Hey Beautiful Booklovers! Today I thought I would let you all know how I rate my books as I know this can be such an individual thing, and for a lot of people they don’t really rely on a system they just go with a feeling…which I totally get because I have done exactly that before.
More accurately this post is so that you can share your methods too, or perhaps let me know what your thoughts are on mine – if you have any critiques and improvements etc.
So, lets get to it!
One star – 1* – Obviously, I hate giving this rating because inevitably it means I didn’t enjoy the story. Normally I give a 1* if I really didn’t connect with the characters and didn’t appreciate the plot! I may also give this rating if the writing is so poor it causes great distraction from the story line. I may also give this rating to books I end up DNFing, but generally speaking I tend to not rate those books at all.
Two star – 2* – I give this rating to books which I have managed to read but have found them very lacking. Normally it’s either lack of tension, lack of significant character intentions or goals, and generally speaking where I find that I could have been entirely happy to skip the book. These are books I, as a rule, do not recommend to others.
Three star – 3* – These are what I consider my “meh” reads. They’re okay, sometimes I even enjoy them quite a bit, but they don’t have enough to make me feel like I loved them. They are often reads I enjoyed, and can see others enjoying (so I do still recommend some). Essentially it comes down to a certain lack of wow factor for me. Good, but not wow.
Four star – 4* – Books I loved. I know you may be thinking “hey wait up aren’t 5* reviews for books you loved?” Yeah, they are but I still love a lot of my 4* reads, and quite honestly I can love a book and not consider it a 5* read. These books will normally be ones I loved but feel they don’t quite reach that 5* rating for some reason or another.
Five star – 5* – Reserved for my wow reads. The ones I rave about. The ones that give me book hangovers. The ones that I can’t stop talking/ fangirlling over! These are the books that I will revisit, and just can’t get enough of.
Do you have specific system you use for rating? Do you just wing it on a feeling? Or are you fa more structured than me? Let me know in the comments below! I’m truly curious to see what method you all use!
Book Steff's Bookish Blog 
Mine is a little bit of both! We actually have a similar kind of rating system. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙌! I find this is a very generic and easy way to rate books, but I know others can get really specific and in depth with their methods so wanted to see how others on here do it 🤗!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was the same with the 5* just for the books with that something extra. I really need a 4.5 that most review places won’t allow. Like Amazon or Goodreads.
What was the last 5* you read?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah the .5 is needed on goodreads 😂😂!
My last 5 star was Temeraire by Naomi Novik and before that The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon.
What was yours?
LikeLike
My rating system seems very similar to yours, although I do use half stars. I reserve 5 star ratings for the very best books, and as I have read more I seem to give 5 stars slightly less often than I used to. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah I agree with that…I definitely give less 5 stars than I used to 🙌😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My rating system is very similar! I don’t usually do .5 stars. I try to stick to full digit rating 🤔
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sometimes I’ll use .5 when I feel a book steps just above or below a specific rating. But generally speaking I don’t use a them a huge amount…I think anyway 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your Rating system is very similar to me. I usually give 5 rating to only those who are most favorite of me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think a lot of us rate similarly, which is really interesting 😍💜
LikeLike
I think we share a few of the same ratings here- especially with 4 and 5 stars. I try to judge a rating based on how I feel emotionally, but often I end up thinking too logically and comparing to other titles I’ve rated to help make my decision.
I reserve 5 stars for the books that I can’t stop thinking about, or those that I really connected with. Often there are so many books that I have been really enjoying, but I it didn’t quite affect me in the same way. Often I end up rating everything 4.5 stars instead haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes 🙌! 5* are the gushed about books 😂
LikeLike