Popular Booktok books
Over the past few years, TikTok has become very popular and I might add very addicting as well. There’s a very good reason for that if I’m being honest. I know I’m one of the millions of people who downloaded TikTok when the pandemic happened and became addicted to it. With that being said over the years BookTok started becoming popular and it completely took off. Now almost every bookstore has a table with popular booktok books. So, here are some popular TikTok books that I have come across that a lot of people are reading!
I do want to state that some of these books may not be popular to you. Since I read mostly thriller and horror that’s the side of Booktok that I’m actually on. So, these particular ones are popular booktok books but they just may be popular on your end.
Popular Booktok books to add to your TBR
Hopefully, you find your next read on this reading list! Let me know which ones I have missed or if you have read any of these books I would love to hear your thoughts.
House of Leaves
I’ve been hearing about this book A LOT. It hasn’t just been on TikTok though. I know for a fact that this is one of the most popular booktok books.
This story isn’t just popular on TikTok though. I have heard about this one on multiple platforms. So much so that I wound up buying it for myself.
I still have to get to the story though. I have been kind of putting it back mostly because I’ve heard the formatting is a little weird.
Here is what House of Leaves is about.
A somewhat new family moves into a small home. After a while, they discover that there is something wrong with the house. The house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
Will and his companion Karen were not prepared to face the results of that impossibility. That is until the day their two kids wander off and their voices eerily begin to return to another story.
Home before dark
I feel like as soon as Riley Sager’s first book came out he has become a very popular thriller/horror author. To me, he’s more of a thriller writer but I do know some readers consider him horror.
Here is what Home Before Dark is about.
Twenty-five years ago, Maggie and her parents moved into Baneberry Hall, a Victorian house in the Vermont woods. They stayed there for three weeks before running off. Years later, her father, Ewan, wrote a nonfiction book recounting what happened in the house. It quickly gained attraction and became just as popular as The Amityville Horror. But along with popularity comes skepticism.
In present-day Maggie has become a home restorer of older homes. She was too young to remember anything that happened in the book that her father wrote but she doesn’t believe a single bit of it. Ghosts don’t exist.
After her father passes away she inherits Baneberry Hall. She returns there in order to renovate it and try to sell it. Her homecoming to the house is uncomfortable though. People from the past lurk in the shadows. Locals aren’t thrilled about her father turning their small town into something famous. What’s even more unnerving is the house itself. It is filled with relics from a different era that tell there might be a history of dark deeds. When Maggie encounters the strange occurrences her father wrote about, she starts to believe that what he wrote is in fact nonfiction.
Tender is the flesh
Tender is the Flesh is another to add to the list of popular booktok books. But this one isn’t just popular on TikTok either.
I have been seeing this one all over. Not just on TikTok but on Facebook and Instagram. I hope this is one that I can get to soon. If you have read it already then what did you think?
Here is what Tender is the Flesh is about.
Marcos works at the local processing plant and he is in the business of slaughtering humans. No one calls them that anymore.
His wife has wound up leaving him, his father is falling into dementia, and Marcos pushes how he makes a living to the back of his head. It all happened so fast. It all started when it was reported that a dangerous virus had made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Ever since then, the government has initiated the “transition.” Now, eating “special meat” otherwise known as human meat is now legal.
One day he’s given a live “human”. He knows that any form of personal contact is not allowed. But little by little he starts to treat her like an actual human. Soon, he becomes tormented by all that has been lost and what can still be saved.
The only good Indians
I’m going to be honest, I have read one of Stephen Graham Jones books before and I really struggled getting into. I think it has a lot to do with his writing style and the fact that I’m not really able to connect with it.
But I do know that there are a lot of people out there who really likes his stuff so maybe you will too.
Here is what The Only Good Indians is about.
The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after something disturbing in their youth puts them in a struggle for their lives. They are being tracked by an entity wanting revenge. These four childhood friends are powerless as the culture and traditions that they left behind start to catch up to them in a vengeful way.
The Troop
I have been really wanting to read the troop and I have heard that Nike Cutter’s books are really good. One of them has even been turned into a movie! I bought this book a while back but I still haven’t read it. I have heard that this one has animal abuse on a turtle so I’m a little nervous about getting into that.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve read this one and if that one particular scene is pretty bad.
Here is what The Troop is about.
One time a year scoutmaster, Tim takes a troop of boys into the woods for a three-day camping trip. It has been a tradition for a while now. When an intruder — who is very thin, pale, and really hungry — comes across their campsite, they are faced with something far scarier than any story they can tell at the campfire. The Troop follows a struggle for survival and pits the troop against elements, the infected, and unfortunately one another.
The last time I lied
Riley Sager is one of those authors who has been hit or miss with me. There seems to be no in-between with it. It has been a while since I have read this one but if I recall correctly I just thought this one was okay. If you want to see my review of it you can find it here.
I do have to admit that the cover is what made me want to really read this one!
Here is what The Last Time I Lied is about.
Fifteen years ago while at summer camp, Emma watched as her three roommates snuck out in the dead of night. The last she saw of them was one of the girls closing the cabin door and hushing Emma to not say anything.
Now as a rising star in the art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings. They wind up catching the attention of Francesca who just so happens to be the wealthy owner of the same Camp Nightingale. When Francesca asks Emma to return to the camp as a painting counselor, Emma takes up the opportunity in hopes of finding closure.
When she gets there it is made clear that Camp Nightingale is not right… She’s already haunted by the memories but she’s also concerned with the camera directed at her cabin. The most disturbing of all are the secretive clues Vivian left behind about the camp’s warped origins. Now that history is repeating itself and three girls have gone missing, Emma has to uncover all of the secrets that were buried. That includes what happened years ago.
NOS4A2
There is a reason why this one is popular! I have to admit that I haven’t read this one yet, but I did buy the book because of the tv show. I started watching it when it first came out and I’m so mad that it got cancelled.
So there’s definitely a reason why this one made it to the popular booktok books list.
Here is what NOS4A2 is about.
Victoria McQueen has a gift that no one knows about. That’s the gift of being able to find things. A forgotten bracelet, a lost photograph, answers to unsolvable questions she can find. On her bike, she’s able to make her way across a rickety-covered bridge that can take her wherever she needs to go.
Charles has a way with children. He always likes to take them for rides in his 1938 car with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he’s able to slip out of the everyday world and onto hidden roads that take them to an amazing but terrifying playground called Christmasland.
One Vic goes looking for trouble and finds Charles, but that was a lifetime ago. Vic is the only kid to ever escape his evil and now she’s grown up and trying to forget. But Charles doesn’t stop thinking about her. Now he’s on the road again and he’s picked up someone new, Vic’s son.
A Head Full of Ghost
A Head Full of Ghosts is one that has caught my attention for a while. It has gotten rave reviews on TikTok and on Facebook. Honestly this is something right up my alley so I have no idea why I haven’t picked it up and tried reading it yet.
Here is what A Head Full of Ghosts is about.
The Barretts are a normal suburban New England family. They are torn apart when their fourteen-year-old, Marjorie, starts showing signs of acute schizophrenia.
Her parents are desperate to help her but the doctors aren’t able to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. Their once stable home turns into a house of horrors and they hesitantly turn to a Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly recommends an exorcism. He thinks Marjorie is the victim of demonic possession. He also gets ahold of a production company that is longing to document the whole thing. With Marjorie’s father out of work for more than a year and bills looming, the family ultimately agrees to be filmed. Soon they find themselves the stars of a hit reality TV show called The Possession. When things in the Barrett household end in tragedy, the show and the incidents become an urban legend.
Fifteen years later Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry, is being interviewed. As she recalls those events and those long-buried secrets, it raises questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the essence of evil.
Imaginary Friend
So Imaginary Friend really wasn’t one of my favorites. I felt like there was way too much fluff to and it could have been shortened up by A LOT. But what do I know because there were a lot of people who actually enjoyed this one.
If you want to read my review for it you can find it here.
Here is what Imaginary Friend is about.
Kate is on the run. She’s determined to improve her life for herself and her son Christopher. In the middle of the night, they are on the run to get away from her abusive husband. They find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It’s as far off as they can seem to get.
It seems like it’s the perfect place to settle down. That is until Christopher disappears. For six days no one is able to find him. Then he springs up from the woods unharmed. Now that he’s back he has a voice in his head that no one else can hear. He also has a mission that only he can complete. That mission is to build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas. Otherwise, his mother and everyone else in town will never be the same again.
The Twisted Ones
The Twisted Ones is actually the only book I have read by T. Kingfisher. I remember really enjoying it, but I thought it was creepy. I always enjoy books like this because they do a really good job of creating a creepy setting.
So, there’s a reason why T. Kingfisher has become pretty popular! If you would like to check out my review you can find it here.
Here is what The Twisted Ones is about.
Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house and despite not wanting to, she says yes. How bad can it be?
The answer to that is pretty bad. Her grandma was a hoarder and it’s stuffed with useless things. All of this would be horrific enough but she finds her step-grandfather’s journal. At first, his entries seem to be filled with nonsense. That is until she runs into some of the scary things he describes for herself.
She’s alone in the woods with her dog and faces impossible terrors. Sometimes things that go bump in the night are actually real and they are looking for you. If she doesn’t face them then she might not survive at all.
The Lost Village
The Lost Village is one that I was a bit iffy about when I read it. That’s mostly because I felt as if the story was a bit on the slower side.
Slow-burn books are always really hit-or-miss for me. But I do understand why this one is one of the popular booktok books!
If you want to check out my review for it you can find that here.
Here is what The Lost Village is about.
Alice is a documentary filmmaker. She has been obsessed with the residents of an old mining town who just vanished when she was a little girl. This town has been dubbed for a while “The Lost Village”. In 1959 her grandma’s entire family disappeared in the tragedy. Alice has found a small crew of friends to help make a film about what really happened
What she doesn’t know is that there’s no turning back and they aren’t alone.
Sometime after they set things up mysterious things begin to happen. Somehow equipment is destroyed. Some go missing. Their doubt starts to turn into fear and their minds begin to crack.
The Ravenous Dead
I have only read one of Darcy Coates books and this wasn’t one of them. But there’s a good reason why she has become so popular.
I feel like Darcy Coates really does belong on the popular booktok books list!
Here is what The Ravenous Dead is about.
Keira has recently been hired as Blightly Graveyard’s new groundskeeper. She’s surrounded by the dead. They watch her through the fog and they cry out to her. They need help moving on, and Keira can only hear them. Unfortunately, not every spirit wants to be saved.
Some spirits hate living too much even to find peace.
Keira struggles to figure out the histories of some of the oldest inhabitants of the graveyard. At first, she doesn’t realize the danger that lingers from the edges of the forest. A brutal serial killer was left dead in the woods decades before and now his spirit is just as twisted as he was when he was alive. He’s mad. Voracious. When Keira answers his call to help him, she has sealed her fate as his possible last victim.
Crossroads
I have been here since Laurel Hightower started and started getting popular. I read Crossroads when it first came out and loved it. So, she definitely belongs on this list!
If you want to check out my review for Crossroads then you can find that here.
Here is what Crossroads is about.
Chris’s son passes away in a horrible car crash and ever since her world has been devastated. The walls start to close in on her until one day a small cut on her finger changes everything. How far would you go to bring back someone you love?
Her blood drops onto her son’s roadside memorial and that night she thinks she sees a ghost outside of her window. But is it really her son’s ghost or is it something else, something evil?
She starts to play a dangerous game with things outside of her control in order to see her son.
We Eat our Own
I haven’t heard of We Eat Our Own but when I researched popular booktok books this one popped up. I think that’s partly because I got off TikTok. After all, I was finding it distracting. Even when I was on it I hadn’t been getting on the booktok side of Tiktok for a while.
Here is what We Eat Our Own is about.
A struggling unknown actor in the 1970s gets a call from a director who wants him for an art film set in the Amazon. He flies down to South America no questions asked. It doesn’t take him long to realize that he has made a mistake when he finds out that he’s replacing a different actor who quit after seeing the script. The director claims that the script no longer exists. The movie is being over budgeted and the production team is headed for a breakdown.
The actor doesn’t realize that the biggest threat isn’t the film but the town itself. He thought that this would be a role that would change his life but now he’s worried that he won’t be able to survive it.
What books did I miss? Have you read any of these popular Booktok books? Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you can get a more bookish list just like this!
