I don’t know you yet.
Or maybe you’re a friend and I do. Welcome, either way, and thanks for dropping by to look around. Before you read any reviews, I want to explain how I hope to serve you, the limits of Starlit Stories, and my approach to reccomending books as a Christian.
Whether we’re related or not friends yet, your strengths, weaknesses, book pet peeves, and broken spots are all unique. Maybe if you filled out a really long questionnaire, I could match you with the perfect book, but who has time for that? Not to mention this blog isn’t for just one person. It’s for everyone who wanders in–families that read aloud at night and the loner who loves losing themselves in a good story–each person coming from a different place.
Each unique person has made personal choices about their preferences and what content they feel comfortable reading.
That’s my disclaimer for writing Christian book reviews: I can’t tell you what to read. I can’t even confidently tell you if a book is clean or not, because it’s subjective.
I’ve wrestled with SO many questions preparing for this launch: Is it better to expose people to important issues through books or to only recommend hard topics to people already dealing with them? Do I include spoilers if it’s also a content warning? Where do I draw the line between an “okay” book and a “bad” one? What if I’m extra sensitive and keep people from reading good books or not sensitive enough and lose your trust?
And I realized something. There’s no one-size-fits-all guide to what we should read–it depends on the person. Yes, some things are inherently wrong or not handled in a way that is okay to look at and I can’t condone that. But there’s a lot of grey middle ground where each person or family draws their own boundry lines. Every person is at a different emotional and spiritual place, not to mention age and maturity, and (interesting fact) our levels of sensitivity vary by topic. One person is okay with reading about suicide and someone else isn’t. We have so many different convictions and God is absolutely okay with that (Romans 14:22-23).
So I ditched the 5-star rating system. I couldn’t find a way to rate books that isn’t set to my particular sensitivities and follies and preferences. I still can’t. I’m 100% certain my book reviews will still be bias, but if there’s no star rating, people can’t decide no after a glance because of the one star rating (even if that rating was because of my sensitivity to that particular content). So I don’t aspire to tell you if a book is okay for you to read or not. All I want to say is what’s in it. I want to point to whatever honest, true, good, right, and pure strands of story I find, at the same time warning you of possible danger ahead, and likely rambling about pieces of the story.
The way I review books might not fit in your typical box. Instead of changing that, I want to offer something unique, something that uses my strengths, something I think will serve you while still leaving room for me to grow. How exactly?
I read books crazy fast, each word rushing after the next, so most of my reviews will focus on the big-picture. It might not be as thorough as you’d like, but it’s what I can confidently offer. I tend to be sensitive, so the content warnings on each book might have extra warnings that you don’t consider necessary. When a friend guest posts, I ask them to base their content warnings on a guide by The Young Writer’s Workshop. Ideally, I’ll read the book too and double-check content warnings, but if not I plan to include a note with the post which I’ll update if I get the chance to read it.
I plan to post one fiction book review a month and no nonfiction at the moment. You can find me on Goodreads here, but I rarely review books on their website at the moment because of the star-rating system. If you have questions about anything, feel absolutely, completely, and utterly free to ask. I’d also love if you left a quick comment to let me know your thoughts!
One last thing: I will get it wrong. I’ll mess up, probably more than once. I’ll miss a content warning or spout off my own opinion as truth or forget something important. I’m not perfect, and I’m trying to stop expecting myself to be. I want to live steeped in grace (isn’t that how Jesus did it?) and allow myself to make mistakes. Will you follow His example with me and extend some grace when I fail?
Alrighty, let’s dive in…
How I Review Books as a Christ-follower
Hi Vella!
I really appreciate this post, and your take on reviewing books. I can’t wait to browse this blog, and look forward to reading your reviews!
Thank you for caring about good stories, and about your readers!
Thank you, Josie! I’m excited you’re reading. 🙂
I love the sweet Christian feel of your blog! Thank you for sharing your heart here, it is always refreshing to read some one being honest like this in the book world. <3 May God bless you you in all you do and use your blog to bless many peopl!
Thank you so much for the encouragement, Iona! I really appreciate that you’re here.
Interesting. And most importantly, unusual.