I’ve noticed recently how different all of us book bloggers rate books and how different each rating system can be. It seems like the majority of us use a basic five star system, but many of you are creative and use something specific to your blog, which I love! I’ve also seen some that break down different parts of the book and rate them individually which is also great, I’m just not quite that ambitious.
With that being said, I figured it was time to go through and explain my personal rating system.
I’ve stuck to the five star model as I cross post my reviews to Goodreads and Amazon and it just keeps things easier and even across platforms.
Here’s what each rating means to me:
1/5: Couldn’t even finish this one because of several determining factors such as poor editing, awful confusing plots, and overall bad writing. (Note, it’s really rare for me to rate a book this low. I realize that authors spend endless amounts of time writing and I can usually appreciate the effort. If I use this rating, rest assured that it’s that bad.)
2/5: This rating means that while I felt the book had potential, it needs some more work. I may have liked parts of the premise or the characters, but something was missing.
3/5: This rating means that I liked the book but there was usually one or more issues that kept me from rating it higher. The plot and characters were probably enjoyable, but maybe they weren’t as developed as I would have liked. I would recommend this book in some instances to certain readers.
4/5: I really liked this book and would recommend it to fans of this genre. It was well written, had an engaging premise, and well developed characters. I may have had a minor issue with something, but it was still a great read. (Note, many books that I really liked get this rating as I tend to save 5’s for books that I find perfect.)
5/5: This book was excellent and I loved it. I will be recommending it to everyone who will listen and I will be talking about it for ages. The writing is brilliant, characters are relatable and superbly developed and the plot was fantastic. It’s a must read.
I do use half star ratings sometimes because I may feel like a book is almost to the next rating and I want to give the author credit. Since I try and reserve my five star ratings for truly amazing books, many really good books may be rated 4.5/5.
What does your rating system look like?
I use the five star system, it’s easier especially when using Goodreads.
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Agreed!
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I can’t be bothered with halves, too much work.
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Ha! I find it fitting if I think a book is pretty good but I’m not quite ready to give it 5 stars, I’m stingy that way.
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I get that. I would love it if Goodreads added halves, then I might be more inclined to add half stars.
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Wouldn’t that be great?! If I use a half here then I tend to round down on Goodreads.
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Mine’s almost the same as yours, except that I’m probably more likely to give 1’s even if I’ve finished a book if it’s really bad (rarely happens though). And more likely to give 5’s just ‘cos. And I round up my half stars on GR and Amazon, rather than rounding down, but I always say in the review that that’s what I’m doing.
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I’ve read some really good books lately and have been thinking about NOT being so stingy with my 5’s 😬
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I use a 10 pointer system coz I have always rated things on a scale of 0-10 , I don’t know why I do this but I like having 10 stars and frankly I don’t have a particular scoring system for me anything 7 and above is good but books worth 7 are obviously less good than books rated 9 and above , 4-6 remain average books that in my opinion people shouldn’t focus on reading but if they want they are welcome to pursue it and below that are things I really don’t suggest for a read
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I think it’s great that you use a system like that! It provides such a good range, sometimes it would be easier for me to have more choices. But I fear they would maybe overwhelm me.
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More or less the same! A three rating for many people is a bad rating whereas for me it just means that I enjoyed reading it and thought it was good, just won’t remember it as much as others. Sometimes I’d love to give half star ratings (with the last one I read, I’d like to give it 4.5, but I’ll round up to 5). but I don’t want to over-complicate XD
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Mine is pretty much the same :). I’m glad to see someone else who only reserves the 5 stars for the perfect books. If it was absolutely great, but I just don’t ‘feel’ the perfection of it, it’s getting 4.5 stars from me as well. Makes the 5 starred ones really stand out, right? 🙂
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Exactly!
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