All about star ratings (why I don’t use them & explaining my system)

Hey Happy Bookworms!

So I ghosted for a week whoops. It was my last week (SUMMER HOLIDAYSSS) & I was very unproductive and now here we are late again but shhhh

So while I was gone the blogosphere EXPLODED I completely forgot the book blogger awards were a thing and y’all are too nice to me *sobs* 😪
I was gonna make a nomination post but realised how pitifully small the number of book bloggers I follow is now (I just…stopped blog hopping?) but rest assured I have been scouring your posts for fresh meat to follow (hi all my new follows I swear I don’t bite 😁)

So a HUGE thank you to Clo @ Cuppa Clo // Charlotte @ Bewitching Books, Ravenous Reads // Ash @ Starlight Strands // Adi @ One in a Million // Xandra @ Starry Sky Books for nominating me 🥺 (just take those as my recommendations)

---

✨ Star Ratings ✨

I don’t think I’ve ever used stars on my blog (maybe once or twice if we search the ~treasure trove~ that is my old posts) but I think they massively confuse people. I mean WHAT DOES 3 STARS EVEN MEAN?? Stars are subjective and can vary massively even within one reader’s experiences. Obviously we all universally know that 5 stars is a must read & 1 star is a steer well clear but what do all the pesky little stars in the middle mean? And sure most reviewers have a handy guide but I’m on that #lazylife and can’t be bothered to find it (this is making me come across great right?)

So what do I do instead? Well I try to express ~emotion~ What? Wow *gasps all round* I know, I know, such a novel idea (omg novel I’m so punny) but I feel like from my mini reviews you get a good enough sense if I liked something or not. And here’s the other thing; books mean different things to different people & your background, experiences, time of your life, even what mood you’re in has a massive impact on whether you’ll like a book. And I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m extremely stubborn with books, if I’ve decided I want to read it I will probably ignore all the well-meant warnings & power on through. You can lead a horse (me) to water (all your well reasoned logic) but you can’t make it drink (I am stupid). I am trying to get better at listening to bad reviews though especially if EVERYONE hates it (then there’s probably something wrong)

Anyway time to be incredibly hypocritical & look at how I rate my goodreads books!

✨ My rating system ✨

Goodreads is more personal for me, I use it for tracking so I need to be able to break my books down and categorise them (also so I don’t forget everything in my monthly recap) Stars also mean I can do a quick check on the general opinion without entering the spoiler zone *dun dun duhhhh*

No I don’t know why I just explained goodreads to you I’m sorry

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 5 stars is my least logical rating it’s just a feeling, there’s just something that puts it above a 4 star (an extra sprinkle of pixie dust, who knows?) Some people use crying as a marker but I am a smol bean & cry at everything (I am not. Even. Kidding either I literally do)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Means I really liked it, it’s a great book & maybe just a smidge off perfection.
⭐⭐⭐ – It’s an average book; I enjoyed it but it’s nothing too special. Like fun in the moment but not gonna remember it kinda vibes, you know?
⭐⭐ – Something’s wrong – a lackluster plot or annoying characters.
⭐ – HOW DID THIS BOOK GET PUBLISHED?? Either rubbish characters AND a bad story or problematic content.

---

Opinions on ratings? What makes a book 5 stars? What makes a book 1 star? How do you classify the void (AKA 3 stars) Tell meeeeeee

I also found Sophie @ the Moonchild pages who does a series of recreating book covers & was nice enough to shout out my & Ash’s posts out! So definitely go check out her cute doodles 💕