Star Ratings

Even if we’re all using a 5-star rating system, everyone gives ratings out slightly differently!

I use 1-5 star ratings with the addition of 2.5 and 3.5 but not 1.5 or 4.5 – I’m often tempted by the latter but whenever I use it I end up never giving 5 stars and I don’t like being that picky. I consider 3 stars to be quite a neutral rating anything 3.5 and above is a positive rating.

I don’t rate DNFs. I also don’t rate children’s books. I do rate YA and occasionally middle grade (but usually only if it’s particularly good). This is mostly because I’m not the target audience and I don’t want to skew the rating.

For a more detailed breakdown, see below.

It’s impressive I finished this book – it doesn’t happen often that I finish a book that’s worth one star. Usually, this will mean one of two things:

This was an awful book that I had to read for some reason.
This book had something really problematic it in it that makes me rate it really low despite being able to finish it.

Most of the time, though books that get 1 star will be DNF’d, and I don’t rate DNFs.

There are some major issues with this book (often something I find mildly problematic or something that severely affects my enjoyment). This book does have redeeming features but I’m unlikely to recommend it.

These books are usually similar to 3-star books but they often have something slightly problematic or a fairly significant flaw in the writing/structure of the book.

These are my “meh” books. This is usually a book that was fine to read but left me feeling… nothing. Just fine. Usually nothing majorly wrong, but nothing impressive either.

At this point we start getting into the books that I enjoyed and would recommend. 3.5 stars is for books I enjoyed but could point out specific flaws or wasn’t super impressed by. This is probably most people’s 4 stars, to be honest. Books that are super enjoyable but lack something a bit deeper, or the opposite – books that are really important but slightly less entertaining (but not boring!) – often get put here.

My four stars are probably like most people’s 4.5 or even 5 stars. These are books I really liked. I can rarely point out specific flaws, or if I can, they’re very minor (or I don’t care because something else is so good it overrides it). There’s often something unique or important about the book that I appreciate on a deeper level.

This is for the four star books that made me emotional and/or leave me thinking about them again and again months later. Because of this, a lot of these books actually start as four star books and get upgraded to five stars later on. This is why you might notice that I leave it a while before writing reviews for books I enjoyed, just to test their sticking power. I usually only give a few 5-star ratings per year (although if I had a phenomenal year, it could be more)!