How I rate a book

If I don't finish a book, I generally don't rate it; it feels unfair to do so since I haven't read the whole thing. 

I have never rated a book 1 star, that I can remember. 

Two stars ★★ : I disliked or hated this book and it was badly written. The last time I rated a book 2 stars was in 2016, and from my note it doesn't sound like I disliked it that much, just that it was "silly" and had writing that wasn't very good.

Two and a half stars ★★½ : I disliked or hated this book and it was not very well written. The last time I rated a book 2.5 stars was also in 2016, and I was surprisingly more vocal (as it were) about my dislike for the book: I called it junk. (Interestingly enough, I rated it even though I DNF'd it; I guess I felt I had read enough to give it a rating.)

Three stars ★★★ : I didn't really like this book, or liked it well enough but found aspects of the plot or writing lacking.

Three and a half stars ★★★½ : I liked this book well enough; it was fine. This is probably the most common rating.

Four stars ★★★★ : I really liked this book! Maybe I even loved it.

Four and a half stars ★★★★½ : I loved this book! It's not quite worthy of five stars though.

Five stars (the rarest) ★★★★★ : I LOVED this book and it blew my freaking mind!!!

Things that cost book ratings a half star: 

• not being very well-written 
• having a stupid plot point, such as an issue that would have been cleared up in five minutes had the characters had an actual conversation about it
• something happens that makes me angry
• being too sad
• being too scary 
• being too confusing 
• the villain/s do(es)n't get a (good enough) comeuppance
• the problem/s was solved too neatly/easily
• having typos or errors
• being wrong about something factually
• being wrong about something in my opinion (may or may not be factual)
• flat, boring, and/or unlikable characters, especially two-dimensional female characters
• a character being too perfect, a Mary Sue or Gary Stu (what's the nonbinary version of this? Ary Slu?)
• a shoehorned/unnecessary romance 
• a flat and/or boring romance 
• the ending is not happy (enough)
• the ending is happy(ish) but not enough to make up for all the horrors the characters went through 
• the author made characters zany or snarky or sad or grumpy etc. instead of actually giving them a personality
• specific things or concepts that annoy me (sexism, ableism, meddling, etc.)
• being too violent (without cause or just to be edgy)
• being too gory or gross 
• the author didn't do (enough) research into something in the book that I know about
• overuse of verbs and phrases (we've all read a book where somebody smirked a million times)
• a character complains too much, especially if it's the exact same complaint over and over 
• falling into tropes and/or stereotypes
• the book was too short and should have been longer/explored things more in depth 

Depending on how serious the offenses (lol) are, several can add up to cost the rating a half star, or one or more stars. A lot of this depends on my mood and how annoyed it made me. Like a lot of readers, my star ratings are based on vibes.

Ideally I would be able to use a half star symbol, but when I try it's just a weird box. Bring back the half star, Blogger! >:(