Rating a book is a totally subjective thing—a judgment call on the part of the reader. This is MY site, so you’ll be getting MY judgment. If you want to see my personal likes/dislikes, click here.
Please add your comments.
You’re more than welcome to agree/disagree in the comments section of the review. In fact, I hope you do. Please remember that words have power. Your comments may persuade or dissuade someone who is considering purchasing and/or reading a particular book.
• Comment about the BOOK. If you liked it, say why. If you didn’t like it, say why. If you haven’t read it, make that clear.
• Be honest, but respectful. Comments like “this is the lamest book I’ve ever read,” or “I met this author once and they were a jerk,” are not helpful to readers at all and will be deleted.
• Comments that say, “This looks like an interesting book,” or “I can’t wait to read this,” or “thanks for reviewing my book,” are fine.
• Comments that are solely promotional or that are disrespectful will be deleted.
• As a reader of this blog, do not allow my review or the comments of a few to unduly influence your decision on a book. If a book looks interesting to you, give it a chance.
I use a 5 Star rating system.
Note: My star review system was updated November 1, 2015. Some of the older reviews may not quite follow this system, but you should be able to get enough info on the book from my review to make your own determination about whether to read and/or buy it.
5 Stars = To get the full 5 stars, it has to be a spectacular book. One that stayed with me for days, if not weeks. One that I want for my permanent library and that I will read and re-read.
4 1/2 Stars = If it was merely a fantabulous book that I absolutely loved and may read again some day, it’s going to get 4 1/2 stars. My 4 1/2s are highly recommended, you’ve-GOT-to-read-it books.
4 Stars = Great book. Really, really liked it. May have a few minor flaws, but was very much worth the time and effort to read it. Recommended.
3 Stars = A 3-star designation from me is still a good thing. It’s an okay book. I liked it. It met many of my expectations but it just didn’t quite get me as giddy as I’d hoped. 3 stars usually include a limited recommendation to a particular target audience or circumstance. For example:
• it’s a debut book with potential and I want to encourage an author to continue
• there are themes or topics that I think are important enough it makes up for other weaknesses
• the book was well-written but had themes or messages I’m really uncomfortable with
• it has a really clever concept or a fascinating main character, but the writing was weak or it was edited poorly
• the book was okay, but I recommend checking it out from the library before buying it
Below 3 Stars = These are books that I finished but had some issues that were big enough that I can’t really recommend them. I generally won’t bother reviewing these books, but sometimes there are exceptions, and I will discuss those in the review itself.
About My Reviews on Amazon & GoodReads
Amazon has a different rating system than I do. For that reason, when I post a review on Amazon, I may give it more stars than I do here. My comments will be the same, but I am not going to intentionally damage a book’s ability to qualify for promotions on other sites due to Amazon’s odd algorithms. At the same time, I will also not be deceptive. If there are weaknesses that I think need to be pointed out, I will do so in the review.
As for GoodReads, they don’t allow 1/2 stars so I will always round up. Again, my comments will be the same as the ones you find here, but the stars may not match.