There are too many books out there and never enough time. I read a study once that said most avid readers only get through about 3,000 books in their lifetime. As someone with a bottomless TBR pit, I deeply understand how hard it is to choose your next read.
One of our biggest goals at Bookish Goblin is to give you honest reviews and deliberate, transparent ratings to help you confidently pick your next book. But since taste, vibes, and spice tolerance are deeply subjective, we’ve put together this handy little guide to walk you through our rating systems, including our star reviews and spice (pepper) levels.
⭐ Star Rating: How We Judge How Good a Book Really Was
Not every book is for everybody. Here at Bookish Goblin, our star rating is all about how much we personally enjoyed a book. It’s worth noting that just because a book didn’t work for us doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
In fact, if you ever read one of our reviews and our rating doesn’t line up with your experience, we’d genuinely love to hear about it—especially if you adored something we didn’t vibe with (and vice versa). We’re big fans of bookish discourse around here.
That being said, here’s what our star ratings actually mean for an individual reviewer:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Brain Chemistry Altering
I loved it. This book has become my entire personality. I’ll be thinking about it for days, probably until the day I die. I will recommend it to anyone who’ll listen and will 100% reread it over and over again.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Certified Good Time
This was a good time. I really enjoyed my time with this book and I’m glad I read it. I’d probably recommend it to most readers, especially if they like the genre. I liked it enough that I might even grab a physical copy just to show it off on my shelf.
⭐⭐⭐ Tolerable but Kind of Mid
I liked this fine. I don’t think I can actively recommend it, but I wouldn’t stop you from grabbing it from your library. I definitely got the ick from multiple things in this book, and I considered DNF-ing more than once.
⭐⭐ Maybe You Should Skip This
This was probably just not a good time. I got through it either because it’s part of a series, I was too far in to quit, or I finished out of sheer stubbornness. I wouldn’t recommend buying this, especially if your TBR is overflowing and you’ve got better reads waiting.
⭐ Didn’t Work for Me
No. Just no. I take this rating very seriously. This book was absolutely not for me, it bothered me on multiple levels, and I will not be reading anything like this again. If you liked this, I’m glad you enjoyed it (yay!), but it was a hard nope from me.
🌶️ Spice Rating: How Spicy Does It Get?
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ More Spice Than Plot
This book was mainly written for the spice. It’s explicit, with very detailed descriptions, adventurous scenarios, and multiple spicy encounters spread throughout the story.
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Hot and Heavy
Lots of steamy scenes with detailed descriptions, a variety of adventurous acts, and explicit language.
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Steamy but Subtle
Intimate scenes and descriptions, usually using euphemisms to describe the acts. Not very long, but there are multiple scenes throughout the book.
🌶️🌶️ Low Heat, Fade to Black
Intimate acts, kissing and more. Adult content might be mentioned, however scenes typically fade to black or cut away before anything detailed is described.
🌶️ Soft & Sweet
Kissing and making out, exploration, some physical scenes, however, the reader is not present for anything explicit. Scenes fade to black or are skipped entirely.
Books are personal, and ratings are subjective. Whether you love a lot of spice or tend to rate a certain kind of book higher than others, we love hearing everyone’s opinions. Bringing your own perspective is what makes reading so special.
Here at Bookish Goblin, we don’t believe in gatekeeping taste. Our star and pepper ratings are here to help you decide if you should pick up a book we’ve read and reviewed.
Disagree with one of our ratings? Thought something was way spicier than we marked it? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Let us know in the comments!
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