Found: 40 BookTok Books That Are Actually Worth the Read

As an Emily Henry superfan, I’m here to tell you that my girl has NEVER written a bad book. Whether you start with People We Meet on Vacation after watching the Netflix adaption, pick up my personal favorite (Book Lovers forever!), or prefer to start at the beginning with Beach Read, you cannot go wrong. This one chronicles the story of a romance author and a pretentious literary fiction bro who live next to each other for the summer and challenge each other to write a novel in the other’s genre...only to fall head over heels.

Should I just go ahead and crown Kristin Hannah the queen of BookTok-beloved historical fiction? While novels like The Women and Firefly Lane have gotten tons of buzz on social media, The Nightingale is undoubtedly TikTok’s favorite. Set in World War II France, this story follows a woman who is forced to house German Nazis in her home after her husband leaves for war. Warning: Have tissues on hand.

BookTok defintely prefers fiction, but every so often, a memoir cuts through the romance and thriller recs popularized by the platform. One of my personal favorites is Everything I Know About Love, which can be best described as a modern version of Bridget Jones’s Diary, following the messiness of Alderton’s twenties as she makes friends, gets drunk, falls in love, gets dumped, rinse and repeat.

Want to sink your teeth into a novel that’ll make you laugh, cry, and root for a woman to defy the odds? Try Lessons in Chemistry, which has since become a show on Apple TV+. In the 1960s, women aren’t chemists—unless of course, you’re Elizabeth Zott, who works on an all-male research team. When she’s tapped to become the star of a TV show that blends chemistry with cooking, she begins to challenge the status quo of the era.

If you've spent enough time on TikTok, you've definitely heard of Sarah J. Maas's ACOTAR series. It's been a phenomenon since it was first released in 2015, and honestly was one of the books that helped put BookTok on the map. For the uninitiated, it begins as a loose Beauty and the Beast retelling—following Feyre, a huntress who kills a creature in the woods, only to be targeted by a beast faerie who demands retribution, dragging her to a magical land packed with war and love triangles galore.

BookTok can’t resist a good hockey romance—and if your FYP is anything like mine, it’s been filled with Heated Rivalry content for months (not complaining). Luckily, there are seven books in the Game Changers series to dive into, whether you need more Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov content (If that’s the case, read this one, then The Long Game) or were simply obsessed with the little glimpses we got of Scott and Kip (Start with Game Changer!).

Project Hail Mary is a BookTok fave I’d recommend to everyone, even you’re not into sci-fi, and yes, even if you’ve seen the movie already. A science teacher-turned-astronaut wakes up alone on a spacecraft, where he learns that he’s the only person equipped to save the planet from disaster. What follows is a propulsive space adventure featuring an alien rock that’ll warm even the coldest of hearts.

Even if you think you’re the type of person who can always suss out the twists and turns in your favorite thrillers, The Silent Patient might just surprise you. A psychotherapist transfers to a new psychiatric hospital to work with an infamous patient who murdered her husband, then never spoke again. While balancing his own crumbling personal life, the psychotherapist makes it his mission to get her to speak in order to find out the truth about what happened to her.

This epic novel follows two friends through three decades of life as they meet, fall in and out of love, and develop a multi-million dollar gaming company together. If you’re a gamer, you’ll love this. If you’re not a gamer, you’ll also love this, and you’ll learn a lot. The story is expansive and heartbreaking, and the world-building—both in and out of gameplay—is top notch.

Devastated that we’re not returning to Cousins Beach this summer? While I wouldn’t blame you for rewatching the series yet again, the books are also a worthy addition to your beach bag. Although the show deviates from the book series in a few places, Jenny Han’s trilogy is full of the same yearning that you know and love from the show as Belly has to make the impossible choice between Conrad and Jeremiah (No spoilers here, but I’m Team Connie Baby, obvi).

Does this book have one of my favorite titles of all-time? Absolutely. The premise is jaw-droppingly good, although I’d recommend going in knowing as little as possible. Here’s all you need to understand: Underground, 39 women live in a cage with no recollection of how they got there. As time passes, the fortieth girl—an outcast among the others—proves to be the key to getting them out. Fun fact: I Who Have Never Known Men is back in print for the first time since 1997, thanks to TikTok!

Ali Hazelwood’s smash-hit debut is notable for a handful of reasons: It kicked off a trend of STEM-focused romances, it’s one of many books that began as fan fiction, and it’s becoming a movie. PhD candidate Olive lies to her friend that she’s seeing someone, then is forced to kiss the first person she sees to corroborate her lie. Turns out, she just planted one on Dr. Adam Carlson, her program’s toughest professor–and surprise! Now they’re fake dating.

More than 15 years after Tithe was released, Holly Black returned to the fairie world of Elfhame with a new trilogy. Now, the action is centered around Jude Urgate, a mortal who was kidnapped and taken to live among the fey (a group of faeries who believe they’re superior to their human counterparts). Even without powers of her own, Jude tries to prove herself against those who don't believe she belongs by teaming up with a powerful group and trying to take the crown down.

Dearest reader, if you’re mourning the long wait in between Bridgerton seasons, might I suggest picking up the books that started it all? Honestly, they’re all pretty good, but there’s something especially swoon-worthy about the Cinderella story-esque romance between Benedict and Sophie.

Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six is the definition of a BookTok sensation. Her original self-published version became a huge hit, and now it's been picked up by Tor Books and has become a New York Times bestseller. When six new magical academicians get chosen to join a special society—offering unheard-of wealth, power, and status to those selected—the characters must spend the next year qualifying for initiation, proving themselves, and dealing with each other. The catch? Only five make the cut.

Onto perhaps one of my favorite premises of all-time: The son of America’s first female president falls head over heels in love for the Prince of England. What ensues is an international scandal that’s equal parts warm, witty, and hilarious. Make sure to finish this one before the sequel novella drops in December 2026!

Elin Hilderbrand is pretty much the patron saint of the beach read, with over 20 Nantucket-set novels in her catalog. It seems that 28 Summers has become BookTok’s favorite. When Mallory Blessing’s son Link receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call the number on a slip of paper, he’s shocked to find that Jake McCloud, the husband of the frontrunner of the 2020 presidential election on the other end. We’re then whisked back to 1993, when Jake and Mallory meet during an electric weekend in Nantucket, only for him to return every Labor Day where they conduct an affair that persists for—you guessed it!—28 summers.

V.E. Schwab continues to leave us breathless with her work, especially in this adult title. Back in the 1700s, Addie made a deal with the devil to live forever. The catch? No one will ever remember her. Imagine her surprise when we jump to the present day, where she meets a mysterious man who somehow knows who she is.