Growing up, I was an avid book reader. You couldn’t get me to put a book down. But as I grew
up and entered college, my outlook on reading changed completely. It started to feel more like a
chore instead of the escape that it once was when I was a kid.
It wasn’t until this past summer when I felt that spark reignite and my love for reading returned.
That was all because of TikTok, more specifically the discovery of BookTok. I’ve been on Tik
Tok for a while now. I like to brag I’ve been following Charli since before she moved to Los
Angeles and back when Addison had blonde hair and all she wore was Lululemon leggings. If
you have been on TikTok for a while, you know it mostly was just dance videos, cringey POVs,
and guys making weird thirst traps for tweens with their red LED lights blinking in the
background. And don’t get me wrong, you still have some of that, but it’s a little different now.
People are using this platform to give out different tips and recommendations to people and they
are also using this platform for a greater good than just doing the renegade.
I started seeing more and more people talking about this particular group of books in the
romance genre. I definitely wouldn’t describe myself as a hopeless romantic and the romance
genre of books have never really been my cup of tea. I’m more into mystery books like solving
for the killer or finding out who “A” is before they reveal all the protagonist’s secrets, etc. I like a
little sprinkle of romance here and there, but I’m usually not into that being the entire plotline of
the story. So I knew going in that this genre of books was either going to be a huge hit or a huge
miss for me.
The first book that I started with that kept popping up on my For You Page was People We Meet
on Vacation by Emily Henry. I just kept hearing how “cute” and “charming” this book was so I
decided to try it for myself and let’s just say, if I don’t marry a guy like Alex Nilsen then I don’t
want him.
When you walk into Barnes and Noble there is literally a table near the front door specifically
dedicated to all the books that are currently trending on TikTok. This took me for a whirl and
kind of made me happy in a way because I knew how powerful TikTok was to people, but it’s
insane to see the influence it has on different demographics of people all across the world. I feel
BookTok was also something that helped connect Gen Z and Millennials to each other in a
positive way.
My top BookTok recommendations:
● People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
● The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
● It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
● Beach Read by Emily Henry