Legal

Privacy Policy & Affiliate Disclosure

Last updated: July 29, 2026

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Between the Wines Book Club ("we," "us," "our") operates the website btwthewinesbookclub.com. This page explains what information we collect, how we use it, which third parties are involved, and how we make money through affiliate links and advertising. We wrote it in plain language on purpose — legal pages should be readable.

1. Information we collect

Information you give us directly

• Comments. When you leave a comment on a post we collect the name, email address and website you enter, plus your IP address and browser user-agent string. This helps us detect spam.
• Contact form. If you write to us we collect your name, email address and the content of your message so we can reply.
• Newsletter or book club sign-ups. If you subscribe, we collect your email address and any name you provide. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.
• Orders. If you buy something from our shop we collect billing and shipping details, your email address and the contents of your order.

Information collected automatically

• IP address and approximate location (country / city level)
• Browser type, device type and operating system
• Pages visited, time on page, and the site that referred you
• Cookie identifiers set by us and by the third parties listed below

Embedded content from other sites

Our posts include embedded content — Spotify podcast players, YouTube videos, images and book links. Embedded content from other websites behaves exactly as if you had visited that website directly. These sites may collect data about you, use cookies, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content, including if you have an account and are logged in.

2. How we use your information

• To publish and moderate comments and reply to your messages
• To send you the newsletter or book club updates you asked for
• To process and ship orders and handle customer service
• To understand which posts people read, so we can write more of what works
• To display relevant advertising and measure its performance
• To protect the site against spam, fraud and abuse
• To comply with legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your email address with advertisers.

3. Cookies and tracking technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use them for the following purposes:

• Necessary cookies — keep the site working, remember your cart, and save your comment details so you don't have to retype them.
• Analytics cookies — tell us, in aggregate, how the site is being used.
• Advertising cookies — used by our advertising partners to serve and measure ads, as described in the next section.

You can control cookies through your browser settings and through our cookie consent banner where one is displayed. Blocking cookies may break parts of the site, such as the shopping cart.

4. Advertising and Google AdSense

We display advertising on this site to help cover our hosting and production costs.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our site and other sites on the internet.
• You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
• You can opt out of third-party vendor cookies more broadly at aboutads.info/choices or optout.networkadvertising.org.
• Third-party ad networks other than Google may also serve ads on this site. Each operates under its own privacy policy.

5. Analytics and third-party services

We rely on the following services, each of which processes some data on our behalf under its own privacy policy:

• Google Analytics — aggregate traffic measurement
• Google AdSense — advertising delivery
• Amazon Associates — affiliate link tracking
• Spotify — embedded podcast players
• WordPress and our hosting provider — server logs and site delivery
• Our email marketing provider — newsletter delivery and open tracking
• Our payment processor — order and payment handling

6. Affiliate disclosure

Between the Wines Book Club participates in affiliate advertising programs. This means we earn a commission when you click certain links and make a purchase. These programs are how a small, independently run book club pays for hosting, design and the time it takes to write a full reading guide every month.

Amazon Associates Program

Between the Wines Book Club is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Product prices and availability shown on our site are accurate as of the date and time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

How to recognise an affiliate link

• Buttons and links labelled "View on Amazon," "Shop on Amazon" or similar
• Any link in our "Amazon Goodies" and shop pages
• Shortened links beginning with amzn.to

Where a post is built around affiliate content, a disclosure appears within the post itself, in line with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255).

Sponsored content, gifted books and review copies

From time to time we receive advance reader copies, review copies or gifted products from publishers, authors or brands. We also occasionally publish sponsored posts. When that happens, we say so clearly and prominently at the top of the post concerned. Receiving a book for free never guarantees a positive review — several of our lowest ratings have been on books we were sent.

7. Editorial independence

Our ratings, opinions and reading recommendations are our own. No advertiser, publisher or affiliate partner reviews, approves or influences our content before publication. If we did not enjoy a book, we say so — and we link to it anyway, because you deserve to make up your own mind.

8. Purchases and payments

If you buy a product from our shop, your billing and shipping information is used solely to fulfil that order and to meet our accounting and tax obligations. Payment card details are entered directly with our payment processor and are never stored on our servers.

9. Your rights (GDPR, CCPA and others)

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Ask us to delete your data ("right to be forgotten")
• Object to or restrict how we process your data
• Withdraw consent you previously gave, at any time
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information — note that we do not sell personal information
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, write to us using the details in section 14. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

10. Data retention and security

Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely so that follow-up comments can be recognised and approved automatically. Contact form messages are kept for as long as needed to handle your enquiry. Order records are kept for the period required by tax law. Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe.

We use SSL encryption across the site and keep our software updated. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Children's privacy

This site is intended for adults. Our content frequently covers thrillers and adult fiction, including violence and mature themes. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. External links

Our site links to Amazon, Goodreads, Spotify, publisher sites and other third parties. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices or in the law. The revision date at the top of this page always shows when it was last changed. Material changes will be announced on the site.

This page is provided for transparency and to meet the disclosure requirements of our advertising and affiliate partners. It is not legal advice. If you operate in a jurisdiction with specific requirements, consider having a lawyer review it.