If you love to read — anything from saucy romance to page-turning thrillers — and you’re a TikTok user, you’ve likely heard of #BookTok.
The hashtag has garnered a following of 119.2B views (which is nearly 100B more than Starbucks makes a year in sales, according to MarketWatch) — and it’s consistently gaining traction.
Each day — each second of the day — creators are uploading their favorite reads to the platform and, over time, certain titles simply rise to social-caused applause.
“I think #BookTok is so popular because it allows readers and even non-readers who want to get into reading come together and share books and book opinions, connect with others who like the same books and start conversations in the book community,” Sara Carrolli, 22-year-old YouTube content creator with 176K subscribers who uploads reading and lifestyle content — including reading vlogs, book recommendations and “days in her life” — told the New York Post. “It’s such a quick and easy way to connect and share recommendations for others to find new authors and books they may want to give a try!”
Ahead, Carrolli gave us the details on the 20 best #BookTok titles in various genres that are worth your time. So, grab your e-reader (if you so choose) and hop into these viral reads.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“Macy’s mom passes away when she’s little so her father buys them a weekend house right next to Elliot Petropulous’s family where her and Elliot spend all their time together and connect on such a deep level,” Carrolli explains. “Fast forward 11 years later and they see each other again but they haven’t spoken since, and you soon find out what happened on that day all those years ago. This one has all the feels and a beautifully written love story.”
More, Carrolli says this is her favorite #BookTok read ever.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“January moves into her late father’s lake house to try to write a novel she owes to her publisher,” Carrolli says. “Next door is Gus who is also an author, and they strike up a deal to switch genres for the summer to help their writers block.”
According to Carrolli, the setting, banter, and storyline is wonderful, especially for your next trip to the sand and the shore.
Genre: Romantic Thriller
“Lowen is a struggling writer who accepts an offer from Jeremy, who is looking for someone to finish out his wife’s (Verity) unfinished books,” Carrolli explains. “She moves into their house to go through Verity’s previous work and things take so many turns!”
Not to mention, this book is one to read in one sitting, she adds, and just gets crazier and crazier as you read.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
“Kaz Brekker accepts a deal for a lot of money to perform a heist in one of the most dangerous places,” Carrolli says. “He gets together a crew who all have specific talents to contribute for the heist.”
According to Carrolli, this was one of her first fantasies and still stands to be one of her favorite books. “The plot is so entertaining, and the group of characters are all so different but their personalities together is phenomenal.”
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian Romance
“Juliette is held in captivity because her touch is lethal,” Carrolli explains. “You go on her journey figuring out her past and future with this power she has.”
This is a bigger series but, according to Carrolli, is written incredibly well. “There’s so many amazing characters and the storyline is so gripping, with romance also included!” she adds.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“[This is about] the coming of age of Daisy Jones in LA in the 1970s when she joins the band, The Six,” Carrolli says. “It’s told interview style when the band members are older and answering questions about their journey to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world.”
According to Carrolli, the way it’s written is so interesting. “The author made it feel as if this band was real and the history actually occurred,” she highlights.
Genre: Young Adult Romance
“Meredith’s family spends summers on Martha’s Vineyard, but they haven’t gone since recently losing her big sister,” Carrolli explains. “Her cousin’s getting married so they go for a week and they all play one huge game of assassin (water guns involved) and she meets Wit who becomes the love interest!”
According to Carrolli, this is such an easy, fun summer romance, but do keep in mind it touches on grief and the loss of a loved one.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“Piper is banished by her stepfather to a small town to ‘come back to reality’ since she is spending way too much money and always partying in LA,” Carrolli says. “She meets small town fisherman, Brendan, and they become enemies who slowly change each other for the better.”
This is an entertaining summer read with lots of fun banter and side characters, per Carrolli.
Genre: Fantasy Romance
“Feyre shoots a wolf that turns out to be a Fae, so she is taken to the Fae world as punishment,” Carrolli explains. “She is now with Tamlin where a love/hate relationship ensues.”
According to Carrolli, this story only gets better and better as you continue the series with “lots of found family moments, crazy plot-lines and romance in such a cool world!” she adds.
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
“Pip is working on a time capsule project for school that involved re-opening a case of her former student that was murdered and the culprit was that student’s boyfriend,” Carrolli says. “She is now on the hunt to retract the steps everyone took and opens up a whole new world of clues and people that are suspicious.”
If you love traveling along with characters in a mystery setting, you’ll love all of the detective work and plot twists characteristic of this viral read.
Genre: Young Adult Romance/Fiction
“Autumn and Finny are next door neighbors who have known each other since still in the womb, and whose moms are best friends,” Carrolli says. “As they grow up, they grow apart and a tragedy occurs with Finny.”
According to Carrolli, this story is “so heartbreaking but tells a tale of missed chances and wasted time.”
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“Runaway bride Naomi gets a call from her evil twin sister for help, but when she gets to the small town of Knockemout, Virginia, her sister has vanished and left Naomi’s niece (who she’s never met) and angry townspeople in her wake,” Carrolli explains. “Knox gives Naomi a place to stay but he is incredibly grumpy due to the fact that he hates her twin sister.”
Per Carrolli, Lucy Score knows how to write banter so incredibly well and notes that you’ll be giggling, smitten and then on the edge of your seat in anticipation.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“This story follows Sam and Percy throughout their 12 years of friendship up until present time, where they haven’t seen each other since,” Carrolli explains. “This is told between past and present timelines where Percy comes back to town and sees Sam again, now having to rework their broken relationship.”
The not-knowing of why they stopped talking had Carrolli “on the edge of [her] seat,” given how much chemistry and fun they had growing up.
Genre: Young Adult Romance
“Belly spends summers in Cousins Beach with her family friends, who are two brothers,” Carrolli says. “It follows her coming of age and wanting to find love, but she finds herself in a love triangle between both brothers.”
According to Carrolli, this is such a nostalgic-feeling story and an incredible series to binge over the summer.
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
“Avery Grambs has very little money to her name and is summoned from school to fly to Tobas Hawthorne’s estate,” Carrolli says .”She has never met this man but is now in a room full of his family and has been left his entire will. She is now on a hunt with lots of riddles and clues to figure out why she was chosen, all with the help of his four grandsons.”
This is a rich journey to go on as a reader, jam-packed with tons of fun riddles and clues to figure out with the characters, per Carrolli.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“Anastasia is working to get into Team USA figure skating, and when one of two ice skating rinks gets ruined and her skating partner gets injured, she is now forced to share rinks with Nate and his hockey team,” Carrolli explains. “Nate is benched from hockey so he steps up to help Anastasia with her practice, forcing them to spend a lot of time together.”
According to Carrolli, this story is so entertaining with lots of personalities and fun side characters. “The chemistry between these two is incredible and their communication is top-tier,” she adds.
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
“Millie who has a criminal past finally gets hired as a maid for a rich family, but when she starts, she notices the once nice wife starts acting crazy,” Carrolli says. “Freida’s writing will have you speed-reading her stories!”
Not to mention, she couldn’t put this one down and, as you keep on reading, it just keeps getting crazier.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“The biggest women’s tennis player, Carrie, comes out of retirement to hold her place at the top with her father as her coach,” Carrolli explains. “This is told in the years of her learning tennis and following the timeline to how she became the greatest, up to the 1994 U.S. Open.”
This story is so much more than just a story of a woman playing tennis and her comeback, according to Carrolli, “but about women in sports, forgiveness and incredibly strong women.”
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
“Husband and wife take a small getaway to fix their marriage in a secluded chapel during a snow storm,” Carrolli says. “The husband has facial blindness, and both have secrets!”
According to Carrolli, Alice’s writing is binge-worthy and this story will have you on the edge of your seat “up until the last page.”
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“Rowan wants to renovate Dreamland (their family theme park) all while fulfilling his late grandfather’s wish to get his personal inheritance,” Carrolli expalins. “Zahra gets hired on his team to help out and they share lots of moments and lots of arguments.”
This is an amazing enemies-to-lovers (with a grumpy MMC) and an incredible setting (think of Disney World), per Carrolli.
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