Rating System and Bookish Lingo
I rate all my books on Goodreads only (for now).
Honestly, I tried other book review apps, but I didn't invest enough time to make them organised to make sense. Maybe one day I will successfully move to Fable and Storygraph.
I also use the 'standard' bookish language you encounter on reading apps and social media, so my reviews contain a lot of acronyms and similar review structure.
What I share in my reviews:
- Overall vibes: overall impression, whether the book kept me up all night, if I ignored my responsibilities, husband, cat, friends; if the book made me smack my Kindle against the wall... you get the gist.
- World building: if it was clear, immersive, innovative...
- Magic system (in fantasy): if it was unique, easy to understand, confusing, if it had powerful enough cost to drive the plot.
- FMC (in romantasy, fantasy romance): if I liked her, hated her, what annoyed me, what was awesome, how invested her character made me feel, if she was fitting for the plot, and other things
- MMC (in romantasy, fantasy romance, fantasy in general): whether he was a worthwhile character, how his persona directed the story, his relationship to the FMC.
- Spice level: from 0-5 depending on the frequency, plot impact, and whether it was necessary or unnecessary in the story.
- Side characters: how interesting they were and if I learnt enough about them to care; how they impacted the FMC and MMC journey and plot overall.
- Favourite and less favourite tropes: I openly share if I liked a trope or theme and if that made any impact on the rating.
- Recommendation: whether I would or not recommend the book, to whom, and what kind of vibes one can get from it.
- Next steps: if it's a book series, I would express my intention for continuing the next one,
Rating System
- 5 ⭐️ and beyond: ultimate favourite.
Everything was perfect even if maybe it wasn't because the vibes were vibing, and now that book lives rent feee in my head. I would bully my book buddy to read it until she does.
- 5⭐️: perfection despite some flaws. Sometimes I just find the book amazing even if some aspects were not ideal like the FMC or some tropes.
- 4⭐️: great book, amazing story, but maybe something did not vibe well, or maybe the FMC was too annoying, the twists were somewhat predictable. Maybe the ending was lukewarm, or it just pissed me off but not in a 'great cliffhanger' way.
- 3⭐️: good book, huge potential, but it had more flaws than I liked. I would still recommend it as maybe someone who likes those the tropes and themes may enjoy it. Sometimes this rating goes to filler books in series if they felt like money-grabbers.
-2⭐️: I finished the book, but I did not like it, enjoy it, or even want to read it again. I would rather unread it if I could. I rarely comment on the writing, but more on the story and plot itself.
-1⭐️: DNF, most often. Gave it a try and the book just didn't feel good at all. It felt like waste of (that small amount I can spare) time. The book was just not for me.
Note that if the rating is in-between: .25, .50, or .75 it's because I was leaning towards higher rating.
Spice Rating
- 5🌶️: all banging, no plot. I honestly don't think I ever gave this rating to any book, as I haven't picked up such books yet.
- 4🌶️: book is heavy on spice, but not some mild lovey-dovey copy-paste chapter after chapter. This category is usually reserved for dark stuff with serious trigger warnings.
- 3 🌶️: equal amount of plot and spice where the spicy scenes have some plot or character development impact. Usually it's only 3-5 chapters of such content, but not recommended for younger audiences.
- 2 🌶️: plot takes the lead, but there is some spice in more than 1 or 2 chapters. It feels fine with the story, but it's not the focus. Still not recommended for younger audiences.
- 1 🌶️: just a little bit of spice to show character connection, but it's not the focus of the book and it shouldn't be. Comfortable to read, and even fine to skip.
- 🫑: no spice and truly ok for young adults and anyone who doesn't enjoy such content in books. Some genre doesn't make sense to have spice in it, which is more than logical.
Note that if the rating is in-between: .5 it's because I some where half scenes of mild spice.
Commonly Used Language
- POV: Point of View
(1st Person, 3rd Person, single, dual, or multiple POV)
- FMC: Female Main Character
- MMC: Male Main Character
- DNF: Did Not Finish the book
- TBR: To be read
- ARC: Advanced Reader Copy
- YA: Young adult
- Insta-love/Insta-lust: no real connection between the characters but the they get together in some way in the first 40% of the book.
- Slow burn: opposite of insta-love/lust. The plot is more important than character relationship.
- CW/TW: content warnings and trigger warnings (of the book content that may impact sensitive readers)
- Info-dump: you get a lot of information about the world or characters very early in the book or in one place.
- HEA: Happily Every After; HFN: Happy for Now