Recently, the app “Tiktok” has gained a lot of popularity because of one of the most unexpected topics: books. BookTok is a category on “TikTok” that caters to readers, book recommendations, reviews or even fanart of favorite book series. The only problem is that these book recommendations aren’t exactly great.

As an avid bookworm, I’ve read my share of books and have reviewed a large quantity of them. From fantasy to historical fiction, I’ve read and reviewed it all. The unfortunate aspect of this app is the way the community recommends books. In the past few days, I’ve scrolled through my FYP (For You Page) and have seen the same book recommendations of some very mediocre books. As an example, the novel “All of the Bright Places” by Jennifer Niven, is one of the many novels that is constantly there.

The book itself isn’t amazing, but that’s just a matter of opinion; there are so many different types of books that are less know that should be recommended. I understand that people found “All of the Bright Places” and thought it was a good book, but it is one of the books that is over recommended. In the future, I hope to see lesser-known books like, “Mosquitoland” by David Arnold or even “The Naturals” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Although there are books that are over recommended, some actually deserve the title and the popularity of BookTok’s audience. One of the most popular book series “A Court of Thornes and Roses”, a fantasy series that takes a deeper dive into the idea of faeries. The author of this series, Sarah J. Maas, has a loyal following on BookTok for a reason and this one series has its worthy place at the top, it’s engaging and has so many details that help you visualize the characters.

In general, Booktok does have its shining moments. There are obviously some flops when it comes to books and recommending them because not everyone is gonna like them, but the biggest aspect of finding a good book is taking a chance. I never knew that I was going to like some of the classic literature that is forced upon the youth unless I picked up “Pride and Prejudice”  written by Jane Austen, for an English project.

Another factor to finding books that will satisfy that reading itch is finding books that have caught my attention and see if there’s something similar. In terms of BookTok’s selection of book recommendations, I try not to be led astray by popularized books because I know I may not like them. By setting out preferences over-popularity you can find some amazing authors and books that accompany them.