We can’t and don’t force anyone to leave a review, doing so is voluntary. Besides, we understand that life gets in the way sometimes and that there are plenty of legitimate reasons why you couldn’t or didn’t want to leave a review.

Maybe something came up and you didn’t have the time to read the book that you expected (although please feel free to read it at a later date and leave your review then – better late than never!), or perhaps you just couldn’t get into the book and either didn’t finish it or didn’t like it and you don’t want to leave a negative review. That’s your choice and we know that not everyone will be able to leave reviews 100% of the time.

Whatever the case, when circumstances do prevent you from reviewing a book that you requested, we still ask that you fill out our reader form. In that case, you would click the I’m Unable to Review This Book button and select your reason instead of submitting a review. The important thing is that you provide either a review or reason for not reviewing for every book, so that we know that you aren’t just done with the program and that you want to remain as an active participant.

All that being said, our ARC program is designed for enthusiastic readers that enjoy leaving reviews for the books they’ve read, so if you are regularly missing reviews then it could be that our ARC program isn’t for you. We aren’t going to remove you from the program for a few misses, but if it starts to get to the point where your reasons and empty forms are outweighing your reviews, then it’s usually an indication that our program isn’t a good fit for you. Perhaps the books we send out just aren’t to your taste? That’s okay… it happens.  So when it seems like we just can’t find any good books for you, or that you’re too busy to participate, we may start sending less books your way until you have time to catch up or we start getting more titles that are interesting to you. It’s only fair to both the authors of these books, and the other readers that want to enjoy them.

Your gem status is always visible at the top of the app, and is an indicator of how well you’ve been keeping up with the books we’ve sent you. If you start to fall too far behind, you may be prevented from reserving any new books until you catch up.

Removal from the ARC program is up to the sole discretion of Hidden Gems, however if your circumstances change and you find you have the time to participate fully again and wish to be reinstated, please contact us and we will try and work with you to make that happen. We’re always happy to help connect readers with great books! That’s the whole reason for our ARC service!

When Should You NOT leave a review for a book?

Aside from your own personal reasons, here are a couple of times where you should NOT leave a review for a book. Either contact us or use the reason for not reviewing button.

• Don’t leave a review for a book you didn’t read – that’s unfair to the author and other readers
  • If you decline to finish a book you don’t like and still decide to leave a review, be fair to the author and note why you didn’t finish it in your review so that others can decide for themselves if your problems with it would bother them. Or, don’t review it at all and instead just use the I’m Unable to Review This Book button
• Don’t leave a review for a book you couldn’t open or finish because of technical issues – contact us instead and we can help you out!
• Unsure what to leave in a review, or what goes into a good review? We have an article on what makes a good review, and even one about what makes a bad one.