5 Stars - This book accomplished everything it set out to do. The writing felt effortless. If it is a plot driven narrative the action didn't bog down. If it's character driven, I became emotionally invested in them, whether I liked them or not. A book doesn't have to be deep and impossibly meaningful, and they actually lose a star or two if they are too earnest. All it has to be is exactly what it set out to be, better than most of its ilk (whatever ilk that is), and "true" to itself from start to finish. I can recommend this book to anybody who loves reading, unless they are locked into genre, in which case, shame on them.
4 Stars - This means that something in the book may have left me wanting for some reason -- and yes, sometimes that's just a ME thing -- but overall, I still want people to read the book, and will recommend it enthusiastically. It just might be the second book I pick up to show a customer. There really is only a hair's difference between a 4 and a 5 star book for me.
3 Stars - If a customer picks this one up I can honestly tell them I read it, and liked it, and I'd mean it. It just didn't blow the doors off.
2 Stars - Meh. It just didn't work for me, but it held my interest long enough to have finished it. I wouldn't dissuade a customer from buying it, and if they asked, I'd say, "It was okay." Usually that opens the door to recommend another book, but sometimes a customer has read something about it that makes them want to try it, and I won't dissuade them from doing so.
1 Star - I finished the book. It's possible I was desperate. If a customer brought the book to me I'd say, "May I suggest something else?" Admittedly, you'll find very few * on my list, because if I have another book in the pipeline I'd probably not even keep reading it, and if I didn't finish a book, it won't appear on this blog.
Even great authors have bad days, bless their hearts.
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