BookTok, a popular section of TikTok where users discuss books, attracts book lovers and convinces non-book lovers to pick up their first book in years.
There are many polarizing views about this side of TikTok in general, and the books that get popular on there are even more controversial.
I’ve put together a list of books popular on the platform that I recommend and don’t recommend. There are no Colleen Hoover books mentioned because I think we all need to talk about other books for a change.
YES: “Boys of Tommen” series by Chloe Walsh
This is a book that’s newer to BookTok’s popularity, but it has me in a chokehold. It’s a darker series, but the friend group that forms throughout the books is the heart of the book. You’ll feel like you are friends with the characters as you’re reading.
The next book is the fourth one in the series, and it comes out on March 17th. I fully recommend this series, especially if you would be into reading about Irish teenagers in 2005. 
YES: “Off-Campus” series by Elle Kennedy 
I would recommend this series for anyone who is new to BookTok or the romance genre in general. They are quick and easy reads about the love stories of four hockey players who all live together. They are perfect romcoms with just enough cheesiness for when you need a pick-me-up and don’t have much time. 
YES: “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood
This is not a personal favorite of mine, but every one of my friends who has read this book has come out of it raving. It’s a fake-dating romance between a grad student and a professor (don’t worry, it’s age appropriate and the characters work in different departments).
If you’re a STEM major, be sure to give this book a chance.
NO: “Throttled” by Lauren Asher 
Lauren Asher is a hyped-up author in the romance genre for some reason. While I can’t say I’ve read any of her books besides this one, she managed to make a love story between a racecar driver and his teammate/rival’s sister a boring read.
I’ll pass on her for now and you should to.
YES: “Beach Read” by Emily Henry
In this fantastic standalone that I think about every day, two authors of different genres are neighbors for the summer, and both go through severe writer’s block.
They strike a deal where she has to try to write a book that doesn’t have a happy ending, and he has to write a book that does. And get this, they got off on the wrong foot when they first met in college.  
NO: “Grisha Trilogy” by Leigh Bardugo 
As an avid Six of Crows fan, I tried. I really did. The fact that these books came from the same world, let alone the same person, astounds me.
With lackluster main characters and a superficially “complex” villain who spends most of his page time being creepy, this book series is better left off your “to-be-read” lists.
YES: “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” and “Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I’m feeding into the hype, and not just because of how excited I am for the “Daisy Jones & The Six” show to release on Prime Video. Reid has a gift for crafting stories that center around a larger-than-life complex female character, and I don’t want her to ever stop utilizing it to the fullest.
The stories, inspired by Marilyn Monroe and Stevie Nicks specifically, are both unique in structure, and are engaging all throughout. If you haven’t gotten a chance to read them yet, I highly recommend.