I'm Offering to ARC Read

Being so bored that I actually went looking for an indie book to read and review, I browsed Goodreads author groups, specifically those that allow authors to beg for request reviews. In the past I wrote a few Amazon reviews for trade published books, reviews that were short and to the point, but now I feel ready to write something more comprehensive. 

Preferably, I'd like to find an author who's in the same situation as me; starved for reviews; their book page only lightly sprinkled with three or four written narratives and a handful of star ratings. Don't get me wrong---I'll take a star rating over nothing any day, but I'd like to provide an author with something meatier.

Finding an interesting read, though, is almost impossible. I'm not overly picky---no romance, obviously, and no sci fi or fantasy; but any contemporary fiction or crime fiction, even a mystery or a memoir, would be absolutely fine. (Oh, and nothing labeled literary fiction---ick.) 

To simplify. I will definitely read:

• contemporary fiction
• women's fiction (just don't try to pass off a romance as women's fiction)
• crime fiction
• true crime
• mystery
• cozy mystery
• memoir 
• thriller (psychological or otherwise) 

I'm not interested in reading:

• romance (of any ilk)
• sci fi
• fantasy
• children's books
• religious books
• literary fiction
• YA
• poetry 
• self-help 

Still, that leaves a lot of possibilities. One would think that would be easy to find on Goodreads. But as I scrolled through authors' posts, I found most to be a complete turnoff. Quit trying to "sell"! Just tell me, briefly, what your book is about. I understand the desperation, believe me, but I don't care if the book won some type of award (in fact, I do care, but not in the way the author intends), and if you tell me your book provides a world-shattering revelation, well...I know it doesn't.

In the realm of publicizing, I'm more of a "medium". I'm anti-hype, but I also am not about to sell my book short. A book's description should be its selling point, so I try to convey what's interesting about the story without over-promising. The couple times I sought out ARC readers (not for Running From Herself, which, as you know, I didn't) I laid out the overall premise of whichever story it was, and tried to incorporate emotions in my description, enough to entice someone to want to read it.  

In scanning the posts for a semi-interesting read, I've so far learned about the long, arduous process a writer went through to finally publish (didn't we all?) 

Or this one: "I'm (name redacted), an award-winning filmmaker and now novelist. I’m excited to invite you to step inside (title redacted)—my multi-award-winning debut novel (name redacted) that just hit the shelves in August." Well, what do you need me for? Sounds like things are going great. 

Here's another: "This book means more to me than I can easily put into words." (I know how you feel, but as a writer, you should be able to put it into words.)

So far, I'm striking out in my search for one measly book to read and review, which I'm doing out of the goodness of my heart, by the way. So if any authors are reading this post, drop me a comment if you'd like an ARC review. I can't afford to buy books, so I'll need a free epub or PDF. 

See you in the comments section?