Rating System & Book Length Determination
My rating system:
All reviews end with a number of stars out of five. Here’s what these approximately mean:
1 out of 5 stars–This is insanely, infinitely bad. Save yourself and stay away from it!
2 out of 5 stars–meh
3 out of 5 stars–Average. I didn’t hate it and didn’t love it. You might love it or hate it. Use your own discretion.
4 out of 5 stars–I really liked this a lot.
5 out of 5 stars-I LOVED THIS! There’s a big chance this was life-changing for me as well.
A note on the portions of star ratings over the years:
From 2009 to 2017 I reviewed every book I read. This makes the honesty of my reviews obvious, as the star ratings are spread out.
From 2017 to 2019, I experimented with doing monthly wrap-ups combined with some haiku reviews.
In 2020, I decided I missed the longer reviews focused on an individual book or series but I couldn’t maintain my commitment to reviewing every book I read. I therefore aim to review in longer form my favorite book I read each month, loosely, but sometimes I review more than that. This is why the star ratings skew higher.
In 2015, I also newly committed to allowing myself to “did not finish” or DNF a book. This permission to myself also skews the star ratings higher, as I do not review on this blog any book I did not finish, although they may be seen on my GoodReads dnf shelf, along with short explanations of why I didn’t finish.
Book Length Determination
Starting in March 2021, my reviews include a book length determination. I look at the number of pages noted for the book on GoodReads and then place it in one of the following categories:
novella/short nonfiction – 150 pages or less
average but on the shorter side – 151 to 300 pages
average but on the longer side – 301 to 449 pages
chunkster – 450 pages or more
At the bottom of the review, the post is categorized. The length is a category. Click on it to see more books of a similar length. Note, this will not include all books ever reviewed on this site, but it will include those from March 2021 on, as well as some older reviews.
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This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 
P.S. Your rating system is brilliant!
Aw, thank you! I’m so glad you like it.
My request for a review is composed, saved to my drafts, and patiently waiting to be sent, as it eagerly anticipates the pending clock’s striking approval by howling midnight on December 1st, 2011.
Haha! I hope it lives up to the antici…..pation. 😉
Ha, it’s March 2012 now. Seems like a goot time to pitch (though – when I look at your “bottom of the pile” challenge I wonder how you can handle it. You must be reading like mad).
Cheers and greetings from Switzerland
Oh hey thanks for that! I do need to update this page….
March sneaked up on me!!
Hi! I had a look at the new submission form and there’s a tiny problem with it. Where you tell people to check “none of the above” on the list of genres you don’t review (if they don’t fall on that list anywhere), there isn’t actually a “none of the above” option. 🙂
Thanks! It had had that option…I think Google ate it. It should be fixed now!
Thank you! 🙂
Thanks for letting me know!
Dear Amanda,
I found your website through Publish-to-Death blogspot, and I love your straightforward writing style.
I wonder if you would be interested in reviewing my novel, Celts and the Mad Goddess (89k words), which is getting published Oct. 1.
Book One in a fantasy series, it tells the story of a young Celtic woman called Rawena, who falls into the claws of the rat-goddess Pandemia. The goddess schemes to annihilate humans to preserve other animal species. She lets Rawena live but turns her into a pawn in a mad game. Rawena fights to defy Pandemia while running from her own tribespeople who suddenly see her as their enemy.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
All the best.
Peter (P.C. Darkcliff)
I’m afraid I’m not currently taking review requests. Good luck!