Review Policy

This policy covers the published books and finished bookish items I review here at Sassy Reviews. It explains what I review, what matters to me, and how my book, spice, and bookish-item ratings work. I use many of the same reviewing standards and rating scales for ARCs, but advance copies have their own policy and are not covered here.

If you have spent more than five minutes around Sassy Reviews, you probably already know I have opinions. Lots of them. The entire reason this site exists is because apparently nobody makes a reading journal with enough room for everything I have to say about a book. Besides, I needed a place to not only keep track of what I was reading, but also share what I actually thought about it and discuss all things bookish with other readers and authors.

Most of the books and bookish items you see reviewed here are things I have purchased myself, although some are gifted to me by authors, publishers, creators, or companies. No matter how something finds its way into my hands, it will never influence my opinion or the rating I give it. A gift is exactly that—a gift. It is not a guaranteed positive review, recommendation, or five-star rating.

Everything I say in a review reflects my genuine experience and what I actually thought about it. Whether I absolutely loved it, struggled with it, or landed somewhere in between, Sassy Reviews will always be 100% Unbiased, Unfiltered, and Unapologetically Truthful.

WHAT I REVIEW

My reading habits wander all over the bookstore, although I definitely have my favorite sections. Fantasy and Romantasy, Paranormal and Supernatural, Dark Romance, Criminal Underworld, Thrillers and Suspense tend to find me most often, along with Contemporary Romance, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, and plenty of other genres.

I also have some very obvious bookish weaknesses. Give me dragons in pretty much any form, supernatural creatures, morally gray to morally freaking black characters, strong and sarcastic FMCs, fated or magical bonds, found family, Why Choose/Reverse Harem, great banter, or one hell of an emotional roller coaster, and you already have my attention. Combine several of those and, well, now you are just playing dirty.

Those are preferences, not requirements. Some of my favorite books have been ones I never expected to love, so I am always willing to wander outside my usual corner of the bookstore when something catches my attention. And whether a book is traditionally published, independently published, self-published, or comes from a small press makes absolutely no difference to me. A good book is a good book.

I review individual books, complete series and omnibuses, companion books, revised or expanded editions, special and collector’s editions, and bookish cookbooks. Books are not the only things that get my attention, either. I also review select journals, reading accessories, bookish merchandise, subscription and gift boxes, and other treasures created for readers and BookDragons.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM A SASSY REVIEW

A Sassy Review is not a rewritten synopsis with a star rating stuck on the bottom. You can already read the synopsis for yourself. I will give you enough of the premise and early setup to understand what we are talking about, but what I really want to tell you is what it was actually like for me to read the book.

My reviews are written the same way I would tell a friend about a book I just finished. I want to talk about what pulled me in, what kept me reading, which characters got under my skin, what made me laugh, what broke my heart, what surprised me, and whether I was completely consumed by the story or eventually wondering how many pages I had left.

And I do not just tell you what worked. If something did not work for me, I will explain what it was and why it affected my experience. The same goes for a book that falls just short of a higher rating. I will tell you what I loved, what I struggled with, and what I personally needed from the story that might have taken it to that next star.

Basically, I want you to finish one of my reviews knowing more than whether I liked the book. I want you to understand why I felt the way I did so you can decide whether it sounds like a book you might feel differently about.

WHAT I LOOK FOR WHEN I READ

There is no complicated scoring formula or mysterious BookDragon algorithm happening behind the scenes. I look at the book as a whole and whether the different pieces work together to create a story that keeps me invested.

The things I mention here are examples of what I may pay attention to, not a checklist every book is expected to follow. What matters changes depending on the genre, the story being told, and what that particular book is trying to accomplish. A Romantasy, Dark Romance, thriller, contemporary romance, and dystopian novel are obviously not going to need the same things from me to work.

Characters and their relationships are usually a big part of my experience. I may look at character development, motivations, growth, chemistry, emotional connections, and whether their choices make sense for who they are. They do not have to be perfect, likable, or even particularly good people—my collection of fictional red flags has already destroyed my credibility there. Give me a morally black disaster of a man if you want. Just make me understand why he is a disaster.

And when I say their choices need to make sense for who they are, I do not mean they have to make good choices. Those are two very different things. Characters can be selfish, reckless, naïve, morally questionable, blinded by love, driven by fear, desperate enough to ignore obvious warning signs, or spectacularly talented at making their own lives harder. I do not need to agree with a character’s choices to believe them. What matters is whether the story has given me enough of their personality, experiences, motivations, fears, desires, and circumstances to understand why that choice makes sense for them—even when I know it is probably going to end spectacularly badly. Sometimes the decision that has me yelling, “DON’T YOU FREAKIN’ DO IT,” at my Kindle is also exactly the decision that character would realistically make.

I pay attention to things like plot, conflict, stakes, pacing, twists, mysteries, consistency, and overall execution when they are relevant. My easily distracted brain has a pretty reliable test for whether a story is holding my attention: Am I wondering what happens next, or am I wondering how many pages are left? A slow story can completely consume me, while a fast-paced one can still feel like it is going nowhere. What matters is whether the story keeps giving me a reason to turn the page.

World-building and context are just as dependent on the type of story. A fantasy may need magic, mythology, politics, creatures, or history. A criminal-underworld story may need enough structure for its power and danger to feel believable. A thriller may rely more heavily on tension, mystery, and suspense. A contemporary romance may live or die by its characters, chemistry, and emotional development. I am not looking for every book to give me the same things. I am looking for what that particular story needs in order to work.

More than anything, I want the book to make me feel something. Make me laugh, make me nervous, break my heart, make me suspicious of everybody, make me ridiculously invested in fictional people, or make me disappear into another world and resent reality for making me come back. Whatever experience the story is trying to create, I want to experience it.

And yes, spice can be part of that experience too. Five peppers do not scare me, but five peppers still need a story to go with them. I do not care how much or how little spice a book contains as long as it works with the story being told rather than replacing it. I do not need less spice; I need enough story to make all that spice worth reading. And if a book has no spice at all? That certainly will not stop it from earning five stars.

HOW MY BOOK RATINGS WORK

My star rating reflects the book as a whole. I do not separately score the characters, plot, pacing, relationships, world-building, and emotional impact and then calculate an average. There is no spreadsheet hiding behind the curtain. The stars simply represent my overall reading experience.

I use the full scale, including half stars, and I do not round ratings. A 3.5 is a 3.5. And despite what the book world sometimes seems to think, anything below four stars is not automatically a bad review. Three stars means I thought the book was okay. I enjoyed things about it, but there were also issues that affected my experience. My five-star reviews only mean something if I am willing to use the rest of the scale honestly.

Sometimes a book and I simply are not going to make it to the finish line together. I will give a story time to find its footing, but once reading becomes an obligation instead of something I actually want to do, it may be headed for the DNF Abyss. A DNF does not automatically equal a particular rating. Depending on how far I got and what my experience was before I stopped, I may rate one anywhere from one to two stars.

If I rate a DNF, I will always tell you that I did not finish the book and approximately how far I got. More importantly, I will only judge what I actually read. If I stopped at 50 percent, I am not going to complain about something that happens at 75 percent because, minor logistical problem, I was not there.

MY STAR RATINGS

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars — I LOVED IT.
This book got me. I was invested, entertained, attached, emotionally wrecked, mentally consumed, or some dangerous combination of all of the above. It does not have to be technically flawless; any issues were simply too minor to meaningfully affect my enjoyment. These are the books I cannot stop thinking or talking about.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½ 4.5 Stars — SO FREAKIN’ CLOSE.
I loved it, but something kept it just shy of five stars. Whatever was missing mattered enough for me to notice, but nowhere near enough to stop me from loving the book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars — REALLY GOOD.
I genuinely enjoyed this book and would happily recommend it. There was considerably more that worked for me than did not, but enough room for improvement to keep it from reaching the 4.5- or 5-star range.

⭐⭐⭐½ 3.5 Stars — GOOD, BUT I WANTED MORE.
I liked it and enjoyed reading it overall. The good outweighed the issues, but there were enough of them that I clearly felt what was missing.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars — IT WAS OKAY.
My feelings are mixed. I did not dislike it, but I did not love it either. There were things I genuinely enjoyed and enough to keep me reading, but the problems were difficult to ignore. I am glad I read it, but once was probably enough.

⭐⭐½ 2.5 Stars — I WANTED TO LIKE IT MORE THAN I DID.
There were enough good things to keep me reading, but my attention wandered far more than it should have. I made it to the end, but the experience required more effort than enjoyment, and I would not sit through it again.

⭐⭐ 2 Stars — I STRUGGLED.
Far more did not work for me than did. I may have finished it or eventually sent it to the DNF Abyss, but either way, this book was a struggle and I am unlikely to pick it up again.

⭐½ 1.5 Stars — I’D HAD ENOUGH.
I gave it a fair shot, but eventually I cared far more about what was not working than what happened next. There may have been a couple of things I liked, but not enough to keep forcing myself to push through it. This will almost always be a DNF.

⭐ 1 Star — NOPE. JUST NOPE.
This book lost me almost immediately. Chances are I only made it three to five chapters before deciding there was absolutely no reason to force myself through another few hundred pages. I disliked what I read, I was not invested, and I was done.

MY SPICE RATINGS

The peppers are separate from my star ratings and are not another opinion rating. They simply tell you how sexually explicit a book is based on the level of detail and how frequently sexual content appears. A five-star book can have one pepper, a two-star book can have five, or anything in between.

🌶️ 1 Pepper — VERY MILD / CLOSED DOOR / FADE TO BLACK.
Little to no on-page sexual content. There may be attraction, kissing, sexual tension, or implied intimacy, but anything more happens off-page or fades to black. This also includes books with no sexual content at all.

🌶️🌶️ 2 Peppers — MILD.
Some on-page sexual content or intimacy, but it is limited, infrequent, or lightly described.

🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3 Peppers — MODERATELY EXPLICIT.
Sexual content is clearly on-page and more descriptive, with multiple intimate scenes or a noticeable sexual element throughout the book, but it is not exceptionally graphic or one of the dominant parts of the story.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4 Peppers — VERY EXPLICIT.
Sexual content is detailed, graphic, frequent, or some combination of the three. At this level, the book is definitely not leaving much to the imagination.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 5 Peppers — EXTREMELY EXPLICIT.
Sexual content is highly detailed, very frequent, extremely explicit, heavily woven throughout the book, or some dangerous combination of all of the above. If four peppers is hot, five means the fire department has officially been notified.

Different readers have very different definitions of spicy, so consider the peppers a general guide rather than a scientific measurement of fictional nudity.

SPOILERS, CONTENT WARNINGS & DARK SUBJECT MATTER

I try very hard to keep my reviews spoiler-free. I may discuss the premise, early setup, characters, relationships, tropes, themes, or world-building when necessary to explain my opinion, but I avoid major twists, deaths, identities, endings, and discoveries. If I genuinely need to cross into spoiler territory, I will make that very clear first. If an author spent 400 pages carefully building toward a revelation, I am not going to casually ruin it for everybody in paragraph three.

When a book contains significant material that may be triggering for some readers, I may also include content warnings. A content warning is information, not judgment. Some of the books I read are dark. Sometimes very dark. Readers deserve enough information to decide what they are comfortable reading without me treating dark subject matter as an automatic criticism of the book.

I judge dark fiction within the context of the story it is trying to tell. I voluntarily read Dark Romance, stalker romance, criminal-underworld stories, obsessive relationships, violence, supernatural creatures, and morally gray to morally black characters making decisions that would be horrifying in real life. I know what section of the bookstore I wandered into. Besides, Malyr would never suggest couples therapy. The man is an asshat. I knew what I signed up for.

That does not give the story a free pass. Characters can still behave inconsistently, motivations can make no sense, relationships can need more development, and plots can fall apart. I am judging how successfully the story executes what it chooses to portray, not whether its characters would make suitable role models.

And because this distinction matters, authors are not their characters. Writing dark, disturbing, morally questionable, or downright horrifying fiction does not mean an author personally endorses it. I review the fictional work in front of me, not the morality of the person who wrote it.

BOOKISH ITEM REVIEWS

Bookish items get reviewed a little differently around here. I cannot judge a reading light on character development or complain that a journal lacked sufficient emotional payoff—although if somebody ever creates a reading lamp capable of betrayal, we may need to revisit this policy. Instead, I look at what actually matters for the item: quality, construction, appearance and design, functionality, usefulness, durability, packaging, price, overall value, and whether it actually delivers what it promises. Basically, I am answering the same question I would if a friend asked me, “Okay, but is it actually worth buying?”

Special and collector’s editions are where I will absolutely judge a book by its cover. I look at the binding, cover treatment, sprayed or stenciled edges, artwork, endpapers, typography, paper quality, illustrations, dust jackets, slipcases, packaging, and overall presentation—but I also care about what is inside. Bonus chapters, alternate POVs, author notes, exclusive stories, artwork, maps, annotations, and other new material can add real value, especially when deciding whether an edition is worth buying when you may already own another copy.

Because “but this one has pretty edges” is already a perfectly reasonable financial argument in the BookDragon community. But give me pretty edges, exclusive artwork, and bonus content? At that point, I would argue it is not even the same book anymore. That is just BookDragon math.

With companion books and bookish cookbooks, I also consider how well they complement the original book or series. I want them to feel genuinely connected to the world and characters rather than like familiar names were attached to generic content. A cookbook still needs clear, practical recipes; a companion book still needs worthwhile content. Loving the original may get my attention, but the item still has to be good on its own.

HOW I RATE BOOKISH ITEMS

Bookish items receive their own 1-to-5-star rating, including half stars, based on the qualities that matter for that particular product. These stars do not use my book-rating definitions, and there is no mathematical formula behind them. A gorgeous item can lose stars for poor quality, limited usefulness, or a price that does not match what you receive, while something simple can earn five stars by being well made, useful, thoughtfully designed, and worth the money.

Whatever the item, the review will tell you what I considered, what worked, what did not, and why it earned the rating it did.

AI USAGE & TRANSPARENCY

Sassy Reviews has no bias against authors who use AI as a tool. Using AI will not automatically affect whether I accept a book for review or how I rate it, and it certainly doesn’t automatically mean an author didn’t write their own story.

Authors have always used tools and outside help. Spellcheck corrects spelling, grammar programs suggest changes, professional editors recommend rewrites and reorganize scenes, and illustrators take an author’s ideas and turn them into artwork. None of that means the author didn’t write their book or makes them less creative. I don’t believe using AI as a tool is any different.

I have no problem with authors using AI for research, brainstorming, editing, proofreading, grammar, artwork, organizing scenes or chapters, working through pacing or continuity issues, or helping them get what’s already in their head onto the page. The ideas, characters, story, and imagination still belong to the author.

This is especially true for indie and self-published authors. Professional editing, artwork, and other publishing services can be expensive, and not everyone has the money to hire an entire team. Using the tools available to help produce the best book you can doesn’t make you less talented, less creative, or any less of an author.

And this is where I’m going to be very clear. If you’re going to claim that you “write your own stories” while suggesting authors who use AI as a tool don’t, then that same standard needs to apply to every form of outside assistance. If you hired an editor who suggested changes to your story, used software to correct your spelling and grammar, or hired an illustrator to turn your ideas into images, someone or something helped you too.

Using AI as a tool and having AI write your story for you are not the same thing. My line is simple: Did you create and write your story, or did you have AI create and write it for you? If AI generated the entire story, or substantial portions of it, with little actual writing or creative input from the author, then the tool is replacing the author rather than helping them.

With that being said, if I’m reading a book and the writing begins to feel more AI-generated than human-written, I’m probably going to DNF it. Repetitive sentence structures, recurring patterns, repeated ideas or descriptions, and a lack of an individual voice can become very noticeable while reading. I won’t automatically assume AI is responsible for weak or repetitive writing, but if the finished book leaves me feeling like I’m reading something primarily generated by AI rather than the author’s own storytelling, I’m unlikely to continue.

I want to read your stories, characters, ideas, and imagination. I don’t care which tools helped you bring them to life.

I believe in that same transparency on my side. I use Canva, AI-assisted tools, and other digital design programs for images, artwork, and promotional graphics for Sassy Reviews. I may use them to create backgrounds, themed artwork, layouts, decorative elements, banners, Author Spotlight graphics, review promotions, and other visual content. I’m not an artist, and these tools allow me to take the ideas floating around in my head and actually turn them into something I can share with readers.

What I do not use AI to do is write my opinions or reviews for me. The thoughts, reactions, criticism, recommendations, and ratings you read on Sassy Reviews come from my actual experience reading the book or using the item being reviewed. The artwork and graphics may get a little help from technology, but my opinions and reviews do not. Those are, and will always be, 100% my own.

When I’m working directly with an author, I use the cover images they provide to me and obtain their permission by email before including those images in promotional graphics. An author’s original cover appearing within one of my graphics does not mean the cover itself was created or altered with AI.

I also review plenty of books I purchase myself without having any previous contact with the author. In those cases, I may use the official cover displayed by the authorized retailer or shop where I purchased the book when creating graphics related to my review. Even then, I make a reasonable effort to contact the author and obtain permission before sharing those promotional graphics on outside platforms such as Instagram or Facebook.

Authors are welcome to set their own boundaries regarding how their covers may be used. You may be comfortable with me placing your original, unaltered cover into a graphic created in Canva but not want it included in an AI-assisted graphic. Just tell me. I would much rather know your boundaries beforehand than accidentally cross one I didn’t know existed.

Regardless of where I obtain the original cover image, I will not knowingly use AI to recreate, redesign, or alter an author’s cover artwork without their express permission. When a cover appears in one of my graphics, it is there to identify and promote the book I reviewed, not as artwork I am claiming as my own.

Declining permission will never affect whether I review your book, what I say about it, or the rating it receives. Permission to review a book also does not automatically mean permission to use its cover in promotional graphics shared on other platforms. If you don’t want your cover used with AI, I can and will respect that.

HONEST ALWAYS MEANS HONEST

There is no complicated philosophy behind this part. My opinion is not for sale. Whether I purchased something myself or it was gifted to me, nobody can pay me for a particular rating, recommendation, or opinion. Gifts, signed copies, special editions, merchandise, and other bookish treasures can certainly make the BookDragon ridiculously happy, but they cannot buy her opinion.

Honesty is not an excuse to be cruel, either. I can dislike or even hate something without attacking the person who created it. At the same time, respect does not require me to pretend I liked something, raise a rating because I like the author, or avoid legitimate criticism because somebody may be disappointed. I can be kind about how I say something without being dishonest about what I think.

Once I publish a review, I will not remove it, hide it, raise the rating, or rewrite my opinion simply because somebody disagrees with it. If I get a fact wrong, tell me and I will correct it. But disagreeing with my opinion does not make that opinion a factual error.

Honesty does not require cruelty, and kindness does not require dishonesty.

YOUR OPINIONS BELONG HERE TOO

Sassy Reviews was never meant to be a place where everybody politely nods along with whatever Sassy says. Readers and authors can create their own bookshelves, rate the books they have read, write and publish their own reviews, and leave ratings and comments beneath mine. I want to know what they thought too.

Give a book five stars when I gave it three. Send one of my favorites straight to your DNF pile. Tell me the character I wanted to shake was the entire reason you loved the book. And if I genuinely missed or misunderstood something, point it out. Two people can read the exact same words and walk away with completely different experiences. That is what makes talking about books interesting.

KEEP YOUR CRITICISM CONSTRUCTIVE & YOUR OPINIONS RESPECTFUL

Everyone is welcome to disagree with me, another reader, or even an author’s choices. Criticize the book. Debate the opinion. Defend your fictional red flags with your whole chest if you feel the need. Just keep the conversation focused on the book and the opinions being shared rather than attacking the people behind them.

There is one golden rule at Sassy Reviews, and it applies to every review, rating, comment, and discussion posted here: You can hate the book, but not each other.

My inner BookDragon has absolutely zero patience for personal attacks, harassment, bullying, or cruelty toward authors or other members of this community. Break the golden rule, and she reserves the right to permanently ban you. There are no second chances when it comes to attacking authors or other members.

You can debate opinions and be as passionate as you want. Just keep your criticism constructive and your opinions respectful.