Ratings- What They Mean to Me

This has been on my mind for a while so I thought I'd share. Ratings. Many (I would even say most) bloggers have their own system of them. Some like them, some don't. I like to have them around so people can see which books I love above all (the 4-5 stars) and which books didn't work.

Over the last few months, I've been noticing a trend in my ratings.

Down. I'm not rating book as high anymore. These are ratings from reviews that haven't been posted yet so it may not be noticeable yet, but it is there. It's not because the books I'm reading are awful. I've read some awesome titles. I think it's more because I'm getting more confident in expressing my opinions and reviewing.

When I first started blogging I was just so excited and wrote very positive reviews. I didn't really feel right posting to the internet negative thoughts. My reviews were honest but more on a sugar coated positive scale as I was learning what to do.

Now after some time, I've reviewed a lot and I know what I like and don't like. I'm confident that if I had an issue with a book, it's worth being mentioned seeing as someone else may have had the same issue. I've learned to not be influenced so much by the hype. This results in rethinking my rating system.

I'm going to be even more honest now.

1 star will mean this book incited very negative feelings. As in, OMG I hate this book. (I'll never say that though. I won't even bother reviewing a one star book because this means I can't think of the positive.)

2 stars means the book was okay. I didn't really think much of it- it wasn't good or bad. It was lacking and there was some stuff I didn't care for.

3 stars means I liked it. It's more good than bad, so I like it. It's not amazing though.

4 stars means it's really good. You could even say great. I really liked this book and 4 star books are usually among my favourites.

5 stars (which will now be very very rare) are books that all throughout had me amazed and in awe. Nothing was wrong with this book. I was satisfied in every way.

To make sure I'm giving the right rating, I'm also employing a "find the average" system. Every book is given a 1-5 score on 4 fronts: Characters, World, Plot, and Interest. I'll then find the average and if needed (like 3.25 score) I'll round it up or down.

This all being done so that books with high scores deserve them. All books shouldn't get 4s. It's my way of being even more honest and improving my reviews.

So what do you think? Do you give high ratings a lot? Are you harsh? Are you forgiving? Do you think a lot when it comes to ratings? Do you even rate?