What Grades Mean to Me by Caroline Russomanno
As a reviewer, I try to be consistent with the rest of AAR’s team in terms of what an A, B, C, D, or F grade means. I know, however, that there will always be judgment calls – not just in terms of what grade we think the book deserves, but even in terms of what the grades are. I wrote this piece to talk about what, very generally, places a book for me at each grade level. If there are multiple descriptors, the book might have all or just one of them.
I have given examples of books which exemplify the “type of B review” or “type of A review” I’m talking about. These are examples, but certainly aren’t comprehensive. A couple of the A reviews I’ve listed here are not mine but I agree with them; otherwise the reviews are mine.
A grades
A personal note: I don’t give A+ grades. At the beginning, I didn’t know I could, and now I want to stay consistent with some books in my review backlist. If you think I should start, leave a comment!
Perfection of a “type”: Romance is full of types, like the Regency comedy of manners, the romantic suspense couple-on-the-run, or the enemies-to-lovers trope. If you’re writing a blurb, you could call this book “Everything a Regency romance should be!” or “The perfect friends-to-lovers romance!” I can’t overstate how gloriously satisfying it is when everything goes exactly right, and yet is not trite, predictable, or clichéd. Towards A-, these books generally have a couple of flaws that you can skim over or skip on rereads.
Examples:
For settings and subgenres: the classic Regencies of Carla Kelly, The Dark Knight by Elizabeth Elliot (medieval), the intense and masterful Inevitable Conclusions by Christina C. Jones (contemp), Forget Tomorrow/Remember Yesterday by Pintip Dunn (dystopia)
For tropes: Her Favourite Rival by Sarah Mayberry (coworkers; enemies to lovers); A Lady’s Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran (amnesia), The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad Of Mulan by Sherry Thomas (mistaken identity, cross-dressing heroine).
Reinvents/refreshes “type:” A “new spin on an old classic” here – a gender reversal, an exploration of a familiar trope or type from a new perspective, such as a Regency set outside the ton, or a fantasy built without any references to Tolkein. A book in this category also has to go beyond a gimmick and deliver a thoroughly excellent story.
Examples: Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh (a Beauty and the Beast with an ugly, beastly heroine), After Hours by Cara McKenna (working-class sexually dominant hero), Miss Dominguez’s Christmas Kiss by Lydia San Andres (Christmas novellas, but in the Edwardian Dominican Republic, with working-class characters, including an older couple, and an f/f story)
Innovative and groundbreaking: This book changes the game. New stories become possible; new writing structures become possible; new HEAs become possible. At the same time, the execution is impeccable.
Examples: Sunstone by Stjepan Sejic (a sweet f/f BDSM graphic novel that isn’t male gazey); Earth Bound by by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner (love in the Space Age at Mission Control), Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin (a Harlequin Historical in Tang Dynasty China), The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary (two people sharing one bedroom on alternate work shifts fall in love through notes).
B grades
Satisfying, but not exceptional: A solid read, but one which generally conforms to type rather than elevating it or perfecting it. A B book is competent without rising to greatness. It may be consistently B quality, or it might average out to a B (an A-worthy setting, but a B- plot). You aren’t rushing to evangelize about it to people, but it made for a lovely afternoon, and you appreciate it.
Examples: Things Hoped For by Chencia C. Higgins, Claimed by Elle Kennedy, Private Practice by Samanthe Beck, Sugar Pie Guy by Tabitha True
Intriguingly original and risk-taking, but flaws in execution: When I write reviews of these books, the editor often flags them as too negative for B grades, because instead of focusing on the successes that brought the book to a B, I write too much about the flaws that kept it from being an A. 
This is my apology to all the writers of books like this. I’m very grateful for them, because they push the genre and open doors, and as a reader, they make me think.
Examples: Y Negative by Kelly Hansen, The Sheikh’s Destiny by Melissa James, The Bride Test by Helen Hoang, Princess from the Past by Caitlin Crews
And now we transition to the books I truly don’t recommend. I’ll give the minimum number of links necessary here to be illustrative (I don’t want to beat up on authors).
C reviews
Undistinguished and predictable: This book blurs into the unwashed masses of the romance novel clearance bin. You’ve read a book like this before; you’ll read one like it again – and you might even pick this one up by accident because you forgot that you read it. In fact, you don’t really have to read it, because you already know how it’s going to end. It’s not a deliberate DNF; it’s more a book you put down and then forget you were reading.
Example: The Bull Rider’s Family by Leigh Duncan
Recurring irritation: Persistently annoying and full of recurring wrongness, this is the book equivalent of a leg covered in mosquito bites. Perhaps the heroine is supposed to be feisty but comes off as a moron, or there’s alcohol-based humor that makes you worry the character needs rehab. Often the problem in this book is one which some authors DO resolve successfully (ex: an alphole hero brought low in the third act) so you keep reading because if the author resolves it, the book could totally pull off a B. But we aren’t writing about B grades now, are we? Alas.
Example: The Witch of Clan Sinclair by Karen Ranney
A significant fumble: The author has mishandled a sensitive topic such as self-harm, racism, addiction, or violence. If this major issue occurs in an exceptional book, the book may still reach the B range; if the major issue is central to the plot, it may fall to a D. A C is what happens when you have a major issue surrounded by meh.
Example: Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath
D reviews:
Consistently aggravating but a redeeming feature: A book is made of many elements. In a C review, something is going wrong; in a D review, most things are. The heroine is rude and also the prose is garbled; the plot is a slog and the characters are annoying. D+ books have fewer things or less egregious errors; D- books are almost a lost cause. Still, there is something to praise about this book, even if it is extremely faint and damning.
Examples: A Midsummer Night’s Romp by Katie MacAllister, On My Knees by J. Kenner
F reviews
Deeply offensive
Unsalvageable – story should be scrapped, not edited.
I don’t think anybody should read this book, and I wish I hadn’t. I would never have finished it if not for review.
I know that “offensive” is a difficult term to define, and it’s certainly problematic to put things like racism on a scale (“So, like, if the book is sorta anti-Semitic in a supporting character it can get a C, but if it’s big-time anti-Semitic from the main characters it has to be an F?”). I try to consider the unsalvageability. With just a few minutes, could you NOT make your hero’s cutesy dad an homage to King Leopold of Belgium, the Butcher of the Congo? Well, the rest of the book is a joy, so I gave the A-. Could you take out the part where the Nazi commandant and the Jewish prisoner fall in love? Oh, that’s… your entire book? Do you, uh, have any other book ideas?
(I completely understand if you think a book should be an F if it has problematic offensive content in any quantity. It’s something I grapple with, and welcome thoughts on).
Example: Sweet Sanctuary by Kim Vogel Sawyer
I think one of the problems with the emphasis on originality is that you forget that there are always new readers for whom everything is new and strange. Unless, of course, there are no new readers and we are all fading away into the sunset.
That is true – but I’d argue it’s really difficult, as a reviewer, to approach every book we read for review with that thought in mind because then, the review wouldn’t really be an honest one – we wouldn’t be saying what WE think, we’d be trying to figure out what OTHERS might think – and that’s not what a review is, or what it’s for.
At a site like this, there’s no getting away from the fact the reviewers have been reading romances for a number of years and that is bound to colour our preferences and perceptions.
But I hope that our explanations of what did and didn’t work for us are helpful to readers regardless of how long they’ve been reading romance,
True! I also think these may be the DIKs that don’t hold up as well, like, for instance, how Kathleen Woodiwiss broke ground with sexuality in romance but they’re deeply problematic reads today. Still, they are meaningful to the reviewer in the time and place, and the A reviews reflect that.
For me, as a reader and a reviewer, problematic is subjective. Older books that got DIKs are pretty clear, usually, about the plot and if there’s something there that doesn’t work for me now, I can figure that out.
I think when you’re running a review site, especially with multiple reviewers, it makes sense to have your ratings defined for both reviewers and readers. Ratings themselves cannot tell the full story. The review itself will (or should) clarify the whys of your overall rating so that individuals can decide for themselves whether the book is of interest. I think your rating guide makes sense for your purpose here.
As an ordinary reader who doesn’t really review books, though I’ll assign a personal rating in my reading records to give me some idea of what I thought and how I compare it to other books of its type, my philosophy has always been that books are like people: multi-faceted and with varying strengths and weaknesses. Some elements can be an “A” or “B”, while others are just a “C” or “D”, etc. My personal rating will be an average of how I weigh all of those elements together. I see one book you’ve given as an example of an A which I gave a C because, though the setting made it stand out from the crowd, the characterization and plot seemed very paint by numbers and just average to me (idiosyncratic reading tastes being what they are). The characterization and plot had more weight in my final assessment and emotional engagement than the unusual setting.
I know a reviewer who provides two ratings. The first is based on her analysis of the writing and story execution and the second based on her emotional engagement. Sometimes a book can be an A on one level, but the enjoyment factor just a C (and vice versa). I’ve read a fair number of C books that gave me A or B feelings. Anyway, I think this reviewer’s approach is an interesting one for romance because our emotional engagement and personal chemistry with the characters and tropes will often carry a lot of weight but execution matters, too.
I should clarify after re-reading my post that what I’m thinking of as a “C” is more like a B- according to your definitions above.
I mostly agree with this system & when my words don’t match my grade, Caz usually helps me think it thru again. I will add – if I finish a book and I just can’t wait to tell someone about it so they can read it too (for positive reasons – not negatives), even if it isn’t perfect, it gets an A from me. I’m working on a joint review with Maggie right now on a book that has a few things working against it; doesn’t matter to me. I hated to finish it and it was pure escapism. It will be a DIK for me.
Love this explanation Caroline! Thank you for taking the time and providing examples. You’ve done a great job of breaking things into relatable chunks, and articulated a bunch of concepts I haven’t been able to articulate for myself to this point.
My question/observation/comment: It seems odd to have more levels for “bad” than “good” books. Your brackets say to read only As or Bs but your C includes books that are “predictable or indistinguishable”. The C grade makes sense to me for these: there are lots of books that other people love that I find “meh” (predictable) – these are my Cs. There isn’t anything particularly (or hugely) wrong with them, they just don’t stand out or stick with me. They aren’t the first titles I’d recommend someone read but do they really belong on a “do not read” list with Ds and Fs?
The As, Bs and Cs (exceptional/great/good) I give to titles are for books I’d recommend someone read; and are definitely in a different category from my Ds (problematic/proceed with caution) and Fs (do not bother) that I do not recommend.
I understand what you’re saying, but I think it’s important to remember that what we’re doing here at AAR is recommending books we think people should spend their hard-earned money on. A C grade book is one that’s “average” – not bad, not good, just “there” and unexpectional – and as reviewers we don’t feel those are books we can actively say to our readers – “this is worth your time and money” (especially considering the prices of some of the books we review nowadays!).
The lowest grade we give a book we would recommend at AAR is a B- which is a qualified recommendation.
The economic argument certainly makes sense. Perhaps the graphic should be labelled just that: recommended for purchase and not recommended (do not BUY). But that isn’t the same as do not READ.
I make a point of purchasing books from authors I want to continue to write. But that is a pretty small list relative to all the reading I do in a given year. Those of us with access to libraries are so lucky that we don’t have to buy everything we want to read – and I definitely have both lists: buy and borrow.
Libraries in my area for romance novels are pretty much a dead loss – I’m always a bit jealous when people say “I got this from my library”! I’m just lucky I get a lot or ARCs or I could never afford my reading habit!
I’ll leave Caroline to comment on her word choices for the graphic.
Thank you for this, Caroline, it is very helpful and thought-provoking to see how you rate books, and I really appreciate the thought that goes into it. I have a question for you and the other reviewers. Do you find you read a book differently when you are reading for pleasure vs. reading knowing you will have to write a review? If it is different, in what ways is it different?
The big difference for me is knowing that I can quit. With a review read, the more annoyed I get, the more it feedbacks into itself because I resent being trapped into inflicting the annoyance on myself.
Obviously I won’t be able to test this, but you asked me about a non-review book I didn’t care for but finished, I have a suspicion give it a higher grade than if I’d read the same book for review. It wouldn’t be huge (maybe a C+ vs a C- or something) but I think it might be there.
Yes, I can see how that could happen. I am in a couple of book clubs, and if I don’t like a book, I have to grit my teeth to finish it because I feel obligated.
The reason I asked is because I find that when I am leading a book discussion, I am much more analytical and attentive to details, looking for themes and hidden meanings. When I read for myself, I usually read faster and get swept up in the emotional components more, as the analytical side is toned down. It’s hard for me to keep both sides of my brain optimized at once, which I think a good reviewer can do.
I’m so used to reading for review – I read way more review copies than I do personal copies each year! – that even on the rare occasions I’m NOT reading for review, I find myself highlighting passages on my Kindle and thinking about things analytically. But I’ve always done that – it’s the nerd in me!
I think sometimes though that grading can be a different process for a more “casual” review (say, at GR) than for one here. As I’ve explained elsewhere on this thread, because we, as reviewers, are saying “this book is/is not worth spending your hard-earned cash on” I think we are probably more careful about our grading, especially in that middling area between Bs (do recommend) and Cs (don’t recommend).
I have a feeling that I’m … if not more generous, possibly more lenient. I don’t expect a book to be ‘perfection’ and wouldn’t hold back an A or 5-star rating. I give lots of things 5-star ratings. Was I entertained? Did I buy the romance? Were the characters engaging and fully-imagined? Then I’d wholeheartedly recommend it *even if* there were a few flaws or oddities. There are books I have read over and over again which, objectively, still have a little something wrong with them. :-)
For me, and A or 5-star is: glad I read it and will happily read again; B (4) = glad I read it, a few distracting flaws; C (3) = not sorry I read it, but not the book I wanted and won’t read again; D (2) = not a good use of my time, wouldn’t recommend; F (1) = laughably or offensively bad.
C grade reviews can be the hardest to write – especially when a book isn’t good, or bad but just okay. But AAR reviewers are, ultimately, saying “this book is/isn’t worth your money” – so our criteria for those middling books especially is probably a bit more stringent.
This is how I grade too, TBH.
Same here. A is for amazing, B is a generally good read, C is mediocre, and D is annoying. I reserve F grades for books that are not just offensive but have nothing to balance that out.
When I first started using Goodreads over a decade ago they listed loose parameters for the what the stars meant in reviews: 5 stars=excellent, 4 stars= great, 3 stars= good, etc. I went with that and gave 3 stars quite regularly, because the books were good, if not exceptional. I personally didn’t think a C review meant “bad.” It meant average, good if not great, but worth the time.
Fast-forward to when I realized that for most people, 3 stars, or C, was used to denote a “not good” book, one probably not worth your time. These days I tend to use 3.5 or “B-” to denote the good-not-great books. I also give the letter grade at the top of my reviews now at Goodreads, since at least you can use + or – to give them more nuance, and I sometimes explain why I’m rounding up or down in the star rating, such as when a great narration brings a C+/B- (3.5 stars) book up to a B, or 4 stars.
I’ve always equated a C with “average” as well. For us here, a B- is the lowest grade we can give but still recommend a book – obviously it’s a qualified recommendation.
I see. I still recommend lots of books I’ve given a C to, because they were entertaining and worth an afternoon to read, if nothing original or out of the ordinary. They are “fun, but get them at the library” books for me. Personally, I’m sorry to see what in academics might be termed grade inflation. I feel like one has to pack that many more books into the B range than deserve to be there perhaps? C ratings have (or had, because I too inflate the grades for my good-not-great books now) a specific purpose for me when recommending books.
Perhaps part of my problem is I have very high standards for books I give A’s to,or 5 stars. To me,and A is reserved for exceptional, and books need to be Pride and Prejudice or A Splendid Defiance great before I want to consider them as A’s. A lot of audiobooks I’ve rated A’s are bumped up from a B due to the narration. So that leave B grades for the really good books that don’t quite reach exceptional. Then I used C for all the good books that are fluff and fun and worth it, but not in the great or exceptional range. I feel like the B grade (for me) is just too packed now to be nuanced because the span of quality is rather large.
I agree with that. Every year, my GR stats show the bulk of my books in the 4 star range – but then with no half stars there, that means books I’ve rated B- (3.5 rounded up), B and B+ (4.5 that I don’t round up to 5, which I reserve for the A grades). In the end, it’s why we – and all of us who write reviews whether here or elsewhere – articulate the hows and whys, which are so much more valuable than that “Great Book!” 5 star review on Amazon.
And its why I come here and Audiogals each day to read the reviews–to read the “hows and whys.” :-)
You and I are on the same page Carrie. The bulk of my grades are Bs and Cs. Of 2137 titles, I’ve given 68 As, 435 Bs, and 1030 Cs. And it makes perfect sense to me that I have so few Ds and Fs, because I have review sites like AAR guiding me to titles that are worth reading.
I’m the same. I use a five star with half stars system and most books range between 4 and 2 stars with 3 being average. 5 stars are rare (stands the test of time kind of book), and I almost never have 1s because they would be DNF books I wouldn’t bother to rate or even catalog.
Carrie, I 100% agree with you about grade inflation and how “A” books for me mean something like James Clavell’s Shogun, James Michener’s Hawaii, or Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber.
In my own personal rating system, I use 5 stars and half stars when needed,, sort of like Goodreads. Caz’s example below shows how that doesn’t always neatly translate to AAR’s A-F rating system. It definitely gets tricky, especially on more subjective criteria like an author’s style.
Regardless of the nuanced in-between areas Caroline’s article examines, I still think AAR is one of the best rating/review sites out there because of the strict editing and explanations.
I definitely depend on AAR’s reviews to guide me. I like the thorough reviews so I can understand what did and didn’t work for that reader. Sometimes I won’t have the same problems, or sometimes I’ll steer clear of tropes I don’t like. The thoughtful reviews here and Audiogals for audiobooks are my mainstays.
I loved this. Clear, detailed and full of examples. I was nodding my head all the way through it.
One of my biggest pet peeves on another site was reading a review that was all positive and praise and then seeing the grade was a B-? Well how did we get there?
I also enjoyed your rationales for an A grade. I also value originality but some of my A grades are also books that just take an existing trope and do it perfectly.
Thanks for putting this together!
Oh, thank you so much! This took a long time to write and find examples for and I really appreciate the compliment.
You’re very welcome. Thoughtful reviews and articles are a lot of work and I appreciate the time and care you put into them.
Well, *ahem* as “the editor” in question, I do try to make sure that grades and commentaries match – by which I mean the reviewer has given some detail as to why the book is a specific grade. That said, I know from experience that sometimes, it’s not possible to be as specific as perhaps we’d like. I’ve found this to be the case with “cusp” grades, so whether a book should be a C+ or a B-, or a B+ or an A-. Sometimes, it’s down to a guf feeling that isn’t easy to articulate.
I always try to keep in mind my “best” books, when I’m grading. Is the book I just read as good as (whatever my current yardstick is – His at Night, King’s Man, The Same Breath, A Seditious Affair (still my only A+ grade) etc).? – and then I sort of work back from there!
But on the whole,. I think Caroline’s list is pretty similar for all of us – the only place I’d differ is with the saying why a book isn’t a DIK rather than saying why it’s a B grade. A B grade book is one that’s basically “good” – but a review that only points out its deficiencies is (probably) going to be more negative than otherwise, which can lead to a mismatch between commentary and grade.
You’re always right when my review tone and grade seem out of sync, and I’m glad you catch it for me. Here I was identifying the type of book where I’m most prone to doing that.
Having that second set of eyes is invaluable no matter how many times you proofread your own work. It’s the same at my work and even in my private life. It’s amazing how many things just one read through by another person can catch.
I’m glad you posted this as people may forget all the other work and moving parts and pieces it takes to create the work and get it “publish” ready. There are a lot of people donating their time for our enjoyment- so thank you very much.
I enjoy reading about the processes and “quality control” as well. No two reviewers will have the exact same review or experience but the criteria and reason for the grade should be consistent on a site, which I find it to be at AAR. And I know it doesn’t “magically” happen on its own.
Thank you for this interesting overview of the grading process. So much about reading is individualized—no two people ever read the same book, as the old saying goes—and that applies to grading too, but it’s nice to have explanations and examples of your guidelines. As an avid reader (a description I’m guessing applies to everyone here), I don’t think it’s possible to always read “A” or “B” books—not every book can bring something new and innovative (or even be intriguing but flawed), so rather than not read “C” books, I’m inclined to try them when I’m between books or attempting to read everything an author wrote. On the other hand, an “A” or “B” grade does lead to certain expectations. This weekend, I gave up on a book that had been well-received last year (it made the Top 20 of 2020 on one of the blogs I visit regularly) because the author kept ending her sentences with prepositions! I knew the story wasn’t engaging me when I started counting the number of times a sentence like, “He didn’t know what he’d been thinking of” made an appearance.
Terrific summary of the grading process! For me, an “A’ is a book I would love to own and would hand over to a friend with an enthusiastic “read this!” I usually write the reviews a few days after finishing a book. If the story sticks with me (especially as I’m falling asleep) it’s a good indication it’s an A. If I really liked it but I’m struggling to remember parts a few days later, it’s more likely a B. Not very scientific!
I have given one A+ and only quite recently and not to a romance.
I’ve only given 18 straight up As and 19 A-s out of 152 reviews. For me, an A novel is one I’d either recommend unreservedly to others or something I’d read again with joy.
Thanks for this comprehensive explanation of your methodology. It makes a lot of sense. It must be hard to objectively analyse a genre which puts emotion front and centre. I will forgive a book a lot of flaws (apart from shoddy writing) if it can really make me feel something. And the reason why I don’t read several celebrated authors is because they write nicely executed books that leave me unmoved. What I love about being a reader rather than a reviewer is that my Goodreads ratings only have to reflect my personal tastes rather than guiding other readers. Plus I never have to slog through any book after it’s lost my interest. DNFs for the win!
Excellent analysis and explanation of your grading system, Caroline. In the main I concur 100% and it’s very similar to the way I have used stars in the past when reviewing on Amazon. Reviewing is tough; it does not always flow easily and sometimes highly personal preferences get in the way so I agree with you about the A+ grade – I have only read a handful of A+ books in my life and I doubt everyone else would concur so it’s a very personal opinion and should either avoided or used with a full explanation. Certainly when someone gives an A+ grade in a genre I don’t read it’s hard for me to evaluate it. Likewise the F review although I have wanted to give a few F- grades myself! Offensive or egregious to one person may be exciting and titillating to someone else and these are things that should remain within the privacy of one’s own mind. Thank you for this essay!