Here’s what I mean by my star system:
DNF: Did not finish. This book had enough strikes against it that I gave up. These are the books I truly didn’t like.
1 Star: I finished the book, but I don’t recommend it. Ultimately, I was disappointed.
2 Stars: It was okay. I read it. Nothing stood out, good or bad, one way or another. Alternately: It was really compelling, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way.
3 stars: It was good. Most 3’s are books I read and enjoyed and thought were interesting or fun or well written, but I didn’t especially connect to them, and I’m pretty sure I’ll forget I ever read them years down the road. Honestly, most books I read are 3’s.
4 stars: I really liked this book. It was very enjoyable most or all of the way through, and I would definitely recommend it to others.
5 stars: Okay, this book is one of my new favorites. I was blown away. I will never forget it, and I will tell everyone I know who might possibly like this type of book that they have to read it.
As you can tell, most of these are more positive than not. That’s because I don’t finish books I don’t like. Even 1’s had enough going for them that I kept reading (I thought the conflict was intriguing, but it ended up not going anywhere, for example).
I also have a tag for “Others May Like.” That means I gave a book a rating lower than it probably deserved because I personally didn’t connect with the character, genre, story, whatever. Sometimes I can see a book and recognize that it’s objectively good while still not being something I enjoyed. I tagged these books so you can easily search these and maybe give them a chance.
