Please keep in mind that some things may be missed in content guide reviews and this is meant to be a general overview without spoilers. Use your own discretion with the information provided to make the right choice for you!

Language

1. None: No swearing at all, can include “nice” cursing like “Good grief” or “son of a gun”
2. Mild: Includes “What the hell?” Or “ass” and other mild cursing, nothing strong
3. Moderate: Includes sporadic use of strong curse words, doesn’t saturate the novel
4. Heavy: Includes consistent use of strong curse words throughout 

Religious profanity: Taking Lord’s name in vain like “Oh my God” or “Jesus Christ!”

Sexual Content

1. Closed door/ fade to black: Sexual content is implied, kissing may be steamy, nothing is descriptive (details will be provided)
2. Open door: Sexual content is open door, severity will be described in case by case basis

Violence/Gore

(can include death, fighting, war, abuse, kidnapping, rape, animal cruelty, self-harm, other violent things)

1. None
2. Mild: Some violence is implied or lightly described
3. Moderate: Violence is descriptive without being overly graphic 
4. Heavy: Graphic and descriptive 

Substance Use

(alcohol, drugs, controlled substance abuse)

1. None
2. Mild: Mentioned but not described or used heavily (example: my mom was an alcoholic, or he took a drink of his beer)
3. Moderate: Mentioned and used sporadically throughout the novel, somewhat detailed 
4. Heavy: Detailed, heavily used throughout the novel 

Prejudices

(Racism, sexism, ableism, anti semitism, etc) 

1. None
2. Mild: Prejudice mentioned but not described or used throughout book
3. Moderate: Mentioned, described, not too heavy 
4. Heavy: May be entire theme of book, used a lot, could be harmful and uncomfortable to read 

Religious Themes

Examples:

• Overall theme of the book
• References to religion in a negative way 
• Can include Christianity, Buddhism, Jewish, and any other belief system 

This section doesn’t include a scale, more so a descriptive sentence or short paragraph about the religious themes or issues within the book.

Other Topics

This can include abortion, adultery, pregnancy out of wedlock + shaming, miscarriage, fertility issues, eating disorders, mental illness, etc

1. Mild: Mentioned or has theme, but nothing descriptive or difficult to read
2. Moderate: Talked about in some detail, may be difficult for some readers
3. Heavy: Discussed in great detail, may be difficult to read