A few years ago, I wrote in detail about how I rate books with stars. In that post I explained how my system evolved from purely gut feeling to something a bit more structured. Since 2022, I’ve been using my own version of BookRoast’s CAWPILE system, which I renamed BALSPEL.

And yes, I still use this system today. But as often happens with something you use frequently, over time you notice little things that don’t feel quite right. So recently, I’ve been tweaking it a little.

No big revolution – BALSPEL remains basically the same – but I’ve made a few small adjustments to make the system better reflect how I actually experience books.

A quick refresher: what was BALSPEL again?

For those who need a reminder: BALSPEL is my personal take on the CAWPILE system. Each book is scored from 1 to 10 across seven different aspects:

Abbreviation	Meaning	Explanation
B	Begin (EN: Beginning)	Was the book gripping from the beginning? Did it intrigue you to continue reading? Was it difficult/boring/confusing to get into?
A	Atmosfeer (EN: Atmosphere)	How compelling/enchanting was the reading? Did the book give you a good/warm feeling? How did you like the world building? Could you imagine everything?
L	(verhaal)lijn (EN: (story)line)	Was the plot coherent and well-structured? How was the pace? Was the storyline unique and/or surprising? Was it complicated?
S	Schrijfstijl (EN: writing style)	Did you enjoy the prose? Was it a quick read or did you have to plough through it? Was the dialogue realistic?
P	Personages (EN: Characters)	Are the characters memorable? Could you imagine them? What was the relationship between the primary and secondary characters? Did they feel real or more like cardboard?
E	Einde (EN: Ending)	How did you feel about the ending of the story? Did it feel satisfying? Was it logical or were there plot holes?
L	Leesplezier (reading enjoyement)	What was your overall feeling when reading this book?

I score each of these aspects roughly according to this guideline, including half points:

1. Terrible
2. Awful
3. Poor
4. Weak
5. Average
6. OK
7. Good
8. Great
9. Brilliant
10. Favourite

Then I calculate the average of the seven scores, and this average is converted into a star rating.

This system is very helpful to me and makes writing reviews much easier. It forces me to pause and think about why a book works or doesn’t.

The issue I started noticing

The longer I used the system, the more one small issue became clear: I almost never gave 5 stars. Not because I wasn’t reading amazing books, but because an average BALSPEL score of 9 or higher across seven aspects is actually quite difficult to achieve.

A book could, for example, have:

• a fantastic story
• wonderful characters
• an immersive atmosphere

… but perhaps a slightly slower beginning or an ending that wasn’t entirely perfect. Before I knew it, the average would hover around 8.6 or 8.8, which according to my old system automatically became 4 stars, while my gut might actually have said it deserved 5 stars. And after all, I mainly read for the feeling a book gives me.

The role of enjoyment

That’s why I decided to make one small but important adjustment. From 2026 onwards, the Enjoyment category carries slightly more weight when determining a 5-star book.

In other words, if a book has a very high average of 8.5 or above and my enjoyment was 9.5 or above, then I feel it can comfortably receive 5 stars, even if the average is just below the old threshold.

Why these thresholds?

• Average ≥ 8.5 means the book is exceptionally strong across multiple aspects.
• Enjoyment ≥ 9.5 means the book truly felt fantastic to read, as good as a favourite.

A concrete example: a book with scores 8 – 9 – 9 – 9 – 8 – 8 – 9.5
has an average of 8.57. Thanks to the enjoyment adjustment, this book now earns 5 stars, whereas previously it would have been 4.

This way, the difference between 4 and 5 stars feels fairer to me, because it’s not only about numbers, but also about how much the book carried me along while reading. This feels to me like a good balance between thinking objectively about a book and leaving room for enthusiasm. Because sometimes a book just works, even if it’s not mathematically perfect.

Additional Excel calculations: more nuance in stars

Goodreads – which remains the original bookplatform – only allows full star ratings. There’s no option to award half or quarter stars, but I’ve long needed a bit more nuance, especially for books that fall between 3 and 5 stars. I could also simply share my BALSPEL score per book, but because stars are more universal and, indeed, because I enjoy playing with Excel formulas, I’ve modified my spreadsheet slightly so that it also tracks three types of star ratings in addition to the BALSPEL score:

• Full stars: BALSPEL score divided by 2, rounded to the nearest whole number
• Half stars: BALSPEL score rounded to the nearest whole number, divided by 2
• Quarter stars: BALSPEL score multiplied by 2, rounded to the nearest whole number, divided by 4

This lets me quickly see how a book compares to others, even though I usually use full stars for my blog. For now, it’s mostly just playing with numbers and gut feeling, and seeing what the system yields.

Will it stick?

For now, this updated version of BALSPEL seems to reflect more closely how I experience books. So I expect this system will stick around for a while. But if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I clearly enjoy tweaking these kinds of things. So who knows what I’ll come up with in a few years.

Do you have your own star-rating system? Or do you still go entirely by gut feeling?

Cheers,
Charlotte