Reviewing books

Reviewing books is hard. (I don't do it very well)

You have to put all the emotions you experienced whilst reading this book into words that tell other people exactly what you felt.

You have to make sure you include everything you want to say, but also make sure that you don't just ramble on about the possibility of living in that universe or cake. (which is hard. Cake takes up a lot of space).

But most of all (and this is the bit I hate the most), you have to put all your feelings into a certain amount of stars.

THOSE BLOOMIN' STARS!

I always find it hard to put my feelings into star ratings, meaning I literally have to make pro and con lists every time I review a book. Sometimes I give a book 3 stars and feel like it is too harsh because technically I liked the book; it just wasn't incredible. So over  the last few weeks I've come up with a system that correctly represents my feelings. And here it is:

💜- I hated it / couldn't finish reading it. It made me fall asleep and/or want to rip my eyes out. Read this only if you have a death wish (or you want to, I won't judge) (yes I will)

💜💜- I had some major problems with this book which I will never be able to get over. If you asked me for my least favourite book it would probably have this rating. However, it wasn't totally bad and I could see the potential (it just wasn't acted on)

💜💜💜- This book was okay. I enjoyed reading it but it isn't going to stick with me. In the long run this book was just a filler book between the last really great book I read and the next one I'm going to read. (A lot of contemporaries fall under this category; I enjoy them but at the end of the day they are all the same)

💜💜💜💜- I really really liked this book. Sure there were problems but I can overlook them when this story was so fabulous. I'll probably re-read it in the future and it will always have a spot on my bookshelf.

💜💜💜💜💜- I loved this book! It made me feel so many emotions and now I need to sit here and stroke it whilst telling everyone to read it!

💜💜💜💜💜💜- I LOVED IT! NEW FAVOURITE! EVERYONE HAS TO READ IT! (I've already re-read it at least 7 times and named my children after the characters and forced everyone I know to read it so...)

I hope this guide has been helpful to anyone who was unsure of how I rate my books. It is quite hard to decide which category the books I read fit into, but I think this captures it best.

How do you rate your books? Do you have a system similar to mine, or a you just a random reviewer? Let me know in the comments below!

And until next time, keep reading!