There’s nothing like getting so absorbed in a good book that you lose track of time. BUT, if you’re on TikTok, you may have also experienced that quick just-watching-for-a-minute-oh-wait-this-is-so-funny-oh-no-it’s-been-an-hour app check. Friends, allow us to bring your two favorite worlds together—books and hilarious TikToks—with these book recommendations based on some of the top TikTok trends of this year.
What Book Should You Read Based on Your Favorite TikTok Trend?
1. #YourType – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
The Your Type trend is fun because you never know fully who or what is being revealed as “Your Type” until the end. Sometimes they’re straightforward or flirty, and sometimes they’re funny—like ones describing a puppy or a pizza.
But if there was one book character who would be all over this trend, it’s Lara Jean Covey from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Lara Jean is a hopeless romantic who writes unsent love letters to all her crushes describing why they’d be perfect together. Let’s face it, Lara Jean basically invented the Your Type trend. She walked so this trend could run. If you haven’t read her story yet (where have you been?!), trust us, it’s your type.
2. #POV – All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick
Can’t get enough of the low-key chilling twists and turns of the ever-expanding Emily universe? Meet Amanda Kelly and Rosalie Bell. Their math teacher isn’t trying to make any moves on them (fortunately), but they are both receiving anonymous texts from a private number who wants to take down real estate heir Carter Shaw. AKA the boy they’ve both been dating without knowing the other girl exists. But being cheated on shapes up to be the least of their worries when their stalker, Private, threatens to turn their lives upside down.
Would come back tomorrow for another part of those #POVs.
3. #IDidABadThing – Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi
If you’ve ever assessed your life choices with a mild sense of hysteria, set to the tune of a jazzy audio meme and adorned with a shameless slew of hashtags (#fyp #foryou #foryoupage #trends #REGRET), do yourself a favor and read Mary H.K. Choi’s Permanent Record.
Pablo Rind has done more than just one #BadThing. He has done a seemingly un-get-over-able string of #BadThings, including but not limited to: enrolling at a college he could not pay for, dropping out of said college, buying turntables on a Guitar Center credit card that are now collecting dust under his bed while he dodges calls from a debt collector because he never paid them off, and engaging in an unfathomable flirtation with a world-famous pop star he met while working the graveyard shift at a bodega. But maybe that last one isn’t so bad. Maybe that last one is a good thing and his life is finally turning around?
(We promise that both you and Pablo will feel infinitely better about your life choices by the time you hit the last page).
4. #WhatWouldYouDo – This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher
If you’re on Tik Tok, you may never have seen the TV show “What Would You Do?” but you will recognize the gentle “Excuse me Ma’am, I’m John Quiñones from the TV show What Would You Do?” with your ears plugged. This trend strikes fear into our hearts and makes us paranoid that John Q. could show up anywhere at any time and shine a televised light on any questionable choices.
In the thriller This Lie Will Kill You, five teens receive an invitation to a mysterious contest in a mansion in the hills, and they realize the secrets of their past won’t stay hidden. I’m not saying John Q. invited them, but if this was a Tik Tok, he would definitely be popping in with an “Excuse me Ma’am” to all the characters throughout this twisty story.
5. #Area51 – Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith
Already nostalgic for the future that never came to pass because the promised hordes didn’t descend upon Area 51 to spring our could’ve-been alien besties from government captivity? First of all, SAME.
But it’s probably for the best given that the aliens most definitely would’ve usurped control of our planet and, if Andrew Smith’s Exile from Eden is any indication, sent us all scampering underground in a desperate play for survival where we would be forced to make our home until it was safe to emerge 16 years later. Granted, the unsuspecting humans in this delightfully bizarre post-apocalyptic romp were contending with horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises instead of aliens, but… same vibe, right?