In March I’ll have been running this blog for 4 years. That’s so crazy to me! It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but I guess it has. I started this blog shortly after I graduated from college and before I was working full-time or had completed my Master’s. Apparently that was 4 years ago! Over that amount of time, I feel like my ratings have become more consistent. Early on, I definitely gave more five star ratings than I do currently. This is basically a short rundown of how I rate books these days.
Firstly, if it was just up to me, I would probably give half-star ratings (and I do occasionally). But since Goodreads doesn’t allow half-star ratings, I try not to do that unless I have to. I want my ratings on here to match the stars I give a book on Goodreads.
One Star
I rarely give out one star ratings. That’s just because if I dislike a book enough to give it one star, I’ve probably DNFed it and I don’t give ratings to books I DNF. Here’s a link to my post about why I DNF books.
Two Stars
I finished it, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t absolutely HATE it, but I wouldn’t generally recommend it.
Recent(ish) two stars: S.T.A.G.S. by M.A. Bennett, Hello, Sunshine by Leila Howard, Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally
Three Stars
This book was okay. Pretty good even. I didn’t hate it, but there’s still room for improvement in my opinion. Maybe the writing wasn’t great, the characters were a little annoying, the world wasn’t convincing, or the plot was lacking. It’s not something that I would necessarily recommend, but it was fine.
Recent three stars: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi, Love á la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm, The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Four Stars
I liked this book a lot and would highly recommend it! Maybe there were a couple little things that didn’t make sense or jive with me, but I’m willing to overlook them!
Recent four stars: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, Sadie by Courtney Summers, The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Five Stars
As I said earlier, I have definitely become more selective with my five star reviews. At this point, a five star comes when I absolutely LOVE a book. If I finish it, close the cover, and then hug the book (or my Kindle) to my chest (possibly holding back tears, but that’s optional), it’s a five star book.
Recent(ish) five stars: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
What's She Reading? 
The same thing happens to me, I feel that as time passes I’m more stricter in terms of my ratings, now I almost don’t give 5 stars, unless I fall in love with the book, you know? But I feel more just at the same time. Before I gave 5 stars to everything lol , I was very generous 😂💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Same! I look back on some of my old ratings and I’m like what was I thinking???
LikeLiked by 1 person
I try to follow what you have listed out for each of your star ratings. It may not always resemble those guidelines because sometimes books I don’t like are still really well written or books I love have some flaws but evoke certain feelings. Rating is so hard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really is! And especially since I really do try to keep myself to whole star ratings. Maybe it would be easier if I tried rating separate components and then came up with an overall rating from that? But that also seems like a lot of work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds like way too much work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha yeah…I guess I’ll just stick with my old rating system haha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this so much! I really enjoy seeing how others use their star-rating. And what a good idea to include your recently rated books 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I always think it’s interesting as well. Some people are pretty similar, but others do it really differently!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Since I became I blogger, I’ve also become very selective with my 5 star reviews! I don’t think I’ve given anything 5 stars in months! Great post 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry for this late reply! Your comment got caught in the spam filter for some reason! But yes, I totally know what you mean. It really takes a lot for a book to earn 5 stars from me these days.
LikeLike
For me, a book generally starts out at around a 3-star rating which, similarly to you, means that it was essentially just “ok.” That rating goes up or down, depending upon various factors which lead me to enjoy it more or less. I am also a half-star rater. A book I rate 3.5 could mean “I really wanted to like this, so I’m being a little more generous” or it could mean “it was almost a 4, but it doesn’t totally deserve a 4…but it’s a little more than a 3.” On the upper side of that, it generally reflects my optimism for a future installment 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like that! I didn’t really realize it, but I think you’re right about books kind of starting off as a 3–I think that’s true for me as well. That’s kind of a neutral rating.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel like I’m giving out to many three stars which is same for me- just an average read neither good or bad but I guess that’s the nature of things. Definitely less five stars than usual sadly 😉 It’s always nice to see other people’s thoughts on this as some times I can drive myself crazy trying to stick a definitive rating on a book!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Same! And yeah, this last year especially I feel like I gave out a ton of 3 star ratings.
LikeLike
It is really hard to decide how to rate books and everyone seems to have different criteria on which books deserve which number of stars. Me personally I rarely give out 4-5 stars–but I also don’t give out 1-2 star books very often. Most of my reviews are 3 stars. I usually use it on a scale of how likely am I to read it again. If I’m likely then I usually give it more than 3 stars.
I do wish Goodreads would let us do out of 10 or half stars because it is a little more precise and a little more universal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree! I’m actually amazed that Goodreads hasn’t done something like that because this has been a thing for YEARS.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know!! On my regular reviews I always do it on a scale of 10 then convert it to stars for Goodreads.
LikeLiked by 1 person