A subscriber have recently asked me about my star ratings for my book reviews. How is it that I can award a 4 star rating to a literary classic and a 5 star rating to a rural romance? Simple answer: my rating reflects how much I enjoyed reading it.

I make an effort to write a review on most of the books I read (and include these reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and Librarything). Writers depend on reviews to help promote their books, and as such I do not post reviews on books I could not finish or would rate below 3 stars. Just because I don’t enjoy something doesn’t mean that other people won’t love it.

Just like ratings for hotels vary across sub-categories(trust me a 4.5 star motel room isn’t a patch on a 4.5 star hotel room), so do my book reviews. So a 5 star rating for a romance novel is genre specific. The book may not reach the same standards of literary accomplishment as a classic, but it is at the top of its class in terms of my enjoyment of it. Feel free to agree or disagree, but be aware that other’s ratings of books and products are based on their personal preferences and opinion.