How I Rate Books

 

    Wednesday, December 30th.

    Hi friends, I hope you are all doing well. I know this blog post is a bit different from what I usually release, but, I thought it would be helpful to share how I rate books just to clarify any confusion you may have whilst reading my reviews. A future, follow-up post will be coming explaining how I review books so stay tuned for that! I think I'm just going to go through my rating scale and explain what each rating means. 

    I rate on a scale of 1-5 and I utilize quarter and half stars occasionally when I feel they are necessary. For 1 star ratings, I do not utilize quarter and half stars because there is generally no distinction in my personal thoughts on the book. A book only earns a 1-star rating if it is highly problematic and I dislike it,  if I simply dislike it or think it's not to my taste it will fall into the 2-star range. 

Rating Scale:

1 star = I disliked this book a lot! The subject matter was also highly problematic in some way whether it's glorifying racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, etc.

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2 stars = I disliked this book and it really was not for me. There is nothing super inherently problematic about the content of the book, it just didn't fit my personal tastes. Books in this rating may still be slightly problematic but usually, they are books that just don't really appeal to me.

2.5 stars = I disliked this book and it just didn't appeal to my tastes. There is nothing problematic with the content at all, I just thought it wasn't for me.

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3 stars = I enjoyed the book but it feels similar to many other books I have read. It generally does not have a great feeling of originality. This book seems similar to many other books published in the genre or it does not stand out. The book is either very similar to other books or is one that will not stick in my mind for long.

3.25 stars = I enjoyed this book a little bit more than just a 3 star read. It could be well-written or be a book with some objectively good qualities. The book may have a more original concept than those rated 3 stars, however, it may just not have been well-executed.

3.5 stars = I quite enjoyed this book and I was highly split between 3 and 4 stars in my rating. There are some qualities of the book which I think merit a 3-star rating (examples: plot, characters, setting, etc.), and some I thought merited a 4-star rating (examples: plot, writing, setting, etc.)

3.75 stars = This book had all the makings of a 4 star read and I enjoyed this book quite a lot. However, something occurred that stopped it from reaching a 4-star rating such as a very slow beginning, disappointing ending, or a poorly executed twist.

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4 star = I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is definitely not a favorite but I accomplished many things and executed them well. It just may be lacking a bit in a few areas such as writing quality, pacing, etc. 

4.25 stars = I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It had an original concept that was well-executed and good writing quality.  It may have been lacking a bit in a few areas such as pacing, the extent of character development, etc. 

4.5 stars = I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it! Anything rated 4.5 stars or higher has the potential to be among my favorite books. There were just a few minor issues that I had with the book and there were some qualities of the book that I felt deserved 4-stars and some that deserved 5-stars, (examples: plot, characters, writing, setting, etc.)

4.75 stars = I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it! Anything rated 4.5 stars or higher has the potential to be among my favorite books. This book had all the makings of being a 5-star read. However, there were just some minor issues or little things that bothered me which prevented it from receiving 5 stars (example: some small character inconsistencies).

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5 stars = I absolutely loved this book and it is one of my favorites! There may still have been some very minor issues with the book, but they did not bother me or my enjoyment of the book was so immense that I completely overlooked them. These books are definitely not perfect but they have some first-rate qualities. This book is very memorable and one that I won't forget anytime soon! The plot was original or subverted some highly established tropes in a very clever way.