A quick note: I’m a fairly generous rater, I think, but also, I don’t read books I’m not personally interested in already. Note that I’ll probably only ever write and publish full-length reviews of books to this blog for books that I feel have earned the distinction of a 3-star or higher rating. Connect with me on Goodreads for everything else.
Here’s a brief primer on my star ratings, and what they mean in a nutshell.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A five-star rating means I loved the book. These are books that I’d recommend to just about anyone, especially as an introduction to a specific genre because I feel it represents the best— it’s just that good.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A four-star rating means I really liked it. I recommend these books with some minor caveats (admittedly highly subjective) that generally have to do with the plot, subject matter, or pacing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A three-star rating means I liked it well enough to recommend it to people who are already fans of the genre or the author. Three stars mean I felt that something was lacking with pacing, plot, dialogue, or depth of characterization in a way that at times distracted me from the story.
⭐️⭐️
A two-star rating means I didn’t like it, but I can see why others might. It just didn’t do it for me. Something was sorely lacking in a way that I just could not get over, and it was possibly a did-not-finish situation.
⭐️
A one-star rating means I’d be actively lying to myself and my fellow readers were I to in any way recommend the book. I definitely didn’t finish it, and I’d fully recommend an entirely different book altogether. It is likely I did-not-finish the book.
