My Book Review Rating System

My blog is A Lady and Four Gents (I’m the Lady and my four sons are the Gents). I decided to go with that for my rating system, instead of using stars or thumbs.

I’ve detailed my five-point book review rating system here, starting at the bottom and finishing with the best.

One Gent

This rating is the lowest (poor, solitary gent!). I don’t expect to give many, if any, of these ratings, as I’m pretty good about pre-screening what I read.

I don’t like to waste my time on books with poor writing, wooden characters, or boring plots, so I usually manage to weed those books out.

Two Gents

I’ll give this rating for books that are below-average, but that I’ve finished. You know, the kind that you don’t really want to keep reading, but that you feel obligated to because you’ve invested enough time in it.

Or maybe so many others loved the book and you’re determined to figure out what all the hoopla is. You never do, but at least you finish the darn book!

Three Gents

This rating is for good, but not great books. These books usually keep my interest, but drag at parts, or perhaps have trite plots.

A book that gets this rating may have promised a lot but not delivered on it. These books are the “good-enough” books.

Four Gents

I expect that many of the books I review on my blog will get this rating. Again, I’m pretty good at pre-screening my books, and don’t like to waste my time on clunkers.

What would keep these books from the ultimate rating? One thing is an unrelatable main character. It’s more than okay if the protagonist uses a flying dragon to get around town, but she can’t have perfect hair and make-up while she does it!

Four Gents and A Lady

This rating is the highest I’ll give on my blog.

To earn this rating, a book needs to have entertained me greatly, such as keeping me up late at night so I read until the last chapter.

Another way to get this rating is gorgeous use of language. A beautiful turn of phrase gets me every time.