On the popular social media app Tiktok there has for some time now been numerous people making videos about books, calling ’that side’ of Tiktok “booktok”. A great deal of the videos happen to be book recommendations that lead to the readers on “booktok” reading it and then creating a community for it by making funny videos and references to the books. However, are all of the books recommended really that good or just popular? Are they worth spending time reading to later understand the videos about them? Here I’ll go through some of the common booktok-books and review them for you!
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The beginning of the book was kind of boring to me but when you get further into the book you will realize why it is so popular. Such a spectacular story well deserving of all its 5/5 ratings. You get so invested in the characters after a while, and it hurts to see them in pain. It was so surprising and fantastic. The Seven Husbands has the potential to in the future become a book considered a classic that is frequently read in school (at least I hope it will).
Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas
To summarize if this book is a good fit for you: read it if you like wattpad. It has some sort of wattpad feel to it which many have been put off by. I can’t say I loved this book but there are some parts I can strongly remember even though it was a while ago I read it. I did like it and had a great time reading it. The pen pals to lovers trope was really appealing.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Inheritance Games was not at all anything I expected it to be, but it was so enchanting! It’s about a poor girl who inherits a fortune from a billionaire she has no connection to whatsoever. The main character Avery then has to move into a mansion with the billionaires' grandsons and begins the mission of discovering the reason she got the inheritance. It is a genuinely amusing read because this billionaire loves puzzles and riddles. It is absolutely worth the read!
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
This was a disappointing read. All the praise this book got made me read it, I almost gave up on it. I did not get invested into the characters since I didn’t really like any of them? It also lacked some explanations for it all to make sense to me. It has a Netflix series about it too but I have only seen one episode that I found mediocre. This is one of those books I wish I enjoyed but didn’t. I gave it ⅗ stars at the end because it was fast paced which was nice, it wasn’t all boring and I liked the idea of it.
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
It is a charming romcom emitting “wish that was you huh?” energy. It is a fun read that definitely could be the cure to a reading slump. However, I was a bit annoyed with the characters at times so I would not give it a 5/5, but it was a good story overall so I do recommend it. Seeing the booktok videos about this book made me like it even more.
By Annika