Ratings
I had three readers ask me very nicely to please explain my ratings scale. A difficult task for me because I originally didn’t have a ratings scale and never set out to have one in the first. All reviews pre-March 2008 were not rated and, after starting one during the month of April, I had to go back, reread my reviews, and figure out how they would fit on my scale.
Simply put, my zero to five rating scale means something like this:
5: Amazing. Totally recommend. No matter what you found wrong with this book, I can assure you that I either ignored it or it didn’t bother me at all.
4: Good. Would recommend. But a character/writing style/flow of plot started to get on my nerves.
3: Average. Nothing special. Nothing awful.
2: Bad. Wouldn’t recommend. The beginning/middle/end is this book’s saving grace.
1: Awful. Only finished this book in order to pan it.
0: Torture. Can someone please explain how this book managed to be printed? Those poor, poor trees died for this?
I finish every book I read because I have this hope that the book will get better. After all, once you hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up. No matter how many times this doesn’t hold true, my hope never gets squashed. I may crack open a library book, not like what I see, and return it, but the title goes right back on my to-be-read list. I know life’s too short to read bad books, but I can’t help it.
{I also try not to compare books unless, of course, they are in a series.}
Long story short, I finish every book I read. Fantastic. Good. Bad. Down right ugly. So, in my mind, my ratings system is right on par, if not a little too nice.
