely willing to try the series.
-Romance – It doesn’t have to be the central focus, but I usually do like to have some in the books.
-Great side characters – Especially true in YA/NA books, I love to have a great supporting cast.
-Fairy tale retellings – These are kind of new to me, but I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read lately that take fairy tales for a spin (especially if they skew a little dark).
What I Hate:
-Animal cruelty/death – HATE. HATE. HATE. I will tolerate a little if it is easy to move past, but if it is central to story, I’m out.
-Instalove – I cannot stand when two characters, who barely know each other, are automatically in love.
-Bad dialogue – I live for good dialogue, so if it is awkward/stilted/unrealistic, it’s a huge no from me.
-Too much world building – I know this is hard to quantify, but think Lord of the Rings. I love the movies, but I’ve never been able to read the books because there is so much world-building and exposition. I just can’t get into that.
-Changing a character just for the sake of advancing a relationship/plot. I’ve been seeing this a lot. It is seriously not OK to assassinate a character just move a plot forward or change a relationship. It’s lazy writing and annoying.
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Arielle:
Genres I love:
Young Adult
Fantasy
Dystopian
New Adult
Contemporary Romance
Science Fiction
Genres not for me:
Mystery
Thriller
Nonfiction
Momentarily not into YA Contemporaries
What I Love:
-Strong female leads (and I’m also open to them being pretty flawed, in fact I prefer them to be)
-Great supporting secondary characters
-A good romance (obviously lol)–Friends to lovers and “enemies” to lovers are my favorite tropes
-Banter–GIVE ME ALL THE BANTER
~Overall I’m pretty flexible and will give most things a chance!
What I Don’t Like/Hate:
-Animal/Child cruelty, pretty self explanatory
-Main characters that are constantly hiding things/lying to the people around them
-In romances when there is a surprise pregnancy at the beginning of the novel
-Books that get too dark. I love a good anti hero but if they take their anger/revenge too far I’m out..
-Rape or any kind of abuse
-Crappy world building, PARTICULARLY when it comes to Dystopian worlds
-Bad dialogue–the worst kinds for me are when the author is telling instead of showing and when you can tell an adult is writing dialogue for how they THINK teens really talk and it turns cheesy/completely unrealistic
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MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION:
Please email all requests to starcrossedbookblog (at) gmail (dot) com
We usually take two to four weeks to return any requests.
Our reviews will be posted one to two months from the date we have received the book. If you need your review posted by a certain date, please let us know so we can accommodate you.
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