Review Group discussion

The review group is the most successful group for peer reviews on goodreads. It hosts non-reciprocal reading/review rounds of ten authors with a variety of themes and genres, as well as ‘general’ rounds where any book is permitted, from non-fiction, to horror. When a round has ‘now forming’ in the title, there are places available, you can sign up. If it doesn’t, it’s full – look for another round or check back another time.

The Amazon rules state that authors/publishers are not allowed to specifically supply published books in return for reviews on Amazon. To comply with this rule, we don’t insist members review on Amazon, but we do insist that every participant in the round has the capacity to leave a review on their local Amazon store, so we all start with the same options.

The founding principle of the group is honest, non-reciprocal reviews, so please help maintain the integrity of the group by letting me know as you sign up if you have been reviewed by, or have reviewed another author in the group and do check back as the group fills to report any clashes. Usually places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

This is a Romance round
Anything goes as long as the primary theme of the book is romance - any setting, any pairing.


Now for the boring stuff, but please read it, it saves a lot of time if everyone is on the same wavelength.
Before signing up below with your Goodreads author and Goodreads book link in the thread below, please ensure that:

1. You have enough time to read and review 4 books within the 12 weeks of time allowed.

2. Your book is currently available for sale on Amazon (not pre-order) and it complies with the individual round theme, if there is one.

3. Your book is fit to be reviewed.
If it is not, due to editing or other issues, you risk poor reviews. This is your problem, not that of the reviewers or the groups. For a small fee, the group admin will look at the first few pages of your book to advise. The number one error new authors make is not having their book beta read and edited, by non-family members.

4. You can submit reviews to Goodreads and Amazon.
Amazon allows only those people who have spent $50 in the last year to leave reviews in each of their stores. If you are unsure about your Amazon reviewer status, try posting a ‘test’ review before signing up. If you are unable to post reviews on Amazon, please do not sign up.

5. You can provide (and accept) at least PDF files.
You are not expected or required to buy the books you are allocated to review, but as this will give a ‘Verified Purchase’ review on Amazon, it is welcomed when you choose to do so. Many authors have books available via KU and others might provide smashwords coupons. Most authors can provide mobi and/or epub files directly by email. Please note: International Copyright laws apply. You cannot sell, or give away material you have received without the author’s express permission.

6. You have completed your reading if you are currently in another review round in this group. You can be involved in the ‘one for one’ list whilst you are in a round.

7. You have an author profile set up before you join.

8. Your Goodreads profile allows people to message you, i.e. your profile is not set to private.

9. You declare any relationship you have with another member in the round.
Amazon will not allow reviews from the same household on the same book or if you are an editor, relative or close friend of another member.

10. You agree that your reviews will be unbiased and honest, whatever the star rating, and you will try to avoid ‘spoilers’. i.e. giving away the finale of a book.

11. You will not ask a fellow author to change a review of your book because you don’t agree with it.
If you think you have a legitimate concern, talk to the mod of your round, NOT the other author. Personal attacks, or pressurising other members WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will result in you being blacklisted.

Please note:
The amazon.com review guidelines do not allow for free books to be supplied in return for reviews. Therefore, you are not obliged to review on Amazon, just on Goodreads. We all want reviews, its why we joined the group. It is bad taste to expect other people to review your book and then not do the same for other people in the group. People that DNF and/or don’t post reviews will find it difficult to get into a subsequent group.

It is not necessary to leave any kind of disclaimer in your review, but ultimately, it is up to individuals. Reviews that state you received a copy ‘in return’ for a review will probably be removed/not allowed by amazon.com. ‘I received a free copy from the author without an obligation to review’ would be more acceptable if you feel the need to add a disclaimer.

Your Goodreads details and the rounds you participate in may be recorded by the admin mod on a database. We do not retain details of email addresses etc.

Allocation is entirely random and there will NOT be any rearranging of the listing to accommodate personal preference. The ONLY circumstance in which you may duck out of giving a review is if YOU provide a stand-in reviewer.

The only way this group can function is if we trust each other to behave honourably. And it IS perfectly possible to give a fair-minded review of a text that does not coincide with our normal choice of reading matter. If you need a few hints/tips, please see this thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I will do my best to fit everyone into the group they request, but occasionally, particularly in the case of our more prolific good standing members, I may have to decline a member request to fit the maximum number of people into a particular round. I will always endeavour to start another round as soon as possible with that member in mind.

It is permissible to review an author more than once if a different book is available.
If you need anything clarified please ask, either by goodreads personal message to me or on the thread below, before signing up. It’s a pain to have to keep rearranging the list because people haven’t read the above.

Your group moderator will be:
Trish Butler



Member Links
1. Trish Butler
2. Laurette Long
3. Eunice Nascimento
4. Mary Jaimes-Serrano
5. Susan A. Buchanan
6. Lorraine M.L.M.
7. Margaret Standafer
8. Rebecca Winkler
9. Himanshu Arora
10. L.D. Bloodworth

Book Links
1. Ctrl+Alt+Deleted
2. Hot Basque
3. Love By Chance: Felton Ridge Firefighter Heroes
4. La Flor Manor: The Introduction
5. Asia: Good Girl
6. SeQuence
7. Anchored in Misty Lake
8. Sophie Coming Home
9. Vivan's Love Story
10. Make Your Bones

Very excited to be moderating for the first time. Totally want to be in the round myself too.

I'm going to go with the first book of my new series/genre Ctrl+Alt+Deleted, but if anyone joins this round that has already read it, then they can choose one of my Redway Acres books.

Trish Butler


Looking forward to see who is joining me on the journey!!

Trish

Welcome aboard the round, Trish and thanks for joining our Mod Squad! :)

Hi Trish, Hi E.M.
A romance round! May I join please, with Hot Basque, Book 2 in French Summer Novel series but can be read as a stand-alone. (Enrolled in KU scheme) No clashes so far!
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Looking forward, thanks!
Laurette

Welcome Laurette!

Very happy to see a romance round forming. May I join in with my novelette Love by Chance?
No clashes so far. I can review on amazon uk and Goodreads.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Good evening/day all. I would love to join this round. My recently published historical romance is the first in a trilogy. May I join you, please? I can post on Amazon and see no clashes.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...


Regards,

Mary

Love that a romance group is forming. I would like to submit THE ENGLANDS Book 2, SOPHIE Coming Home.

I can post reviews on Amazon. I see no clashes so far. Here are my links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Thanks,
Rebecca

Hi All,

I’m so pleased a romance group has been formed. I love everything romance and would like to submit SeQuence, my Young Adult Fantasy Romance, please. It's Book 1 in a series of 4. I have no clashes so far. Thanks

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Trish wrote: "Very excited to be moderating for the first time. Totally want to be in the round myself too.

I'm going to go with the first book of my new series/genre Ctrl+Alt+Deleted, but if anyone joins this ..."

My book is biographical/historical creative nonfiction. It has some romance (30% of the text) but also many other things (history). Does it belong to this group?

I'd like to join. I have a clean romance, Anchored in Misty Lake, part of a series but easily read as a stand-alone.

Anchored in Misty Lake
Margaret Standafer

I do not have any clashes to this point.

Hi, I'd like to join this round if I can.
Asia: Good GirlSusan A. Buchanan

Welcome Eunice, Mary, Rebecca, Lorraine, Margaret and Susan.

Theodore this group is for books with romance as the main focus. Historical romance might have a lot of history in it but the story is the romance. If your story of your biography is romantic, then it fits. If not, the 18+ round (which your book would definitely fit as any book does) still has vacancies.

Hello -

I'd be happy to join as one of the two needed, as I enjoy reading historical, YA and clean romances! However, it is with the caveat that the book(s) I can offer for review are poetry collections, though many of the poems included are romantic and inspirational in nature.

I won't be offended if you say no! But I'd be happy to participate. Here are links to my two books that I think fit the "romantic" bill best: Into the Light & Space to Dream.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

-Stacie

I think my title Asia: Good Girl has to go into the 18+ category but I'd still like to read and review. Is that allowable if I pull my title? I also realized I put the wrong title, I'm having one of those days. Apologies.
-Susan

Susan wrote: "I think my title Asia: Good Girl has to go into the 18+ category but I'd still like to read and review. Is that allowable if I pull my title? I also realized I put the wrong title, ..."

Why Susan? This isn't a 'clean' romance round. Mine is sexy too! I'm assuming there is romance with what is happening to the protagonist?

Trish

Okay, just got worried that it was because mine is a little racy. I'm all set then, Thanks so much. I didn't want to put anyone off.

Susan wrote: "Okay, just got worried that it was because mine is a little racy. I'm all set then, Thanks so much. I didn't want to put anyone off."

I read Emma Jaye's books (she's the group admin for this whole group) I'm good with racy!!

This is the theme of this group...
"This is a Romance round
Anything goes as long as the primary theme of the book is romance - any setting, any pairing."

Not only does the participant's book need to fit in with that statement, but they have to be prepared to read books that fit it too. So reviews shouldn't say things like 'I don't like books with ... so I only gave it 4-stars.'

Hope that's ok with everyone.

Trish
PS Stacie, I'm waiting to hear from E.M. about poetry qualifying for the round, but the second question is whether you are happy possibly reading books that don't qualify as 'clean'.

To clarify: This is a Romance round and we have not run one before but Romance has to be the main theme of any work submitted. It can be any kind of Romance and those participating in the round need to be aware of that.

Everyone has their own tastes in any genre and that will, inevitably, influence their response to the book and everyone is free to say what they like or dislike about a book in their review, but to drop a star purely on sub-genre would be inappropriate. If you don't like sex-scenes I would suggest you hold out for a 'Clean' round. That said, no one in the round has raised any objection to such so I doubt it will be an issue.

Stacie - I looked at both your poetry books and neither of them seems to be primarily about romance. Thanks for offering, but I don't think they'll fit the round.

E.M. wrote: "To clarify: This is a Romance round and we have not run one before but Romance has to be the main theme of any work submitted. It can be any kind of Romance and those participating in the round nee..."

Thanks for the clarification E.M.

Happy Hump Day everyone.

T

As a newbie, I appreciate the clarification on the thread I am so relieved. However, the wrong title's listed for me. It should be Asia: Good Girl not Asia: His Good Girl (that title doesn't exist anymore). Just wanted to update the group and I apologize for the mix-up, entirely my fault. Yesterday was just one of those days. Thanks.

E.M. wrote: "To clarify: This is a Romance round and we have not run one before but Romance has to be the main theme of any work submitted. It can be any kind of Romance and those participating in the round nee..."

E.M. - No problem! Good luck with the round. :-) -Stacie

Hi everyone just reading the comments, mine has some 'racy' bits too...all depending on the definition of 'racy'! Am sure we're all open minded, ready to play the game and willing to step outside our romantic comfort zones as reviewers here. We might even pick up a few tips ;-) Looking forward!

Updated for you Susan, no problem.

E.M. wrote: "Updated for you Susan, no problem."

Thanks so much. I appreciate it, sorry about that.

E.M, Rebecca reviewed my novelette a few months ago so I can’t review her. Also, I don’t have another romance.

I would love to join this round if any spot is still available
My title is
Vivan's Love Story

Welcome Himanshu!

Thanks for the info, Eunice, hopefully sorted now.

Thank you, E.M.

E.M. wrote: "Welcome Himanshu!

Thanks for the info, Eunice, hopefully sorted now."

Thanks for the opportunity!

Hello, everyone! I would like to join the review group if the spot is still open.
My title is Make Your Bones and I can post to Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MN672G7
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Thanks,
L.D. Bloodworth

Welcome aboard L.D.

Now I need everyone to double check they have no negative clashes - that they have not reviewed the four people 'above' them on the list (it wraps around so 10 is 'above' 1) or been reviewed by the four below.

When enough people have posted that they don't have any such clashes, I can start the round :)

Thanks!

No clashes for me, this is my first time.
-L.D.

I have not reviewed or been reviewed by any of the four people above me.

I have not reviewed or been reviewed by any of the four above or below and I have no clashes.

No clashes for me E.M.

Thank you.

T

I'm too new to have any clashes :-)

This is my second time joining a review round, and I have no clashes too. Thanks

No clashes for me.

Thanks E.M., no clashes for me.

Looks like we are good to go then!

START DATE: 24-Jan-19

END DATE: 18-Apr-19

Round 1 – post your review by 14-Feb-19
Round 2 – post your review by 07-Mar-19
Round 3 – post your review by 28-Mar-19
Round 4 – post your review by 18-Apr-19

As AUTHORS you SEND your book file to:

208-01__Trish Butler
L.D. Bloodworth for round 1
Himanshu Arora for round 2
Rebecca Winkler for round 3
Margaret Standafer for round 4

208-02__Laurette Long
Trish Butler for round 1
L.D. Bloodworth for round 2
Himanshu Arora for round 3
Rebecca Winkler for round 4

208-03__Eunice Nascimento
Laurette Long for round 1
Trish Butler for round 2
L.D. Bloodworth for round 3
Himanshu Arora for round 4

208-04__ Mary Jaimes-Serrano
Eunice Nascimento for round 1
Laurette Long for round 2
Trish Butler for round 3
L.D. Bloodworth for round 4

208-05__ Susan A. Buchanan
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 1
Eunice Nascimento for round 2
Laurette Long for round 3
Trish Butler for round 4

208-06__ Lorraine M.L.M.
Susan A. Buchanan for round 1
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 2
Eunice Nascimento for round 3
Laurette Long for round 4

208-07__ Margaret Standafer
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 1
Susan A. Buchanan for round 2
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 3
Eunice Nascimento for round 4

208-08__ Rebecca Winkler
Margaret Standafer for round 1
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 2
Susan A. Buchanan for round 3
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 4

208-09__ Himanshu Arora
Rebecca Winkler for round 1
Margaret Standafer for round 2
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 3
Susan A. Buchanan for round 4

208-10__ L.D. Bloodworth
Himanshu Arora for round 1
Rebecca Winkler for round 2
Margaret Standafer for round 3
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 4

As REVIEWERS you will receive books for review from:

208-01__Trish Butler
Laurette Long for round 1
Eunice Nascimento for round 2
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 3
Susan A. Buchanan for round 4

208-02__Laurette Long
Eunice Nascimento for round 1
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 2
Susan A. Buchanan for round 3
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 4

208-03__Eunice Nascimento
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 1
Susan A. Buchanan for round 2
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 3
Margaret Standafer for round 4

208-04__ Mary Jaimes-Serrano
Susan A. Buchanan for round 1
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 2
Margaret Standafer for round 3
Rebecca Winkler for round 4

208-05__ Susan A. Buchanan
Lorraine M.L.M. for round 1
Margaret Standafer for round 2
Rebecca Winkler for round 3
Himanshu Arora for round 4

208-06__ Lorraine M.L.M.
Margaret Standafer for round 1
Rebecca Winkler for round 2
Himanshu Arora for round 3
L.D. Bloodworth for round 4

208-07__ Margaret Standafer
Rebecca Winkler for round 1
Himanshu Arora for round 2
L.D. Bloodworth for round 3
Trish Butler for round 4

208-08__ Rebecca Winkler
Himanshu Arora for round 1
L.D. Bloodworth for round 2
Trish Butler for round 3
Laurette Long for round 4

208-09__ Himanshu Arora
L.D. Bloodworth for round 1
Trish Butler for round 2
Laurette Long for round 3
Eunice Nascimento for round 4

208-10__ L.D. Bloodworth
Trish Butler for round 1
Laurette Long for round 2
Eunice Nascimento for round 3
Mary Jaimes-Serrano for round 4


Please remember the commitment you are making to your fellow group members. If you pull out after the start date for any reason it is the other members who will be faced with the problem of finding a replacement, or missing out on reads/reviews, through no fault of their own. Please don’t ask the moderators to chase after replacements as we just don’t have the time.

It is the responsibility of the author to get their book to their readers in a format the reviewer can manage. Everyone must be able to provide and accept PDF. You may buy or borrow the books you are due to read if you wish, and I’m sure the author will appreciate the verified review, but IT IS NOT COMPULSORY. There are no set dates for the start of each round. You can each work at your own pace, within the limits of the round deadlines.

All reviews must be posted to GR. We also encourage members to post on Amazon. When you have posted your reviews, please post the links to each of your reviews, not the book page in this thread.
The mod of each round will record whether members have posted reviews on Amazon and for the good of all, members who persistently fail to post reviews or DNF reviews to Amazon, will find mods less than willing to prioritise adding them to subsequent groups.

Postings to other sites are by agreement by both author and reviewer.

If I’ve missed something that results in you being asked to review someone who has already reviewed you, please let me know asap.

To exchange book files, my advice is to use PM to give email addresses to each other (save the chance of spammers getting your addies from this open forum). Happy reviewing, everyone :)

Please consider downloading one of my books and/or one of the round mod’s books as a thank you for all the hard work we put in for the group.

Please read this especially if you are new to these review rounds.

Quick 'start-up' summary for anyone new who might be scratching their heads. You should PM the four people who will be reviewing you (the four above you on the original list of names) through their Goodreads author pages. Click on the down arrow beside the 'Follow Author' button under their picture and it opens a menu which will allow you to message them.

Ask what kind of file they would like or say you can only offer PDF, though unless a publisher uploaded it for you, you can always download a .mobi of your own book from Amazon.

Don't forget to ask where to send it so they can give you their email.

The four people who you are reviewing should be in touch with you in a similar way.

You can, of course, choose to buy any or all of the books instead, or read the books on KU, if you are a subscriber and the books are available there. If you can buy it adds weight to your review as it gives the 'Verified Purchase' stamp on Amazon.

Please make sure you have exchanged ALL FOUR books - or have been assured by your reviewers they will buy your book or read it through KU - as soon as possible. Some people read fast and it can be very frustrating to have to wait a long time to get hold of a book you are committed to review.

Don't forget to post the links to your reviews here so you can be signed off for them.

Your mod for this round is Trish Butler, she is your first point of call for any problems arising and I shall leave you in her highly capable hands!

Hi all,

Excited to be on this journey with all of you. I'm here for questions/problems if you have any. Post here or send me a message via my profile page Trish Butler Bear in mind that I am on the east coast of the US, so if I don't answer straight away, I might still be in bed - depending on where in the world you are! LOL

As we have a few newbies in this round, I thought I'd post a couple of things/reminders.

Participation in these groups means being willing to write a proper review for the books you read. Whilst we don't have any set rules on such things, it is expected at the very least a review should say what was good about the book in your opinion and (unless you have given 5 stars) what you struggled with as a reader. If you feel any of your reviews might not meet this minimum, it is very easy to edit in another paragraph to be sure you are doing so.

When writing a review for others consider if you would feel satisfied by it had someone written it for you. An overly brief review can seem dismissive and disrespectful to another group member. If you are not familiar with how to write reviews please check out this post on the topic.

General note: please be aware when posting links to Amazon that you need to delete everything after and including the letters 'ref' in the URL. If you don't, Amazon knows anyone clinking on that link is in some way connected with you as that information is your personal account link information.

Thanks for spending a moment to read this. I hope you enjoy the experience and have fun reading!

Trish

Hi everyone, Keen to get going on this new round, thanks E.M. and Trish for your timely reminders and guidelines (I for one didn't know about the long Amazon link (!), though for simplicity I've always cut it short before the 'ref'). I have exchanged messages with Eunice, Mary and Susan, I can read their books on KU as I am a subscriber, Lorraine, that goes for your book as well.
For anyone reviewing Hot Basque, it is enrolled in KU, and will be on a $0.99c promotion at the end of next week. PDF available also, just let me know.
Thanks and happy reading to all!
Laurette

Laurette wrote: "Hi everyone, Keen to get going on this new round, thanks E.M. and Trish for your timely reminders and guidelines (I for one didn't know about the long Amazon link (!), though for simplicity I've al..."

Hi Laurette, thanks very much, I was intending to send you a message and I've just read your message. Great, thanks for offering to read on KU, if however, you need a copy just let me know.
I have a couple more messages to send.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.
Lorraine

My bad!! I completely forgot to say a BIG thank you to E.M. for setting this round up for us!

So thank you!

Have a great weekend everyone - get reading! LOL

Trish

Good evening all, or morning. I want to start by thanking Trish and E.M. for creating and moderating this round. I also want to thank everyone who is participating.

That being said, here is the link to my review for Asia: Good Girl. I will post the link to the Amazon review when it is available.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Okay, so I can not post the review from my profile, because of a sensitivity filter. However, the review is listed on the book's review page.

Sorry, I also have a question. I just started posting books I have read on my website. Am I allowed to post these reviews there?

Here is the link to my review of Ctrl+Alt+Deleted by Trish Butler.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...