I’m often asked how I decide to rate a book. While there is a LOT that goes into each and every specific rating, I do stick to a general star rating system.
My Star Rating System For Books
5 Stars
Books I absolutely loved and would read again! These are the books that I usually add to my to-buy wish list so I can have them on my shelves, ready for easy rereading.
4 Stars
Books that I enjoyed but just didn’t have the oomph of a 5-star book. Honestly, the majority of books I read end up with this rating.
3 Stars
Books that I just liked. I didn’t think they were so great that I would reread them, but I definitely don’t regret taking the time to read them in the first place. I would still recommend these books. Note: In my book, a three star rating is still good!
2 Stars
Books that I didn’t personally care for, but may still recommend.
1 Star
Books that I wish I hadn’t finished and would absolutely not recommend.
No Stars / DNF
I do not give star ratings to my DNF books, but I will still mark them as “read” so I don’t accidentally pick the book up again.
As you can see, I don’t use partial star ratings. There have certainly been times when I wish I did because a book didn’t really fit in one category or another, but to keep things simple, I stick to just these 6 ratings.
Thanks for reading!
What is your rating system like? If you have a post about this topic, feel free to leave the link below! I’d love to hear what you all think!
Hi Erica!
I need to do this. I never used to give ratings when I first started book blogging, just reviewed the books. Now I always do, but tend to just stick to the Goodreads/Amazon's guideline – but to me they differ quite a lot!
Yeah! It's so hard to keep a consistent rating system when other platforms vary!
Three stars is also a good rating for me. I like your definition for it. Mine is "Good, maybe borrow from the library". I also do half stars because I like to be precise 😛 (but for some reason no 1.5, haha)
Oh that's a great comment about that rating! I may have to incorporate that in 🙂
Everyone has their star system and they all mean slightly different things so it's a good idea to have a post which makes things clear!
Definitely! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!