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ARC: Advanced Reader Copy: a copy of the book that publishers or authors provide to reviewers before the publication date. eARC and DRC (Digital Review Copy) both refer to electronic copies of a book.
Auto-Buy Author: An author that you love so much you will automatically buy-and read-anything they write.
Backlist: A book that was released before the current new release they are advertising.
BBW: big, beautiful woman
BDSM: Bondage, Discipline/Dominance, Submission/Sadism and Masochism
Bechdel Test: Refers to the way that women are represented in a book. A book is generally said to have “passed” if the book has at least two female characters who talk to each other about something other than men.
BFF/BGF: Book Boyfriend/Girlfriend: The fictional boy or girl you only wish could be your real-life love.
Binge-Read: Reading all (or many) of the books in a series in a row.
Blurb: The synopsis on the back of the book and on sites like Amazon and Goodreads.
Book Hangover: When a book leaves you emotionally drained and still highly involved in the characters; typically, reading no other book will satisfy
Book Spine Poetry: Creating a poem from the titles of your books. Often done using a pictures of all the books stacked up
Bookstagram: Instagram feeds that are dedicated to pictures and quotes of books.
BROTP/Bromance: A friendship (between guys) that you adore
Buddy Read/Readalong Book Club: When a group of two or more people read a book at the same time so they can discuss it as they go.
BWWM: Black woman, white man
CH: Cliff hanger
CJ: Clam Jammer (like a cock blocker but the female version)
Cliffie: A cliffhanger. (When the book ends in the middle of a dramatic moment and you have to wait untill the next book to find out what happens.)
Contemp: Contemporary fiction, meaning that it takes place in modern day and generally has cell phones, internet, etc. Does not contain magic or fantasy elements
Cover Reveal: An organized reveal of the cover for an upcoming book where the cover is featured on blogs and in social media.
CR: Cinnamon Roll: A really sweet and lovable character.
CW/TW: Content Warning/Trigger Warning (A warning about content that might trigger some people.)
Daphne: A female character who has to be rescued all the time (in reference to Daphne from Scooby Doo)
DNF: Did not finish. (A book you started to read but couldn’t get through.)
DR/DROM: Dark romance (Romance with dark and undertones and/or trauma. Usually spicy.)
EW: Edelweiss (another site that provides digital review copies).
Fan Fiction: Fiction written by fans that uses a published author’s world and/or characters.
Fan Girling: Going crazy when you meet your favorite author in person, chat with them online, or when they reply to a comment you made.
FB: Facebook.
FF: Fan Fiction OR Female Female
Finished Copy/FC: The book in its final, published form.
FM: Fated Mates (the couple that’s fated for each other)
FWB: Friends with Benefits
GR: Goodreads (a site where you can post reviews and more!).
Grumpy/Sunshine: A pairing of a generally grumpy character with a sweet, happy character.
GSF: Gas Lamp Fantasy
HC: Hardcover
HEA/HFN: Happily Ever After/Happy for Now
Indie Author: someone who writes, designs, and publishes their entire work without a traditional publishing house (i.e. Random House, Penguin Books, etc.)
Indie/Small-Press: Published by a small independent publisher.
Info-Dump: When the author gives you lots of background information all at once via narration or dialogue.
Insta-love/Insta-lust: The phenomenon that happens all too often in books when the couple meets and instantly falls in love (or, sometimes, lust).
IR: Interracial romance
ISBN: International Standard Book Number. A unique number that identifies a published book.
J/P: Jealous/Possessive
Kickstarter: A crowd funding campaign where you can support authors directly and pledge for special editions of books and swag
KU: Kindle Unlimited
LGBTQ: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning
Love Corner: When the MC (main character) has two love interests and can't decide between them
Love Triangle: When one character likes another, but that character likes another, and then that character likes the first one
Magical Realism/Contemporary Fantasy: A book that is set in the real world with a magical or fantastical twist
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist.
MC/FMC/MMC: Main character (book is told from their POV). FMC refers to the female main character and MMC refers to male.
MFM: Male, Female, Male (males don’t interact with each other)
MG: Middle Grade (typically geared toward ages 8-12).
MM: Male/Male
MMF: Male, Male, Female (Males do interact with one another)
Mood Reader/Free-Range Reader: Someone who typically picks up a book based on their current mood or just picks up whatever they feel like in the moment.
Morally Gray: A character who straddles the line between being likable and unlikable, or villainous and heroic. This person often has more bad qualities than good, but the reader can see the positives peeking through.
MS: Manuscript (the copy of the book that’s actually written or typed by the author).
MT: Magitech
NA: New Adult (typically geared toward college age or just out of college—or features main characters in that age range).
New Release: A book that has been released recently (usually in the current calendar year).
NG: Net Galley (a site that provides digital review copies).
NOTP: (Pronounced No-TP) Basically the opposite of an OTP. You do not want this couple together!
NSFW: Not Safe For Work; usually a sexual topic or graphic image
OmegaVerse: a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction. In Omegaverse, humans are divided into three societal ranks with different mental and physical attributes, and a dominance hierarchy determines how people interact with each other in romantic, erotic, and sexual contexts. Three catagories are Alphas: Dominant, Betas: Neutral, and Omegas: Submissive
OM/OW: Other man, other woman
OMYM/OWYM: Older man, younger woman/Older woman, younger man
ONS: One Night Stand
OOP: Out of print. This book is no longer being published, so you’ll have to get a used copy!
OP: Original Post
OTP: One True Pairing (that couple that you will root for till the end of time)
PB: Paperback/Picture Book
Physical Copy: A physical copy of a book like a paperback or hardback
POC/BIPOC: People of color/Black, Indigenous, and people of color
POC: Person of Color
POD: Print on Demand
POV: Point of View (first person, third person) or the perspective in which the book is narrated from
PR/PNR: Paranormal Romance (book genre)
Pre-order Incentive/Campaign: A special offer where the author or publisher sends out special gifts to people who have pre-ordered a particular book.
PWF: Paranormal Women’s Fiction
Reading Slump: Feeling uninspired to read because you are still emotionally involved in the characters from the last book you read.
RH/WC: Reverse Harem/Why Choose (where the girl has more than one guy)
RTC: Review to come
SA: Stand Alone (not part of a series)
Self-Published: Published by the author (often via Amazon).
SF/SFF: Sci-Fi or Fantasy.
SFR: Sci-Fi Romance
Shelfie: A mixture of “shelf” and “selfie”—basically a picture of your bookshelves.
Ship: If you ship a couple, it means that you want them to get together (comes from the word “relationship”).
Slash Fiction: A type of fan fiction where two same-sex characters are paired together (often guys). Sometimes slash can just refer to the imagined pairing of two same-sex characters (not necessarily within fan fiction).
Social Media Blitz: A tour that is organized just to be featured on social media (just spotlights).
SP: Steampunk
Spoiler: Anything in your review/discussion that reveals important details from a book.
Street Teams: A team of bloggers and/or readers who enthusiastically promote an author or a series. Sometimes street team members get special perks from the author like first dibs on ARCs.
StS: Stacking the Shelves – Books that have been newly acquired.
Tag: Usually a post with a list of quick categories or questions around a theme. The blogger puts up their post and then “tags” other bloggers, encouraging them to complete the list as well.
TBD: The Book Depository (you’ll see this abbreviation on international giveaways a lot).
TBR: To-Be-Read. The books that you plan to read, sometimes imminently (or sometimes just all of the random books you’ve ever wanted to read). Often refers to the shelf on Goodreads
TBW: To-Be-Written; the books that authors have on the list to write
The Feels: This means that you were overwhelmed with emotion when reading the book often meaning that lots of different emotions were involved. It’s high praise to say that a book gave you all the feels!
Top Post of the Day: If a tour company says that the tour post needs to be your top post of the day, that means that it should be the last thing you post that day (most tour companies ask that you post by a certain time, say 10AM, so that would mean you couldn’t put up any other posts after 10AM on that day).
Trad Pub Author: someone who writes but has a contract with a traditional publishing house like Random House, Penguin Books, etc.
Traditionally Published: Published by one of the major publishing houses.
TSTL: (Too stupid to live) A hero or heroine who keeps making really bad decisions, almost gets killed, and doesn’t learn from their mistakes.
TTT: Top Ten Tuesday – A different bookish top ten list every week.
Twist: An unexpected event in a book—typically one that changes the direction of the plot or characters dramatically.
UF/Paranormal: Urban Fantasy is, again, typically used to describe adult titles. YA and under is more often referred to as paranormal (or contemporary fantasy).
Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose POV is not trustworthy (could be due to lying, misinformation on the part of the MC, mental health or memory issues, etc.).
Verse Novel: A novel that is written in verse (poems). Must have a complete narrative arc (so, not a poetry collection but an actual story written in verse).
WIP: Work in progress (a book that the author is currently working on).
YA: Young Adult (typically geared toward high school-aged readers—or features main characters in that age range).
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