What makes a good book review? With the growth of reader reviews like those on Amazon or Goodreads alongside dedicated book review sites (like BookBrowse), there are more book reviewers and would-be book reviewers than ever. Maybe you're one of them, contributing your opinions on your own blog, on a consensus site, or to a publication. Maybe you want to support the reading community, enjoy reviewing books in exchange for receiving them gratis, or have aspirations to review professionally. Or maybe, as an invested reader of books and book reviews, you just like thinking about aspects of criticism and analysis. No matter your level of interest in reviews or the reasons behind it, you may find it enriching to consider good examples of book reviews written by others. With this in mind, we've put together some excerpts from our own reviewers' work that demonstrate what certain worthwhile elements of a review can look like. We hope you find them helpful.

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BookBrowse reviewers have written thousands of book reviews in the 20+ years we've been around, and we receive thousands of applications each year from would-be reviewers. However, the review samples in these applications vary widely—in terms of length, summary vs. analyses, quality, etc.—and we thought both reviewers and readers might be interested in our perspective on writing reviews. So for the first time, we've taken our internal guidelines for BookBrowse reviewers and amended them for the general public.

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With longer nights, cooler days, and sweater-appropriate weather, the final months of the year are a great time to crack open some books and get reading.

To help you curate your fall TBR list, we've selected 9 titles that are either newly released or being published this fall, all of which are or will be reviewed by our readers and reviewers — read on for the full list!

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As book bans continue to surge across the country, there is heightened national concern about censorship and the limitations imposed on young people’s education and enrichment. At the same time, organizations, individuals, and communities are invested in fighting bans, supporting authors, and taking action on behalf of targeted books and those who benefit from them. Booksellers and libraries, for example, can give visibility to the titles most frequently affected, many of which are written by and for LGBTQ+ people and BIPOC. But anyone can get involved in fighting book bans, and there’s never been a better time to do so. 

In conjunction with Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2024), an annual event established in 1982 to draw attention to problems of censorship, we share a few ways you can support efforts to fight book bans in your community, and on a larger scale, too.

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You're in a book group and it's your turn to lead the discussion. You've found the perfect book, but there's no reading guide for it. What to do? Why, create your own, of course! With some all-purpose book club discussion topics like these below, you can turn out a top-notch discussion guide that will be an awesome fit for your book group.

Simply pick one to three topics from most of the categories for a well-rounded discussion.

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Did you know that BookBrowse’s annual awards, based on votes from our subscribers, include a prize for the best young adult novel? If you’re searching for titles for a young reader in your life, or if you're a YA fan yourself, check out our award winners page for some high-ranking ideas. You can also browse the list below to see our top YA books from recent years. In the meantime, we’ll keep bringing you reviews and previews of the most engaging new young adult books. Subscribe to get all the latest updates in our e-zines.

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