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3 Star Rating: What It Means Here on FIF

Morning Lovelies! A couple of weeks ago, I was approached by one of the reviewers at Bitten by Paranormal Romance about participating in this event. After attending the Book Bloggers and Publishers online conference and hearing what authors thought 3 star ratings meant, I realized that there is a huge difference between their perception and mine. Hopefully, this post will clear up the confusion.

From my review policy page:

3 /5 – Enjoyable! Maybe borrow it before committing yourself to a purchase.

First, I have to say, 3 star ratings are not bad! To me, it simply means “average”. These are the books that were fun to read, but I might not feel the need to buy a copy. Of course, everyone’s opinions are different, and the qualities that justify a book purchase will also vary. In my world, I simply cannot afford to buy all of the books I enjoy reading. Book buying funds are scarce and I need to be picky about which books earn a permanent place on my shelf.

I also need to let you all know how I judge books. I’m not one of those people who picks a book apart and scores it on ten different things. My ratings are based on how much I enjoyed reading the book. With that in mind, there are things that will decrease the amount of enjoyment I get. The editor in me has a hard time dealing with repeated grammatical errors, and if the writing is too confusing, that’s a real downer, too. Just to put it all in perspective, here are my 4/5 and 5/5 rating definitions:

4 /5 – Liked it! Not enough to marry it, but definitely worth reading!

(I would probably buy this book if I was in the bookstore and didn’t find something that I wanted more, or if I already have it, keep it for a possible re-read)

5/5 - Phenomenal read that will stay on my shelf forever! Seriously, you will likely have to pry this from my cold, dead hands!

(This means I will be buying this book for sure, and will also be recommending it to everyone I talk to. These are the books that keep me up at night reading.)

The way I see it, I have entirely way too many books to read and if I book isn’t good enough to earn 3/5 from me, I won’t force myself to finish it. Getting a 3/5 means that I enjoyed it enough to finish reading it, which is pretty good since I currently have about 15 books in my TBR pile.

I hope this helps clear up the confusion about 3 star ratings. Here on FIF, 3/5 is pretty darn good!

Be sure to visit the linky at Bitten by Paranormal Romance and check out the other blogs that are participating!

Theresa