Since at least early May, BookTokkers have been compiling summaries of their summer reading lists. The books on the list sound entertaining and lean toward romance, with a little mystery/thriller thrown in—but they’re also mostly by white authors.
This isn’t a new problem for BookTok – or the publishing industry in general – but it’s really annoying. Especially considering that many people complain that they feel like the same few books are always being recommended on BookTok. On top of that, people have turned away from BookTok’s recommendations because some of those books… don’t match their taste.
I’ve obviously done a bit of research on BookTokkery myself and I understand what they mean by that. While I have to keep in mind that book taste is subjective, I still wonder how some of these books can have such a large following just based on things like the originality of the story and, let’s face it, the quality of the writing. Still, they’re popular and I don’t have a problem with that because I believe they encourage more people to read and I view the boom in reading interest sparked by TikTok as a positive overall.
But the problem of diversity still exists.
BookTok, for all its positive aspects, seems to reinforce rather than combat the lack of diversity in publishing. One could argue that there is a lack of diversity because people simply don’t want to read books by non-white and queer authors; however, that isn’t really true. The whole story of the lack of diversity in publishing is about marketing and looking at how publishers tend to spend less marketing on books by non-white and queer authors.
I remember before I started working in the book industry and was still just a reader, there were so many books I didn’t finish. Looking back, I realize that this had a lot to do with marketing and constantly being recommended few books (by and large) that just weren’t right for me. I think I experienced something similar with some of the most popular book recommendations I saw on BookTok, and I think adding more books to the BookTok ecosystem would help solve the problem. And not just books by different authors. I think BookTok could use a little boost of newness, and after I tell you about the books recommended on BookTok for summer reading, I’m going to share a few books that I think would become popular on the app.
This is just a selection of books to keep you informed and have more options. If you follow our weekly bestseller list, you may see some familiar titles, which makes sense since BookTok has had a major impact on the book publishing industry since the pandemic began.
Popular books on BookTok this summer
Funny story by Emily Henry
Ms. Henry rules the summer, and here she’s turned her talents to a chaotic-yet-organized love affair. Daphne thought she had it in her until her fiancé, Peter, realized he’d rather be with his childhood best friend, Petra. Now far away from everyone she knows, the children’s librarian needs a roommate. She decides to live with someone in a similar situation: Petra’s ex, Miles. The two mostly avoid each other until one day they get together and realize how much fun it would be to pretend to be dating, sharing pictures of themselves online. But of course, it’s all just for show…
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Interestingly, Yulin Kuang wrote the screenplay for the adaptation of Emily Henry’s People we meet on vacation and led the upcoming Beach reading adaptation. And here she gets a little metaphysical with the story of Helen Zhang, a bestselling author who has earned the job of writing an adaptation of a popular young adult novel. Everything is going well until she finds out that Grant is also the screenwriter of the series. Now the two must deal with the horrific accident that brought them together 13 years ago, while also being reminded why they liked each other in the first place.
Just for Summer by Abby Jimenez
This April release is quite the mess at BookTok. It’s a romance that starts on Reddit, of all places. Justin reveals in a Reddit thread that he’s cursed and that every woman he dates finds her dream partner right after breaking up with him. And Emma, feeling like she has nothing to lose, especially since her next assignment as a traveling nurse takes her to Minnesota, thinks a relationship with Justin could be fruitful. But then Emma’s raggedy mother shows up and Justin has to take care of his siblings, and suddenly the idea starts to form that the two could be a perfect match.
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