I find it extremely helpful to understand a book reviewer’s rating scale before reading a review so here is how I rate the books that I read:

***** 5 stars: I absolutely LOVED the book and recommend that EVERYONE read it.

These books are perfect in every way from the story to the plot development to the characters to the writing and often have me thinking about them long after the last page is read.

**** 4 stars: Fantastic book that I highly recommend and would totally reread.

*** 3 stars: Good book that I enjoyed and recommend but it probably won’t be a reread for me.

** 2 stars: I didn’t care for the book because something just didn’t work for me.

* 1 star: I rarely give this rating because more often than not it’s a DNF for me.

How I Rate Books

Of note, MOST of my reviews on this blog will be either 3, 4 or 5 star reads.

I rarely rate a book a 1 star because it’s usually a book that I end up not finishing and if it’s a 2 star rating there really isn’t much to say about it.

I do give a lot of 3 star reviews because I read a lot of good books.  

Three star reviews are actually those reviews that I ALWAYS read first whenever I’m contemplating a new read.

Why? Because I first want to see what someone may not have liked about the book and to see if I have the same hang ups.

I can usually weed out books with triggers that I don’t like this way or if it’s something that doesn’t bother me then I know the book has a shot of being good if there are a lot of other 4 and 5 star ratings.

I’m also really skeptical of people that give 4 or 5 stars to EVERYTHING they read because that is just not realistic and it starts to dilute the quality of their overall reviews.

A lot of books I read get a 3 star review because I think they are good but I leave the 4 and 5 star ratings to those that really deserve it.

Regardless of whether I receive an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of a book or read my own copy, my reviews convey my honest comments and thoughts to help others in their decision about whether or not a book is for them as well as to help the author with constructive comments and praise when warranted.

My Review Style

My reviews tend to focus on what I loved about the characters, what stood out about the book as a whole, what I thought about the plot and/or perhaps what I thought the book was missing.

Thanks for reading!