BookTok has become a central hub for bookworms and literature enthusiasts to discover new and exciting literary recommendations.
In this article, we take a journey through the virtual bookshelves of BookTok to uncover the most captivating, thought-provoking, and unputdownable books that have won the hearts and minds of readers in 2023.
As leaves change and evenings draw in (if you’re in the northern hemisphere), thoughts turn to longer nights and crisp, golden days.
(Even we can’t resist this most solid of seasonal clichés, it’s true.)
If you’re lucky, at least a few of those mellow, fruitful hours might be spent deep in a book and sipping your seasonal beverage of choice. Here at Bookscouter HQ, we promise won’t judge you for your PSL, white hot chocolate or chai latte, though we do offer a few recs for your next read, curated from this year’s BookTok buzz (with the merest of minor spoilers ahead):
Can you name an author with a stronger BookTok presence than the inimitable Colleen Hoover? I certainly can’t. Colleen’s contemporary fiction, often depicting the lives, and loves, of young people as they navigate life crises, relationships, and their burgeoning adulthoods.
It’s hard to believe that a mere decade ago, Hoover self-published her first novel Slammed. That’s right SELF-PUBLISHED! The woman put some 123 000 words to paper and published it onto Amazon Kindle. A few great reviews and Amazon sales later, Colleen Hoover’s first two novels were propelled onto The New York Times Bestsellers List. From there, she was just a hop, skip and jump away from dominating TikTok’s literary pocket’s algorithm. Though she has written over twenty books, let’s take a moment to talk about our favourites.
What does ‘spicy’ mean to you? A fluid, sometimes contentious definition amongst Booktok-ers, Reddit-ors, Tumblr-ites and even the (usually) gentler denizens of Goodreads, this romance novel subgenre covers a surprising range.
For some, ‘spice’ might be anything more than coy, bedroom-door-closed, fade-to-black hints at (vanilla) sexual congress between leads, for others, no less than the darkest hinterlands of kink, dirty talk occasionally dubious consent and explicitly anatomical description will do. It’s also a definition that’s loose, welcoming, and democratic enough to take in sex more likely to feature participants of colour, LGBTQ partners, a spectrum of abilities and body types, as well as humour and dalliances with mythology or the supernatural.
Set amongst the quirky residents of the quirkily named small town of Knockemout, Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score works hard to convince of its quirkiness. It’s a town where privacy or personal boundaries dissolve and one unfairly populous with handsome men, some of whom make spectacular coffee. It’s also, rather sweetly, a town where the local library still serves the community.
The plot hits so many familiar romantic comedy tropes it scarcely musters any suspense. It does, however, go a little something like this: our heroine, Naomi, fleeing her abortive wedding and a smarmy fiance, finds herself in crisis, under-caffeinated, and sleep-deprived in Knockemout, North Virginia.
No sooner does July throw on her bikini and head for warmer temperatures do the ‘Beach Read’ lists emerge. Romance and tropical escapes are perfect for suitcase and sun-lounger. But what if you need a little darkness in your seasonal reading? Or a sprinkling of old-Hollywood glamour?
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