We all know that how we feel about a certain book is subjective. A book I love you may have thought was terrible and vice versa.
With that said, here is how I personally rate any book featured on this site.
To begin with, since the majority of the books I read are romance, I feature both an overall rating and spice rating.
I feel like it's important to note that I do prefer books with at least a bit of spice, I don't mind cursing at all, and I don't mind most triggers in books so most of these don't factor into my overall rating unless I say otherwise in the specific review.
Book Length Rating
I enjoy reading books that I can finish in an hour or may take days. Here's how I rate book length.
Novella/Prequel: Under 100 pages. Usually an insta-love book, novella, or prequel (short story/background story that takes place before a longer book).
Short: 100 to 200 pages. These are usually insta-love, have minimal angst, or are mostly spice versus plot.
Medium: 200 to 300 pages. These days I'd say this is a pretty standard length for most romance books.
Long: 300 to 500 pages. Usually, a book that covers several years or features more backstory or detail than most. It may include multiple epilogues.
Extra-Long: 500+ pages. The author had a lot of story to tell. May include more than two main characters and/or cover a lot of plot over longer periods of time.
What My Overall Book Rating Means
Note that I do sometimes rate books at a .5 (like a 4.5). This means I was torn between where exactly the book should land, feeling it was a bit better than a 4, but not quite a 5. When I do this I will round up on star ratings on sites like Amazon (i.e. a 3.5 will be submitted as a 4-star rating).
As a side note, I'm not a reader that requires perfect error-free grammar.
I will detract from the rating if there are more than a handful of readily noticeable issues that take away from my enjoying the book, such as having to read a sentence multiple times for it to make sense.
5 Stars - This was a book I absolutely loved to the point it has stuck with me long after finishing it. I could find very little if anything I didn't like about the book.
It's a book that I would recommend anyone read and may read again myself because it was different from most other books I've read.
It pops up in my mind now and then, and I may even wish I could read it again for the first time. A book that I wanted to finish in one sitting.
Needless to say, I don't give out 5-star ratings very often.
4 Stars - I'd say this is probably my most common rating for books.
A 4-star rating means I really enjoyed the book and would recommend others read it.
While it was a good, solidly written book it may not have had anything unique or outstanding about it compared to other books and likely isn't something I'd read for a second time.
The grammar may not have been perfect but any mistakes didn't detract from the book.
It's a book I finished within a few days because I looked forward to finishing it.
3 Stars - I really thought I'd like this book but at least part of it just fell flat and didn't meet my expectations.
I don't regret taking the time to read the book but only recommend it to people looking for certain elements in the book.
I may have struggled with getting into this book and sticking with it due to a confusing or overly exaggerated storyline or poor grammar that made it difficult but not impossible to read.
These are likely books I put down multiple times and wasn't tempted to read the whole thing in one sitting at all.
2 Stars - I thought this book had potential in the beginning but felt it went downhill quickly and thus don't recommend it to others.
I either likely tried to stick with the book but by the halfway point felt I was wasting my time and ended up not finishing it or read the whole thing and likely regretted taking the time to do so.
It may be poorly written with either poor grammar or storyline.
1 Star - I didn't like this book at all from the beginning and don't recommend others read it.
I did not finish reading this book. It may be poorly written and hard to read due to extremely poor grammar.
What My Spice Book Rating Means
I base spice ratings mostly on the actual spiciness of intimate scenes in a book, with a sight influence on how many scenes there are.
5 Peppers - This book is one of the spiciest I've ever read with lots of detailed intimate scenes, dirty talk, and likely a variety of kinks.
This level of spice will definitely have you wanting to turn it into a one-handed read with your BOB, seeking out your partner, or at least panting and blushing profusely.
4 Peppers - This book has above-average spice, dirty talk, and maybe some kinks tempting you to turn it into a one-handed read.
3 Peppers - This book has average spice and dirty talk, potentially with more commonly accepted kinks like light bondage.
2 Peppers - This book has very mild spice and/or dirty talk and no kinks. Scenes are likely not overly detailed or are vanilla in nature.
1 Pepper - This book likely has scenes that start open door or mild dirty talk and then fade to black before completion.
0 Peppers - This book is likely classified as clean and wholesome. There's just kissing and embracing and no dirty talk.
Head on over to our book reviews to see this guide in action.
I also try to include as much information about books without flat-out spoiling them in my review.
This includes triggers, which I do hide behind a click/tap to reveal as I find they can often give away parts of the book that you may not want to know going in if you're like me and triggers don't usually bother you.
As I state in all reviews, be sure to visit the author's website or sometimes the beginning of the book to review triggers that may be given as I may not list them all.
I do not list pricing for books as they are constantly fluctuating and for Amazon specifically, it is discouraged to do so anyway.
Note that books on Kindle Unlimited are exclusive to Amazon and are not currently (January 2024) allowed to be sold elsewhere so that may be why only Amazon links are included on certain posts.
If there's other information you'd like me to include in my reviews please let me know!