Booktok – NobleTok – or just read this blog?
My vote’s for reading this blog post to find a new book idea to match your glass of wine. But E will give you a quick BookTok tutorial too. So really, the choice is EASY…Read on McBooker!
And a few good Walla Walla Wine recommendations for your new found BookTok reading::
What’s up with Booktok?
BookTok is one of the many sides of TikTok - dedicated specifically to BOOKS!
Pretty cool when you’re looking for a new read - right?
It’s got everything from new releases to watch out for to reviving old releases to authors talking about & promoting their works. Barnes & Noble even has a section on their site and tables in their stores specifically dedicated to the books popular on BookTok at the moment.
Why BookTok is another place to look for a new book
{Besides on the Chapter 50 Blog Reviews or Guide Page of course}
wide range of content - lots of genres, diverse voices, and age ranges
gives new authors a chance to get noticed
can get you access to ARCs {advanced reader copies} if you’re into that kind of thing
will make your 2-page TBR {to-be-read} fifty pages in an hour {BookTok has more recommendations than I could ever read, and I love it!}
Book Recommendations
Finishing a book you love is hard…but sometimes, finding your next read is even harder.
BookTok will help you find your next favorite story, either from a reader or the author themselves. Using TikTok’s algorithm to determine what you’re into, your For-You Page will be full of new book recs in no time!
However, be careful not to get stuck in the eternal swipe-abyss, scroll-spiral, or fall into the frenzied puppy twilight zone {I’ve lost hours in my nights cry-laughing at all the puppy tiktoks}.
Now that I think about it, probably safest to visit a Barnes & Noble store instead. Yes, physically WALK INTO an ACTUAL STORE and see the latest BookToks.
OR, you can get you started with a few favorites right here::
{I solicited my book-loving E to share some of her new favorites for this post, because she has an eye for good genre’s + she’s a wicked-fast reader to compile a list.}
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
“Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor…and some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race against time to find a killer with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.”
GENRE(S): mystery, thriller, fantasy, crime.
Okay, this one is not for readers that need the author to spoon-feed them information. The first two chapters will confuse you just as much as the protagonist - nobody knows what’s going on, least of all you two.
Still, if you loved Knives Out, this is just your speed. Murder mysteries are always a good time, but add just a sprinkle of fantasy and they really take off.
The final plot twist left my head spinning, and this book is definitely best enjoyed with a fancy meal and some good wine. As with most murder mysteries, there are clues dropped along the way to help you figure out the murderer before they’re revealed…if Evelyn was even truly dead in the first place. Definitely worth a reread so you can catch everything you missed the first time around.
SIDENOTE:: Netflix picked it up as as tv show, so you’ll want to tune in each week to see how it plays out {especially if they decide to change the ending}.
{If you’ve already read this one, check out Turton’s other release, The Devil and the Dark Water (standalone).}
Every Summer After - Carley Fortune
“Six summers to fall in love; one moment to fall apart; a weekend to get it right. They say you can never go home again…and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.
Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek…the man she never thought she’d have to live without. For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books - medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her - Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually, that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more…before it fell spectacularly apart. When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.”
GENRE(S): romance
This is is a new release, and right up your alley if you’re looking for something to tug on your heartstrings.
When BookTok picks novels, they know which ones to pick to suck you right in. If this is your next read, make sure to clear your calendar - you won’t be getting out of your comfy chair until all 320 pages are finished.
It’s another standalone, so at least you won’t have to call out from work for too long…
{This is her debut novel, so I don’t have any other works of hers to share. Show this one some love so she’ll keep on writin’!}
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
“France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever, and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore…and he remembers her name.”
GENRE(S): fantasy, historical fiction, romance
If you liked the movie The Age of Adaline, this book is for you. The prose is beautiful, nearly poetic, and each character is a complex study in what it means to be human {or not, in a certain someone’s case}. Even better, it’s a standalone, so you won’t have to wait years for the next installment or stick around for more than one book if that’s not your style. Plus, it just got a movie deal, so you gotta get ready to see it on the big screen!
{If you’ve already read this one, check out Schwab’s other releases like Shades of Magic (series), Villains (series), or Gallant (standalone).}
The LOST APOTHECARY - Sarah Penner
“A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.
Rule #1:: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2:: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose: selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating…only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate…and not everyone will survive.”
GENRE(S): historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, thriller
This book captivates all ages - it stole my breath as a 20-year-old, and my grandmother’s, who’s nearly 70.
Though it’s not quite as fast-paced as Evelyn Hardcastle, the twists and turns still keep your attention until the very last page. Though Nella and Eliza’s stories seem set in stone, keep in mind that narrators can be unreliable, especially when they, like Caroline, don’t hold all the pieces of the puzzle.
This book might make you want to go river-diving for your own treasures, so see if there are any rivers in your area that could hold dark secrets for you to unravel.
Also picked up by Fox to be adapted into a tv series.
{If you’ve already read this one, keep your eye out for Penner’s 2023 release, The London Seance Society (standalone)!}
Check out my TikTok @readingbookswithem if you like fantasy, sci-fi, and young adult books now and then. This post is far from covering all of BookTok’s recommendations {and yours}, so tell me::
What’s your favorite read?
xo ~Emma
