Before I get into posting my reviews, I wanted to do a guideline for how I rate things. There are a lot of people that critically review and approach their books as such. I'm more of an emotional reader and reviewer. I will stick with the 5 star rating (and may or may not implement half stars). However, I think I'll do apples instead of stars, since I'm silly and it's apples! I will only be rating a book if I can get at least 80% through it. Here is my rubric:
DNF - Did not finish. Something or many things are not to my enjoyment. "I can't even." "Life's too short to waste time reading a book you don't like."
🍎 - I don't foresee having many one-star reviews. I don't think I've ever rated a book as such. In the past I've put books "on hold" if I couldn't get through it. Now, after seeing/hearing multiple people say to DNF a book if you don't like it, I'm going to try to do this instead.
🍎🍎 - I very rarely give two-star reviews. These will be books I finished and have very few "saving graces" or positives I can take from it. Honestly, if I get through the book but give it two-stars, I probably mostly feel that I wasted my time, but something or someone kept me going to the end.
🍎🍎🍎 - Ah, the dreaded three-stars (don't ask me why it's dreaded). Right in the middle. On goodreads they list three-stars as "good." For me this is a book that will be engaging but have issues. If the writing itself is great, but I can't get into it, three-stars. If the premise/trope is my jam but not executed well, three-stars. This is just good or okay for me. Will most likely not re-read it unless it's via skimming or for a book club and I need a refresher. Or this book was okay, but had something that triggered me or just hit at the wrong time emotionally.
🍎🍎🍎🍎 - These are books I thought were great! There were still a few small issues (or one large issue) that I really couldn't get past, but otherwise I loved it.
🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎 - These are wonderful books that I would re-read. They don't have to be perfect. It just has to hit me in that moment, make me laugh or cry or just feel all the feels. Another marker it's a five-star for me is if I can't put it down. I read it in one sitting. Or if I absolutely am not able to get it all in one, I am counting down the minutes to being able to get back to it.
As you can tell, a lot of my ratings and reviews will be subjective to what I'm going through at that time and/or just how the writing fits my reading style. I will post a warning(?); if you're looking for someone that is more strict with their ratings, I'm not your girl. I give out five-stars more than a lot of other people I follow on the various socials. I don't see it as a super special pinnacle that only few can reach. If I loved it and would recommend it to someone, it's most likely a four- or five-star.
Just a couple other notes about my reviews. I'm not going to go into too much detail about plot and do a whole recap, but there will be spoilers. I'll also add some stats for the book that I'm keeping track of.
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
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