I rate on a five-star system with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best.

I rate books on their own merit and stars are not equal across the board. So while I may love a book and give it 4 or 5 stars, that doesn’t mean it would stand up next to “To Kill a Mockingbird” (which is a phenomenal book that you should read if you haven’t). It just means I loved that book as it was. And yes, sometimes I proudly like junk.

A middle-of-the-road rating for me would be 3 out of 5 stars. That doesn’t mean I hated the book or that I loved the book. It means I liked the book (maybe even a lot), it was an enjoyable read and I would suggest it to someone else. I probably wouldn’t read it a second time, though.

You won’t see a lot of 1 or 5 stars from me because it has to be truly exceptional or truly terrible for me to rate that extreme. A 4-star means I really liked it and would pick it up again. A 2-star means I barely got through it. I might finish a 1-star book, but there is a good chance I didn’t.

There is nothing scientific about this. These are strictly my opinions. You know, ’cause it’s my blog.