~The Tea Leaves~
Title:
Author:
Genre:
Length:
Available In:
All of the above are self-explanatory. Basic information about the book to help the readers classify it as something they are or are not interested in, along with links to where a reader can purchase the piece.
~The Hot Water~
About the Author:
Author's Personal Website (or their book's promotional site) :
Again, all self-explanatory. Some bits about the author, past projects they've published, a link to their personal website or the promotional website for the book being reviewed. These links aren't asked for directly, so if you want them included in your review, you need to send them to me in your query email.
~The Taste~
This is the actual review portion of the piece. What I liked, what I didn't like, an analysis of the characters and plotline, and an overview of how I found the piece to be.
~For Best Results, Have With . . .~
I've got a tea allegory for everything, and this header will be the comparison "If this book were a tea, it would be X because Y". This review blog isn't called Tea and Tales for nothing, after all.
You will notice that I do not give a star rating right off the hop. Ratings, in my opinion, reduce a piece of writing to a number that means "good" or "bad" or "average" and that's always irked me. I will only post a "Star Rating" at the very bottom of any review I do, only because so many commercial sites rely on those ratings as a basis of what is and isn't good.
Here's what my star ratings mean:
5 Stars: I was floored by the piece. Without a doubt, it was well-written and I highly recommend others read it.
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4 Stars: It was an excellent read, not exactly to my personal tastes but still interesting enough that I didn't want to put it down. Recommended.
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3 Stars: It wasn't the best, it wasn't the worst.
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2 Stars: There were obvious mistakes and it was not very interesting.
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1 Star: A large amount of errors, completely uninteresting, and definitely not recommended.
I will post the "The Taste" portion of the review, maybe the "For Best Results, Have With . . ." portion to any place that the book is commercially available (including but not limited toAmazon.com, Lulu listings, Smashwords; if you've got a question about where I'm willing to post my reviews to or when I will be posting my review of your book, drop me an email and I'll do my best to get you a prompt answer, and I will give it the "Star Rating" it has been given. Generally, I will post the review where it is available within two weeks of posting the review here.
