All the TIKTOK Hyped Books I Read This Year!

**Friendship to Lovers and Fake Dating: A Review of "Because of Tick Tock" by Sarah Adams**

I recently finished reading "Because of Tick Tock" by Sarah Adams, which has been hyped up quite a bit on social media platforms like TikTok. As someone who loves friends-to-lovers romance, I was excited to dive into this story and see how it would play out. The book tells the tale of two best friends, one a professional NFL player and the other a passionate ballerina who owns her own dance studio. They've been friends for six years, and their relationship is filled with a palpable chemistry that has fans swooning.

I appreciated the authors take on this trope, as it's a favorite of mine, and I was eager to see how she would develop the main character. While I didn't feel like she fully reached the potential of her character development, there was something endearing about the relationship between the two friends. The author did a great job of capturing the ups and downs of their friendship and the subtle hints of attraction that exist beneath the surface.

One thing that struck me about this book is how steamy it gets without being explicit. As someone who prefers not to read overly graphic content, I appreciated the fact that the author kept things PG-13. The romance is still sultry and engaging, but it's not gratuitous or excessive. This made for a very comfortable read, especially during my daily commute.

As I finished reading this book, I realized that while it didn't blow me away, it was a solid friends-to-lovers romance that I would recommend to fans of the genre. The author did a great job of crafting a compelling narrative that explores the complexities of friendship and the thrill of first love. While my expectations were tempered by the hype surrounding this book, I'm glad I gave it a try.

**A Hyped Book: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin**

Gabrielle Zevin's "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" has been everywhere – from work to social media platforms like TikTok. As someone who was eager to dive into this book, I have to admit that the hype did affect my reading experience. While I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either. The story follows two friends, Sam and Sadie, as they navigate the ups and downs of life, relationships, and video games.

I appreciated the author's take on friendship and how it evolves over time. The writing is engaging, and I enjoyed following these characters through their lives as they grew up and faced various challenges. However, there was something that didn't quite click for me – perhaps it was the hype surrounding this book that made me expect more. Despite my initial enthusiasm, I found myself wanting to see why everyone loved this book so much.

One thing that did strike me about "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is its exploration of themes like identity, ambition, and the power of friendship. These are all important topics that resonated with me, even if the execution didn't quite live up to my expectations. While I wouldn't say it was a bad book, it wasn't my favorite either.

**The Hypothesis: How Hype Can Affect Our Reading Experience**

As someone who loves reading and discovering new books, I have to admit that hype can be both good and bad. On one hand, it's great to see authors and books gaining traction on social media platforms like TikTok. It's exciting to discover new titles and get recommendations from friends and online communities.

On the other hand, hype can also create unrealistic expectations. When a book is everywhere – in work, on social media, or with every friend you know – it can be intimidating to dive into it without preconceived notions. I found myself wanting to see why everyone loved this book so much, which put pressure on my reading experience.

In the end, while hype didn't completely ruin "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" for me, it did affect my enjoyment of the book. I wish I had gone into it with lower expectations, but I'm glad I gave it a try nonetheless. As for next year's Bookmas celebrations, I'll be sure to approach new releases with a more balanced attitude – one that acknowledges hype without letting it dictate my reading experience.

**Bookmas Day 18 and Christmas Romance Reading Vlog**

It's time to wrap up the reviews for this year, but before we say goodbye, I want to tease you about our upcoming Bookmas Day celebrations. Next week, I'll be sharing a Christmas romance reading vlog – a festive reading challenge that I'm excited to embark on.

In the video, I'll be sharing some of my favorite holiday romances and discussing why they make the cut. From cozy classics to modern takes on traditional tropes, I've got you covered. Be sure to tune in next week for the festivities!

**Why I Struggle with Reading Recommendations**

As someone who loves reading and discovering new books, I often struggle with giving recommendations or explaining why a particular book resonated with me. While I'd love to share my thoughts and opinions freely, there's something that holds me back.

Perhaps it's the fear of oversimplifying complex themes or not doing justice to the author's work. Maybe it's the pressure to be original and unique in my recommendations. Whatever the reason, I've found myself hesitating when it comes to sharing my reading experiences with others.

However, as I reflect on my reading journey, I realize that giving genuine reviews and recommendations is essential for building connections with fellow readers and authors. It's time for me to take a leap of faith and share my thoughts freely – warts and all!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone it's Haley and today is bookmas day 19 so I'm going to be talking about the books that Tick Tock made me read this year I actually filmed what was originally supposed to be bookmas day 19 and then immediately that day I had this idea and I was like no I actually do have like a really solid list of books here so I need to Pivot and do this one instead so the video that I originally filmed for today will be coming for the last week of bookmas it kind of makes more sense there anyways but essentially I wanted to take a day to talk about books that I was influenced to read I don't know like if I would have gotten to these as quickly or if I ever would have gotten to some of them without the influence of specifically Tick Tock but also they've kind of been hyped up in like various places as well so not strictly like Tick Tock or book talk but definitely that has played a role in like a lot of the recommendations that I have gotten especially this year more than other years like usually I feel like there's a few different recommendations that I will take but I feel like this year there are a lot of books that I don't think I normally would have read and I went on on a limb and tried them and I ended up finding some that I really enjoyed like definitely not all of them were hits but I thought it was interesting to kind of look back on the books that they definitely did get me and I had to read them because I was just seeing them everywhere this video actually pairs really nicely with bookmas day 11 where I was talking about the most hyped books of 2022 so I asked you guys what books you heard about constantly and compiled it into a nice list so I'll link that down below for you guys if you want to check it out but don't worry it's not going to be a repeat of that video at all there definitely are some books like on here that were in that video but I'm going to be talking about my thoughts for these ones this time and there's also some that like I particularly saw in a tick tock or was hearing about a lot and they weren't even like that necessarily hyped up I'm just gonna get into the list none of this Preamble matters let's just get to it but actually before we do don't forget to click the Subscribe button and click the Bell icon so you will be notified whenever I post I'm going to be posting a new video every single day for the entire month of December so you don't want to miss any of that and without further Ado let's actually get into the list I wanted to actually start out with one that I don't own anymore because I got rid of my copy which is not a great sign but that is the Spanish love deception by Elena armez I hadn't heard of this book before and then when I did bookmas 2021 and I did that video about the most hyped books so many of you guys were like talking about this book and that was one of the most mentioned ones and I was like weird because I've never heard of it never seen it anywhere but of course after that I had to pick myself up a copy to see what everyone was talking about and also like it's an adult romance it's a fake dating thing it just sounded exactly like what I would love but I did not like this one I didn't really care for the writing all that much I felt like the writing was just kind of like it was so long and it absolutely did not need to be like anywhere near as long as what it was so yeah it just it wasn't my thing but this definitely has been a super super hyped up book and for me I don't necessarily think that it was worth the hype or it lived up to it but I can understand like if it is kind of your first like fake dating enemies to love or story why you would really enjoy it but it wasn't mine I've read quite a few of those so that's why it was just kind of an okay read for me I didn't like hate it but I don't think I will read other things by the author but like I'm not gonna say never like never say never but I just don't think so next is actually another romance read but the nice thing like Tick Tock definitely does really love romances but this list is definitely not all romances there's actually something from like a ton of different genres but for the next romance it is how to fail at flirting by Denise Williams I was thinking about doing different videos with like Tick Tock hyped reads and doing different reading Vlogs and stuff so that actually led to me picking up a lot of hyped up books and this was one of them that I picked up because of that video although it had been kind of on my radar like I had been interested in this one I just didn't end up picking it up and this is kind of an interesting romance story because I don't think it like particularly follows any tropes it does have like a list involved in the romance so that is a Trope but it's not like friends to lovers or enemies to lovers I guess in a way it's kind of forbidden romance but not really so I kind of liked the fact that it didn't follow any tropes necessarily and I really enjoyed the characters as well and I do have more by this author because it definitely did like pique my interest I thought this was a really solid romance and I do like I don't think it was a bad one but I don't think it was mind-blowing so I'm kind of curious why this one is so hyped up like why does tick tock latch onto the books that it does I can't explain it I don't know why but this has definitely been one of them and I would be curious to see exactly why because I think it was it was a good read like it was a good romance book I would give it like a solid like four out of 5 Stars if I did ratings but I'm just like why is it so hyped up you know what I mean I don't know I'm gonna come off of this tangent now actually kind of a nice bookend to the book that I was last talking about is this next one ace of spades by farida abike now I say that because this one I totally understand why it is so hyped up because it's the kind of book that when you finish it you want to talk about it you want to talk to other people about it you want other people to have read it because you're trying to wrap your mind around what just happened you're like absolutely what is going on and that was exactly the case with this book it blew my mind and I just wanted to scream to the High Heavens about it and talk to everyone about it and try and like suss out exactly what had just happened and what I had just read but like in the best way possible it is such an interesting story it is like a dark Academia mystery story but it's dealing with racial relations and everything and racism and it is so incredibly well done like the fact that this is a debut completely blows my mind and I think that this book lives up to like all of the hype that it's getting I completely understand it next is you've reached Sam by Dustin Tau this is another one I really liked I am like pleasantly surprised by the fact that I enjoy most of the books that Tick Tock recommends to me and I'm not saying that like I think it's going to be bad recommendations that sounds really bad I'm just like I I am really really liking them more than I'm expecting to I'm kind of going out on a whim with a lot of them and I end up really loving them but this really go out on a weight this one an incredible debut cannot believe it's a debut such an emotional story but like so beautiful and great so this is about a girl whose boyfriend dies and she is like having trouble mourning him she's definitely it depicts grief in a really interesting raw and honest way and that's not always pretty obviously like 99 of the time it's not pretty but she ends up calling her boyfriend because she wants to hear his voice one last time and is surprised when he picks up and they actually have like this limited connection so it's a really sad story about grief about goodbyes character development all of that and I think this is a really great one to continue to Hype up I think it definitely lived up to it for me of course if I'm talking about Tick Tock hyped reads it would feel remiss for me not to mention a certain someone and I read three of this certain someone's books this year because I did a reading Vlog for her specifically and I will link that down below but I do plan on doing like another one in the future next year because I have more of her books to read I just I have read this author before and I really flip-flop on whether I enjoy her books or I don't like there's really no in between and that author if you haven't guessed already is Colleen Hoover so Colleen Hoover has taken Tick Tock by storm obviously we all know it and a lot of people are sick of hearing for her but like good good for her honestly she's killing it she's introducing a lot of people to reading I think that's incredible so I read three of her books I've already read ugly love and maybe someday and I think hopeless I think I've read another one slammed maybe I don't know I've read some of her stuff these are the three most recent ones I have read and it had been a really long time since I had read anything by her so I decided to go with two of like the most hyped up ones obviously it ends with us I would say is the most hyped and Verity I think like either this or reminders of him but like reminders of him is newer so that's why you know I don't know but if you're gonna rank them I would say that these two are near the top and then confess was kind of just thrown in there confess I didn't really like so confess wasn't a big fan of um yeah I just this was kind of for like a forgettable one for me I feel like the one thing about Colleen Hoover her books read incredibly quickly they follow a formula and it works like I'm not complaining they are such reads this one though it just was so corny in so many ways that I just I did not like it it had art in it so I thought that was cool but that was like the one redeeming thing it ends with us was interesting because it's different than any other book that I have read in that genre and I felt like it dealt with the subject matter delicately and the author's note at the end also added a lot to that I didn't realize that it was going to be about like it's about abuse I did not realize that at all and it was very like it was very fascinating it was really eye-opening it starts with us came out at the end of this year and I haven't read it yet but probably we'll do a reading Vlog for that one in the new year so I'm not sure if I like I think I liked it I really kind of flip-flop on my feelings on this one in particular now Verity blew my mind I really liked Verity I was listening to the audiobook and I was like what is happening at like so many points this one totally out of my realm and I'm mean I haven't read like a Colleen Hoover book that is a mystery before so out of my realm for her but also out of my realm in general I don't really read many Thrillers or Mysteries but like oh my God this one was wild and I really liked it and I felt like I feel like sometimes Colleen Hoover's writing can be a bit corny which is to be expected like the romance stories but I felt like in this one there wasn't that element of it and it was really enjoyable like I I didn't really miss that because I think sometimes she can lean too corny for my personal taste but this one super cool I don't think cool is actually the right word uh thought provoking maybe or unsettling is another word for it next is iron Widow by ziran J Zao I had heard a ton about this book uh I had heard about it like before but then especially after I started working at penguin Random House Canada because I mean we published this book so since it became like a tick tock sensation and everyone was talking about it and everything and I finally read it at the end of the year and I get it like I really do it was so cool like a feminist fantasy story with a main character and like a main relationship too that is really just wild the world was super cool I did kind of like it's very out there like I had never read anything where it had this magic system that it has where it's like these creature things I kind of had trouble picturing all of it but I think that's my own fault and not the authors I think that they did a fantastic job with this story like the writing was incredible and I really loved it actually that made me think of another book that I definitely read Because of tick tock hype and I need to go and Grub I haven't actually filmed like my best books of the Year video yet because it's currently like November 28th so I haven't finished reading yet for the year so I don't know you may have heard about some of these books before already and one I'm sure you've heard about before is daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lin tan because I loved this book it is an adult fantasy about the daughter of the Moon Goddess obviously and she ends up in like a really dangerous position and is trying to save her mother and everything it's just it's really good I understand the height for this one as well the writing is beautiful and it is such a cool interesting fantasy world and like it just yeah it was really definitely so good really definitely so good what what a sentence that was next is the Midnight Library by Matt Hague this for sure is a book that I never would have read and another one that actually came up in that most hyped books of 2021 video that I did so that kind of made me interested in it and I ended up picking it up and I think I hauled it in my Christmas book haul the one that I always do on Christmas Day and I read it pretty early in 2022 and it was not at all what I expected I kind of went into it blind which is how I like to go into most books but obviously I can't always do that because like when I'm talking about books on a video I need to tell you what it's about or else why are you going to be watching but for this one I was able to actually go into it not knowing a lot I knew that it was set in this Library between life and death and that was where you like existed but I didn't know the intricate intricacies of this story and I didn't know the self-help aspect of it I think that this is a book that's definitely kind of polarizing some people don't like it but for me it meant a lot to me it was definitely a book that like I could see myself in and I mean you know if you've been watching my channel these past few years have not been the easiest for me mental health-wise and I felt like this story was one that I read when I needed it and it just like stays close to my heart I think it was such a beautiful book and I appreciated the self-help aspects being mixed within this really good story at the same time like I just thought this was really well done didn't expected at all but really loved it of course the love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood has also been so hyped up on Tick Tock and I liked this one once again didn't blow my mind but I do understand why this one is more hyped up because it is kind of different for the adult romance genre in the fact that it deals with a woman in stem at the Forefront of it and that has kind of become like Ali hazelwood's thing also having like really huge men I don't know why all the men are described as so big and that's definitely like what happens in this book but I loved the fact that I was dealing with women in stem the fake relationship there were a lot of like steamy moments that I was like oh like this is quite good I was enjoying it and I did like the relationship um I don't know what kind of missed the mark for me here I think maybe I found the story to be a little bit slow and maybe I found the believability of the fake dating premise it was a bit weak for my taste like it's a PhD candidate who ends up fake dating one of the professors there that sounds weird but like PhD can like it's not weird the age Gap it's not weird but she's doing it because her friend like her best friend she thinks that she's not dating the guy that she likes because she had gone out on a date with him so she's trying to say oh I have moved on but I felt like the whole that whole thing kind of seemed a little bit weak for me but overall like the story was really fun next is a book that I for sure would never have picked up if not for tick tock and that is before the coffee gets cold by toshikazu kawaguchi and this is translated by I don't know it said somewhere Jeffrey Trestle live so this was originally written in Japanese and it is Tales from the cafe it is a series now I have the second one and I'm definitely planning on reading it this winter because it is the perfect like cozy it's snowing outside you want to have like a cup of hot chocolate and just sit there and snuggle and read a book and you will like finish it probably because I did I finished this one in one sitting it is I think three or four stories four Stories the lovers husband and wife the sisters and mother and child and it's essentially this Cafe where you can travel through time and you're following the different stories of like all four of those characters and they're individual stories but the cafe is what connects them it's so hard to describe but like it's one that I think you should just go into and you will probably be like really pleasantly surprised I was speaking of a book that I absolutely never would have read without Tick Tock my year of rest and relaxation by otessa moshfae for sure never would have picked this one up it's just like it's not my thing this book does not look like anything that I would usually read and I don't know how to describe that because I feel like I kind of will read anything or at least most things but when I look at a book I know I know from the package I judge the book by its cover I always do that to see if it's going to be something that I'm going to want to read and this one I was like no because it looks very intellectual I think that's why this one just didn't seem like it was for me but I was actually like really pleasantly surprised by this one and it's one once again I don't know if I liked it or not because I feel like it's a hard book to say that you liked this is supposed to be like the ultimate sad girl Tick Tock like aesthetic book and I can see why it's about a woman who is trying to sleep for a year so she's taking like all of these drugs and everything to try and sleep for a year straight and it was just so confusing like I read this book really quickly because I became very engrossed in the character's mind which I don't think is necessarily a good thing but I was fascinated by everything that was happening what she was doing and I just like I wanted answers it was kind of like a morbid Fascination that kept me going with this one and ended with me reading it like on a Saturday night morning and then putting it down and I was like whoa and I felt like really sleepy afterwards I'm not gonna lie I felt like this character just like was in my mind and I didn't want that I forgot what I did after but I must have done something like pure so I'm just editing this but I actually remembered what I did immediately after finishing this book and it was have a nap yeah like legitimately I had a nap and it was great because this just felt like a dirty read I don't know how to describe it but really interesting hyped book uh and yeah I I still don't really know how I feel about it next is every summer after by Carly Fortune you guys know by now loved this book it is set in Cottage Country Canada and it is a childhood friends to lovers romance and it is just adorable like I had a great time with this one once again I'm sure that this is one that I have talked about quite a bit already for bookmas so I'm just gonna keep it short and sweet next is the dead Romantics by Ashley Poston so this isn't one that like I think I wouldn't have read but it is one that I think I read sooner because I was seeing it kind of around tick tock and Instagram and stuff and I was really excited because I have read stuff by this author before she has written quite a few why a novels but this is her first adult novel and I was really excited to see it everywhere you know and I really enjoyed this one it's dealing with a main character who is a ghost writer so that was really interesting but she also can see ghosts she like grew up in a funeral parlor that her family has owned and her father has actually just died so she ends up traveling home for the first time in ages to obviously like for his funeral but then there's a ghost there that she wasn't expecting it's a really good story it's kind of like this forbidden romance sort of thing but it manages to be really cute also sometimes steamy and then also like a will they won't they Slow Burn sort of thing but also kind of fun at times but also there's like the development of the main character so it's kind of deeper it's like it it's all the levels for me next is the cheat sheet by Sarah Adams so this has been I guess really hyped up but I haven't seen it anywhere except for like on lists of very hyped up books but I feel like everyone you know everyone sees something different on Tick Tock so it's hard to say specifically what is very hyped up if that makes sense but this is a friends to lovers romance a best friends to lovers romance they have been best friends for like six years and she is ballerina who had an accident so now she just actually owns a dance studio but she's like really passionate about that and her best friend is actually a pro NFL player and they have a relationship that like it it's kind of like you know you know like you're not just friends no one no one acts like that with their friends maybe they do but most people don't like you know there's the chemistry there and I'm a sucker for friends to lovers really love it and I like I kind of understand why because it is like a really cute Dynamic that they have and it ends up being kind of like a friends to lovers but also fake dating thing the characters are really fun I think this would be a good book if you're like just breaking out of why a and trying to get into adult romance because it's steamy but not like there's no like explicit on page steam it's just kind of like thoughts if that makes I don't know if that makes sense I think that might make it sound worse but it's definitely like PG-13 I would say I kind of hesitate to give it a rating but it's not like explicit I guess is what I'm trying to say I think it was a solid friends to lovers was I Blown Away no but I will read more by the author and the final book that I read Because of Tick Tock but also this one was definitely one that was hyped kind of like everywhere else I mean I feel like you can say that of all of these but specifically this one tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle zevin so Gabrielle zevin is the author of uh storied life of AJ Vickery I definitely mentioned this one in the hyped books video because it was absolutely everywhere it was hyped up at work it was hyped up on Instagram I was just kind of seeing it absolutely everywhere and I feel like that hype did kind of hurt me a little bit I don't like I liked this one I liked the fact that it was a story that was focusing on friendship and I liked the fact that I was dealing with like video games and you're following these really interesting characters through like years of their relationship and everything and as they're growing up and all of that but there was just something and I cannot pinpoint what it was that didn't hit the nail in the head for me and I think part of that was because it was so hyped up like I think that is kind of where I was let down because everyone was loving it I felt like oh I'm probably gonna love it too and usually if a book is super hyped up if I haven't read it before the hype I do try and like let it die down a little bit but sometimes I get sucked in you know and I want to know I'm like why is everyone so obsessed with this book and yeah I did want to know I wanted to read those this one because everyone was talking about it and for once I wanted to be like in on the conversation and not late to the conversation but I think that may have been to my detriment a little bit but oh well like I I liked this one okay I'm not saying it was a bad book I'm not saying I didn't like it I enjoyed it I would recommend it but I wish I had gone gone into it with like lower expectations okay so those are all of the books that I read this year because of tick tock and I'm sure next year there will probably be many more I think Tick Tock is such a fascinating place to get like recommendations and I do love kind of like following the crowd sometimes and seeing what everyone is interested in and wanting to read I also absolutely said that today was bookmas day 19 but it's actually bookmas day 18 at the beginning of this video so I apologize just pretend that I said 18. but tomorrow for actual bookmas day 19 I'm going to be doing a Christmas romance reading Vlog so just reading some of the many Christmas romances that I have picked up this year so you can like stay tuned for that tomorrow why am I struggling so much with these book Miss outros uh yeah just thank you for watching and I will see you in a new video tomorrow bye ohhey everyone it's Haley and today is bookmas day 19 so I'm going to be talking about the books that Tick Tock made me read this year I actually filmed what was originally supposed to be bookmas day 19 and then immediately that day I had this idea and I was like no I actually do have like a really solid list of books here so I need to Pivot and do this one instead so the video that I originally filmed for today will be coming for the last week of bookmas it kind of makes more sense there anyways but essentially I wanted to take a day to talk about books that I was influenced to read I don't know like if I would have gotten to these as quickly or if I ever would have gotten to some of them without the influence of specifically Tick Tock but also they've kind of been hyped up in like various places as well so not strictly like Tick Tock or book talk but definitely that has played a role in like a lot of the recommendations that I have gotten especially this year more than other years like usually I feel like there's a few different recommendations that I will take but I feel like this year there are a lot of books that I don't think I normally would have read and I went on on a limb and tried them and I ended up finding some that I really enjoyed like definitely not all of them were hits but I thought it was interesting to kind of look back on the books that they definitely did get me and I had to read them because I was just seeing them everywhere this video actually pairs really nicely with bookmas day 11 where I was talking about the most hyped books of 2022 so I asked you guys what books you heard about constantly and compiled it into a nice list so I'll link that down below for you guys if you want to check it out but don't worry it's not going to be a repeat of that video at all there definitely are some books like on here that were in that video but I'm going to be talking about my thoughts for these ones this time and there's also some that like I particularly saw in a tick tock or was hearing about a lot and they weren't even like that necessarily hyped up I'm just gonna get into the list none of this Preamble matters let's just get to it but actually before we do don't forget to click the Subscribe button and click the Bell icon so you will be notified whenever I post I'm going to be posting a new video every single day for the entire month of December so you don't want to miss any of that and without further Ado let's actually get into the list I wanted to actually start out with one that I don't own anymore because I got rid of my copy which is not a great sign but that is the Spanish love deception by Elena armez I hadn't heard of this book before and then when I did bookmas 2021 and I did that video about the most hyped books so many of you guys were like talking about this book and that was one of the most mentioned ones and I was like weird because I've never heard of it never seen it anywhere but of course after that I had to pick myself up a copy to see what everyone was talking about and also like it's an adult romance it's a fake dating thing it just sounded exactly like what I would love but I did not like this one I didn't really care for the writing all that much I felt like the writing was just kind of like it was so long and it absolutely did not need to be like anywhere near as long as what it was so yeah it just it wasn't my thing but this definitely has been a super super hyped up book and for me I don't necessarily think that it was worth the hype or it lived up to it but I can understand like if it is kind of your first like fake dating enemies to love or story why you would really enjoy it but it wasn't mine I've read quite a few of those so that's why it was just kind of an okay read for me I didn't like hate it but I don't think I will read other things by the author but like I'm not gonna say never like never say never but I just don't think so next is actually another romance read but the nice thing like Tick Tock definitely does really love romances but this list is definitely not all romances there's actually something from like a ton of different genres but for the next romance it is how to fail at flirting by Denise Williams I was thinking about doing different videos with like Tick Tock hyped reads and doing different reading Vlogs and stuff so that actually led to me picking up a lot of hyped up books and this was one of them that I picked up because of that video although it had been kind of on my radar like I had been interested in this one I just didn't end up picking it up and this is kind of an interesting romance story because I don't think it like particularly follows any tropes it does have like a list involved in the romance so that is a Trope but it's not like friends to lovers or enemies to lovers I guess in a way it's kind of forbidden romance but not really so I kind of liked the fact that it didn't follow any tropes necessarily and I really enjoyed the characters as well and I do have more by this author because it definitely did like pique my interest I thought this was a really solid romance and I do like I don't think it was a bad one but I don't think it was mind-blowing so I'm kind of curious why this one is so hyped up like why does tick tock latch onto the books that it does I can't explain it I don't know why but this has definitely been one of them and I would be curious to see exactly why because I think it was it was a good read like it was a good romance book I would give it like a solid like four out of 5 Stars if I did ratings but I'm just like why is it so hyped up you know what I mean I don't know I'm gonna come off of this tangent now actually kind of a nice bookend to the book that I was last talking about is this next one ace of spades by farida abike now I say that because this one I totally understand why it is so hyped up because it's the kind of book that when you finish it you want to talk about it you want to talk to other people about it you want other people to have read it because you're trying to wrap your mind around what just happened you're like absolutely what is going on and that was exactly the case with this book it blew my mind and I just wanted to scream to the High Heavens about it and talk to everyone about it and try and like suss out exactly what had just happened and what I had just read but like in the best way possible it is such an interesting story it is like a dark Academia mystery story but it's dealing with racial relations and everything and racism and it is so incredibly well done like the fact that this is a debut completely blows my mind and I think that this book lives up to like all of the hype that it's getting I completely understand it next is you've reached Sam by Dustin Tau this is another one I really liked I am like pleasantly surprised by the fact that I enjoy most of the books that Tick Tock recommends to me and I'm not saying that like I think it's going to be bad recommendations that sounds really bad I'm just like I I am really really liking them more than I'm expecting to I'm kind of going out on a whim with a lot of them and I end up really loving them but this really go out on a weight this one an incredible debut cannot believe it's a debut such an emotional story but like so beautiful and great so this is about a girl whose boyfriend dies and she is like having trouble mourning him she's definitely it depicts grief in a really interesting raw and honest way and that's not always pretty obviously like 99 of the time it's not pretty but she ends up calling her boyfriend because she wants to hear his voice one last time and is surprised when he picks up and they actually have like this limited connection so it's a really sad story about grief about goodbyes character development all of that and I think this is a really great one to continue to Hype up I think it definitely lived up to it for me of course if I'm talking about Tick Tock hyped reads it would feel remiss for me not to mention a certain someone and I read three of this certain someone's books this year because I did a reading Vlog for her specifically and I will link that down below but I do plan on doing like another one in the future next year because I have more of her books to read I just I have read this author before and I really flip-flop on whether I enjoy her books or I don't like there's really no in between and that author if you haven't guessed already is Colleen Hoover so Colleen Hoover has taken Tick Tock by storm obviously we all know it and a lot of people are sick of hearing for her but like good good for her honestly she's killing it she's introducing a lot of people to reading I think that's incredible so I read three of her books I've already read ugly love and maybe someday and I think hopeless I think I've read another one slammed maybe I don't know I've read some of her stuff these are the three most recent ones I have read and it had been a really long time since I had read anything by her so I decided to go with two of like the most hyped up ones obviously it ends with us I would say is the most hyped and Verity I think like either this or reminders of him but like reminders of him is newer so that's why you know I don't know but if you're gonna rank them I would say that these two are near the top and then confess was kind of just thrown in there confess I didn't really like so confess wasn't a big fan of um yeah I just this was kind of for like a forgettable one for me I feel like the one thing about Colleen Hoover her books read incredibly quickly they follow a formula and it works like I'm not complaining they are such reads this one though it just was so corny in so many ways that I just I did not like it it had art in it so I thought that was cool but that was like the one redeeming thing it ends with us was interesting because it's different than any other book that I have read in that genre and I felt like it dealt with the subject matter delicately and the author's note at the end also added a lot to that I didn't realize that it was going to be about like it's about abuse I did not realize that at all and it was very like it was very fascinating it was really eye-opening it starts with us came out at the end of this year and I haven't read it yet but probably we'll do a reading Vlog for that one in the new year so I'm not sure if I like I think I liked it I really kind of flip-flop on my feelings on this one in particular now Verity blew my mind I really liked Verity I was listening to the audiobook and I was like what is happening at like so many points this one totally out of my realm and I'm mean I haven't read like a Colleen Hoover book that is a mystery before so out of my realm for her but also out of my realm in general I don't really read many Thrillers or Mysteries but like oh my God this one was wild and I really liked it and I felt like I feel like sometimes Colleen Hoover's writing can be a bit corny which is to be expected like the romance stories but I felt like in this one there wasn't that element of it and it was really enjoyable like I I didn't really miss that because I think sometimes she can lean too corny for my personal taste but this one super cool I don't think cool is actually the right word uh thought provoking maybe or unsettling is another word for it next is iron Widow by ziran J Zao I had heard a ton about this book uh I had heard about it like before but then especially after I started working at penguin Random House Canada because I mean we published this book so since it became like a tick tock sensation and everyone was talking about it and everything and I finally read it at the end of the year and I get it like I really do it was so cool like a feminist fantasy story with a main character and like a main relationship too that is really just wild the world was super cool I did kind of like it's very out there like I had never read anything where it had this magic system that it has where it's like these creature things I kind of had trouble picturing all of it but I think that's my own fault and not the authors I think that they did a fantastic job with this story like the writing was incredible and I really loved it actually that made me think of another book that I definitely read Because of tick tock hype and I need to go and Grub I haven't actually filmed like my best books of the Year video yet because it's currently like November 28th so I haven't finished reading yet for the year so I don't know you may have heard about some of these books before already and one I'm sure you've heard about before is daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lin tan because I loved this book it is an adult fantasy about the daughter of the Moon Goddess obviously and she ends up in like a really dangerous position and is trying to save her mother and everything it's just it's really good I understand the height for this one as well the writing is beautiful and it is such a cool interesting fantasy world and like it just yeah it was really definitely so good really definitely so good what what a sentence that was next is the Midnight Library by Matt Hague this for sure is a book that I never would have read and another one that actually came up in that most hyped books of 2021 video that I did so that kind of made me interested in it and I ended up picking it up and I think I hauled it in my Christmas book haul the one that I always do on Christmas Day and I read it pretty early in 2022 and it was not at all what I expected I kind of went into it blind which is how I like to go into most books but obviously I can't always do that because like when I'm talking about books on a video I need to tell you what it's about or else why are you going to be watching but for this one I was able to actually go into it not knowing a lot I knew that it was set in this Library between life and death and that was where you like existed but I didn't know the intricate intricacies of this story and I didn't know the self-help aspect of it I think that this is a book that's definitely kind of polarizing some people don't like it but for me it meant a lot to me it was definitely a book that like I could see myself in and I mean you know if you've been watching my channel these past few years have not been the easiest for me mental health-wise and I felt like this story was one that I read when I needed it and it just like stays close to my heart I think it was such a beautiful book and I appreciated the self-help aspects being mixed within this really good story at the same time like I just thought this was really well done didn't expected at all but really loved it of course the love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood has also been so hyped up on Tick Tock and I liked this one once again didn't blow my mind but I do understand why this one is more hyped up because it is kind of different for the adult romance genre in the fact that it deals with a woman in stem at the Forefront of it and that has kind of become like Ali hazelwood's thing also having like really huge men I don't know why all the men are described as so big and that's definitely like what happens in this book but I loved the fact that I was dealing with women in stem the fake relationship there were a lot of like steamy moments that I was like oh like this is quite good I was enjoying it and I did like the relationship um I don't know what kind of missed the mark for me here I think maybe I found the story to be a little bit slow and maybe I found the believability of the fake dating premise it was a bit weak for my taste like it's a PhD candidate who ends up fake dating one of the professors there that sounds weird but like PhD can like it's not weird the age Gap it's not weird but she's doing it because her friend like her best friend she thinks that she's not dating the guy that she likes because she had gone out on a date with him so she's trying to say oh I have moved on but I felt like the whole that whole thing kind of seemed a little bit weak for me but overall like the story was really fun next is a book that I for sure would never have picked up if not for tick tock and that is before the coffee gets cold by toshikazu kawaguchi and this is translated by I don't know it said somewhere Jeffrey Trestle live so this was originally written in Japanese and it is Tales from the cafe it is a series now I have the second one and I'm definitely planning on reading it this winter because it is the perfect like cozy it's snowing outside you want to have like a cup of hot chocolate and just sit there and snuggle and read a book and you will like finish it probably because I did I finished this one in one sitting it is I think three or four stories four Stories the lovers husband and wife the sisters and mother and child and it's essentially this Cafe where you can travel through time and you're following the different stories of like all four of those characters and they're individual stories but the cafe is what connects them it's so hard to describe but like it's one that I think you should just go into and you will probably be like really pleasantly surprised I was speaking of a book that I absolutely never would have read without Tick Tock my year of rest and relaxation by otessa moshfae for sure never would have picked this one up it's just like it's not my thing this book does not look like anything that I would usually read and I don't know how to describe that because I feel like I kind of will read anything or at least most things but when I look at a book I know I know from the package I judge the book by its cover I always do that to see if it's going to be something that I'm going to want to read and this one I was like no because it looks very intellectual I think that's why this one just didn't seem like it was for me but I was actually like really pleasantly surprised by this one and it's one once again I don't know if I liked it or not because I feel like it's a hard book to say that you liked this is supposed to be like the ultimate sad girl Tick Tock like aesthetic book and I can see why it's about a woman who is trying to sleep for a year so she's taking like all of these drugs and everything to try and sleep for a year straight and it was just so confusing like I read this book really quickly because I became very engrossed in the character's mind which I don't think is necessarily a good thing but I was fascinated by everything that was happening what she was doing and I just like I wanted answers it was kind of like a morbid Fascination that kept me going with this one and ended with me reading it like on a Saturday night morning and then putting it down and I was like whoa and I felt like really sleepy afterwards I'm not gonna lie I felt like this character just like was in my mind and I didn't want that I forgot what I did after but I must have done something like pure so I'm just editing this but I actually remembered what I did immediately after finishing this book and it was have a nap yeah like legitimately I had a nap and it was great because this just felt like a dirty read I don't know how to describe it but really interesting hyped book uh and yeah I I still don't really know how I feel about it next is every summer after by Carly Fortune you guys know by now loved this book it is set in Cottage Country Canada and it is a childhood friends to lovers romance and it is just adorable like I had a great time with this one once again I'm sure that this is one that I have talked about quite a bit already for bookmas so I'm just gonna keep it short and sweet next is the dead Romantics by Ashley Poston so this isn't one that like I think I wouldn't have read but it is one that I think I read sooner because I was seeing it kind of around tick tock and Instagram and stuff and I was really excited because I have read stuff by this author before she has written quite a few why a novels but this is her first adult novel and I was really excited to see it everywhere you know and I really enjoyed this one it's dealing with a main character who is a ghost writer so that was really interesting but she also can see ghosts she like grew up in a funeral parlor that her family has owned and her father has actually just died so she ends up traveling home for the first time in ages to obviously like for his funeral but then there's a ghost there that she wasn't expecting it's a really good story it's kind of like this forbidden romance sort of thing but it manages to be really cute also sometimes steamy and then also like a will they won't they Slow Burn sort of thing but also kind of fun at times but also there's like the development of the main character so it's kind of deeper it's like it it's all the levels for me next is the cheat sheet by Sarah Adams so this has been I guess really hyped up but I haven't seen it anywhere except for like on lists of very hyped up books but I feel like everyone you know everyone sees something different on Tick Tock so it's hard to say specifically what is very hyped up if that makes sense but this is a friends to lovers romance a best friends to lovers romance they have been best friends for like six years and she is ballerina who had an accident so now she just actually owns a dance studio but she's like really passionate about that and her best friend is actually a pro NFL player and they have a relationship that like it it's kind of like you know you know like you're not just friends no one no one acts like that with their friends maybe they do but most people don't like you know there's the chemistry there and I'm a sucker for friends to lovers really love it and I like I kind of understand why because it is like a really cute Dynamic that they have and it ends up being kind of like a friends to lovers but also fake dating thing the characters are really fun I think this would be a good book if you're like just breaking out of why a and trying to get into adult romance because it's steamy but not like there's no like explicit on page steam it's just kind of like thoughts if that makes I don't know if that makes sense I think that might make it sound worse but it's definitely like PG-13 I would say I kind of hesitate to give it a rating but it's not like explicit I guess is what I'm trying to say I think it was a solid friends to lovers was I Blown Away no but I will read more by the author and the final book that I read Because of Tick Tock but also this one was definitely one that was hyped kind of like everywhere else I mean I feel like you can say that of all of these but specifically this one tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle zevin so Gabrielle zevin is the author of uh storied life of AJ Vickery I definitely mentioned this one in the hyped books video because it was absolutely everywhere it was hyped up at work it was hyped up on Instagram I was just kind of seeing it absolutely everywhere and I feel like that hype did kind of hurt me a little bit I don't like I liked this one I liked the fact that it was a story that was focusing on friendship and I liked the fact that I was dealing with like video games and you're following these really interesting characters through like years of their relationship and everything and as they're growing up and all of that but there was just something and I cannot pinpoint what it was that didn't hit the nail in the head for me and I think part of that was because it was so hyped up like I think that is kind of where I was let down because everyone was loving it I felt like oh I'm probably gonna love it too and usually if a book is super hyped up if I haven't read it before the hype I do try and like let it die down a little bit but sometimes I get sucked in you know and I want to know I'm like why is everyone so obsessed with this book and yeah I did want to know I wanted to read those this one because everyone was talking about it and for once I wanted to be like in on the conversation and not late to the conversation but I think that may have been to my detriment a little bit but oh well like I I liked this one okay I'm not saying it was a bad book I'm not saying I didn't like it I enjoyed it I would recommend it but I wish I had gone gone into it with like lower expectations okay so those are all of the books that I read this year because of tick tock and I'm sure next year there will probably be many more I think Tick Tock is such a fascinating place to get like recommendations and I do love kind of like following the crowd sometimes and seeing what everyone is interested in and wanting to read I also absolutely said that today was bookmas day 19 but it's actually bookmas day 18 at the beginning of this video so I apologize just pretend that I said 18. but tomorrow for actual bookmas day 19 I'm going to be doing a Christmas romance reading Vlog so just reading some of the many Christmas romances that I have picked up this year so you can like stay tuned for that tomorrow why am I struggling so much with these book Miss outros uh yeah just thank you for watching and I will see you in a new video tomorrow bye oh\n"