Rant: Booktok

 Hey people! You may know something that is taking bookish people by storm. And it is BookTok. The book category of the app we all know and love, TikTok. Many of us, including myself, have turned to BookTok in times of need for recommendations, but are they all good?  

Frankly, not all of BookTok's suggestions are good. Usually, the ones that get overhyped the most are the ones everyone says will make you cry your eyes out, and they don't. Like I read a book called They Both Die at the End. It wasn't a bad book but I would call it mediocre. But everyone was going on and on about how good it was and how it made them sob uncontrollably. But when I got to the sad part of the book, I didn't cry. Of course, I felt sad. It was a sad scene just as it was supposed to be, but the fact that it didn't live up to my very high expectations made the book much worse than it was meant to be. This is just one example of the countless other books BookTok has recommended that weren't that great. 

But not all of them are bad. There are many books I absolutely love, and the only way I could've found them is because of BookTok. For example, Six of Crows. Fantastic book, one of my favorites of all time. You need to see both sides of the other's opinions before reading a highly recommended book. I went for it because I didn't find as many "overhyped" comments about the book. 

But there is something else I need to talk about. Colleen Hoover. She is either the most hated author on this platform or the most loved author on this platform. In my non-professional opinion, the woman is psychotic. I swear this woman comes up with the most deranged stories and calls it a romance novel. I stopped reading her books after reading November 9. If you know, you know. I mean, if you want to read her books, I won't judge you. But don't read her books if you want to live a healthy lifestyle. I am still determining how she got so popular on TikTok. If I'm honest, Collen Hoover is for people who THINK they love reading but don't. 

In conclusion, you should not RELY on platforms such as TikTok and go out on your own to find books you will truly enjoy. You will find what you want genuinely rather than just going on what's on trend in the book world. This doesn't mean you don't ever take recommendations from people on BookTok, but just be wary of what you are picking out to read.

That's it. I hope you enjoyed my little rant. As always, happy reading.