Star Rating System

    Hey book dragons! It's been a while since I put up a post talking about my methods for reviewing books, so I wanted to bring back this series. This installment will be a quick run down of how I do my rating system. 

    I use the basic star system. I only use 5 stars because I feel like it is easier to use. I tried the 10 stars once, and I thought it was harder to find the right spot because there were so many numbers in between the middle and the highest/lowest numbers. 5 stars keeps it nice and easy for you to do and simple for readers to understand how you came to that rating.

    Here is my quick breakdown of what each level means to me:

        ⭐: I very rarely give a book 1 star. When I do, it means I could not find any redeeming qualities                 about it and I just really did not like it. The books awarded 1 star could also be books that I                    DNF which I think has only happened twice.
        ⭐⭐: These are books that I did not like, but they had redeeming qualities. For example, they                          could have a great idea behind them that was poorly executed. I would not like the book                          because it was not written well, but I can say there is the redeeming quality of a really                              good idea.
        ⭐⭐⭐: These are books that I am neutral towards. I did not like or dislike them. It is kind of                               as if  I read them and then afterwards I say 'okay, that happened. It's time to move on.'                             I do not have any strong feelings, positive or negative, and most likely will forget                                     about them later on in life because of that.
        ⭐⭐⭐⭐: This means that I really enjoyed the read. There may have been a couple of minor                                 things that I did not like as much, but overall a very good read that I would                                            recommend to others.
        ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: The books that earn 5 stars have my entire heart. I absolutely loved them. They                                        are the ones that I want to buy collector's editions for, gush about to anyone                                              that will listen, and that I am way overly protective of. I had physical reactions                                        while reading (ex: yelling, excited dances, etc.) and cannot recommend these                                            books highly enough. They are as close to perfect as possible to me.

    The last thing I have to say about my rating system is about giving half stars. I do not do this very often because I do not feel the need to most of the time. I find that the way I do my rating system tends to work well for me. However, every once in a while I have slightly mixed feelings and I just cannot put a solid number to. In these cases, I will give half a star. For example, I may give a 4.5 to a novel because everything about it deserves a 5 except the ending threw me off a lot. I would give a 4.5 because I liked it at the level of a 5 until the last chapter or some other minor thing like that.

    Just in case you don't feel like reading all of that, here is the shortened version with the most important information:

         ⭐: Really did not like (DNF books most likely go here)

         ⭐⭐: Did not like, but had redeeming qualities

         ⭐⭐⭐: Neutral

         ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Really enjoyed

         ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Loved

                *Half stars = rare/only for dilemmas where you really can't figure out a solid opinion