How I rate books

Hi booklovers

The other day I posted my first review and I thought it might be useful to share with you how I rate the books I've read.

I looked it up on Goodreads and it turns out I only gave 8 books 5 out of 5 stars last year. I think it's safe to say I hardly ever give the highest rating. I think this is because I rarely get completely blown away by a story. I've realized that most of my 5 star books are books that have given me a (major) book hangover. To give an example: although I absolutely adore the Harry Potter books and I've read them multiple times, I don't give them 5 stars. A book has to really blow me away to get the highest score.

That also means that I really, really, really like the 4 star books I've read. I also use half stars - Goodreads, you should really make it possible to give half stars!! - because that gives you more leeway.

Sometimes I change my rating after re-reading a book.

So:

5 stars - mind-blowingly good, all time favourite, (major) book hangover.

4.5 stars - almost perfect.

4 stars - really, really, really good book, liked it very, very, very much.

3.5 stars - very, very good book, really liked it, you should check it out.

3 stars - liked it, you should still check it out.

2.5 stars - finished it, but that's just about it.

2 stars - barely finished it, didn't like it.

0 - 1.5 stars - did not like it at all, don't bother with it.

When you look at the list of books I've rated, you'll see that there are different types of books with 4 star ratings. A couple of months ago I saw a video by Ariel Bisset about rating books on different scales. I have to say I totally agree with her. I've rated Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the Divergent series, the Shatter Me series, etc.  4 stars along with New Adult books by Abbi Glines. Do these books have the same quality? No. Why do I rate them all 4 stars then? Because they are good in their own genre. Like Ariel said, they are good at what they are meant to do. And books don't all have to be classics to be good books! Not that all classics are good books, mind you!

Let me know in the comments how you rate books!

Bye

Annelies