My Favorite Sources for Finding Clean Reads

people and places I follow to discover quality books

Photo by Eugenio Mazzone on Unsplash

Yikes. I had to face a fact today: I have over 300 books on my to-be-read list. 🫣 Maybe I need to put myself on a ban from clicking that little “Want to Read” button in Goodreads??

Anyway, in today’s post I would like to share my favorite sources for finding clean books to read.

But.

Before I start, please check out this poll. ⬇️ I didn’t realize there were five Wednesdays in April 🤦🏽‍♀️ (if you’ve noticed, I post every Wednesday morning) so I need a post idea for the 23rd.

Now that you’ve voted in the poll, here are my favorite sources for finding good books!

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1. WORLD Magazine

My family subscribes to the monthly WORLD Magazine. They have a section specifically for books (generally targeted towards elementary-middle school and adults) and I usually find one or two to put on my TBR every month.

If you don’t know, the WORLD Magazine has “sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth.” Their bookish recommendations and reviews are solid and reliable.

2. Plugged In

Plugged In is run by Focus on the Family and helps families make “family appropriate entertainment choices.” Not only do they review books, they also review video games, YouTube channels, movies and TV shows, and music!

Whenever I find an interesting book but am not sure about the content, one of the first sites I go to is Plugged In. Sometimes they have the reviews I need, sometimes not. Whenever they do though, they share the plot with lots of details. If you’re like me and hate spoilers, skip over their Plot Summaries. I like to go straight to the Profanity and Violence and see what curse words are used/how frequently curse words are used (by the way, Plugged In, like many other review sites, do not spell out the whole curse word). Profanity is one of the biggest things for me in a book so if Plugged In found a lot, then I don’t read it. If the profanity and violence is okay (meaning, language and violence is minimal), I proceed to the Sexual Content section. If any inappropriate scenes or LGBTQ+ people are in the book, I don’t read it.

3. Redeemed Reader

Run by Christian people.

I love that the Redeemed Reader includes Reading Level, [age] Recommended for, Considerations (language, sex, LGBTQ+, etc.) in their book reviews.

I generally like to skip to the Teen/Adult page and Resources (Book Lists) for recommendations for myself.

4. Read Aloud Revival

Run by a Christian, homeschooling mama.

Read Aloud Revival is one of the first online book recommendation sites I visited and the origin of where I found so many of my favorite books as a young middle schooler! The books I read suggested by this website have stuck with me all the way through high school. I’m not one to devour middle grade novels as a high schooler but the ones I found on this website are lifelong favorites of mine and very re-read-able. I LOVE their Booklists and have checked out all of the ones for Ages 13-18, Mamas (not exactly only for moms. This section includes Books to Nurture Your Own Reading Life, Sarah’s (the lady who runs the website) Favorite YA, Sarah’s Favorite Audiobooks, Sarah’s Favorite Nonfiction, Sarah’s Favorite Adult Fiction (this is where I discovered one of my favorite authors!), and Sarah’s Favorite Middle Grade Novels). There’s a lot of filters to help find your next favorite book so be sure to use them.

Read Aloud Revival has amazing book recommendations for little toddlers all the way to adults. The free Custom Book Recommendation feature is a very nice tool to use if you don’t have the time to scroll through Booklists.

One con of her website is that she rarely updates her Booklists so once you finish going through all of them, you’re pretty much done with her website. She doesn’t blog about books very regularly and unless you listen to her podcasts (I don’t but I’ve seen what they’re like - they’re pretty cool!), you don’t get very many new suggestions from her.

Please note, most of the books Sarah recommends are amazing but she does not have very detailed reviews. If you are a young adult who likes to read adult books, be forewarned, Sarah’s reviews for Adult books are not transparent. I once read a book per her recommendation (to adults) that contained the f-word (one of the first times I encountered the f-word in a book). I’m pretty sure Sarah said there was some language in the book but I thought she meant the d-word. I’m a little more cautious with her Adult recommendations now.

If you’re going to check out any of these sources for finding great books, this is the one!

5. Goodreads

If I see any book I might want to read but am short on time, I like search it up in Goodreads. I put in “clean” in the search bar above readers’ reviews to see if anyone mentioned whether the book in question is clean. If nothing comes up, I also like to search “agenda” (generally reviewers will mention if any LGBTQ+, etc. stuff is in the book), and I also like to search “language” (for curse words).

One note on Goodreads: some reviewers feel like their reviews need to contain profanities to emphasize their points. Often, they insert the f-word into their paragraphs like sprinkles on a cupcake. 🥴

6. Authors of clean books

If you read a book that was surprisingly clean, check out the author’s other books! Maybe s/he only writes clean content. Yay! Go to their websites and social media. Some authors recommend books weekly/monthly and some will even endorse a book. Generally, if an author is a self-proclaimed Christian and shows it through their content, I trust their recommendations and endorsements.

7. Common Sense Media

They review books, movies, podcasts, video games, TV shows, and apps from a secular point of view but are very transparent about Language, Violence & Scariness, Sex, Romance, & Nudity, Products & Purchases, Drinking, Drugs, & Smoking, Diverse Representations, Positive Role Models, Positive Messages, and Educational Value. Common Sense Media is very unique in their reviews in that they include stuff other reviewers don’t. Be careful though. Remember that this is a secular site and their “Positive” Role Models, Messages, and Diverse Representation might border on agendas like LGBTQ+.

One thing to note: you only get to view three free book reviews per month before you have to make a (free) account. I now have an account but one thing I discovered pre-account was that you can get three free book reviews per month on every device you have. Laptops, desktop computers, phones, iPads, all the things. Cheating? Not really. 😉

8. Books for Christian Girls (often called BFCG)

Also be sure to check out BFCG’s social media and Goodreads! BFCG has GREAT content! The young woman who runs it is Lindsey, and she is a home school graduate and Christian. She is VERY detailed in her reviews and includes Spiritual Content, Negative Content, Sexual Content, and what age range she thinks would like to read it the most. Check her out, BFCG is amazing!

One thing to note: Lindsey goes through periods where she only reads a specific genre. I think right now it’s fairy tale retellings and cozy middle grade novels? I myself do not love fairy tale retellings or cozy middle grade novels so her reviews these days are not very useful to me. But, you can look up genres and age ranges on the BFCG website for when she went through a historical fiction phase or dystopian phase (example genres). There are a few genres she does not read (horror and I think most classics?) so no reviews there.

9. Fruitful Reader

I’m literally mad at myself for not discovering this website sooner. 😤😂

Anyway, the Fruitful Reader is run by a Christian woman and helps you find wholesome and clean books. This site has a good variety of genres and though the reviews are not the most detailed, they do contain disclaimers for closed door scenes and language.

At Fruitful Reader, you’ll find Themed Book Lists, Trope-Specific Book Lists, Books Set in Summer, Books Set in Fall, and Books Set in Winter. Great site if you like to mood-read!

And, if you’re currently in a reading slump or need help with reading more books, there are free resources on the website to help you with that.

10. Honey for a Child’s Heart and Honey for a Teen’s Heart by Gladys Hunt

Basically, these books are about reading and books and how reading is good for children and teens. The authors of these books have got some incredible suggestions! Honey for a Child’s Heart has annotated lists (with synopses) of books for ages 0-14 and Honey for a Teen’s Heart has 400 recommended books for teens.

I don’t think the authors are explicitly Christian so proceed with some caution for their recommendations, especially the ones for older teens. You can rest assure that there is no LGBTQ+ stuff in any of their book recommendations though. As for profanity and sex, the reviews do not include whether the book contains them. It just marks a book as for Early Teens, Mid Teens, Late Teens, or All Ages. Generally, if a book is marked for Late Teens, there might be some iffy or more mature content in it.

I think these resource books are great for if you want to look for more (overall) good books. Once you’ve found a book you might be interested in reading, use one of the other nine sources I listed to check the content more thoroughly.

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I hope you find your next favorite read in any of the sources I listed! Let me know if you need help navigating or searching for something on any of the websites.

What sources do you use to find good books?

Liked this post? ❤️ or comment below! I would love to hear from you.