3 Stars: Is that a “Good” rating? – Let’s Talk Bookish

Hello friends!! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week! Welcome back to another Let’s Talk Bookish post. Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by me and Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

Today’s topic is: Is 3 Stars a “Good” Rating?

This is Dani’s topic, and I’m super excited to discuss this! I’m also so so happy with all the participation that we have this week!! So, without further ado, let’s get started.

If you haven’t already noticed, ratings are very subjective and can be useless if you don’t know the reviewer’s rating scale.

4 stars for me could mean 3.5 stars to you. 1 star for me could mean 3 stars to you. It all depends on how we all personally think of the definition of each star, and how we feel about the book. For me:

• 5 stars is “I loved this book so very much, it has a powerful message/pulled at my heart strings/has the most amazing characters, etc….”
• 4 stars is “It was a pretty good book. I really liked it but there’s something that made it less than 5 or I just didn’t have that 5 star feeling”
• 3 stars is “Not bad. It was an interesting story but it was either extremely mediocre or there were some issues”
• 2 stars is “Extremely disappointing/Why did I read this?/I don’t think I “got” the point of this book”
• 1 star is “Somebody please give me back my time and brain cells that I burned by reading this book”

I also use half stars which probably complicates things a little bit more. But for me, 3 is not a bad rating at all.

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Do you hesitate to pick up books that seem to get a lot of 3 star ratings?

Yes, sometimes I do hesitate to pick up a book that gets a lot of 3 star ratings. It’s not that I think the book will be bad, it’s just: why bother reading a book that’s left so many people just feeling “good” when I can go read a book that has the potential to leave me a blubbering gushing mess?

It’s not a pretty sight when I’m a blubbering gushing mess, but I like the emotional heartache of it.

Of course, the book that can lead me to being a blubbering gushing mess can also leave me as an angry salty porcupine. But really, would you want to read a mediocre book or one that can become a new absolute favorite?

Just because a book has many 3 stars doesn’t mean that I won’t read it at all. I’ll probably just be more wary of it and less inclined to add it to my TBR immediately. You’ve got to admit, reading reviews that are mostly like, “it was good, but it could have been better” is not going to make you super excited to read the book. But when you see a review like “askjafhsjka READ THIS BOOK NOW” or “I hated this book with every. fiber. of. my. entire. being.” you’re probably going to be a lot more interested to see on which side of the spectrum you’ll fall on.

I definitely would.

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To Conclude…

3 stars is not a bad rating, unless it is personally for you. I rate most books I read either 3 or 4 stars and I will probably still recommend them. Maybe not as much as I’d recommend a 5 star book that I loved, but as far as I’m concerned it isn’t a bad rating at all.

This Week’s Participants:

Dani @ Literary Lion | Evelyn @ Evelyn Reads | M.T. @ The Last Book on the Left

Nicole @ Thoughts Stained With Ink | Rian @ Dogs and Books | Abby @ Beyond the Read

Aayushi @ My Bookish Banter | Kristina @ Books and Dachshunds | Allana @ Simply Allana

Breanna @ Paws and Paperbacks | Amena @ Nerd in New York | Amber @ Escape Life in the Pages

Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den | Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads | Siena @ Booksophobia

Can someone please explain to me why they updated the Editor like this?? I mean, it’s nice, I like the look, but when I type /, I expect to see my most used blocks, not just a random list of things!!

Is 3 stars a good rating for you? How often do you rate a book 3 stars? What kind of reviews do you prefer reading? What book did you hate with every fiber of your being? Did you check out some of the other awesome discussions that I linked? Share your thoughts in the comments below!