There’s not a whole lot of “policy” to talk about. Here are my self-imposed rules for a book review.

No spoilers, ever. No one needs that.
Be honest. If I like it, you’ll know. Ditto if I hate it. But I don’t finish many books I dislike.
Only review finished books.
No paid reviews. I’ll take an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) all day long. So that’s sort of “payment.” But I will buy a copy of any ARC I review.

Review requests
If you have an ARC you’d like me to consider, please contact me first to make sure I’ve got time to read and write before your deadline (I probably do). I’ll read and review almost anything. No romance, not a fan of fantasy/magic. Just about anything else is fair game.

Books I don’t care for
I rarely publish one or two-star reviews. If I don’t care for a book, I’ll just close it. I may (or most likely, may not) get back to it at some point. I’ll never publish a review of a book I don’t finish.

Rating system
At the end of every review, you’ll see “Pondering Books Rating” with an image showing one to five stars, in half-star increments.

I don’t have specifics for each level. It’s not that fancy. My star ratings are based on how I feel about the book. I look for different things out of different genres and authors. It’s just my opinion, based almost entirely on gut feel.

Generally speaking:

Dear God. What was the author and/or publisher thinking? Not a fan of burning books, but…

Meh. Pretty much a waste of time. Will rarely publish two-star (or lower) reviews.

Three stars is a good book. Worth reading. Once.

Four stars is a great book. Potential re-read.

Five stars is a fantastic book. You’re missing out if you don’t read it. Will be re-read.
They should make a movie out of this book, even though they’ll screw it up.

Book and author promotion
Words cannot express how much I’d love to interview an author (or publisher). That’s a goal for when my blog grows up. Contact me if there’s any interest. Swear I’ll make it easy and worth your time. If nothing else, it’ll be fun!

I cross-post Pondering Books reviews on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, using both branded and personal accounts. Right now, my personal accounts have FAR larger followings (~30K) than the Pondering Books branded social accounts.

I also post reviews (will likely be condensed from what’s posted here) to Amazon, Goodreads, and NetGalley.

I’m an active social media user and enjoy promoting authors, publishers and books. I do not currently do paid promotions on social media (or this blog, other than Amazon ads and affiliate links).

Disclosures
* This website may contain affiliate links and advertising. Ads will be obvious. Affiliate links are coded as “sponsored” and are set for search engine no-follow.
* All ARC’s will be disclosed as such.
* Email addresses are only collected on comment submission (not displayed on comments) and via the contact form. Email addresses will only be used to reply to queries/questions and will never be sold or used to subscribe you to a newsletter you never asked for.
* Blog spam/scam comments will be deleted, and the email and IP addresses blocked and reported as spam. Ain’t no one got time for spam and scams. Grow up, get a real job (not that any spammer or scammer will ever see this. But it makes me feel better).