Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Hey everyone! In this discussion, you can share your review format (what you talk about in your reviews), review advice, and/or review questions (questions you have about writing good reviews).

Thanks!

I would love to hear from anyone on how they rate a book.

For me:

★★★★★ - This book was just excellent. I loved it and would recommend to everyone.
★★★★ - Great book, excellent writing. I enjoyed it a lot, but it had something that kept it from being a full five stars for me.
★★★ - This book was ok, a pretty average read. I enjoyed it well enough and might recommend it to the right person.
★★ - I didn't care for this one, but I was interested enough to finish it. It just wasn't for me.
★ - I rarely give these out. This is reserved for books that I just couldn't even finish whether it is due to the storyline or the writing or both.

Most of my books fall into the 3-4 star range. I am pretty good about choosing books I will enjoy at this point, so 1 and 2 stars don't happen too often.

As far as reviews go, I am in a big believer in not summarizing the story. This isn't a book report. If someone wants to know what the story is about, they can read the blurb. A quick line or two to summarize is ok, especially if you need to give an example to support something you've said, but you run the risk of leaving spoilers and ruining the book for others when you add too much of the plot.

I much prefer reviews that give an overall opinion of the book and/or writing. Again, some details are helpful as long as they don't include plot twists or reveal information that is best discovered during reading the story. I always try to remember that what seems like basic information to me after reading the book may still be considered a spoiler to someone else, so I try to be careful with it.

Also, personal preference, for me, I prefer medium to short reviews. When a review gets too long, I sometimes lose interest half way through. I can take or leave gifs. I know some people love/hate them, but I don't have a strong opinion on them either way.

Also, I do love when people do a little research and add outside info into their reviews. That is always fun to find a nugget like that.

thanks Kristie

I'm also afraid to write something and that might be some type of spoiler. So if I write a review, it's really short.