Rating System

At Last Days Lifestyle, I discern and rate books of all types based on their Biblical values and whether I’d recommend them to other Christian families. Finding clean, wholesome, God-glorifying books is very challenging in these last days. That is why I publish honest, raw reviews of books on this site to make it easier for you to find ones you agree with.

Discernment Rating System

Every book I read is discerned a “Yes” or a “No”.

Books I discern a “Yes” means they have passed my discernment test and that I recommend them. I give these books my own personal star rating (to indicate how much I liked it) as well as a thumbs up (to indicate I discerned it a “Yes”). While every book is different, a general outline that I follow for discerning books a “Yes” is:

• it does not put evil/bad things in a good light
• it does not teach heresy/unbiblical doctrine
• it does not anthropomorphize animals/objects
• it does not encourage sin
• it does not have an excessive amount of occult, violence/death/fear, profanity, drugs/drinking/smoking, and romantic/sexual content
• it has high-quality characters (no swearing, talking back, bullying others, rebellious behavior, etc. [unless there is a Biblical lesson behind those behaviors]) and promotes good Christian values (loving God and others, all the fruit of the Spirit, being courageous, respectful, honest, etc.)
• it teaches a good moral/Biblical lesson

Books I discern a “No” means they have not passed my discernment test and that I do not recommend them. I give these books a thumbs down (to indicate I discerned it a “No”). Sometimes, I don’t finish these books, which I indicate by saying “DNF” (did not finish). While every book is different, a general outline that I follow for discerning books a “No” is the opposite of the list above.

Star Rating System

If a book is discerned a “Yes”, I will give it my own personal star rating. Below is the rating system I use for those books:

★★★★★ = I LOVED it! (Five stars means I loved this book and that I highly recommend it!)

★★★★ = It was good! (Four stars means this book was good, but it had a couple minor things I would’ve changed or it just didn’t give me the “WOW!” feeling required for a five star book.)

★★★ = I liked it. (Three stars means I liked this book, but that there were a handful of things wrong with it and/or that it didn’t really interest me.)

★★ = It was ok. (Two stars means this book was ok and still qualifies as a discerned “Yes” book, but it had quite a bit of issues and/or wasn’t very satisfying to read.)

★ = It wasn’t enjoyable. (One star means this book wasn’t enjoyable and barely escaped the discerned “No” list. It probably has several things wrong with it and/or has a special reason for getting a low rating.)

Keep in mind that a rating with a half-star just means that the book is in between two ratings 🙂