I’m a bit of a star whore. I tend to LOVE books or HATE them. I only bother to chronicle the ones I love here. So, it many seem like I just love everything I read, but it’s not true. If you see it here, it has a minimum of 3 stars.

5 stars – I love, love, loved it.

4 stars – I loved it.

3 stars – I liked it.

2 stars – I, um…no.

1 star – I want my money and my time back.

What I try NOT to base my ratings on.

I don’t need to love a character to love a book. I don’t need an alpha male, but don’t dislike them. I try to respect an author’s vision. Much like the HBO Series GIRLS, which I couldn’t get into, I know it’s great television and speaks to a specific audience. So, if I read something that’s just not in my area of interest, I’ll just say so and move on.

Some of my favorite characters in books are ones that aren’t particularly “likeable”. I’ve read books I’m convinced I would hate and still loved. I’ve had the opposite experience, too. I don’t think characters doing things I didn’t like means the writing is bad.

Sometimes we’re only human.

I respect authors too much to destroy their vision. If there are inconsistencies, bad grammar, apostrophe catastrophes, a lack of character development, or lack of resolution, those are reasons to honestly dislike a book. Just because “I wouldn’t have written it that way” is no reason to hate on a book or an author.

Not too long ago I read a book about a girl in college. It was clear to me that the author had never stepped foot inside a college based on her descriptions.

BDSM is a big topic in contemporary romance. Write it well or don’t write it at all. Just because someone buys handcuffs and bosses someone around does not make them a Dom/Domme.

There are a few authors whose books I really like, but don’t love, because they are SO poorly edited. Possessive and plural are NOT the same thing. One or two typos can happen to anyone. 57 apostrophe catastrophes?  It’s time to pay for an editor and/or book formatter.