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BookTok: A Collection of Recommended Books
New releases and old classics alike have found wide audiences thanks to the community of readers known as BookTok.
Love it or hate it, the social media platform Tiktok is an undeniable culture maker. And it’s not just dance moves going viral on the app. Readers use Tiktok to share their enthusiasm for their favorite books. New releases and old classics alike have found wide audiences thanks to the community of readers known as BookTok. This list includes some of their most hyped titles.
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT), and audio described videos (DVD) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.
Prepared by Chelsea Wood
Senior Reader Advisor
Perkins Library
Black Sun
by Rebecca Roanhorse
DB101429, LT029677, Available as BARD Download
In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice celebration is coinciding with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event the Sun Priest believes will lead to an unbalancing of the world. As the priests prepare, a ship heads towards Tova with a seemingly harmless passenger. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
Book Lovers
by Emily Henry
BR024476, DB107926, LT031729, Available as BARD Download
Cutthroat literary agent Nora Stephens agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, when her sister Libby begs her to accompany her on vacation. Surprisingly, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish, brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute, if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2022.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas
BR021862, DB081722, LT034971, Available as BARD Download
Dragged to a treacherous magical land, nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin, a High Lord of the faeries. Her feelings for him become complicated. Some violence, some strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. For senior high and older readers. 2015.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
by Sue Lynn Tan
BR024494, DB109445, Available as BARD Download
Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies.
Fourth Wing
by Rebecca Yarros
DB115206, Available as BARD Download
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general-also known as her tough-as-talons mother-has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away … because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
The Gilded Ones
by Namina Forna
DB104117, Available as BARD Download
After a blood ceremony determines that Deka’s blood is different, her discriminatory village offers her the choice to submit to a torturous fate or join the emperor’s army of near-immortal women warriors. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2020.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
by T.J. Klune
BR023320, DB098951, Available as BARD Download
As a case worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, Linus Baker spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. He is unexpectedly given a highly classified assignment: travel to a remote island orphanage where six dangerous children reside. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
I’m Glad My Mom Died
by Jennett McCurdy
DB110152, Available as BARD Download
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail-just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo
BR024064, DB104015, LT030337, Available as BARD Download
1954. McCarthyism and the Red Scare are genuine threats to Lily’s family; her father is already at risk of deportation despite his valid citizenship. Lily, who is Chinese American, could lose everything just for dating anyone white–let alone another girl–but she could lose herself if she isn’t true to her feelings. Includes supplemental material. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2021.
Legends and Lattes
by Travis Baldree
BR024733, DB111420, Available as BARD Download
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
DB081645, Available as BARD Download
College friends Willem, J. B., Malcolm, and Jude attempt to find their ways within their chosen careers. Each encounters difficulties, but it is Jude, the center of their friendship, who must face the biggest demons of all. Strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex. 2015.
Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
BR023483, DB099404, LT028623, Available as BARD Download
Mexico City, 1950. After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, socialite Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Both the home and its owners seem to have a dark past. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2020.
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
BR023507, DB100906, LT029342, Available as BARD Download
After she attempts suicide, Nora wakes up in a mysterious library. The shelves are full of books, each the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with other books for the other lives you could have lived. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
Red, White, and Royal Blue
by Casey McQuiston
BR024858, DB095171, Available as BARD Download
Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the first female US president, considers England’s Prince Henry his nemesis. After a confrontation at a royal wedding, the pair have to make nice for the cameras, pretending to be friends. What isn’t fake is the growing attraction between them. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
BR024491, DB088665, LT022499, Available as BARD Download
Reclusive film legend Evelyn Hugo decides to tell her life story to lowly magazine feature writer Monique Grant, to the consternation of many–including Monique. As Evelyn recounts her life as a sexy starlet in Hollywood, Monique begins to understand herself better. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2017.
She Who Became the Sun
by Shelley Parker-Chan
DB104810, Available as BARD Download
In fourteenth-century China, two siblings are given different fates. After surviving a bandit attack, a young girl tries to escape her fate of nothingness by taking on the identity of her late brother. Hoping to claim her brother’s fate of greatness, Zhu joins a rebellion against the Mongol rule, propelled to find freedom and change her destiny. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
DB074857, Available as BARD Download
The Iliad (DB066356) told from the perspective of Patroclus, Achilles’s companion and lover. Meeting first as foster brothers, they are schooled by Chiron, and then join the Greek army against Troy. Violence and explicit descriptions of sex. Orange Prize. 2012.
They Both Die at the End
by Adam Silvera
DB089341, LT032170, Available as BARD Download
Death-Cast sends alerts to people on the day they will die. Recently notified teenagers Mateo and Rufus meet using the Last Friend app and face the challenge of living a lifetime on their End Day. Strong language and some violence. For senior high and older readers. 2017.
Verity
by Colleen Hoover
BR024135, DB106208, LT032670, Available as BARD Download
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer who accepts a job offer from the husband of injured author Verity Crawford to complete the remaining books in her successful series. Going through Verity’s papers, she uncovers an unfinished autobiography Verity never meant anyone to see. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.
We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
DB079109, Available as BARD Download
Spending the summers on her family’s private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2014.
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