BULLIED INTO CHANGING RATING??

The whole point of asking a reviewer for a review of your book is to get an HONEST opinion. Not everyone is going to enjoy every single book I'm sorry to break it to you. After being told giving someone, a 3 stars is like a C in the literary world, and worst than rating something a 1 or 2 stars, I decided to give it some thought, write this but and put down what I THINK the star ratings mean.

I honestly felt like I was bullied recently by an author who asked me to read and review their book. No, I won't name any names of course but it has really put me on edge on what I want to review now. My 'job' as a book reviewer is to read the book and give my opinion on it. If you want people to restate how you feel about the book then don't ask for our opinions. Now I understand that some people go right out of their way to put down a book and make the authors feel ridiculous for writing it, but I would never do that. I give it the benefit of the doubt, read it all the way through and try and make my reviews as professional as I can. I gave this book a 3-star review, it was good, written well but it was not my cup of tea. I don't see anything wrong with that rating. I'm not on either side, it was a good book, but it wasn't a good book for me. I would not recommend it to friends because I didn't enjoy it. From the 'tone' of the replies, this author sent after reading my review made me feel like I was a terrible person/reviewer for rating said book a 3 out of 5. Now, first of all that just makes me want to drop that rating down to a 1 for the way the author handled the review - if the author refuses to be professional then why should I? Second of all, it made me feel like I did something wrong by stating my honest opinion on the book I read and reviewed. Again I thought the whole reason authors ask for a review is to get an HONEST OPINION on their work. I can't bully my teacher into changing my grade on an essay if he doesn't like it, that's just life. I felt forced into changing my review or the said author refused to share the review or allow it to be published. 

If star ratings weren't meant to be used, why do major sites like goodreads use them? Why do most big book bloggers use them? Why is everything rated on a 1-5 or 1-10 star rating? Star ratings may not be the best, but it is the quickest way to say, yes read this or no don't bother. 

How I see star ratings and how I will continue to rate books.

★ - I didn't like this book, at all. I probably didn't finish it
★★ - finished this book, but I didn't like it
★★★  - written well, good concept kept me wanting to read, but I didn't enjoy it.
★★★★ - really enjoyed this book, there were some down times but other then that it was a solid read
★★★★★ - fantastic read, couldn't put it down, everyone must read this. This is probably a Victoria Schwab book. [lol]

I will not ever put meme's or gifs into my reviews because I find them unnecessary to state my opinion on a book. All I want to do is read and write reviews as professional as I can let others know about books they might not even know existed. I love reading, it has opened so many doors for me and I really enjoy writing this blog, making youtube videos and meeting new authors and people. A bump in the road won't stop me, it will only make me stronger and more stubborn to change how I feel about something.

Thank you!
If you have any issues, questions or concerns, feel free to comment or email me through my contact page.