Y.A. BookTok: Hot or Not

Over the past couple of years social media has become quite the cornerstone in many teens’ lives. TikTok, specifically, has become a community that many people are a part of. In TikTok, there are many different kinds of subdivisions, like BookTok. BookTok is a part of TikTok where people give book suggestions and share their love of stories with each other. Some books have become immensely popular, so I read them, as a curious bookworm would, so you don’t have to. Here are my opinions on them. 

1. Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

This book is a retelling of the Iliad, which is a classic by Homer. The story follows Patroclus and the story of his love of Achilles, the hero in the Greek myth.

My opinions on this book are conflicted, for many reasons. I am not a crier when it comes to books, so I was expecting a lot more emotion, since I saw on TikTok that it was one of the most heart wrenching books people have ever read. I was a little underwhelmed, if I’m being honest. It wasn’t as emotionally evocative as I was hoping it to be. However, it was beautifully written and Miller took a wonderful turn on the story, which I appreciated a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although the beginning was slow.

In summary, it is worth it, but always take opinions from social media with a grain of salt. 

If you want to read more about the book, click here. 

• We Were Liars, E. Lockhart

I did a review about this book last year, and I still have more to say about it. This book is told from Cadence Eastman’s perspective. She is recovering from brain damage, which resulted in memory loss. The book narrates the events of the previous summers and how things came to be and the dirty secrets that were uncovered. 

This book was phenomenal. I couldn’t put it down. There were parts of the book that I was really confused about, but that was just something that Lockhart used to develop the plot and make you feel as though you are moving your mind. 

The following that this book has gained is deserved, considering how much it pulls you into the story. You feel Cady’s pain and experience her grief. It is truly an immersive mystery. 

If you want to read more about the book, click here. 

• Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo

This fantasy book series is one of the best ones thus far in the realm of Booktok. The Netflix adaptation spurred more talk about this amazing series. 

This trilogy follows Alina, an orphan who discovers that she has supernatural powers that could possibly save the world, or they would be used for evil and tear it apart. It follows her journey of love, betrayal, and acceptance.

This book series is fantastic, a page turner that you can’t put down. But it’s not a page turner in the same way that We Were Liars is. It’s addictive in a way that you can’t get enough of the romance, adventure, and swoon worthy men. 

If you want to read more about the series, click here.

• They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera

Unlike some of the others on this list, this book is realistic fiction, but set in more of a parallel universe where people get a call on the day of their death telling them that they are going to die. Be it predetermination or something straight out of Macbeth, this book spurs a lot of thinking. It is about a boy named Mateo Torrez, who is too afraid of life to actually live, and a boy named Rufus Emeterio, who lived on the edge until the day of his death. 

It is heartbreaking and tear jerking. If you are looking for a book to make you cry, look no further. Even with the title spoiling the ending, there is so much more to the story than reaches the surface. This book is anything but mundane and dreary. Even though it is sad sometimes, this book made my heart flutter with happiness. 

If you want to read more about the book, click here

• Red White and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston

This is also realistic fiction, similarly to They Both Die at the End. This book was one that I had picked up while I was at the beach on vacation and couldn’t put down. It was phenomenal. It follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the US president and his rivalry with Prince Henry of England. However this rivalry seems to be based off of something other than just plain anger and disdain. The rivalry morphs into something much nicer… 

This page was fantastically written, definitely one of the best things I read during the summer. The massive following that this book received is definitely deserved. 

Click here if you want to read more about the book. 

Now it’s time for brutal honesty. Here are the books that I really didn’t like that have gained popularity on TikTok. 

• Twilight, Stephanie Meyer

This is a rather controversial topic, I know. These books have accumulated such a large following and fandom, so one would expect that it was amazing beyond comparison, right?

Wrong. 

It was predictable and the characters were not three dimensional at all. Even though the female characters were written by a woman, they seemed as though their only desire in life was to get male attention which seemed rather 2D, if you ask me.

If you still want to read more, click here. 

• Divergent, Veronica Roth

This book had accumulated quite a fandom, so I was really expecting something amazing. The first time I read the series, I was in fifth grade, so my standards weren’t too high. I enjoyed it, for the most part. But when I reread it more recently, I was very disappointed. 

But if you still want to read more about it, click here.

• The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

This book is a cult classic and has a massive following behind it. However, it did not live up to what I expected of it. I had expected a heart wrenching story that I could never recover from, but instead, I really got nothing out of it. It was well written, don’t get me wrong, but it was predictable and cliche. 

But to each his own. If you want to read more about this book, click here.

• Heartless, Marissa Meyer

Marissa Meyer is an amazing author and I loved a lot of her books (especially the Renegades series), but this one was slow. 

It was cliche and not up to what I thought it was going to be. It was well written but the characters and the story was not well developed enough to be impactful.

But if you still want to read more information about it, click here.

• The Betrothed, Kiera Kass

This book is written by the same author that wrote the Selection Series, that I had mentioned in some earlier articles. The Selection series was ABSOLUTELY amazing, so this book was a little underwhelming. I was expecting something as alluring and amazing as The Selection and what I got was something subpar.

It was slow and irritating at times. I would not recommend it. 

Even so, if you want to check it out, click here.