5 stars - I will gush about this book to every person I know and several that I don’t until they either read it or swear they’ll never read it because I can’t shut up about it. I liked the ending. Maybe one or two of these a year, if I’m lucky.

4 stars - I liked it a lot. Good story, good writing, good pacing. I probably hated the ending but I’m not holding it against the book in its entirety.

3 stars - it was okay. It wasn’t a complete waste of time to read it but I’ll probably forget that I did until I review my reading list at the end of the year. And I hated the ending.

2 stars - bad story, bad writing, bad pacing, typos, ridiculous premises. I will roll my eyes every time I remember I read this book and will probably never touch anything from the author again. Goes without saying, I hated the fucking ending.

1 star - basically my DNF rating since they don’t have an option for that. So bad that I don’t care to confirm that I will hate the ending (although it’s definitely assumed)

I also only trust 2-4 star ratings from other people when I’m looking for a book. 1 & 5 star reviewers are too dramatic, hyperbolic, or fanatical to be taken seriously.