For me, the most recent book regret is Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Predictable from the get-go, bland, boilerplate sci-fi ideas, too many of these way-too-convenient plot devices just to push the story forward. I frankly don’t get the hype, and I am a pretty big science fiction guy.
Another one is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I read this in college and this whole book should have been a one-page essay. It was too repetitive, and the whole premise of “trust in your snap judgments and gut reactions” is way too simplistic and honestly stupid. Like all Gladwell books, it was anecdotal, superficial, and a waste of time.
Most of the recommendations from book tok. I’m not usually a classic lit snob about “popular” books because commercial fiction has its merits but it seems like most of the ones that go viral now are just unreadably bad. So poorly written that it’s cringey and reads like Wattpad fan fiction.
Honestly so many booktok books are so terrible. They’ll be raving about books romanticizing abuse or it’s just smut that is written poorly with no plot and so many times it’s clear there’s been barely editing done. I’ve gotten so picky taking recs now and can honestly say I’ve read better stuff on wattpadd than some of the booktok recs
TikTok doesn’t have the smartest people and when I first heard about booktok I avoided it. Don’t have the want to look at it and probably never will.
One would think some authors almost don’t want their books to get popular on there because some people, like me, tend to shy away from them for this reason. that said, it’s too bad because some books that have gotten popular I read and enjoyed long before they got BookTok Famous and it may give people the wrong impression. I really liked Secret History by Donna Tartt and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
imo its better to become classic lit snob than to become mindless hype-based consumer
Why did you read them? I DNF those books within 20 pages.
I regret wasting money on them. I also regret any amount of time I spent on them, even if I DNF. I could’ve been reading better stuff!
booktok is all about the hype and the quick buck. It has nothing to do with quality.
They are all aimed at really young women so I never ever pick up a booktok book. No Maas or Hoover for me.
I know already that I won’t like them.
Hoover’s work is mediocre, but to be fair I don’t think it should fall under the traditional “romance genre” like it’s usually marketed. A lot of her stories explore toxic relationships like they’re trying to be psychological thrillers but end up simply romanticizing abuse. Maas is hit or miss for me. The cheese is off the charts but sometimes I’m in the mood for cheese. I am the target demographic.
Yeah from what I’ve heard about Hoover I won’t most likely ever read something from her.
Maas writes elfporn/smut and with insufferable characters. I know I would just get pissed off if I read anything by her. Like I feel she’s so out of touch. It’s not endearing to ”quirky and clumpsy and love food”. Feels like she’s stuck in 2013 with that shit.
You are not wrong.
I’ll never read another booktok recommendation again.
Snobs and gatekeepers get too bad of a rap these days. Embrace your crotchety, well-read, high standards self.