When you grow up reading books such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and even some classics like Pride and Prejudice, you will always look for people who share the same love of reading.
That is how I found myself on the side of TikTok also known as Booktok. So, as we sit in a TikTok ban limbo, now seems like the perfect time to discuss what could have been the best subcommunity on the internet.
As someone who has been a lifelong reader, I was very excited to learn about this little community. I remember sitting in my room and finding my first Booktok book, which was about a book I read back in middle school, Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson.
The girl talking on the video reminded me of my best friend, whom I had not seen for almost a month at that point. It brought me back to school, where I would chat with my friends about books. This was when I had found my little corner of the app.
I would stay up and watch people talk about books, and my list of books I wanted to read grew as the lockdown continued to lengthen. This tiny little community continued to grow as more and more people started to read or rekindled their lost love of reading because of how crazy everyday life got.
It was so refreshing to see people pick up something they loved and still love but had to take a break to become adults. It honestly seemed like a massive book club, where I got to learn about so many different peoples’ stories and how different cultures were finally getting recognition from native people, telling them to an eager audience.
Then, all of a sudden, it all seemed to change.
When Booktok started, it was made for people who read different stories to find their niche. Well, one niche became bigger and bigger with each passing day: Spicy books.
Now, these adult books are nothing new. These were the books we once were scolded at for peeking in our mother’s bedside table. But these books were now being written by young women.
The first book I remember seeing become popular that was like this was Punk 57. I never fully understood what it was about from the TikTok videos alone, but my best friend got it for me for my birthday. The poor girl did not truly know what she got me.
Inside were pages filled with majorly explicit content that would make any person blush.
The book made 50 Shades seem like child’s play.
Now, I will admit, they are not the worst thing to read. Honestly, I have many many friends who read these books and give me full facetime crashouts over them and the plot seems very good.
The first one I truly enjoyed was the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy. They are the perfect mix of spice and romance with genuinely good plots in them. You could easily take out the spice, and it would still hold up as a good book.
These books, though, started controversy because they were the only ones that people recommended. Gone were the books about marginalized characters overcoming challenges in a fictional world with so many real elements.
Gone were the small indie writers who had been writing books since they were in middle school, finally getting their shot.
Every book recommendation was a spicy book that slowly became more and more deprived of the actual storyline. I am not a young woman who hates to see these things; I love to see women taking back their sexuality. For generations, it has been used against them or made to make them look weak.
But for the love of everything, make the books actually good!
I cannot tell you how often I get recommendations of books that are so taboo and outlandish that they border on criminal offenses at times.
You can write whatever you want. You can make it as spicy and depraved as you want, just please, please! Make it known that it is an adult book.
The biggest controversy that the community has had as a whole, not just involving one author because that is it’s own thing, is that the authors now are making the covers look like YA books.
I can tell you right now that they really are. When you walk into Walmart, you can see the book aisles lined with cartoon book covers. Some look more suggestive than others, but most are designed to look like cute little romance books that I would have read when I was 13.
One way this community could recover from the controversy is to hold publishers accountable. Book covers are the first thing people see, and if they pick up a book thinking it will be good for their child, that is a red flag!
You can create aesthetic covers, but make it clear that the book is not suitable for children. Make the cover more suggestive or include an explicit content warning, as most parents do not do much research into the books their kids want.
Another thing is that authors could put a warning at the beginning of the book.
Many authors already do this with things that could be triggering to readers. These should be included in all books for readers over 18.
I think that would have saved some people from reading Wicked.
There are straightforward methods to address these controversies and transform BookTok into a platform that everyone can appreciate. These requests are reasonable; as consumers, we must exercise our voice.
Everyone deserves to have their voice and ideas heard. This can be done in any way that does not hurt people. I understand getting defensive over something you love, but all I have seen are genuine concerns that could be addressed by using our voices as consumers and readers.
