How do you find out about content before reading a book?

[Michelle Hodge]

I really need some advice. More than once in the past few months, I've picked up a book to read because I liked the genre it was listed under and/or because I liked the description on the cover or a review I read about it on Goodreads or something. 

 

However, then, once I get into the book, I've discovered that it had more sexual content than I like or certain moral themes I don't like or violence I wasn't expecting or something that really conflicts with what I like to read. 

 

Everyone has different standards as to what they consider "too much" when it comes to many of those topics and many times it is not disclosed how graphic things are on different sites or on books themselves. 

 

I'm wondering if anyone has good sites or places they go to really research books. I have a friend who intensely researches movies because she doesn't like certain things, but I really don't know where to go (or if there even is such a place) to find out more detail about books. I don't want huge spoilers to ruin the book for me, but I'd like to know ahead of time if I'm going to want to put the book down in the 5th chapter or something b/c of the topics mentioned..... especially when it comes to books that I'm looking at to review!! 

 

Thanks,

Michelle

[Confuzzled Shannon]

The place I research most of my reading is from amazon or goodreads.  Since I review kids books I try to give a detailed review there is something I wouldn't want my child reading but everyone has a different opinion of what too much is for them so.  That's really hard to pin point everything you want to avoid sometimes.

[Michelle Hodge]

Thanks! I do usually look at BN, Amazon, and/or Goodreads, but sometimes there is not really enough information on them to make a good decision. Thanks for the thoughts!

[Kelli Wheelwright]

I add a "parents' section at the end of my reviews (especially YA books) which highlights the violence, language, and adult content in each book. I like http://www.commonsensemedia.org sometimes, but I think their age rating is FAR too low.

 

KW

http://www.ekfamilybooks.blogspot.com

 

[Michelle Hodge]

Thanks! I found http://novelbookratings.com/index.php and http://www.squeakycleanreads.com/ but sometimes they don't have the book I'm looking for info about or I forget to look! UGH! I just hate it when it's a book that seems great & turns out to be completely against my standards! Oh well..... live & learn, I guess! I hadn't heard of Common Sense Media though, so thanks for that link!

[Leona Olson]

I read the Haunting of Wolfe Haven by Debbie A. Heaton and the last two pages were porno ( erotica some say) and it ruined the whole book. I finally did a review and gave it a one star and a warning for the end of the book. The rest of the book was fine and so it was a shock at the end. I emiled the author and said " what a shock value at the end" and she never replied to me. I just finished a Harlequin and was surprised to find some sexual that could have been left out of the story.

[Mandi Tucker Slack]

I feel the same way. I wish that books had a rating the same as movies. But there is a site called Squeak Clean Reads... here is the link...

http://www.squeakycleanreads.com/2/post/2011/07/book-review-the-ali...

 

They have reviewed and rated hundreds of books. It's great.

Mandi Slack

Author of The Alias

*kindle for 3.99

www.mandituckerslack.com

[Michelle Hodge]

Thanks! I've seen that site too. With the most recent one that this happened with, I did look again at Goodreads the other day and I guess I just didn't read enough of the reviews before deciding to read the book because there are a couple reviews that disclose some of the info. I just didn't see them before! I wish I had b/c I feel badly that the author spent the time & money to send it to me! Live & learn!

[Michelle Hodge]

I wish there was some kind of rating system.... or at least some kind of disclosure of topics covered in the book! Since everyone has different kinds of standards on what they want or don't want or with what is "too much" where sex and violence is concerned, I would not go 100% on the rating (just like with movies), but at least the rating or open disclosures on the cover or something would help me decide if I wanted to investigate it more. 

I had a book recently where the author saw on my blog what I posted about what I like and don't like & she contacted me & told me what was in the book. I said that I would start reading it & see if it was too much or not. By the time I got to the part she told me about, I was sucked into the story & kept reading. I decided that it was not too extreme, although I still would've liked it to have less sexual content than it did. I appreciated that it was disclosed to me before though! 

The most recent one did not have any kind of info though - and I forgot to ask about it - and it was "too much" for me even though I liked other parts of the story. 

 

I'm not saying that people should blindly go by what a rating system says, but it would be nice to have more information than just the synopsis sometimes - and sometimes that info is hard to get on new books!! 

[Joss Arden]

Michelle, have you tried reading some of the reviews on sites like Goodreads? I've noticed that some reviewers will discuss/complain about the amount of violent, sex, or whatever in a book. I guess it can get annoying to weed through reviews to find the information you're looking for, but thought I'd point that out.

[Michelle Hodge]

Yes, I do usually look at Goodreads & sometimes Amazon for reviews. With the latest one  this happened with, if I would've read a little more on Goodreads, I would've known that I didn't want to read it. However, I didn't read enough reviews to figure that out! I guess I just need to dig deeper sometimes!

[Jennifer Kitchens]

Well, I don't know about others, but I do a review blog strictly for "clean" romance novels.  You can just look for titles, read my summaries and/or read my opinions.

 

My definition of clean = no explicit sex scenes, "behind closed doors" scenes are ok if they are needed for the plot (aka, someone gets pregnant, they get married, etc).  I try to keep the language PG13 and the violence about the same - though you don't get much of that in romances.  If I'd lend it to my 18-year-old sister, then it's probably okay.

 

I do all other connected genres: fantasy, historical, paranormal, scifi, young adult, etc - so long as it's also romance.  

 

http://cleanromancereviews.blogspot.com

 

[Michelle Hodge]

Thanks! I do follow your blog and it has helped me add some titles to my TBR list that I didn't know about before.