My Thoughts on Rating Systems- to rate or not to rate?

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about rating systems and whether I should use one for my blog. There are so many bloggers who use a numerical/alphabetical rating system often. accompanied by really pretty and creative graphics that are displayed in their sidebars for example flowers or cupcakes along with a description of what each rating means. I love those as they bring a lot of originality and uniqueness to a blog.

When I first started blogging, I decided not to develop a rating system as I thought it would be better to let my reviews speak for themselves and let my opinion shine through in my writing. This is partly because I am a  bad decision maker and also different types of books are  fantastic/not so fantastic for different reasons. There are action packed and exciting reads that might be a five star from me and then a beautiful descriptive book that made me think a lot might also get a five star but they are different in their own way.

However I know that sometimes people want to find out my thoughts on the book in a quick and easy way that helps them decide whether to read the book or not, especially if they are short on time so I implemented a verdict in bold at the end of the review summarising my thoughts. So far, that has worked pretty well for me.

From my perceptive when I read reviews, the rating doesn't really make that much of an impact on me but it is nice to see an opinion concreted more, especially as it can be hard to tell sometimes the difference between what would have been a four or five star review.

I'm thinking of introducing a rating system of either five star rating or a five star with half stars in between. The reason I'm leaning slightly towards a half star rating system is because lately I have been enjoying nearly all the books I've read (through some great recommendations from other blogger's reviews!) and I don't want all the ratings to end up being reasonably high. It all depends on what your perception of a low/high rating is. For some people, three means an average enjoyable read with a few issues but for me, it seems quite low. I'm not sure why but there are plenty of other books with five stars that are more likely to catch my attention.

You're my readers so I'd love to know your thoughts on rating systems and whether you would find one helpful here. I've added a poll below so it would be fantastic if you submitted an answer. I'm open to ideas and suggestions too- what do YOU think? Thank you!