As of 21 October 2012.
As much as it pains me to say this, I am currently not accepting any offers for book review. I am very backed up and these last months of 2012 will be so hectic that I might not have time for anything else other than my job and home life. I truly am trying my fastest and hardest to work through all these books and I appreciate the trust you put on me. I feel bad that I am failing to fill these requests but sometimes, life happens.
I hope you understand. See you in 2013!
If you are an author or a publisher and you have a book that you would like me to read and review, kindly read this page before sending me a message.
I am not known to refuse a free book. But I am very behind in my reading list right now so I may have to say no to some offers. I prefer physical books over digital copies but if your book only comes in ebook form, I prefer PDF or EPUB format.
I like to read books from many different genres. However, as with all people, I have preferences that may influence my opinion of your work. The current reviews posted here do not fully reflect my taste in reading. These are my preferred genres:
Historical Fiction (especially if they are set in Renaissance Europe)Mystery/ThrillerShort StoriesTrue CrimeMilitary HistoryContemporary FictionZombie HorrorChildren’s Literature
I am open to reading Young Adult, Self-Help, General Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance, Erotica, Poetry, etc. as well but I will be very selective when it comes to those genres. But I am sorry to say that I will not read any Christian Literature, Western, YA Paranormal, and YA Vampire Fiction.
I always give an honest review, whether I am being compensated or not. And yes, I will still review your work even if I did not like it. But I will never ever insult or demean a book/author that I did not like. These are personal opinions; constructive criticism that I hope the author will honor.
Titles that have yet to be released have priority over the other books that I receive (provided they are in my possession BEFORE the release date). Also, books that I receive directly from the author have priority over the ones I get from GoodReads First Reads and LibraryThing Member Giveaways. I do not have a fixed reading schedule so do not fret if I still have not reviewed your work. I will get to it… eventually.
Unfortunately, I do not host guest bloggers, book tours or author interviews simply because I do not have time for them. I may have a giveaway in the future but right now, this is a book review blog (with a few discussion topics here and there). I do have a nine-to-five job. The only time I get to read is after work and the weekends. So I apologize in advance if I take a while.
All reviews will be automatically cross-posted to GoodReads, LibraryThing, Smashwords (if I got it from there), Amazon.com, and Shelfari. Other sites can be included by request.
If you have any other questions, just leave me a comment. Make sure you leave your e-mail address so I can reply to you privately. Or you can contact me on GoodReads! Kindly give me a day or two to get back to you.
Thank you very much and I am very much looking forward to reading your work!
All the best,
PS: Authors, readers, and follow bloggers! If you liked what you see, a little donation would be a big help. This will not at all affect my reviews but this is one step closer to my own webhost (and WP.org) and more good books to read. Thank you so very much!
Dear Kate,
I’ve just published my e-book Promise Me Eternity in the USA (Amazon, Smashwords). All of my books have been a huge success in Slovenia (EU). I’ve published three crime (mystery) novels that have sold very well and been ranked among the top 100 most borrowed library books. I am currently working on a fourth and fifth. Enthusiastic readers write to me, saying they can’t put my books down and read them in a few days. The first two novels are set in the United States; the third takes place in Britain. Individual libraries have ranked my books among the top ten, sometimes even the top five most-borrowed books.
I would be very grateful if you read my book and published a review on your website.
A few facts about me: I was born in Slovenia (EU), but have also lived in the USA, France and Germany. I’m fluent in English, French and German. Because of my extensive international experience, my books are set in the USA or Europe. I’m 42 years old.
Even as a child I missed interesting and thrilling books for which I’d be ready to give up sleep if necessary. Libraries were chockablock full of books, but finding a truly interesting book was like finding a needle in a haystack. I was particularly annoyed by books in which you had to read 50 pages before anything happened.
I wanted to write a novel that draws you in from the very start and is so interesting that it has to be read in a couple of days.
I never start writing until I have composed a scene-by-scene storyline, which I think about for at least three months. Usually, this means three or four different stories, which become more and more connected and interlinked over the course of the book until at a certain point they all come together. The stories are divided into smaller segments, which can range from one to several pages. In this way, the reader’s interest never wanes, as these are extremely readable units that often foreshadow coming events.
A short summary of the book Promise Me Eternity:
Mystery/ Crime
Dr. Simon Patterson is a successful and well-respected neurosurgeon at Central Hospital in the town of Medford. Married, though without children, he keeps himself so busy that one day is not much different from another. Until, that is, he saves the life of the powerful mobster Carlo Vucci. At a dinner in honor of Dr. Patterson, Carlo Vucci introduces him to his alluring wife Christine. Simon is entranced by her beauty. Three weeks later, Christine shows up at the hospital, complaining of terrible headaches. Dr. Patterson offers to help her, but Christine did not come to see him just because of her health. A series of shocking events follows that transforms Simon’s life into a nightmare. Among other things, he finds himself in court being accused of first degree murder…
Here is my Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/ianfoxwriter
And blog link: http://ianfoxwriter.blogspot.com/
Ian Fox
re: book review request by award-winning author
Dear Reading Good Books:
I’m an award-winning author with a new book of fiction out this fall. Ugly To Start With is a series of thirteen interrelated stories about childhood published by West Virginia University Press.
Can I interest you in reviewing it?
If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I can email you a PDF of my book. If you require a bound copy, please ask, and I will forward your reply to my publisher. Or you can write directly to Abby Freeland at:
Abby.Freeland@mail.wvu.edu
My publisher, I should add, can also offer your readers a free excerpt of my book through a link from your blog to my publisher’s website:
http://wvupressonline.com/cummings_ugly_to_start_with_9781935978084
Here’s what Jacob Appel, celebrated author of
Dyads and The Vermin Episode, says about my new collection: “In Ugly to Start With, set in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Cummings tackles the challenges of boyhood adventure and family conflict in a taut, crystalline style that captures the triumphs and tribulations of small-town life. He has a gift for transcending the particular experiences to his characters to capture the universal truths of human affection and suffering–emotional truths that the members of his audience will recognize from their own experiences of childhood and adolescence.”
My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story “The Scratchboard Project” received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.
I am also the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group, 2009), winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades 7-12) and one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY.
For more information about me, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Cummings
Thank you very much, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Kindly,
John Michael Cummings
Hello Cate,
I wanted to write to inquire about the possibility of you reviewing my second novel, The Secret Sense of Wildflower. The novel is southern historical fiction with a strong female main character and will appeal to adult readers, as well as to many young adults.
Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review (for books of remarkable merit): “A quietly powerful story, at times harrowing but ultimately a joy to read.” (You can read the full review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susan-gabriel/the-secret-sense-of-wildflower/
About the book:
Set in 1940s Appalachia, The Secret Sense of Wildflower tells the story of Louisa May “Wildflower” McAllister whose life has been shaped around the recent death of her beloved father in a sawmill accident. While her mother hardens in her grief, Wildflower and her three sisters must cope with their loss themselves, as well as with the demands of daily survival.
Despite these hardships, Wildflower has a resilience that is forged with humor, a love of the land, and an endless supply of questions to God, who she isn’t so sure she agrees with. When Johnny Monroe, the town’s teenage ne’er-do-well, sets his sights on Wildflower, she must draw on the strength of her relations, both living and dead, to deal with his threat.
I am an agented writer and have been writing fiction for over 15 years. My first novel, Seeking Sara Summers, has sold over 3,500 copies to date. You can see more about my writing at my website http://www.SusanGabriel.com. I am available to do interviews or guest posts if that would be of interest.
If you’d like to review The Secret Sense of Wildflower, I am happy to provide you with an ebook or paperback copy. If it doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, that is absolutely no problem.
Many thanks for your consideration,
Susan Gabriel
Website & books: http://www.susangabriel.com
Author blog: http://www.susangabriel.com/blog
Hi Kate,
My name is Robert Anderson and I would like to submit a request for my contemporary fiction novel, CONTRAILS to be reviewed on Reading Good Books. If interested, please see my Kirkus Review to learn more: http://tinyurl.com/9a5zndr
Thank you for your time,
Robert
Dear Cate,
My name is Samuel Bagby and I am an independent author. I have a novel entitled Lily: An American Fable which is offered for sale on Amazon Kindle Store. I am writing to inquire if you might consider reviewing the novel for your website. The plot runs something like this:
Stephen Flashman loves sex. As a womanizer, he’s been using women for sex all his life. But there are two women who leave an indelible mark upon Flashman’s life, two women whose memory he somehow cannot lay to rest in a sea of forgettable conquests. Diane Densher is one of those women: she is incredibly smart, savvy and ambitious, an Ivy League graduate and a successful executive with a budding career on Wall Street: when she breaks up with Flashman he treats it like just another breakup, but deep down her rejection of him conjures forth a terrible nagging feeling that he could not keep her because she recognized him as a failure and unworthy to be her mate, and he is tormented by the need to win her back. Noelle Cummings is just the opposite of her ambitious and serious-minded predecessor: she is a free spirit from her head to her toes, carried along by an insatiable zest to live each day as if it were her last; she casts a wistful light into Flashman’s bleak inner world. After breaking up with Noelle, Flashman is torn between his affections for both women when Noelle reveals to him that she is pregnant with his child, but is anxious and fearful about raising a child on her own; she tells Flashman that she is thinking of terminating the pregnancy.
For Flashman it is the moment which sears his heart: with Diane—”the one who got away”—showing signs of renewed interest, should he continue to give chase to her, or should he devote his energies to Noelle and do all he can to ensure the birth of his child, while knowing his life will never be the same again?
On the surface of things Lily may appear to be similar to many contemporary romance plots: it isn’t. It is rather the portrayal of an inner search for meaning, for fulfillment, for belonging by a man whose past has ill-equipped him to find them, whose culture provides him with a template for happiness which ultimately leaves him at a loss. Certainly it is the eloquence and beauty of a prose style which in many respects sets literary fiction apart from other types: accordingly I would invite you to simply take a minute and peruse a few excerpts on the novel’s Kindle page, to see if they spark something in you that drives you to read on and engage the text. Lily is a short work of fiction, a quick read paced all the way through with humor and pathos, and sporting a rather wicked twist at the very end.
The product page on Amazon is: http://www.amazon.com/Lily-An-American-Fable-ebook/dp/B008RD7ITS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343934226&sr=1-1&keywords=Lily%3A+An+American+Fable
The novel’s Goodreads page is: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15826843-lily-an-american-fable
I would love for you to do a review of the novel if possible; if you’re willing I would also appreciate the opportunity to do a blogpost or some kind of promotion with you. I’d be happy to e-mail you a copy of the novel if you’d like, please inform me as to what format you prefer. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Sam Bagby