Blog Guidelines

 *Updated 06/01/2023*

🚨Please carefully read the information below. 🚨Thank you!

"This blog was created with the purpose of sharing clean reads only."

You're more than welcome to explore the blog! But this is my safe haven from everything else that you can find elsewhere. If your personal reading preferences align with what I'm explicitly stating that I do not read, this might not be the venue for you.

Table of Contents

1. What I read
2. What I DO NOT read
3. Exceptions 
4. Reviews requests and recommendations
5. Comments policy 

1. What I read:

I mostly read fiction books, Romance to be specific. These are the genres I like:

• Clean & Wholesome Romance
• Sweet Romance
• Historical Romance (regency, victorian, western...)
• Inspirational romance (where faith is an element until a certain degree).

Also, from time to time, I may briefly include in my reviews some non-fiction titles that pique my interest within the following sub-genres:

• Cookbooks
• Self-help
• Health & Wellness
• Travel & Educational guides

Please note that  I do review Christian Romance books but this will be limited to storylines where only some faith elements are mentioned/included but religion is NOT the main or only focus of the story. The author's beliefs do not represent my own.

2. What I do NOT read:

I do NOT read any books with offensive content including profanity, swearing, vulgarity, strong graphic violence, or sexually explicit and/or suggestive scenes.

I do NOT read any books that mention, allude to, imply or depict incest, dubious consent, non-consent, and/or any other practices of the same nature.

I do NOT read any books that deal with any kind of horror, occultism, or LGTBQ+ content.

I do NOT read any holiday-themed books (Valentine's Day, Christmas...).

I do NOT read any books that mention, imply or portray in a positive way any kind of violence, criminality, acts of physical/psychological/emotional abuse, captivity/kidnapping, and/or other similar behaviors/actions (also known as Dark Romance books).

• Erotica/ Steamy/ Spicy (explicit sexual content)
• Paranormal (ghosts, witches, werewolves, vampires...)
• Fantasy (fairies, faes, elves, mystic beings...)
• Horror (gore, gothic, supernatural/occult...)
• Dark Romance (mafia/criminality, violence, lack of consent...)
• Holiday-themed (Valentine's Day, Christmas...)

3. Exceptions

Although my DO NOT READs are non-negotiable, there are some cases where certain situations can be acceptable within the book's storyline. Here are a few examples:

• Books that mention, discuss or depict mature topics such as infidelity, domestic violence and/or sexual assault/abuse, alcohol abuse and/or alcohol consumption, miscarriage, suicide, eating disorders, and/or other similar topics as long as these scenes, if mentioned or described, are NOT graphic in nature and they fall into a reasonable context as per the character (s) story. These topics will be clearly stated in the applicable warnings ahead of the review of the book.

• Books that mention, discuss, or depict scenes of mild violence (mild violence here meaning slapping, a punch or fist fight, a loosely described kidnapping scene, or a sword fight in the case of medieval stories- if any- ...) will also be considered as long as these scenes, if mentioned or described, are NOT overly graphic in nature, they are not portrayed in a positive or romanticized way, and are a fundamental part of the character (s) development. These topics will be clearly stated in the applicable warnings ahead of the review of the book.

• Books that occasionally use words or surprised expressions like "Oh, my gosh!", or similar throughout the story may be considered as long as they're the exception and not the rule. These cases too will be clearly mentioned in the applicable warnings ahead of the review.

I cannot include every single case of acceptable scenes/situations (in my criteria) but everything that is applicable will always be included as detailed as possible in the book's reviews.

4. Reviews requests and recommendations  

Please do not send me (via the contact form, chat, e-mail, direct message on social media accounts, or any other means of communication) or comment on my posts any recommendations or review requests if your book has any of the content that I just mentioned in my DO NOT READs. Thank you!

5. Comments Policy

We appreciate our readers' time spent sharing with us their feedback and valuable comments, but please note that all forms of communication received are subject to our Blog Guidelines and Terms of Use. We reserve the right to delete any inappropriate comments and/or messages that violate our policies. Violations of this policy may result in commenters being blocked and/or reported (when applicable- E.g Social Media Accounts).

 These are some instances where comments will be deleted:

• Comments deemed to be spam or solely promotional in nature. Including a link to relevant content is permitted, but comments should be relevant to the post topic.
• Comments including profanity will be deleted.
• Comments containing offensive content will be deleted. Note this may include abusive, threatening, pornographic, offensive, misleading or libelous language.
• Comments that directly attack an individual will be deleted.
• Comments that harass the site’s writers or other posters will be deleted. Please be respectful toward other contributors.
• Comments that contain any personal identifiers and private information such as email address, home address, phone numbers, etc will be deleted as soon as possible to protect the individual’s privacy.  Please do not share any personal information in the comments or any other means of communication.
• Comments that contain any copyrighted or plagiarized information and we receive authentic notice about it will be deleted and the commenter may be blocked as a result.
• Anonymous comments will be deleted. We only accept comments from posters who identify themselves.

Privacy. You need to provide a valid email address to post a comment but we will never publish your personal information on the blog. You may opt-in to save your information, like name and email address, in your browser's cookies for your convenience when posting future comments but this is at the user's discretion and is in no way encouraged or requested by the owner of this blog.

Liability. By posting a comment, you agree that your contribution is your own and that you take responsibility for it. You agree to hold Safe Haven Bookshelf, all post authors, and other commenters harmless from any and all repercussions, damages, or liability.

All Rights Reserved. The owner of this blog reserves the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to the blog without notice. This comment policy is subject to change at any time. If you have any questions about the commenting policy, please let us know at contact.safehavenbookshelf@gmail.com.

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**Thank You for the support!**

Steph 📖