After going back and forth on several different rating systems, I have ultimately developed a phrase system to best describe my overall feelings for a book. Below you can find the ratings graphics (which will always appear at the bottom of my review posts) along with a brief explanation to clarify the specifics of each rating.
This is a 5-star read. I absolutely adored every single thing about this book, and would wholeheartedly recommend it. Books that have this rating are usually ones that stick with me for a long time after I read them, and are ones I rave incessantly about.
Books with this rating are 4.5-star reads. I loved this book, but it had one or two tiny things that I had issues with. I would still recommend this book without reservation, but it wasn’t quite as perfect as it could have been.
This is a 4-star read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I found some flaws within its pages. Those flaws are minor, though, and while I noticed them, they’re able to be ignored in the overall scheme of things. I would definitely recommend any books with this rating.
Otherwise known as a 3.5-star read, this is a book I had a lot of fun reading, but had more than a few issues with. I enjoyed the story, probably liked the characters, but still found some flaws, whether that was pacing or characterization. I would certainly recommend books with this rating.
This is a solid, 3-star book. I liked it – and would probably recommend it to others – but I had some significant issues with portions of the story. I tend to think of books with three stars as “good” stories – hence the rating – but I definitely have books I liked more.
A book with this rating is in the 2.5-star range, and I came away from it feeling quite conflicted. I liked aspects of this book, but disliked far more. My overall feeling upon finishing a book with this rating is an “eh” and a shrug.
This is a 2-star read. I really didn’t like much of this book at all, and probably would not recommend it to anyone. I probably found some things intriguing, but had a lot of problems with the story’s execution.
This book was really not good, and would be equivalent to a 1.5-star read. I have never had an occasion to use this rating, because I probably would DNF well before I got to that point.
Equivalent to a 1-star read, this book was just bad. There are no redeeming factors at all, and I would advise you to avoid it at all costs. I have never used this rating – again, see above re: probably DNFing before it got to that point – so sightings of this rating will be extremely few and far between.
Read and Reviewed 