One reader. One book. One experience.

Every review on MoMoBookDiary reflects my own personal reading experience.

No two readers will experience a book in exactly the same way. The characters I connect with, the moments that make me laugh, the things that frustrate me and the stories that stay with me afterwards are personal to me. My reviews aren’t intended to be a definitive judgement on a book; they’re simply an honest account of my experience reading it.

💭 How I Review

My reviews are always spoiler-free. I don’t want to retell the story or tell another reader what they’re about to discover for themselves. That’s what the book is for.

Instead, I write about how a book made me feel, the characters I connected with, what I particularly enjoyed and the things that stayed with me after I turned the final page.

My reviews can sometimes be quite wordy, and I’m perfectly happy with that. When an author has spent months, sometimes years, turning thousands of words into a book, particularly one I’ve been trusted with before publication, a couple of lines saying I enjoyed it simply isn’t how I want to respond.

That wasn’t always the case. Some of my earliest reviews were much shorter, but my reviewing style has developed alongside MoMoBookDiary. Today, I’d rather take the time to explain why a book worked for me and what made it worth recommending.

The way people share book reviews continues to change, and shorter, faster reviews have become increasingly common. There’s absolutely a place for them, but they aren’t how I choose to review. I’m not interested in changing the way I write simply to keep pace with a trend.

I rarely read a book’s full description before I start reading. I love discovering a story as the author intended, without knowing too much about where it might take me.

⭐️ Why You Won’t Find Star Ratings Here

I no longer use star ratings on MoMoBookDiary.

Trying to reduce an entire reading experience to a number never felt particularly natural to me, and over time I’ve realised that the words I write about a book say far more about my experience than a row of stars ever could.

I do still use star ratings when reviewing on external platforms such as Amazon, Goodreads and StoryGraph, where ratings form part of their review systems. Those ratings remain there even when the corresponding review on MoMoBookDiary no longer displays stars.

MoMoBookDiary hasn’t always been star-free. I used ratings here for many years, and while I’m gradually working through older reviews as part of the blog’s ongoing archive refresh, you may still come across traces of the old rating system. They’re simply part of the blog’s history rather than how I review here today.

❤️ The Books I Choose to Share

MoMoBookDiary is a place where I celebrate the books I’ve enjoyed and want to recommend.

Not every book will be right for every reader, and occasionally a book simply isn’t right for me at that time. I’ve learned over the years that even my own experience of the same book can change. I’ve returned to books that didn’t particularly connect with me the first time and wondered, on rereading, how I ever missed just how good they were.

A review can only ever reflect my experience of a book at the time I read it. It isn’t a permanent judgement on the book, the author, or how another reader might experience the same story.

That doesn’t mean every review I publish is uncritical. If something didn’t quite work for me, I can say so honestly and respectfully. But if I reach the point where I know a book simply isn’t a good fit for me, I’d rather step away than publicly pull it apart simply because it wasn’t my book at that particular moment.

Sometimes, if I’m disappointed that a book hasn’t connected with me in the way I’d hoped, I’ll even buy my own digital copy to keep on my Kindle and revisit in the future. Another time, another mood and another reading experience may be completely different.

Digital advance and review copies don’t remain in my personal library once I’ve finished reading them — I remove them afterwards. If there’s a book I want to keep, return to or reread in the future, I’ll purchase my own copy.

🤝 Honesty & Independence

The books featured on MoMoBookDiary reach me in all sorts of ways. Some I purchase myself; others may be advance or review copies from publishers and authors, NetGalley titles, or books provided as part of a blog tour.

However a book reaches me, I read it in exactly the same way — as a reader first — and the opinions I share are always my own.

I don’t accept payment for reviews. An advance or review copy gives me access to a book so that I can read and review it; I don’t consider that payment for what I write, nor does receiving a copy guarantee a particular opinion.

Being trusted with a book, especially before it reaches the shelves — is something I genuinely value. Authors have put an enormous amount of themselves into writing their stories, and publishers and tour organisers have trusted me to be one of the readers helping to introduce those stories to others. I never take that trust for granted.

But valuing that relationship doesn’t mean surrendering my independence as a reader. My reviews will always reflect my own reading experience, written honestly, respectfully and in my own words.

Every review on MoMoBookDiary explains how I received the book, whether it was provided for review or purchased by me. In newer reviews, this appears as a clear disclosure statement. As I work through the older archive, I’m gradually bringing those reviews into the same format. In older reviews, the source may instead be clear from the review itself — for example, through references to NetGalley, a publisher, an author or a blog tour — even where there isn’t yet a separate disclosure statement.

📚 Read for You

Reading isn’t a competition.

There is no correct number of books to read, no genre you ought to enjoy and no requirement to love the book everyone else seems to be talking about.

Read quickly. Read slowly. Read one book at a time or have five on the go. Put down the one you’re not enjoying and find something that makes you want to keep turning the pages.

There will always be reading challenges, trends, targets and numbers if you want them — and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying those either. I set myself targets too. The important thing, for me, is remembering that the numbers should never become more important than the books.

However you choose to read, read for you.

And, yes, I do still need to remind myself of this sometimes! 😄

Mo