rating system

how I rate books

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5

I love it, I would definitely recommend it, I would probably read it again (this doesn’t usually happen btw). Books like these had fantastic writing, engaging plot devices carried out with skill, master use of suspense and so on. A 5-star book had me living in the world, high-fiving heroes, galloping horseback on adventure through a forest, cheering on misunderstood villains and probably throwing a book across the room various times (shock, excitement, what have you).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5

I liked it, I’m not sure I would read it again, I would recommend it based on the person. Probably the writing was well-done but there was something lacking (or too much) in the story. A book might get a 4 star rating if I enjoyed it/was impressed by it, but say it didn’t have full resolution (when that isn’t a plot device/intentional). Or a storyline that suddenly resolves itself far too quickly after drawing out for a while, or a story that was well-written but had some loopholes that I think can be overlooked for how good the rest of the book is. A 4-star book was great enough to (almost completely but not quite) ignore its weaknesses.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5

It was a book, for sure. I felt meh about it. I probably wouldn’t recommend it unless someone really liked this sort of book – then I’d recommend it entirely for them and I’d preface it by saying it really wasn’t fireworks for me haha. It could be a mediocre read that had a quality trope that was still enjoyable yet probably very predictable and unoriginal, or despite writing that wasn’t very engaging the story may have had quality lessons or “moral of the story” moments that are worth reading the book for.

⭐️⭐️

2/5

Boring, wouldn’t read it again and wouldn’t recommend it. This is a book that probably feels “copy and paste” from other books, one of those “I’ve read this before but it wasn’t this book,” kind of books. Boring plot, or a brilliant plot that’s delivered in such a boring way that even action and excitement and top-notch romantic tension suddenly feels like… well, like a yawn. If it’s a 2 star, I’m really not impressed and I might feel like this was a waste of my time. But the key here is that I still made it to the end of the book. I finished it.

⭐️

1/5

I didn’t even finish the book. So …. yeah, 1 star.