About, Info, and Contact

Books & Benches is author-owned and reader-operated, and we want to help authors while we all discover awesome, quality books. 

​

This blog has been around since 2012, and because burnout happens, we required a break in 2022.

We wanted a change, but also wanted to keep the B&B posts live for all to discover, read, and enjoy. However much our volunteers wished we could continue to grow the blog, we had to step back and strictly make it a scaled-back hobby while still sharing books and helping authors, even in a small way. Posts are also shared at booksandbenches.blogspost.com.

​

BLOG TOURS and PUBLISHERS 

We work with a few blog tour companies and publishers to feature authors and their books. We will feature authors and their books with an excerpt, interview (max 5 questions), or guest post. We will request content information (sex, violence, swearing) if it's not provided on blog tour invites or with publisher review requests.

​

AUTHORS

Authors may contact Books & Benches via the form below to request a spotlight or excerpt spot. 

 

• All material must be 100% ready to be considered. We do not offer interviews outside of blog tours or accept review requests. 

• If/when offerings expand, those options will be shared on this site.

• A guest spot is never guaranteed, and not all requests will be accepted. Those that are accepted will be given the next available date.

​

REVIEW REQUESTS

We do not accept review requests at this time. Any books reviewed on this site after 2022 are for books we select and choose to share. Reviews posted as of 2024 may be posted under pseudonyms selected by each reviewer who prefers to remain anonymous and/or only shares reviews on this site. If a reviewer cross-posts reviews to BookBub, Goodreads, or retailer sites, they will use the name from one of those sites.

​

GENRES

We will accept books for features and review requests from publishers in the following genres:

• Historical Fiction and Historical Mystery (prior to 1905 for reviews)

• Historical Romance (15th century through 1905; for reviews, we prefer settings in the British Isles, American West or Frontier, and Canada but will consider other settings.) 

• Inspirational Romance (15th century through 1905 for reviews; prefer settings in British Isles, American West or Frontier, and Canada.)

• Dual-Time (must include a historical time set prior to 1905; no WW eras)

• Time-Travel Romance (must include a historical time set prior to 1905; no WW eras)​

• Contemporary Romance (if not a small-town setting, will consider on a book-by-book basis)

• Romantic Suspense / Mystery / Thrillers (book-by-book basis; must have romantic elements)

​

CONTENT

• We will not feature books with gratuitous sex, violence, or swearing. It's just not our cup of tea. Steamy historicals are allowed, but books with over-the-top sex scenes will be rejected. All book reviews and features will include a sexual content rating: Clean, Subtle, Mild, or Steamy.

• To be listed in the Clean Reads section, the book must not have on-the-page sex scenes or swearing (beyond 1-2 uses of hell or damn), and mild violence is acceptable only for historical books where it fits the time period, setting, and circumstances.

​

CONTACT

If you need to contact us about something regarding this site, please use the form below. We will not respond to unsolicited promotional requests. ​Thank you.

​

SITE OWNERSHIP

This website is privately owned, and we celebrate the written word in all its glory, including our right to read and feature the books of our choosing. We never make reading or other decisions based on anything that falls within any political spectrum. Doing so would interfere with our happy reading goals.

 

This site is run by volunteers (yep, not paid, so be nice) whose primary goal is to have fun while sharing one of our favorite things—books!

​