Book reviews are a tricky business.
Reading a book is the easiest thing in the world. Reviewing a book is, unfortunately, not always so simple. Let´s not forget to mention how difficult it is to rate a book * sigh *.
Books are a matter of taste and when it comes to reviewing and rating I´m a very picky person.
I´m, by no means, a paid professional reviewer. But due to my 9 year review experience ( including my work with several NYT Bestselling authors ), I think it´s safe to say I can judge a book. I treat every book I read with my utmost respect.
What´s most important, though, is to know that rating a book does NOT mean I´m rating an author. I´m simply rating a product.
Before I start any review I try to spend a full day thinking about the story I read.
- Was the story entertaining/educational on any level?
- Was the story predictable/unpredictable?
- Was the core of the story good?
- Could I relate to the characters / feel their pain?
- Were the characters realistic / did they have a voice?
- Was the ending satisfying?
- Was the story well written? Confusing?
- Were there typos? Editorial errors? Were there too many or just a few?
- The storytelling ability
Those are the important points for me because I believe a story without good characters, lacking the ability to entertain me… a story that´s predictable AND one that has an unsatisfying ending is not really the best kind of story, wouldn´t you agree?
Still- I´m one of many book bloggers out there and whatever I liked/disliked about a story doesn´t mean another has to share my opinion.
Every author deserves respect and that is what they´ll get from me.
Whatever I feel for any book I finish will definitely be share with the world.
How do I rate a book?
That´s actually tough. When I finish judging a story I think about how many stars I should give. The star system is nothing new- just 1-5 stars with 1 being a not so good and 5 being absolutely amazing.
This is where a lot of confusion sets in because many people consider 3 stars as a terrible rating. It´s not. In fact- 3 is more than half of 5 and that means it´s still a good rating.
To make this easier for everyone I´d like to show what the 1-5 star rating means for me. Ready?
5 stars – Absolutely fantastic book! Fully recommendable.
4 stars – a great read that I can also recommend.
3 stars – It was an okay read. Mostly not my cup of tea but still an okay story
2 stars – A story not for me.
1 star – Nope.
See? It´s really simple.
I´ve noticed a lot of blogs not wanting to rate a book with less than 3 stars because they don´t want to “ruin” an author’s career. I don´t share that philosophy.
Yes. I give out 1 and 2 stars because I feel it´s important. Sometimes I don´t like a book, which is only natural. The only thing I will never do, not even with a 1 star rated book, is to disrespect the author. I will simply state my thoughts.
I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions- just hit me up via email or hunt me down on Twitter.
Much love,
