Review Policies

My review system

The review system on Papertowns is based on a five-star system and with every review, includes what I call a ‘star count’. The most stars a book can receive are five stars. So here’s what each star count means:

★★★★★ = OMG. I LOVE THIS. EXCELLENT. FABULOUS. INSERT POSITIVE ADJECTIVES HERE. Basically, I love it and five stars is the highest I can give! Highly recommended.

★★★★ = Great. It might be perfect but hey! I liked it enough to recommend it to others and that’s saying something.

★★★= I thought it was... hm, better than okay? I might like it but I still have ton of things I dislike about it too, so just really good. That’s it, but it’s enough to get a thumbs up from me at least.

★★ = Meeeh, okay. Just okay.

★ = Be reminded that just one star doesn’t necessarily mean that book is awful and it’s my opinion of the book. Everyone has their different tastes and likes, and just mean I didn’t like it very much.

So what’s my policy?

Majority of the books I review will probably be YA novels. This is simply because this is a genre I always loved and enjoyed reading and while I don’t usually read more adult-ish books, it doesn’t mean I won’t either.

I wouldn’t even say my reviews are technically reviews because really, I’m just sharing my thoughts and opinions about the book and state what I like and don’t like. I’m not one to babble on and on with super boring analyses of the novel because what’s the fun in that? I was a little hesitant about writing my “reviews” because I honestly didn’t know how to write one. So eventually, I went on with my own pattern.

So here’s what I can promise will be included in my typical reviews:

• How I ended up picking up the book in the first place and/or my first impressions
• My own one-paragraph sum-up of the book
• My thoughts after finishing
• Good things- what I liked about the book such as characters, setting, etc.
• Bad things- what I didn’t like about the book
• Mmmaybe a little fangirling here and there...
• And last, who would I recommend this to? What audience would most enjoy this book?

Want to suggest a book for review?

I can’t promise you I will review it but I will definitely take any suggestions I get into consideration! So if you’d like to suggest a book you’d like to see on this blog-- whether it’s a book you’ve already read or not-- just please fill this little form with the book title, author, and why you’re suggesting it here. I’m not too big on self-published titles so chances are I probably won’t accept them. And I will not accept any suggestions under these genres: historical fiction, memoirs/autobiographical novels, and poetry books (unless it’s a novel in verse; Ellen Hopkins books are a great example of this.)