Top 5 Tuesday: Books You Would Re-Rate

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Books You Would Re-Rate.

I am a chronic re-rater. If you follow me on Goodreads, you might have seen me rate a book upon finishing it only to change the rating when I post my actual review. The more time I’m able to really think about a book and my feelings about it before diving into the next one, the more likely I am to change the rating by a star, either positively or negatively. Here’s my top 5 books that I would rate differently now if I were to re-read them:

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I make it no secret that ACOTAR is one of my favorite series so it might be surprising that this book is on my list. However, the first time I read it, I truly didn’t get the hype. I was new to the fantasy genre (I favored dystopian at the time) so I was left with a lot of questions about things that didn’t make sense to me. Now that I’ve expanded my fantasy reads, I understand that logic is one of the worst things to use when reading them. Fantasy is meant to be enjoyed with the way the writer chose to create the world. It’s not meant to be compared to what makes sense in ours. If I read this book again, I’m sure my 3 star rating which felt generous at the time would be higher by at least a star.

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I think overall I probably rated The Hunger Games series a little too harshly when first reading them but this one in particular got the brunt of it. I only gave it 2 stars because I remember being annoyed that Katniss seemed so emotional the entire book and I was unhappy with how the romance turned out. Now that I’m older, I doubt I’d find Katniss’s emotions to be so overwhelming considering everything she goes through in the book. And although I’d probably find it hard to buy into the romance still with what I remember of the lack of chemistry between the characters, I’d probably be more accepting of who Katniss ends up with now. This book would get at least one additional star.

3. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

This book is still one of my greatest disappointments. I was so excited to read it after discovering it at a book convention panel circa 2016. The author had it placed on the table in front of her as she answered questions from the audience and I found the book cover and the premise to be so intriguing. I managed to snag the last copy of it up for grabs at the convention but I ended up disliking it so much that I chose to give my ARC copy away in a giveaway for the BookTube channel I ran at the time. I still gave the book 3 stars which I’m unsure of why I did. The book was very hard to follow, had many parts of it that were underdeveloped, and I also found the ending to be disappointing and confusing. It’d likely lose a star or even more if I read it again now.

4. Emma by Jane Austen

Is anyone else guilty of letting TV shows/movies influence your enjoyment of a book? Emma currently has 3 stars from me on Goodreads. I think I landed on that number because I didn’t enjoy it as much as Pride & Prejudice or Sense & Sensibility nor did I fall in love with the romance as much as I did in the aforementioned books. I recently watched the new adaptation of the book starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn and I think I’d be very likely to up the book at least a star if I reread it now.

5. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Another book that would likely gain a star or two if I reread it, Obsidian only managed a 2 star rating from me. In my review, I noted that the writing style was difficult to get into and I really disliked Daemon, the male lead. I didn’t continue the series after this book but I’m sure I probably would’ve warmed up to Daemon the further I got which would’ve made me decide to boost the stars for this book. I’ve also heard amazing things about Armentrout’s new series Blood and Ash so I’m thinking that I probably just read this during a rough spot in my life and was a bit too harsh as a result.

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Thanks so much for reading! Do you tend to rate books too generously or too harshly when you think back? Happy reading!

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