Terms of service

1. Agreement

These terms govern your use of The Reading Room (thereadingroom.app), operated by Shane Dunne, a sole trader based in Ireland. By creating an account or using the service, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

We may update these terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or by placing a notice on the site. Continued use of the service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account, in accordance with the Irish Digital Age of Consent. By registering, you confirm that you meet this requirement.

3. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at hello@thereadingroom.app.

You may delete your account at any time from your profile settings. If you have an active Premium subscription, it will be cancelled automatically and you will not be charged again. When you delete your account, we permanently remove all your personal data within 30 days, as described in our privacy policy.

4. Acceptable use

The Reading Room is a book discovery and recommendation service. We ask that you:

• Use the service honestly and in good faith
• Do not attempt to scrape, crawl, or bulk-extract data from the service
• Do not attempt to interfere with, disrupt, or gain unauthorised access to the service or its infrastructure
• Do not reverse-engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to extract the source code, algorithms, or underlying logic of the service, including the recommendation engine and Reading DNA system
• Do not use any content from The Reading Room — including recommendation text, Reading DNA portraits, and search results— as training data for machine-learning or artificial intelligence models
• Do not create multiple accounts to circumvent rate limits or abuse free-tier allowances
• Do not use the service for any unlawful purpose

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, with notice where reasonably possible.

5. Your data

You own your data. Your reading history, ratings, shelves, preferences, and any other content you provide remain yours.

By using the service, you grant us a limited licence to use your data solely for the purpose of providing and improving your recommendations, generating your Reading DNA, and operating the service. We do not use your data for any other purpose.

You can export your data at any time in a machine-readable format from your profile settings, and you can delete your account and all associated data at any time. Full details are in our privacy policy.

6. Our content and intellectual property

The Reading Room™, Reading DNA™, and all associated logos, designs, branding, code, and original text are the intellectual property of Shane Dunne trading as The Reading Room. All rights not expressly granted in these terms are reserved.

Book metadata (titles, authors, descriptions, cover images) is sourced from third-party providers and remains the property of their respective owners.

Recommendation explanations and Reading DNA portraits are generated by our system for your personal use. You are welcome to share your Reading DNA or recommendation text (for example, as a screenshot on social media), but you may not reproduce them in bulk or use them commercially.

7. Premium subscription

The Reading Room offers a free tier and a paid Premium subscription.

• Billing — Premium is billed monthly via Stripe. Prices are shown in euros and include applicable taxes. The current price is displayed on the upgrade screen before you subscribe.
• Renewal — subscriptions renew automatically each billing period. You will receive a receipt by email for each payment.
• Cancellation — you can cancel at any time from your profile settings or via the Stripe billing portal. When you cancel, your Premium features remain active until the end of your current billing period. After that, your account reverts to the free tier. No data is lost.
• Refunds — because Premium features are available immediately upon subscription, we generally do not offer refunds. If you believe you have been charged in error, contact us at hello@thereadingroom.app and we will work with you to resolve it.

We may change Premium pricing in the future. If we do, we will give you at least 30 days' notice before any price change applies to your subscription.

8. Availability and changes

We do our best to keep The Reading Room available and reliable, but we cannot guarantee uninterrupted access. The service may be temporarily unavailable for maintenance, updates, or reasons beyond our control.

We may add, change, or remove features over time as the product evolves. If we make changes that materially reduce the functionality you are paying for as a Premium subscriber, we will offer you the option to cancel with a pro-rata refund.

9. Recommendations

Our recommendations are generated by an automated system based on your reading preferences and history. They are suggestions, not endorsements. We do our best to make them good, but we cannot guarantee you will enjoy every book we suggest.

We have no financial stake in which books you choose to read or where you choose to buy them.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by Irish and EU law, The Reading Room is provided —as is.— We do not make warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, regarding the service's reliability, accuracy, or fitness for a particular purpose.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from your use of the service is limited to the total amount you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for fraud, personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under Irish law.

11. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Ireland. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of the service will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts. This does not affect any mandatory consumer rights you may have under the law of your country of residence within the EU.

12. Assignment

We may assign or transfer these terms, and any rights and licences granted under them, to a successor or acquirer in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. You will be notified of any such transfer by email. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these terms without our prior written consent.

13. Severability

If any provision of these terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

14. Contact

If you have questions about these terms, reach us at hello@thereadingroom.app.