I’ve been lurking around Goodreads a while now and I discovered my star rating average is higher then the average reviewer.
I discovered this amazing community in July of 2015 and started reviewing books on Goodreads I wish I had started earlier but get what can you do.
Since starting on Goodreads I’ve learnt that star rating are not real ways to judge a book, I can read a 1 star review and still think this book sounds just right for me and then read another 1 star review and agree that the themes and characters don’t sound like something I would enjoy.
Noticing that my star average is actually really high and started thinking about why, so here’s a post about how I rate books and why I have so many 5 star reads that aren’t in my favourites list.
I research the books I choose, I look at the author, the reviewers I trust, I search for reviews that state the themes and what the characters are like and I know what I enjoy. I avoid books I think I’ll dislike for the simple reason of there are SO MANY books on my tbr why would I waste time reading something I know I wont really like?
Aliens? Baddass main character, All the Magic, Hate to Love trope? Mention any of these words and back it up and I’m in.
I rate books straight after reading them, going back through my reviews I see books that I know would probably give 3 stars to that got a 4 or 5 star rating. I rate books on how into them I was, how swept away with the characters at the time. Now when I try to think of what even happened in some books I can’t remember a thing. This however doesn’t change my rating because I did love it at the time and trust myself that I loved it for a reason.
I don’t write DNF book reviews, I appreciate people who state why they couldn’t finish it and I think I may have written a non starred review or more BUT I have read books I hated in the first 100 pages and then ended up loving once everything came together. I either give it a non star rating OR I just remove it from my tbr/ add it back to my tbr if I’d like to try it again in the future.
Don’t believe I give a load of 5 star reviews? (no one said that everyone already knows all you do is gush) Here is the hard proof.
2016 is probably the best year to show off my ratings, last year was the year I consistently used goodreads and nearly all of these books have full reviews.
I don’t know how your stats look or how your star rating work, every reviewer is different. But looking back at this list there are a lot of books I would change and be harsher with, mainly my 2 star reviews, nearly all of these could fit into the 1 star category.
It’s still really early into the year but right now I’m happy with the ratings I’ve given.
I like to think I have mostly 5 and 4 star reads because of how I’ve picked my reads to suit my tastes but how many of these books will I look back on once they’re no longer fresh in my mind and think how much did I really love that if I can’t remember the main characters name?
My overall goodsread rating is 4.27 which is pretty damn high compared to a lot of others but that’s just my reviewing style.
Do you use goodreads? If you do definitely add me even though you may be inundated with 5 star reviews XD
Do you pick and choose books you’ll know you’ll love? Do you review very critically or on how you feel in the moment you put down the book?
I would also love your opinion on changing ratings? Should I take the time to re mark books I think no longer deserve 5 stars or leave them as a time capsule for my past self’s love?
adoptabookaus.com 
I think if you can pick out books that you know are going to be 5 star reads for you, you have an incredible superpower that you should share with the rest of us 😛 Seriously, I try to do this, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I also tend to be critical of books, though, so sometimes I absolutely love a book, but because of my thoughts on writing or characters or whatever, they get rated down a bit.
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XD I just know my own mind I mean sometimes I’ll take a recommendation and think I’m going to love it and won’t but most of my 1-2 star reviews are books I picked up on a whim or a cover buy, since I stopped cover buying my reads have been so much better XD
I tend to only be really critical when I try and push through a book I’m not enjoying, now I try just dnfing it and moving on as it’s not worth my time 😀
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After reading your post I was interested in finding out what mine was because I don’t think I’d ever noticed it kept track. I knew it would be high though (4.55 as of today) mainly because I tend to rate books 5 stars if I liked them. I always found the star rating a bit hit and miss, like what makes a book 3 star instead of 4?
In the end I decided if I liked it, regardless of how much, I’d give it 5 stars. I’m also putting more effort into giving actual reviews too, not just stars so people can understand what I actually thought of it. I figure that gives a better impression of what I thought of a book better than any star rating.
I’m also very careful in deciding what to read. I check out multiple review sources as well as the sample before committing. If I’m not into it I don’t even start.
Recently I’ve found some that started good but turned me off early on, so I’ve started a “did not finish” shelf. I don’t think it’s fair on the book to rate it low just because it wasn’t my cup of tea. Obviously it was good for others, otherwise it wouldn’t have popped on my radar, so I just shuffle it sideways and move on.
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Samples are a life saver for choosing a book your on the fence with, I tend to read samples and decide if I want to buy the physical book or not or if the sample really hooked me just get it on ebook right away 😀
Checking out other reviews and trusted people on goodreads is one of my main go to’s in deciding if I want to read a book, also if its getting a heap of praise that my interest picks up even more and I read/buy it asap 🙂
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Thanks for explaining your process!!
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You do you! I love a good 5 star rating but mine tend to sit between the 4 – 4.5 mark. I also rate them based on how I feel when I am reading it, how much I think about it when I’m at work and should be focusing on other things and how I feel at the end. I personally love that there isn’t a uniform rating system because once you get a feel for an author or a reviewer, you know in your heart of hearts if a book is for you.
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I gave a book 5 stars basically instantly because I was so into it I missed my train station and was late to work XD Yes I could never add a book based on stars along I love hearing the thoughts and perspectives of reviewers I trust 🙂
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Hahaha I’ve done the same thing!
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Great post!! I’m exactly like you, I rate a book as soon as I finish it when I’m still swept up in the characters and the world. Then I let my mind stew for a few days while I’m writing notes for the review, and, if I realise that the book wasn’t as amazing as I thought it was, I drop the rating – not harshly, usually by about 1 star.
My rating average used to be so high as well but recently I went through my entire Goodreads read shelf and re-rated my books. My average dropped from 4.3 I think to 3.76. It makes me a little sad, but then I remember a majority of the 5 star books I rated when I was like 14-15 lol.
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I do that sometimes too! I probably have a fair few reviews that have lower rating on my blog then they do on goodreads because I’ve review right away (most the time) on goodreads and then wait a few days to put it on here and can see flaws I didn’t notice when I had just finished.
I need to go through some of my ratings when I have the spare time, I think it will be cool to see what books I feel differently about now 🙂
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Yes! It’s not until I’m writing a review and my fingers take a life of their own and just start typing and then I realise “Oh, wait, this book isn’t as good as I thought, damn.”
It was actually fun going through my old ratings, lol. Some of the books I have read and I remember like 0.3% of the plot and it has a 5 star rating. I’m like “why?”
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I feel like there are going to be a lot of why’s for me too XD
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My average is at 3.41 I believe 🙈 It dropped from 3.78 to that since December. Because 1/ I went back and rerated most of the books and 2/ I’ve become a pretty harsh reviewer in the bast few months, I don’t know how or when that happened but it did 😂
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I’m thinking I may go over my reviews when I have some spare time I feel like it would take a while 0.0
Your ratings haven’t dropped that much! I think the longer we read and review the harsher we can be in reviews because it’s easier to spot problems and see patterns the Author has followed, or just gotten sick of the love sick hero that decides to stop the plot in the middle of a hectic scene to kiss XD
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My average rating is not as high as yours but it’s still kind of higher than most people too, Casey! 😀 My reason is the same, I read books that I’m pretty sure I would love hahaha after all, why would we read books we’re probably gonna dislike? Life is too short to read bad books while there are so many great ones out there hahaha 😛 I also rate a book right after I finish reading and yeahhh looking back I feel like some books don’t deserve the ratings I gave. Sometimes I change my ratings though but most of the time I just leave them be hahaha great post! ❤
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Exactly right life is to short to read bad books esp when there are so many great ones out there just waiting to be read!
I’ve changed ratings and edited reviews before but I think I need to go through my whole read list and update my thoughts maybe when I’m really bored and not busy coz I can’t imagine how long that will take DX
Thank you! xxx
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This is an interesting post! I often think about how I want to be more critical with my star ratings, but I too get swept up in the moment.
I try to withhold my star rating until after I’ve had time to digest a piece and write my review, but I still end up with a lot of 4 and 5 star ratings. I think that some of it is definitely a selection process. Having a full-time job means that I have more limited free time than I did as a student; so, I am picky about what I read.
I also think I’m now more likely to DNF something that I’m not enjoying in the moment, but I’m not good about noting this on Goodreads; I just put it back in TBR list or remove it all together if I don’t think I’ll ever be in the mood. I only read the train wrecks if I know that I want to provide a full review of a book, because I don’t feel justified in tearing something apart unless I’ve given it full consideration.
I will have to consider my approach and write a blog post as well. These are very interesting things to consider. Thanks for sharing!
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Sometimes if I’m already at the 150 mark of a 300 page book I’ll push on for the pure fact I’d like to rant about it and can’t do that unless I’ve read the whole thing XD It doesn’t happen to often though usually I just put it down and move on.
Working full time def means being more selective with reads, I just know my book type, I have a few on my to be read list that I’ve been putting off because I purchased them ages ago and don’t know If I’m going to like them.
I think I need to leave more time between finishing a book and reviewing it I always get really swept away in the moment.
I’d love to see your blog post about ratings! It is really interesting to see how different everyone is in ratings.
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Great post. After reading this I was curious to know what my average rating is and as of right now it is 4.22. I tend to rate books on how I felt about them at the time, like how drawn into them that I am. I try to be critical but most of my thoughts and opinions are about how into the book I got.
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I’m the same way, there are a lot of books I would rate differently now at I know at the time that I finished it I was wept away with the story (Even if I have no idea what the book is even abut anymore xD)
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I’m such a mood reader that I really don’t know what I like yet I somehow end up with 4-5 star reviews OR with 1-2 stars. I very rarely fall in the middle. I tend to be entertained easily because I read what I think I’m in the mood for and if it turns out I’m not I put the book “on hold” until I’m in the mood for it. That’s probably how I end up with a lot of 4-5 star ratings because a book has to be 1. what I’m in the mood for and 2. pretty bad for me to give it a low rating haha
Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook
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I do the on hold thing as well that’s partly why tbr’s never work out for me , when I try force myself to read something I’m not feeling that’s when it will get a lower rating from me then it might have I had read it wen I as in a better mood. I think it’s much better just to put it down for a later time 🙂
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Very interesting analysis Casey! I don’t hand out many 5 star reviews, and I’ve often wondered why? Maybe this is because I try and read a very wide variety of books… for example, I read within the thriller genre even though it isn’t my favorite genre… Maybe this isn’t fair to the books because they generally get 3 stars… BUT what if I miss a 5 star book by limiting my reading to only the book I think I’ll like?
You’ve definitely given me some things to ponder.
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I tend to like every genre but I’m picky with my Authors like I won’t pick up a thriller if I either haven’t read the Author or it hasn’t been highly recommended to me coz they’re so hit or miss sometimes, I also tend to stay away from the hyped thrillers I read Girl on the train because a friend lent it to me and I knew I wasn’t going to like it but I gave it a go anyway.
I think it’s super important to read books out of your comfort zone I mean what if you stumble upon a new fave!
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I also rate a bunch of books 4-5 stars. I also use ridiculous star ratings – namely .5 and .75. I always rate books immediately after reading them but often I want to go back and adjust those ratings – and sometimes I do. Great post
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I want to go back and adjust all my ratings but I just never find the time to sit down and do it, I plan on it now though I have so many books I can barely remember that I gave 4 star reviews, like if it was really 4 stars I should be able to remember the mc’s name right?! XD
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Me too! Also, adjusting them in relation to other books? I’m often conflicted about it
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Hmm I’m always weird about that too because well there diff books but most times I love them in diff ways. If it was the same genre but its cliche because of hom mush I’ve read now I’d probs leave it the same as my original rating.
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Fair enough. Personally when I compare across ratings I don’t just think inside genres but overall reading experience
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