♥ ♥ LoVe LoVe Reading! ♥ ♥ (lovereading.co.uk)

Member Name: burtybookworm

Product:	lovereading.co.uk
Date:	31/10/08 (199 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Downloading book extracts, like for like on authors and books, recommendations

Disadvantages: Discount prices for members are still not as cheap as other places

Lovereading.co.uk is one of my most visited sites. As a self confessed bookworm, I'm constantly looking for new books to read. I always find myself spending way too much time in Waterstones etc on a Saturday picking up books that I quite like the look of and buying them on impulse. My most hated thing is to buy books on a 3 for 2 offer only to find that the book didn't live up to the blurb on the back and then I become annoyed with myself for wasting probably about £15. Opinion sites like Dooyoo, Ciao etc are extremely useful, but before I came across these two sites, I used lovereading.co.uk. I still use it now, because as you will see, it is a fantastic resource for book lovers!


About the site
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Not surprisingly, lovereading was founded by 4 booklovers in 2005, and on reading the "About lovereading" tab on the site, it was started by the exact same reasons - the sheer amount of novels on the market these days and not being able to choose the right one that would suit your taste!

The lovereading site is a very aesthetically pleasing site in my opinion, to fit the love theme, its white and red, and very clearly laid out. There is nothing over complicated about this site at all and is very user-friendly. After browsing the different options on this site, I soon joined up to receive their monthly newsletter and other benefits which I will go in to now.



Website Functions
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At the very top of the homepage you will see the usual stuff of where to log in/register/FAQ/about us. Underneath that is a search section - easy if you are in a hurry to type in the book you are after and away you go!

There are 5 tabs underneath this to help navigate you to the section of the site you are after: Categories, Like For Like, Gift Vouchers, Kids Book, Blog. I have never really delved into the Gift vouchers, kids book and blog so ill focus on the other two sections as I use these all the time!

Categories:
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This section is also listed down the left hand side of the page, and literally just categorises the genre of books they have information on the site. Clicking on the tab will take you to another page marked "Genres". The monthly categories listed on the site are as follows:

Books of the Month

Debut Books

Action/Adventure

Biography/Autobiography

Crime/Whodunnit

Audio Books On CD

Digital Audio Books

Family Drama

For the Boys!

Historical Fiction

Horror/Fantasy/SF

Literary/Contemporary

Mystery/Thriller

"New Gen"

Prize Winners

Provocative Prose

Reading Groups

Relationship Tales

Romance/Sagas

The Real World

Travel

There is also a "featured" section each month -at the time of writing this it's:

Man Booker 2008

Armistice - 90 Years

Author of the month (Maeve Binchy this month!)

Sky Arts Book Show

Stephenie Meyer, Twighlight Series

I have been using this site this morning as I wanted to see the write up on "The White Tiger" which was the Man Booker Prize.

Upon clicking through to Man Booker 2008 (although obviously I could have just searched the title) I am presented with the shortlist of books for this year, "The White Tiger being at the top. It gives you a picture of the book cover, the title, author, a short description, format and release date details and a price to buy through the site. It also gives you a choice to click on the following tabs - compare price, buy, wish list and extract - more about extract in a bit.

Once I've clicked on this title, I'm taken to another page to give me more details (much the same way as Amazon would) which gives me a more detailed review, a synopsis as well as the media snippets reviews (you know those captions they put on the front of the cover!) This page will also provide you with more details on the author, let you search for further reviews through Google and, if you purchase the book through lovereading, then you will earn ipoints (listed at the bottom right hand of the page)

My Favourite Bits
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What is the most interesting and useful part of this site however are two functions; the extract section and the like for like section. Both of these functions are only available to members, so I really do recommend signing up.

The extract section (a red button that is at the top of the page of the book you are interested in) will allow you to download (in adobe reader) a substantial first couple of pages of the book. This is the main reason I love this site! The ease it gives me to sit in the comfort of my own home/desk and read the section of books without standing and being pushed around by other shoppers! As it is a full page of the writing, it's easy to print off this section so that you can "read at your leisure" as they put it on the site!

The Like for Like Section does exactly what it says on the tin - it provides other authors and books that you may be interested in based on what you have enjoyed before. For example, when typing in "The Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood and going to the like for like button, it gives me a list of 5 authors (which I can click through to) and several books by some of the authors. Brilliant!

My Summary
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I could spend all day telling you all the things I love about the site -these two sections are some of my favourites, but I also love looking at what's new through the email they send each month telling of their favourite picks as well as what's new in each category. It's a fabulous time waster when you are at work, having a nose at what's new and downloading extracts (god I sound like a fun person don't I!) as well as giving me a clear indication of what I should head for when I'm next in a book shop.

If you are a book lover, I would thoroughly recommend taking a look for yourself and seeing if you like what you see! There is something for everyone....

Summary: Excellent resource for book lovers