The Latest BookTok Obsessions You Need to Read

In honor of National Book Lovers Day on Aug. 9, we've rounded up the 15 novels that BookTok can't get enough of, including three Colleen Hoover releases.

By Tierney Bricker Aug 09, 2023 10:00 AMTags
Watch: It Ends With Us Author Reacts to Film Backlash

Hello, lovers—book lovers, that is. 

Rejoice readers, because Aug. 9 is officially your holiday: National Book Lovers Day, and we can't think of a better way to celebrate than by digging into a new novel and discussing it with fellow bookworms. 

Aura Print has assembled a list of the most talked-about books on TikTok and the top 15 might surprise you. While Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us taking one of the top spots wasn't a surprise given its recent popularity after Blake Lively was tapped to star in the film adaptation, two of the author's other novels also cracked the list.

Plus, Daisy Jones and the Six author Taylor Jenkins Reid's Old Hollywood tale gave TikTokers something to sing about and the dragon-themed YA obsession The Fourth Wing is slaying the chart. And, surprisingly, a 1992 release about a group of college co-eds is still going viral, while an independently published rom-com received over 240 million hashtag views. 

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Books to Read ASAP Before They Become Your Next Movie or TV Obsession

So, what are you waiting for? Fire up that Kindle and add one of BookTok's most buzzed about novels to your TBR (to be read, duh) pile: 

1. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Ten years, three brooks and one hit Netflix series later, the first release in Bardugo's fantasy trilogy that blends magic and romance is still BookTok's most beloved subject with more than 15 billion hashtag views. 

2. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Released in 2016, Hoover's love-story-gone-wrong has dominated TikTok for years. And with Blake Lively set to star in the movie adaptation, it's safe to say It Ends With Us is sitting pretty on this list for the foreseeable future. 

3. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The first book in a series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue, Black's 2018 release is still ruling the BookTok chart.

4. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Hoover puts her unique spin on the popular friends-with-benefits trope in this 2014 novel about the messy relationship between an airline pilot and an E.R. nurse.

5. Verity by Colleen Hoover

Hoover's third and final novel to make the BookTok list is arguably her biggest creative swing, delivering a twist-filled thriller with an ending people are still debating more than five years after its release. 

6. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

PSA: Clear your schedule for an entire week if you choose to pick up the first book in Maas' beloved ACOTR series because the YA fantasy series that puts a fairy twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast tale will take over your life. Plus, it's being adapted for Hulu by the team that brought Outlander to the small screen, so you'll want to read ASAP. 

7. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

One of the buzziest books of summer 2021, readers had all the feels for this rom-com about two scientists faking a relationship, only to have their chemistry cause chaos in the lab.

8. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Even before the film adaptation of the best-selling 2019 novel of the same name premieres on Amazon on Aug. 11, TikTok has long been swooning over the unexpected love story between Alex, the son of the president of the United States, and the fictional Prince Henry. International relations have never been so steamy.

9. Twisted Love by Ana Huang

"He has a heart of ice. But for her, he'd burn the world." And readers are definitely still burning for Huang's adult novel that spawned three sizzling followups. 

10. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

As dark as it is spicy, readers are hooked and spooked by Carlton's paranormal romance that involves a stalker, a secret society and a whole lot of suspense. 

11. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Six years after its release, TikTokers are still swooning over the love stories of a fictional reclusive Hollywood legend. And, after the success of Amazon Prime Video's take on Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six, Netflix is set to introduce audiences to Evelyn Hugo by adapting the bestseller into a movie. 

12. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The oldest book on the list, this 1992 release from the Pulitzer Prize winner centers on a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college who find themselves transfixed by their classics professor, leading to deadly consequences. 

13. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Armas's debut novel was independently published in February 2021 and became such a TikTok sensation that the publishing world couldn't help but take notice. And readers couldn't help but swoon over the rom-com about a Spanish writer who agrees to fake-date a colleague and brings him to her sister's wedding.

14. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Quick, find the nearest Gen-Z reader near you and chances are they're obsessed with Yarros' sexy and sizzling story about a college for dragon riders. The first in a new series with the followup, Iron Flame, set to drop this fall, prepare to be fully spellbound by this epic fantasy. 

15. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This art-filled retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the author of Circe is still enchanting readers more than a decade after its 2011 release.