Happy Wednesday, fellow readers!
Let me know what you’re doing today! (Because let’s face it, I’m nosey). I’ll be typing up this post, walking into town to collect a package from the post office (I wonder what it’ll be?) and do some reading later on. I’m HOPING to do a very long session of blog hopping too, because it’s been ages since I’ve caught up on other people’s blogs. I really need to start actively using Bloglovin’, so the blog hop will be there too.
Anyway, back to the first part of my day – this discussion post!
What makes you rate a book 5 stars?
Do you hand them out willingly?
Or are you hesitant to hand them out?
Either way…what is it about a book that WILL get you to give it 5 stars?
~~~
Rating a book 5/5 can be quite a bold statement. I mean, you can’t get any higher rating that full marks.
If I see someone rate a book 5 stars, I automatically think “WOW this book must be great!” or I’ll think through whether I have a similar reading taste to them, so I can judge if I’ll enjoy it so much. 5 star rated books just catch my attention so much more. Of course they would!
But we all have our different reasons for rating books 5 stars…
THE BOOK IS FLAWLESS. ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS.
You can’t fault it.
The review is just you GUSHING YOUR LOVE for the book because WOW is it amazing.
Reading through the review and there is not one single bad thing to say about it.
Of course the book has faults. Don’t they all?
BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE YOU ENJOYED IT SO DAMN MUCH AND COULD SCREAM.
All the beautiful faulted characters, you just want to bundle them up in blankets because they’re so precious.
Yes, you can admit there’s things wrong with the book. But does it matter? NOT AT ALL.
Maybe there’s certain topic you look for.
A sort of checklist.
Great worldbuilding? – check
Complex characters? – check
Complicated but understandable plot? – check
At least two important issues discussed? – check
WELL THEN IT’S GETTING 5/5 STARS!
~~~
“So what makes me rate a book 5 stars?” I hear you ask.
Well, I can explain it very simply. Because while I don’t hand them out that often, I know exactly what needs to happen for me to give a 5 star rating.
I ADORE THIS BOOK SO MUCH, IT’S A NEW FAVOURITE.
Maybe there are faults. Maybe I can’t find them. Maybe I just don’t care about them because it makes the book even more perfect.
BUT I enjoyed this book so much, I loved it with all my hearts, it gave me ALL the emotions.
I could reread this book countless times and I’d not get bored.
I will instantly jump into any conversation that mentions this book. I will want to THROW this book at everyone who hasn’t read it, just screaming READ IT!!!
Basically, I’ll turn into a raving lunatic for this book.
So now it’s your turn!
Do you hand out 5 star ratings quite often, or are you hesitant to give them out?
What is it about a book that will make you give it 5 stars?
Maybe it’s different for every situation?
Has your rating system changed at all? Maybe you used to hand out 5 stars easily, whereas now you’re much more hesitant?
Also, don’t forget to tell me about your day (from the intro)!
Join the discussion in the comments!
Until next time…
Come and visit me!
A frolic through fiction 
Hey! So I agree about blog hopping, I haven dont that in a whle because i never seem to have time.
So the precious 5* rating! I used to give them out like they were sweets, until I started taking more time to break down my reviews and then they became less and less.
For me a book is rated 5 stars if after I have read it and moved to a new book I keep comparing the present book to it.
Also if I really like the authors writing style and just feel a super connection with the characters.
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A good session of blog hopping can feel so productive!
That’s a good way to judge a 5 star book. I never thought about waiting until moving onto another book to see if the opinion still stands!
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I’m mostly going to be reading. 😀
Great discussion!! For all of my 5 star ratings (and there have been a lot this month) I think the book was just perfect, or look over what might actually be wrong like you said. I’m picky about giving them out sometimes, but it also doesn’t bother me if I give several books in a row 5 stars. 🙂
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The best way to spend a day! 😀
Thank you! I sometimes feel a bit odd if I rate quite a few books 5 stars in a row, but then I just think “yeah but my opinion of this one doesn’t mean I liked the others less” – and feel a bit better. Though I don’t rate many 5 really (at least I don’t think I do!)
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I feel a bit odd too, since I think 7/12 books this month were 5 star reads, but then push that aside. I think they deserved it, so if people have a problem with that, too bad. 😉
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Well they ARE your opinions, so like you said – if other people don’t like it, too bad 😆 Just means YOU HAD A GREAT READING MONTH WOOP WOOP! 😀
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I hand out 5 stars pretty frequently. Usually it’s impulsive for me, whatever rating pops into my head first
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Sometimes the first rating you think of is the most honest though – it is most of the time for me anyway 🙂
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Same!
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For me it has to have amazing characters and a mind blowing plot! But above all, for it to deserve 5 stars it has to leave me completely obsessed once I finish it! If I don’t find myself thinking about the characters, relationships and wondering what will happen next in the plot (and the be completely surprised) it doesn’t deserve 5 stars!
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Exactly how I feel! If I know I’ll be thinking/talking about it for weeks, or months, it’s just got to be a 5 star rating!
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Yes but sometimes the excitement dies down and I stop thinking about it and realize the book didn’t deserve 5 stars, compared to those books that I still think about after a year 🙈
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True, true. It can be so disappointing when that happens!
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Yeah, and I feel bad for having to go back and change the ratings but I can’t not change them lol
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I don’t usually change them, but if I do I just add a bit on my reviews saying [Updated] with a short explanation. I created a new shelf on Goodreads called “old favourites” purely because I had that many on my favourites shelf that aren’t favourites anymore, but I didn’t want to go through and re-rate them because I read them so long ago!
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I don’t change the stars ratings on goodreads, I’ll just update my review saying 4.5 stars (which still looks like 5 stars)
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I don’t consider myself particularly stingy on the five stars, but at the same time, I rate a lot of stuff at 4 or below where other people rate it a 5, so…
I’m like you, with an exception. Yes, a 5 star book has to make me rave about how awesome it is, and make me want to shove it at people for them to read it…
…………or a 5 star book is one that stops me in my tracks. Makes me sit back, and think HARD about it. This *rarely* happens. If I have to think about a book for 2 or so days before I write the review, it’s probably going to be a 5 star. That just recently happened with The Johnson Project by Maggie Spence. Do I *like* the book? No, not particularly. It’s disturbing and makes you think way too hard and presents moral/ethical dilemmas that make you question yourself and society. There’s a twist at the end that had me literally yelling at the book. BUT – it’s a mustread. For all those reasons. It’s kind of like 1984 – not particularly well-written, but the CONTENT is amazeballs. It’s one of those books that should be handed out to classrooms and stuff.
As for what I”m doing today: Fixing other people’s messes, as usual.
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Completely agree with you! If a book makes you think about things more deeply rather than being just on an entertainment level, or feels like a must-read, then there’s not much more you can do than rate it 5 stars and encourage other people to read it! I’ll definitely be checking out the book you mentioned, I’m intrigued.
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I give a book 5 stars if I just absolutely adored it but if Ive been in a reading slump and a certain book got me out of it, I give it special credit and usually rate it full marks x_x
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Books that pull you out of a reading slump deserve a special award though. Honestly, they’re so difficult to deal with! Books that pull you out of it are saviours to our bookworm hearts haha 😆
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They truly are!! Glad you agree, thought it was just me being leaniant ahah 😛
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haha, I just visualized the “Throw this book at everyone” part 😀
as for my rating, it’s more of “I feel like it” rather than a reasonable list of points I need to check. Plus the 5-star rating doesn’t always mean it will land on my “favorite” shelf
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I feel the need to throw books way too often 😆 Of course, I never do though.
I find that really interesting! I love seeing the difference in people either having reasonable points or just giving it 5 stars because they want to. I think I’m a bit of both. If I want to give a book 5 stars, I won’t really have a reason other than I loved it, so I’ll spend time before my review trying to find points to mention so I have something to write about other than fangirling rambling!
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yeah, I often go on a whim with reviews and not always put all the good and bad parts in, but I don’t regret it 😀
Like today’s book – it’s extremely rare for me to write a review right after finishing the book, but here it is, few minutes after reading I wrote this: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1667372361?book_show_action=false
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This is a great topic to discuss! And also a really tough one… You make excellent points but even agreeing with each and every one of them, I don’t think I could really tell how I decide. I think it’s a mix of everything, but something I am sure of is that I will know really early in the story whether or not it’s going to be a 5 stars rating. That’s a constant, the fangirling episode must be triggered early on 🙂
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Thank you!
Very true! It’s so easy to see if it’ll be a new favourite or not, so within the first hundred pages or so you’re pretty much sold and get to fangirl for the rest of the book 😀
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I mostly give five stars for the first reason, but also for the second. If I absolutely fall in love with a book, I’ll be giving it a five stars in my head – even if it falls to pot at the end, if I love it enough I’ll still give it five out of five just because.
I don’t consider five star ratings to be special things reserved for only the best of the best, but at the same time, I feel very out of place in the Goodreads and blogging world. I don’t believe in giving high ratings to every single book and I feel as if I’m stingy with my five stars compared to other reviewers; it’s more likely you’ll see me giving out three stars than anything.
Charlotte @ Bookmarks and Blogging
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I think my average rating is 4 stars for the same reason – I love most of the books I read but don’t want to give them all high ratings.It’s all just a bit of a shambles to me haha!
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I completely agree with all your reasons for giving a book 5 stars! I think for me, a book needs to be well written, as in none of the dialogue/description sounds forced or unnatural and I need to be able to connect with the characters. Also, even if the plot twists drive me insane and argh how dare they hurt my favourite characters, even with all that… as long as I can understand why the author chose to include, then I can accept it. If the plot feels disjointed ir some parts unnecessary then I’m not so keen… Loved this post, Ashleigh! ❤
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Thank you!
I completely agree. Everything just needs to flow really well, and if it’s an emotional rollercoaster then I’m all in haha!
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I base my ratings on rereadability. To be a 5 star “favorite,” it has to be one that I will reread frequently & won’t want to skip big sections of. I don’t give out many.
Make New Friend, but Keep the Old: Rereading
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That’s a really interesting way to judge!
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I think for me it’s the feeling a book gives me. If it’s great but I don’t feel amazed, it’s 4 stars. If it leaves me with a book hangover however, it’s definitely a 5-star read. 😃
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That’s a lot like me then 😀
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