Confessions of a Crazy Blogger: Books I Lied About

Yikes! Recently, I was asked a question by someone who I’m friends with on Goodreads. She said something along the lines of “Do you rate everything five stars?” Now, this is a completely valid question. I do rate a TON of books five stars. All the time. But the real problem is, I don’t always mean it.

Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of people writing posts explaining what their ratings mean to them. I’d definitely like to do one of those soon, but they got me thinking: what does a five star book constitute from me? I didn’t find it too hard a question. Basically, in order for a book to hit five stars, it has to hit two milestones-

1. The actual writing of the book has to be amazing. By this, I mean the writing style, plot, characters, relationships, world-building, etc. etc.
2. I have to really fall in love with it. When I finish a really good book, I usually get chills. If I don’t get that feeling from the book, I haven’t really fallen in love with it.

If the book only hits one of these marks, it’s usually four stars, or if it’s really close but not quite good enough, it’ll get 4 and a half.

However, I’ve just become so used to saying that I love all the books I read, that I’ve rated a lot of them five stars. And I do mean a lot. Even if they don’t really deserve it. And those are the books I’m here to talk about today! I want to change my Goodreads rating and hopefully explain myself a bit.

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

I never ended up posting a review of this, although I did start writing one on my iPad right after I finished it. When I rated it on Goodreads, I initially gave it five stars, but I honestly didn’t enjoy it that much. I have no idea why I gave it five stars. Popular opinion? In any case, the way I feel about this book is that it shouldn’t have been published. I think it’s probably an awesome play and I definitely want to see it sometime, but it obviously wasn’t made to be read as a book, and seeing as how it’s not even written by J.K. Rowling, it most certainly doesn’t count (to me) as the eighth book in the series. I liked the idea alright, and I appreciated going back into the Harry Potter world, but as I’m sure you’ve heard before, there are many, many problems with this book, so I’m changing it from my initial five stars to two.

2. Red Queen

When I first read this book, I absolutely loved it. Then for the next few weeks, I proceeded to be bombarded with reviews and other people’s opinions and just generally became very confused about what my actual thoughts on it were. I went back and forth from one to five stars, which of course, is a huge jump. Eventually, I settled on three, because that was a compromise, but I want to change it to four, because I really did enjoy it, I’m just not sure anymore whether it would constitute a five star rating.

3. The Divergent Trilogy

When I first read these books, I absolutely loved the first two, and hated the last one due to the ending. So I rated the first two five stars, and the third three (because I was unable to hate on books back then, I was a strange little monkey). However, in the two years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve grown so much as a person, a blogger, and a reader. I’ve read so many more books, and I’ve simply become pickier about what I like. I have higher standards. I’m desensitized to books, and I’m not as easily swayed to love a book like I used to be. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that I’m really impressed with Veronica Roth’s decision at the end of Allegiant. I still think it could’ve been done better, but she was extremely brave to do that, and now I see why. Although the Divergent books are fairly good, they’re just typical sci-fi dystopian books. Allegiant’s ending is what really separates them apart from other dystopians. Therefore, I’ve decided to move the first two’s ratings down to three stars and the third up to four.

4. The You I’ve Never Known

I actually wrote a review on this one, and it was definitely a rave review. In my confusion of the book, I mistook it for love of said book, and raved about it without really understanding why or actually feeling the love. The problem with this book (as I mentioned in my review) is that in the synopsis, one of the major plot twists at the end of the book is revealed. Therefore, I went into the book waiting for that plot point to happen, which took AGES, and when it did come, I was disappointed because I knew it was going to happen. The story was still amazing, but I much rather would’ve gone in blind, and because of the synopsis, I really did not enjoy it as much as I could have. Therefore, I’m changing the five stars to 3 and half!

5. The Rose and the Dagger

I absolutely ADORED The Wrath and the Dawn. It was perfect and beautiful and AGH. But somehow, even though I enjoyed this one, it just didn’t live up to the first. Which, of course, was super disappointing. And I thought the ending was done a little strangely. When I first finished it, I thought that that was all in my head, but I’ve seen other people saying the same things. All things considered, I have to bring it down from five stars to… three and 3/4? Is that a thing? YES.

6. The Maze Runner

When this movie was out in theaters, I had already heard of the book and had been meaning to read it. But when my dad offered to take me to go see it, I just couldn’t resist. So yes, I saw the movie before reading the book. And unfortunately, this is just one of those weird books that aren’t as good as the movie. Although it wasn’t my favorite movie ever either, the book just wasn’t that great. I have no interest in continuing on with the series, and I honestly have no idea why I rated it five stars. I recall the story as being just “meh”, so I’m bringing it down to three.

7. Fallen

I really wanted to like this one. I had a bad opinion of it before I even went into it, but I was hoping that I would like it more than I thought I would. Maybe that’s why I rated it five stars? I’m not really sure. All in all, I just wasn’t all that impressed with the plot line, characters, or romance. The experience wasn’t that memorable or great for me, and I could’ve done without it. It’s another one of those “meh” books. I’m also bringing this one down to three stars.

8. Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend

Katie Finn is Morgan Matson’s pseudonym. I read an interview from her, and she does say that the reason she publishes books under her two separate names is because she writes in two personalities. This is so true! I LOVE Morgan Matson’s books, but Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend didn’t really work for me. It’s a revenge story, which I wasn’t expecting, and I just didn’t enjoy it all that much. Still, I love MM’s books so much that I think I’ll have to pick up another KF book sometime. In any case, I’m moving this book from 4 stars to 3.

9. Dissonance

I think I rated this book five stars because I was expecting and hoping it would be five stars. I love the premise of this book, but after I got into it, I didn’t really like it all that much. The romance was not-so-great, the main character was annoying at times, and the plot didn’t pan out as well as I was hoping. It just didn’t meet any of my expectations, and overall, it fell rather flat for me. It seems strange to me that I rated it five stars, when it only makes sense to put it at three.

10. Dorothy Must Die

I evidently had SOME semblance of a brain when I rated this book, because I did at least rate it 4 instead of 5 stars. When I went into this one, I was super excited. I love the concept. Because DOROTHY. MUST. DIE. But as I got closer and closer to the end, I just wasn’t impressed. I hated the actual ending, and I was really hoping for more from this book. It dragged the story on unnecessarily, and it was just irritating in general. I’m assuming I rated this one higher because of all the hype. Everyone seems to love it, but it really just wasn’t for me. Therefore, I’m moving it from four down to two stars.

Whew! I hope you guys enjoyed this! If you’re wondering why it’s important, well! First of all, I want to be entirely honest with you guys, and I just felt kind of gross about these. Second, I wanted to share my actual rating on my main platform so that you aren’t misinformed. And third, I thought it would be fun to share! Again, I really hope you enjoyed this. Please do let me know in the comments down below what you thought of this idea, whether you agree with me on any of these, or if you’ve ever mis-rated a book too high or too low!

And P.S. I’m totally cheating and linking up to Top Ten Tuesday with this one. It’s Tuesday, it’s a Top Ten, I promise I’ll look around the linky- pinky swear! 😉

Lots of Love, Amy ❤

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