I Love Romance Blog Review Policy & Guidelines
***UPDATE: April 2020/February 2023*** — Review request submissions are closed for the foreseeable future until I can get caught up on my reading list. I apologize profusely for the delay! 😥 Life got in the way, including numerous health issues and family drama, among other things – not to mention the chaos with the Coronavirus – and this is why it has taken so long to review your romance titles. I will still try to finish what was on my original schedule. I’m slowly building a book review team to help finish the book review list, and to hopefully tackle new requests once I open them up again. If one of you is willing to write a guest book review, and you’re open to taking on a title from my humongous TBR pile, please feel free to reach out! ♥
As aforementioned, book readers/reviewers from other blogs, reach out to me if you’re interested in writing a guest book review…
Authors, unless you intend to write a romance book review to be hosted on ILRB, or ask me to share your book link on my social media accounts, please respect the aforementioned rules and do not read past this line. We’re all booked up on the schedule for anything else, and starting from February 2021, I am stepping away from official blogging for a while, unless the mood hits me now and then. The only exception is if I write a post on my own or if I post a guest book review. In September 2021, my blog policy is changing. Still, please DO NOT issue new requests for book reviews. Any attempts to pursue this line of inquiry will be politely denied, no questions asked. Google form for review requests is dead.
See our ILRB blog policy for more details on the types of guest spots we offer.
(NOTE: I’ve had to use the strikethrough tool below, since I’m still receiving a LOT of book review requests.🙄)
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♥♥♥PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY!♥♥♥
Yes, ILRB now does book reviews! If you’re looking to have your book reviewed, PLEASE read our review policy in its entirety before submitting for a book review…
Romance Sub-genres/Themes/Tropes We Will Accept:
- Contemporary Romance
- Historical Romance (Regency, Pirate, Victorian, Medieval, etc.)
- Action/Adventure Romance
- Paranormal Romance (Vampires, Werewolves, other Shifters, Witches, etc.)
- New Adult & College Romance
- Dark Romance
- Fantasy Romance
- Billionaire Romance
- Anthologies or Author Story Collections
- Western Romance (Contemporary or Historical)
- Young Adult (YA) Romance
- Sports Romance
- Erotica and Erotic Romance
- Time Travel Romance
- Romantic Suspense or Mystery Romance, Cozy Mystery (if there’s a romance angle)
- Clean/Sweet Romance
- Science Fiction Romance
- LGBT Romance
- Vacation Romance
- Rockstar Romance
- Fake Relationship Trope
- Romantic Thriller
- Multicultural Romance
- Holiday Romance (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s, etc.)
- MC/Biker Romance
- Romantic Comedy
- Wedding Romance
- Inspirational Romance
- Medical/Firefighter Romance
- Office Romance
- Romantic Poetry
- Military Romance
- Taboo (Age Gap or Stepbrother) Romance
- Secret Pregnancy
- Royal Romance
- Second Chances
- Mafia Romance
- Curvy/BBW (Plus-sized)
- Small Town Romance
- Enemies to Lovers
- Friends to Lovers
- Reverse Harem or Ménage Couples
As you can tell, I enjoy a lot of different types of romance books.
NOTE: THE I LOVE ROMANCE BLOG WILL, AT THIS TIME, NO LONGER ACCEPT FURTHER REVIEW REQUESTS FOR EBOOK FORMATS. Kevin, our former romance reviewer, is currently experiencing severe health issues, and won’t be able to review your books. For those who were promised reviews, or you’ve stumbled across the blog and want one, I apologize, but we cannot review your book in the aforementioned format. Because I don’t want any of you to miss out, if you still desire a review on ILRB, the only book format I (Marie) can accept is paperback or hardback. ARC paperbacks work too. It is hard for me to get my eyes to focus on a screen that long with an ebook.
Don’t feel left out, however! We offer features on ANY romance as well, so feel free to contact me about a new release/book feature/blog tour feature/character interview/author interview/Heroes & Heroines feature/poetry spotlights/other guest post at marieannlavender@gmail.com to get on the schedule. The types of features are explained in our blog policy.
IF you decide to take me up on my book review offer, please email me with the subject heading ‘ILRB Book Review Request’ so you’ll know where to snail mail your book. Tell me the book title and the exact genre/sub-genre – but it MUST have romance to qualify for this site. I’ll need a book link for the title so I will know where to put your Amazon or Goodreads review. I will also place a book review here on the blog. Unfortunately, at this time, I can’t give you a timeline on when the review would be finished. Your title will just be added to my pile of paperback/hardback books to read and review. You may also submit a request using the updated Google form below.
ACCEPTED BOOK FORMATS: Paperback, Hardback, or ARC print copy. [NOTE: I will only accept an ebook in special cases, such as if your book isn’t available in any other format. I would require a PDF copy, but you may send a Kindle gift copy instead through Amazon, as long as I know to expect it. Please be advised that there may still be a delay because of the eye strain I have when using my tablet].
Being an author as well, I know requesting a hard copy is quite an inconvenience for many of you, and you may decide to move on and cut ties from having us as a book review source. We understand! ♥ But again, please know we’re more than willing to offer you a new release/book feature, interview, or another kind of spotlight instead, as explained in our blog policy.
Everything on the blog is first come, first served, so please be patient with us about the time it takes to review your book. You can find MY book review schedule, as well as our previous one, on the right side of the blog.
NOTE: Only ONE review request per author at a time. After we’ve reviewed one book, you can then consider submitting for another title. Additionally, always keep in mind that are you providing a free copy of your book in exchange for an HONEST review. If your book has a ton of editing or content issues, we will most likely mention it.
TO SUBMIT YOUR REVIEW REQUEST: Fill out the Google form and submit HERE!
IF your book does not fall within our guidelines (for example: no romance whatsoever – this is the I LOVE ROMANCE BLOG, after all), and you still insist on emailing us or using the form, then you probably won’t receive a response (THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS EROTICA). If you’ve sent us a review request, we won’t post a review which earns less than three stars without your approval via email. However, some of the books we review are simply titles we own, and those will earn the ratings they get, no questions asked.
Also, we WON’T tolerate unprofessional trolling or backlash about our reviews. If you deign to post or email anything cruel in response to our book reviews, when in fact we’ve taken considerable time and effort out of our very busy lives to review your work on here, you will be banned from our site/blacklisted on our social media accounts. For example, don’t accuse of us of piracy here on ILRB (we are authors ourselves, and would hate for that to happen with our own titles). All of the titles we have reviewed, are reviewing or will review are provided from author giveaways – via Rafflecopter or sites like Instafreebie/Prolificworks/Bookfunnel, purchased legitimately on Amazon, or given as a free copy for an honest book review. Thanks for understanding.
However, if you follow all the rules, we appreciate your thoughtfulness and look forward to reading your books! 🙂
The Evolution of Our Reviews:
Back when the blog first launched, I (Marie) did occasional reviews for books on my own shelf. You can check them out here!
When Kevin Ethan approached me about doing book reviews for ILRB, we decided to stick with the heart theme for the blog. We launched our official reviews on January 16, 2019! ♥
Here are some of our reviews, so you can have a sense about how this works…
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/16/book-review-beneath-this-mask-by-meghan-march/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/book-review-aloha-baby-by-ann-omasta/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/30/book-review-legends-of-lust-by-autumn-bardot/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/book-review-valentine-in-venice-by-kaya-quinsey/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/book-review-boardroom-bedroom-by-gemma-snow/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/22/book-review-dear-heart-by-linda-lingle/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/27/book-review-take-my-heart-by-j-j-sorel/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/10/book-review-the-key-of-f-by-jennifer-haskin/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/14/book-review-undercover-siren-by-ellen-mint/
Our Ratings/Scorecard:
About Me
Romance is a weakness of mine as both reader and writer. I’ve been reading various sub-genres of romance since I was thirteen years old. Imagine a girl with her book light, pretending to be asleep when she was really immersed in these romantic tales she couldn’t ignore! 😉 Now I read everything, including the sexy stuff some people won’t admit to liking. I’ve published twenty-two books in the categories of historical romance, contemporary romance, paranormal romance, romantic comedy, fantasy, romantic suspense, science fiction, dramatic fiction, mystery/thriller, literary fiction and poetry. I am always expanding, however, with my works-in-progress.
Through my journey as a reader, I get to familiarize myself with new characters and other worlds. And that’s the truly exciting, wonderful part of being a bookworm!
Check the review schedule on the right side of this blog for more details.
My recent reviews:
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/23/book-review-unglorious-war-by-maxine-flam/
https://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/18/book-review-the-impalers-wife-by-autumn-bardot/
Thanks again for visiting our review policy page! ♥
I Love Romance Blog 