Books I’m Stripping of Their Five-Star Status

It happens to the best of us.

We can be blinded by a fantastic ending, or a swoony character, and rate a book just a smidge higher than it deserves. At times… much higher.

I’ve run into this problem many times myself. I find Younger Jordyn did this a lot because she was just so excited to be reading YA that every book seemed worthy of five stars! Alas! Such is not the case.

One of my reading resolutions in 2019 was to be more critical in my reviews and ratings (look out for a discussion post on this soon!), and I figured a good way to do that would be to look at my ratings in the past few years and see how many of them I would really change.

These are some titles that, well, seemed like five star reads at the time, but in hindsight… yikes. Perhaps they weren’t as good as I previously thought.

Behind the Scenes by Dahlia Adler

Listen, this book was the perfect read at the time I was reading it. It was romantic, it was heartwarming, and the family dynamics were interesting. Plus, I’m a sucker for a celebrity romance. But it’s… pretty forgettable? I didn’t really give it much love or attention after finishing, and even though it was really good, I’m not sure that it was five-star good

Current Rating: 5 stars
New Rating: 4 stars

Paper Towns by John Green

John Green isn’t exactly my guy. (Unless we’re talking about his Crash Course videos, in which case, I worship him for helping me cram for my U.S. History tests). I’ve read a few of his works and the only one that really got me was Turtles All the Way Down (beautifully heartbreaking, highly recommend).

That being said, I still really enjoyed Paper Towns! Especially the road trip aspect. But… Margo was really annoying and the main guy (Quin? Quinton? Quimothy?) was so head-over-heels devoted to her even though he barely knew her at all! In hindsight this book doesn’t deserve the full five.

Current Rating: 5 stars
New Rating: 4 stars

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

This is one of those the-hype-made-me-read-it books. It also happens to be one of those the-hype-made-me-rate-it-too-high books. Looking back, I really didn’t love this book very much, and I certainly didn’t understand all the hype about it. I didn’t even make an effort to read the rest of the series.

It wasn’t bad, necessarily, but it was a little slow and if I read it now, I’d probably only give it three, maybe four stars, max.

Current Rating: 5 stars
New Rating: 3.5 stars

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Morgan Matson is one of the queens of contemporary, no doubt. I love her. But Since You’ve Been Gone… is my least favorite of her books. The premise was really interesting, but I didn’t care for the characters all that much. They fell a little flat for me. Emily, the protagonist, was a little annoying, and Sloane, the missing, manipulative best friend that treated Emily like garbage was more than a little annoying and did not deserve Emily’s friendship or her forgiveness.

Current Rating: 5 stars
New Rating: 4 stars

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

…

…

What even happened in this book?? I read it mostly because I knew the movie was coming out but it took me months and it was kind of boring and a little weird and… not really deserving of five stars.

Current Rating: 5 stars
New Rating: 3 stars

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There you have it! Some books that seemed amazing at the time, when in reality, they were just okay. If you want to see my rating of books up close and personal, add me on Goodreads. Keep me accountable for rating undeserving books too high!

Do you have this problem? Do you sometimes rate books higher than they deserve? What do you do to try to rate a book has fairly as possible right after reading? Any book that you read in the past that you now think deserves a lower (or higher!) rating? Tell me in the comments! 🙂

Stay bookish,

Jordyn

P.S. Do you think it’s unfair of me to re-rate a book a while after reading it? Whether it is or isn’t right is actually the topic of my next discussion, so stay tuned!

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