I am sure I have talked about my star rating system at some point on this blog. Maybe at multiple points, as star rating systems have a tendency to evolve as we evolve as readers. Sometimes I look at the books I rated 5 stars in the early days of my Goodreads account and I wince a little. I don’t know if the reader I am today would have been quite as generous, but it’s also a good encapsulation of who I was then and where I am now.

First, let’s talk about how I rate books and what each star rating typically means. I truly appreciate when people give their honest star ratings. While I admit that sometimes I feel really guilty about leaving a 2-star review about a book other people loved, I think it’s good to be honest about how it worked for you. I try to be cognizant of the fact that just because a book wasn’t for me, that doesn’t mean it won’t be a hit for another reader. And maybe the issues I had with the book are something that doesn’t bother another reader, so they would actually enjoy the book a lot more than I did. So, with that said, here is the general idea of my rating system:

• 5 stars – A perfect book. There isn’t anything I would change about it. I’ll also give a book 5 stars if it felt life-changing in any way or made me feel really deep emotions. I wholeheartedly recommend the book.
• 4 stars – I really liked this book! There may have been a few things I didn’t like or wanted a different outcome for, but it wasn’t enough to derail my enjoyment of the book. I am giving my stamp of approval/recommendation.
• 3 stars – This book was good but not great. I liked it fine, but it’s not one I’m going to recommend to many readers. Typically, these books have quite a few issues that made the book less enjoyable.
• 2 stars – I did not like this book. I had many issues with it and only kept reading it to give a scathing review (usually). I may judge you a little if you recommended this book to me. I do not recommend it.
• 1 star – I hated this book. If you gave this book 4 or 5 stars, I am judging you. I wanted to throw it across the room, it was so bad. It shouldn’t have been written. LOATHED COMPLETELY.

Okay, so my 1-star metric is a bit harsh. But it is not very common for me to give a book 1 star; I am very quick to abandon a book that I know I’m going to hate. Of the 1,300+ books I’ve reviewed on Goodreads, only 22 of those have a 1-star rating. Most of those are really cheesy romances and I’ve learned how to choose better romances these days. But some of the books I’ve rated 1-star that might surprise people:

• Persuasion by Jane Austen (4.15 average Goodreads rating) – I just don’t enjoy Jane Austen! I’m so happy if you love her, but she’s not for me. (And no, I’m not going to judge you harshly if you loved Persuasion. I understand that Austen is beloved.)
• Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker (3.73 average Goodreads rating) – My Goodreads review: “Hate-read this. I should have abandoned, but I wanted to see how outlandish the plot would be and it was worse than I imagined.”
• Lucy’s Little Village Book Club by Emma Davies (4.03 average Goodreads rating) – My Goodreads review: “I really should have abandoned this book. The side plot of the mother who held a grudge against her (grown) daughter for five years for a single comment her daughter made was enough to make me want to throw my Kindle across the room.”

What About Half-Stars?

It’s very rare for me to add a half-star to my rating. This is probably because Goodreads still doesn’t have the capability to add half-stars to reviews (WHY?!) so I try to focus on the full-star rating. From time to time, though, I may give a book a half star and this is my system:

• 4.5 stars – I loved this book so much, but there is just something keeping me from giving it a full 5-star rating. Usually, it’s just a feeling I have, and the feeling is strong enough to crank down my rating by a half-star.
• 3.5 stars – I liked this book. A 3.5 rating means I’m more apt to recommend this book and that most of the issues I had with the book were small, surface-level things.
• 2.5 stars – I didn’t fully dislike this book. There were good moments and with just a few changes, it could have easily been a 3-star read.

I don’t give 1.5-star reviews. If I hate a book enough to give it a single star, that’s all it gets.

What Makes Books Lose Stars?

Now, let’s talk a little bit about the metrics I use when rating a book. What are some of the annoying things authors do that make me deduct a half-star or more from my rating? Let’s discuss:

• An unsatisfying ending – It’s so disappointing when a book that had such promise has an unsatisfying ending. Maybe there’s an unbelievable twist at the end or a disappointing final chapter or a rushed ending that makes me flip through the final few pages to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano was a book that was a 5-star read until the end. The disappointing conclusion docked it an entire star for me.
• Unlikable characters – I don’t need to have characters that I identify with or root for; characters can be flawed and unlikable because that’s real life. But there must be something redeeming about them. Characters who are just unlikable for the sake of being unlikable, with no nuance to them at all, are just not fun for me to read about.
• In romance, a really ridiculous “dark moment” – Every romance has a “dark moment,” which is defined as the period of time when all hope is lost for the characters’ love story and they (typically) break up. When I was writing my own romance novel, I struggled so much with developing a dark moment that would make sense and not be seen as fully ridiculous. Romances with a really silly dark moment—the ones that make me roll my eyes because the author put no effort into developing a reasonable dark moment that will propel the story along—are not my favorite.
• Not feeling any connection to the story – There are some stories that have a lot of heart and a propulsive plot, but I just feel nothing. I don’t feel particularly warm or cold toward the characters, the overarching themes aren’t doing it for me, and when I finish the book, I just think, “Meh. That was an okay way to spend some time.” A book that doesn’t make me feel something is going to lose at least a star.
• An unnecessary side plot – Sometimes, an author includes a side plot that feels completely unnecessary and out of place. Oftentimes, this is a randomly placed romance that feels more like an afterthought that an actually developed storyline that helps to propel the main plot forward.

What Makes a Book Gain Stars?

Okay, enough about being negative: Let’s talk about some of the things that will push that book into a 5-star territory or just make me tack on an extra half star because it made me so happy:

• When I’m sad to finish a book because I’ll miss the characters – Is there anything more lovely than finishing a book you loved, but feeling sad because you’re going to miss the characters? When an author can create characters that are so fully developed and precious to me that they feel like friends, it’s easy to give a book an extra half-star or more.
• An ending that makes me feel something deep in my soul – It’s hard to explain this feeling, but it happens to me often in books that I give a 5-star rating. It’s a feeling that I just experienced something beautiful and wonderful, and I want to push the book into the hands of everyone I know because I want them to experience the same feelings. It’s a feeling that makes me so sad for people who aren’t readers and don’t get to enjoy this beauty as I do.
• A fast-moving plot that makes the book hard to put down – Even if the writing isn’t great or the characters suck, a plot that is so propulsive that I can’t put the book down and can’t stop thinking about the book when I do set it down is the sign of a great, most likely 5- star, read.
• Beautiful writing – Beautiful writing that says something meaningful and makes me stop and think is honestly my favorite. Often, this type of writing happens in nonfiction but some novels can have beautiful writing that really takes a book to the next level. I don’t typically need beautiful writing to love a story—sometimes, I feel like it can detract from a story, as if an author spent more time trying to craft the most wonderous sentences than write a compelling narrative—but when it’s done well, it’s worthy of an extra star.
• If I can finish the book in one day – It is not very often that I can finish a book in one day, but when it happens, it usually means that the book was so unputdownable that I relinquished all responsibilities to lay around and read the book cover to cover in a single day.

What makes a book gain or lose stars for you?