Lets Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish: The Elusive 5-star Read!

Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.

This week’s topic is:

The Elusive 5-star Read

Prompts: What makes a book a 5-star read for you? Do you give books 5 stars easily, or are you more selective with them? What are your all-time favourite “can’t-live-can’t-breathe-without-them” 5-star reads? Is there anything that makes a book automatically 5 stars for you? Or the opposite — what makes you drop to 4 stars?

What makes a book a 5-star read for you?

I’ve been thinking about this question for a while, and while I may be overthinking things, I still struggle to come up with a clear answer. I think what it mostly comes down to is the emotional connection and investment in the characters and story.

When I think about the reads I’ve rated 5 stars, pretty much all of them got visceral emotional reactions out of me. That reaction is what leaves the biggest impact on me and makes the book 5 stars but it’s not the only important thing. Obviously, other elements of the story have to work too, and make me feel invested including the world-building, secondary characters, relationships, plot logic, etc. As much as I want to feel like I’m part of a character’s life, I also want to feel immersed and absorbed in a story

Is there anything that makes a book automatically 5 stars for you? Or the opposites—what makes you drop it to 4 stars?

I don’t think there’s really anything that automatically makes a book 5 stars for me, but as mentioned above, it’s about all of the elements working together to create a story that leaves its mark on me. As an emo reader, the emotional connection is particularly important to me because if I don’t feel what the characters are meant to be feeling, it generally means that I feel distant to their experiences and arc. While this may not always matter, especially if it’s more of a plot-driven story, it does go a long way to making me feel more invested in the book!

So I guess what makes a book drop to 4 stars is when it’s missing or lacking in one of the elements that creates that perfect read for me. Even if I’m loving the main characters, if the world-building is sub-par, or the plot has too many holes, or the secondary characters add no flavour, then my rating goes down. Sometimes I do ignore the less than stellar elements if I’m loving the characters and their interactions too much, and while they can be 5 star reads, but most of the time, they wind up being either 4 or 4.5 stars—which, by the way, is obviously still fantastic!

Do you give books 5 stars easily, or are you more selective with them?

I think I used to give 5 star ratings more easily when I first got back into reading several years ago. These days, however, I do think I’m pickier with what books I give that 5 star rating to. Maybe it’s just that I read a lot more now than I did before and there are more elements that I consider while reading, which makes me pickier too.

What are your all-time favourite “can’t-live-can’t-breathe-without-them” 5-star reads?

The first one that comes to mind is obviously The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. That is a series I will never stop going on about and will always promote and if I could I’d make everyone read it! 🤣 Other books that gave me the same feeling are Normal People by Sally Rooney, Persuasion by Jane Austen, The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (while I love that series, that book in particular absolutely gutted me in the best/worst way), Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (put me in an emotional book slump for 3-months!), The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab, The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector…

And omg, honestly, I can go on and on because these are books that still have me catching my breath whenever I think about how emotionally ravaged they left me—and I obviously mean that in the best way. Literally, I started getting teary when I bought the special illustrated edition of The Dragon Republic and I was telling my friend how much I loved it (and why I needed to have another copy of this book)! 🤭

Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers who joined the discussion this week! 👇🏽

Annemieke @ A Dance with Books
Leyre @ Read You Leyre
Elle @ Unwrapping Words
Emma @ Pages of Emma
Lost @ Chronicles of Tick Tock
Alli @ Alli the Book Giraffe
Abyssal Librarian
Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly
Laurie @ Laurie Is Reading
Yolanda @ Past Midnight
Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den
Julie @ Bookflowerpath

If I’ve missed your post this week, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments, and I’ll add you to this week’s list of community posts ASAP!

What makes a book a 5 star read for you? Do you give books 5-stars easily or is it rare for you to give them out? What are some of your all-time favourite 5 star reads?

17 thoughts on “Let’s Talk Bookish: The Elusive 5-star Read!”

  2. I’ve had a half written post about what makes a 5 star read for me in my blog file for months but haven’t got around to finishing it yet as it’s all too jumbled up in my head still. It’s so hard to pin down why one book just hits you and another one doesn’t quite do the same job and I think it does just come down to that emotional impact that another book might not have in the same way.

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    • I totally relate. When it came time to actually sit down and put my answers down for this week’s topic, my mind went completely blank and it’s like I forgot words, haha. It’s kind of comforting though to realise that it’s not just me who struggles to put into words what makes a 5 star read and that almost everyone feels the same struggle! 🤣 I think sometimes there are just those books that hit you so deep in the feels that you’re like “omg, I won’t forgot this feeling anytime soon”.

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  3. When I was thinking about my answers for this week, I just knew that I would be the outlier haha! Emotions where? It’s been so interesting reading how that emotional connection is so important for everyone (among other things).

    Excellent list of books, I also loved Tomorrow x3, and ofc GBS!

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  4. Dini, this was such a hard topic! Like you, I don’t really have a solid way to describe what makes a 5-star read. It’s more just a reaction to what I read (which is soooo unscientific and fluctuates almost hourly at my age lol). I think you hit the nail on the head with the idea of a visceral emotional reaction, whatever that emotion happens to be at the time!

    I also feel like I used to give 5-star ratings a lot easier than I do now. That’s kind of an interesting phenomenon, isn’t it? For me, I think it’s because I’ve read more things, so I have more to compare it to, and I’m more familiar with the tropes, so it’s easier to identify if something is just regurgitating common tropes. I didn’t have that perspective years ago when I wasn’t really reading!

    My post: https://thebookwyrmsden.com/2025/07/25/the-elusive-5-star-read-what-makes-the-cut/

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    • OMG SAMMIE, I didn’t realise how tough it would be to answer this question until it came down to writing my answer and my brain went like “WHAT DO YOU MEAN 5 STAR READ!?” 😭😅 I’m glad it wasn’t just me who struggled to pinpoint exactly what makes a 5 star read. And yes, it’s really interesting to see how we give 5 star ratings has changed over the years. I’d like to think it is that we’re more “seasoned” readers and therefore, have more to compare it to but sometimes I also wonder if I’m just getting more picky and moody with age and so books will affect me differently and take a lot more to please me. 😂

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      • I can absolutely relate to just being more picky and moody as I get older. xD Hey, humans change and grow. Sometimes into beautiful swans. Sometimes into book dragons that live in a cave with their hoard of books they’ll never read. It’s normal. Like an acquired taste. We’re just fancy now and therefore need the finer things to please us. 😉

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  5. I also noticed that books that made me feel a LOT tend to get five-stars. That deep emotional response is what tends to stay with me. Sometimes a very well plotted book with get all the stars as well, but I tend to read more character driven stories.

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    • Yeah, I need to feel THE FEELINGS on a whole other level than I would compared to a 4 star read, for it to be a 5 star read. Sometimes it’s even how long those feelings last while I’m reading that also makes a difference. I could have a visceral emotional reaction but if the emotion fades away very quickly then it usually doesn’t have that 5-star effect for me.

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  7. I really loved reading your response! You articulated the emotional side of 5-star reads so beautifully. I completely agree that it’s not just about one thing—it’s about how all the elements (characters, plot, world-building, etc.) work together to create that unforgettable emotional impact. I especially related to what you said about feeling distant from a book if you don’t feel what the characters are feeling—that’s such a dealbreaker for me too!

    Also, your list of all-time favorites is incredible!

    I recently joined this discussion & shared some thoughts about how my 5-star ratings have shifted over the years, complete with a decade of reading stats! It’s a bit more data-focused, but definitely still tied to those emotional reactions we both value so much. I’d love for you to take a look if you’re interested:
    👉 The Elusive Five Star Reads – Let’s Talk Bookish

    Would love to hear your thoughts if you get the chance! 💬📚

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  8. I think I am much more generous with stars than other people are. If I really enjoy a book and don’t want it to end, or am ready to jump into a sequel and I think about the story and where it might go, I give it 5 stars. I read various genres and my ratings are different for each. For example I might give a cozy mystery 5 stars as I really enjoyed it and it was top notch in that genre, but compared to a book in literary fiction that I loved, eg, Where the Crawdads Sing, it would not be 5 stars, if that makes sense.

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    • It is AMAZING. I did a re-read of the first two books before Jade Legacy came out but we’ll be doing a group re-read of the series (with the third book for the first time!) and I’m equal parts nervous and excited 😆 It will probably destroy me, haha.

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