i read the most viral books on booktok and booktube 📚 should we believe the hype?

at the end of 2023 I watched literally hundreds of book and book talk videos to determine which were the most popular books on the platforms as I was watching I was keeping ital I had a spreadsheet and everything I love working in stem and you know what all that work and what did it get me well this in all of the yearly wrap-up videos that I could find on book talk and book and bookstagram these were the top five most frequently mentioned so we have got happy place by Emily Henry yellow face by Rebecca fwang tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle zevan and the fourth Wing by Rebecca yaros as well as iron flame also by Rebecca yaros this is kind of like that Spider-Man meme where they're like wait a minute in this video I am going to be reading these books some of these books have more of a cult following than Gypsy Rose Blanchard some of these books have been harder to get this year than era's tour tickets and I definitely think these are probably the five books I've seen talked about with the most frequency on the platforms of course I use book talk and book all the time but it's time to see how much trust we should give the platform the gave 200 million views to a thirst trap of chocolate covered strawberries sorry the internet is so unserious but I'm intrigued to read these books and to share my thoughts on them so let's go I read yellow face and I sort of feel like now hear me out Rebecca fwang might be the Beyonce of the publishing industry because there is not a genre that she can't do just like we have lemonade Renaissance Cowboy Carter ARF kuang is also able to just seamlessly Glide between genres and do a really good job of all of them whether that's fantasy dark Academia literary fiction that reads like a thriller this is a very satirical book kind of calling out the problems within the publishing industry from within the publishing industry I sort of feel like anything Rebecca Fang touches does turn to gold and this has managed to capture the attention of so many people and despite you know on the surface seeming quite Niche that not that many people would care about publishing industry drama so many people I know who aren't usually that involved with the book literary landscape have found so much pleasure in reading this and I think that's a real talent to be able to contribute to a very specific discourse while also engaging the mass Market that is what yellowface has done this is a seething commentary about online discourse social media the book world but also the debate of like cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation so to set the scene our main character is a white woman and her kind of best friend is an Asian writer who is seeing a lot of commercial success and she's just signed a new book deal they're celebrating together then and I'm not kidding this is a genuine plot point the Asian writer chokes on a pancake and guys now the white woman who is our main character her name is June she realizes that there is an unpublished manuscript in the apartment so she steals it she makes a few tweets to this manuscript and then publishes it under her own name except she changes her name name slightly to make it seem a bit more racially ambiguous so she changes her name to Juniper song because she believes that Minority voices basically get a step up in the publishing industry because people only want to read about oppression now the trouble is she has the same level of media training as Ren rap except Renee rap is chaotic good she is chaotic evil she sort of fumbles her way through the promo tour for the book and when people start to act suspicious around her behavior and call out some of her problematic Behavior she just Crum she's such a victim she's such a victim complex and you are supposed to hate her like she is written to be totally and utterly insufferable and I think that's a real talent to make a book compelling whilst making us hate the main character you know Jane Austin for example when she wrote Emma she said she wanted to write a character who no one but herself would much like this book takes that one step further and even Rebecca fwang would hate this character so my review I liked this book I thought it was a great concept it got people talking it started a cultural conversation and it does read like a thriller as I said however I do think it's about 100 Pages too long and it starts to get a little bit too absurd when at first it was so tight it sort of starts to unravel a bit and become a bit absurd which it didn't really need to do I think this is a Nolla that was turned into a novel and so after a while it becomes a bit repetitive it kind of really heavy-handedly tells you these points when I know that Rebecca Fang is a really really intelligent writer you know I've been to her talks many many times and the way that she speaks is she's the the most articulate person I think I've ever been in a room with and watching her speak in front of an audience is watching a whole audience of people fall in love with her brain she is so absurdly smart and eloquent with the way that she expresses her ideas and I think that maybe she doubted the intelligence of the reader a little bit too much because she really really hammers home all of her points when you can be a little bit more subtle they said all the subtlety of a reversing dump truck I especially think if you are chronically online like myself you will have heard a lot of these points before and so by constantly rehashing the same ideas it does oversimplify them a little bit in order to make sure that everyone gets it but I think that you have to not doubt the intelligence of your reader so much what I enjoyed is that I could tell Rebecca Aang was giggling away while she was writing this book you know it feels like someone just having so much fun on the page I just wish it had been more concise and Punchy I will say that AR Kwang is one of the most exciting authors in the publishing industry right now I guess I just don't want her to dumb down her own intellect in order to make that her book is more palatable because it compromises the art itself I think so I know that's kind of a mixed review but I think this is so worth reading it's also a great book club pick because it does encourage a discussion and so that's why I can see why it's been so viral on social media not only because it's weirdly meta it's talking about that world of social media book commentary whilst also encouraging more commentary and more discourse so I think this is a really good book I just wish it had been shorter that's all and now on to the next also I am very excited to let you know that today's video is kindly brought to you by skillshare I love skillshare there are thousands of classes available on skillshare led by creative professionals people at the top of their game in the film industry in illustration in design and you know we're 3 months into 2024 right now it's a good 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path you choose thank you skillshare now I was kind of skeptical about this one because I've had mixed reactions to the other Emily Henry books that I have previously read and encountered and come across I lost my Emily Henry virginity to this book this is people we meet on vacation I think in the UK it's actually called you and me on vacation like there are two different alternative titles for this book it's like Harry Potter and the philosopher stone versus Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone all over again square brackets Emily's version and then I read book lovers cuz so many of you were like Jack you are going to love this but I actually was kind of let down and I really didn't connect with this at all and before you come for me that's my opinion let me just tell you this is like a trauma response because I was crucified for my opinion on this book when I last shared it publicly the Emily Henry fans are a cult it was scary I was fearing I was getting death threats on the internet cuz I didn't like this book and you know who's always at the scene of the crime book Twitter it's always them it's always book Twitter well X I guess in fact I'm glad it's called X because it reminds me like my ex it is something I should avoid Twitter was like we want this man's head on a spike by the end of the day we riot at dawn I was like I cannot believe I'm getting death threats over a small town romance this is meant to be wholesome but all that being said today I'm very excited to welcome you to the Jack Edwards Emily Henry reunion episode the Redemption Arc this is enemies to Lovers In Action we were enemies now we're lovers I loved this book we follow this girl who has a fiance but they have essentially broken up they're kind of taking an extended break but it's looking likely they won't be getting back together she goes for a reunion holiday with all of her best friends and who turns up her fiance and of course all of her friends still think that they are together so they decide to fake it and and keep everyone happy they're like we'll just pretend that we're still together that nothing's wrong and this is the kind of fake dating Trope that I enjoy because often I think that fake dating is so not believable often the fake dating Trope is giving like Disney Channel original movie Vibes and it really takes me out of it but this book was nothing like that it really was so believable it felt like a very real situation that people could find themselves in there's also the Trope of the second chance romance and there were two things that I really loved about this book firstly the peripheral characters I my pet peeve is when there are Side characters in the plot that don't add anything to the novel in this book that was not the case the side characters add so much texture you really believe in their friendship there are loads of little anecdotes and stories of all of the trouble that they got into all of the fun that they've had and it means that you're just really really rooting for them those details mean that the stakes in this book are high and often I find that when all the side characters and the relationships aren't fully developed we don't have those little anecdotes the author doesn't do the extra effort to fill in the outline with color it just means that the staks are so low sometimes those steaks are so low they're raw they're undercooked in here delicious medium rare nice and the other thing I liked about this book is that it's about the concept of home and how we find home in the people around us in our friendships sometimes people can feel like home just as much as a place can and the way that kind of gives us hope because it means that home is a portable thing home is something something we can experience anywhere if we're with the right people who bring us that feeling it made me feel all soy and gooey this is my favorite Emily Henry book so far by a long long way I did not see this coming but you know what thank you book talk thank you book I this is just a reminder to stay open-minded and sometimes you may not enjoy one book by an author but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy any of their future books so yeah happy place for me was a smash and now on to the next book tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is a book I would recommend tomorrow and today and yesterday and next week and June next year and Easter and Halloween and Christmas it's just such a good book this book is about two people who meet in hospital when they're children and they bond over their love for video games and then they may again years later in their adult lives reconnect and start a video game company together the title tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow takes its name from McBeth it's an illusion to Shakespeare and I think the point of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow kind of endless cycle is that video game worlds offer infinite possibilities and that safe space you can find in a virtual reality where anything is possible in contrast to the real world where there are finite possibilities and consequences and you can't just regenerate and start again and try again you know you get one shot at this life and I think that juter position of those two ideas is crucial to this book the characters are believable they're raw they are flawed they make mistakes they do things things wrong they upset each other they say the wrong thing but I think that makes them more believable it makes them more real and what I liked about this book is that it really is about friendship and the power of friendship there are love stories within the book but it's not in itself a romance or a story that centers romantic love I think it centers a love for creation a love for collaboration but also dissects the human Spirit and the different friends that they make along the way the different people that come and go in their lives are also really interesting and fascinating story lines I think this book is EXP ental in the best possible way there's a section where we are inside a video game which I think goes on for slightly too long but is really interesting there's also scenes where the perspective changes at one point we're in the second person so it's one of those rare books which actually does often do very well on book and book talk where it is very literary and appeals to a literary audience who are looking at kind of The Craft of writing as well as people who want pure escapism and entertainment value it kind of has both of those things kind of like books like the seven husbands Dev and Hugo or the song of Achilles those are books that are compelling to read because the plot is fast-paced and interesting and keeps changing and there are twists and tans but they are also so meticulously and beautifully crafted and I think this book kind of joins that Cannon I will say there are so many references to video games over time it's very well researched but I don't think you need to be a big gamer to get into this book like I'm definitely not someone who plays a lot of video games did I have my Animal Crossing era during the pandemic yes did I one time trespass into a graveyard because I was playing Pokémon go yes did I used to make my brother cry when he was literally 3 years old because I would thrash him at FIFA yes so I've dabbled in games also I have this app on my phone called Falling balls and it genuinely is what keeps me sane like I think everyone has their one emotional support app mine is falling balls if you've never played falling balls you are severely missing out it's so much fun I'm actually very good at it I have a very small skill set but this is definitely one of the things I am good at anyway I've told derailed what I was talking about you don't need to know a lot about games to enjoy this book the way it looks at the human spirit and human relationships and communication or miscommunication is deeply nuanced you really go on a journey with sad and Sam who are the two kind of Central protagonists and it's one that you can just tell has been poured over with so much passion it's a book I would definitely reread and it's also a book that I have bought copies of for like four or five different people like I don't think I've ever gifted a copy of a book so many times it's a reliable book that you know people are going to have a fun time with or at least will have lots of things to say about it there's also a scene which is devastating like I it took me 3 to five working days to recover from that if you know you know I just think it's a great mix of all of those things so that is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow see you tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow so probably the most talked about books of the past year have got to be these two but kind of in the way that the Wily Wonka experience in Scotland is the most talks about thing on the internet too so much anticipation so much anticlimax and Rebecca Yos did have me feeling like that depressed Umpa Lumpa by the end of iron flame and quite frankly I wish these books had stayed the unknown so we'll start off with the fourth Wing this book took me a little while to get into but by the end of it I was like okay I get it we follow a girl called Violet because of course a Fantasy character would have the name Violet the trouble is she is quite annoying like absurdly annoying like I kept thinking I actually wouldn't mind if you fell off that Dragon while it might be painful for you it would make this whole thing less painful for me and the tone of this book is what I can only describe as determined like every character is so determined all of the time and because the tone of the book is always very intense like it's always very highly strung and everyone is taking themselves so seriously it kind of causes a bit of a pacing problem because in a narrative you need Peaks and you need troughs so that the Peaks feel bigger that is the purpose of the trust for us to get to know the characters for us to be rooting for them and so that we feel the intensity of the climax Peaks but because this book is constantly so high frequency you don't really get that change and that means that the climaxes aren't actually as impactful as they should be because quite minor moments are treated with the same level of intensity so for me it just fell a little bit flat also the academy that she attends uses some pretty odd tactics in my opinion I don't know a lot about military training but this is kind of a survival of the fittest kind of thing like the students literally die at the school if they can't keep up if they fail the challenges they just die like I said I don't know much about military strategy but that doesn't seem like the most effective way of building an army like letting the weakest links die in training rather than on the battlefield doesn't feel like the most effective use of Manpower the whole time I couldn't help but feeling that that was a little bit of a waste you know and it also means that we become a little too desensitized to Central characters in this book dying so again it loses impacts over time so there are some pretty gaping plot holes describing a book as gaping is not good but overall I think the fourth Wing does work until it all falls apart in book two this is where you realize that the story world that's been created just isn't strong enough to last the test of time in the way that something like Harry Potter does where you can read s books of that and not be bored and the trouble is instead of trying to build and expand on what she' created in book One Rebecca yaros tries to replicate and it doesn't work she tries to C and copy book one into book two it follows the exact same structure it has the same narrative arcs but also inherits all of the major plot holes of the first book and the thing is the big Redemption of book one is the fiery enemies to lovers romance in the novel and I think what happened was because the first book was such a success they just said let's just do that exact same thing again and so in the first book they go from enemies to lovers and in order to replicate that at the beginning of this book they have to become enemies again which to me just didn't really make sense like trying to repeat that Dynamic was really odd instead of expanding and growing we regress and we go back to the basics we go back to square one and I didn't really understand why to me that just felt lazy and to add insult to injury the book is so sloppy written it is actually bad it feels like it was rushed I feel about as enthusiastic about this book as Dakota Johnson did about Madam web this was just a bit bad so much potential but she fumbled the bag with this book because this had the success and popularity to become one of the biggest series of all time I think tomato tomato boo his I would yeah I would Boo this off the stage and I'm sorry to say it I definitely will not be reading the next book in this series you could not pay me to put myself through this again so in my ranking of these five books that I read that were recommended on book and book talk there are absolutely no prizes for guessing that this would be in fifth place then I will say there's a bit of a gap and then the fourth Wing then a massive Gap then I think it's going to be yellow face these two for me are very close in that ranking also very difficult to compare to one another so let's say these two kind of draw but if I was forced to pick like gun to my head I think in second place I would put happy place by Emily Henry and then my personal winner would be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow you have been promoted you are now one of my Elite employees I didn't find any like completely perfect five out of five star books in this video like I have when I've made videos on book talk before but these three I would definitely recommend it's kind of ironic that these two are gold and bronze because they did not place they were not on the medals table they were not on the podium you know that new Ariana Grande video where she like erases things from her brain if I could do that I would anyways I'm glad I read these three books I still have faith in book talk and book I do think we can trust them and of course the beauty is that you can create your own for you page and the creators I follow are making thought-provoking interesting fascinating videos and I get so many cracking recommendations from my favorite creators so let me know in the comment section who your favorite creators are on YouTube on Tik Tok don't forget you can subscribe to this YouTube channel as well as my second Channel Jack in the books and of course follow me over on Tik Tok it's jackor Edwards thank you so much for watching as well as your favorite creators let me know your favorite book recommendation you got from book and book talk let me know your thoughts on these books and let's continue the conversation in the comments section down below all the best stay in touch have a wonderful day bye-bye

Channel: Jack Edwards

Views: 520,715

Keywords: booktok, booktube, yellowface, happy place, fourth wing, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, booktok books, book reviews, jack edwards, tiktok books, trending books, popular books, modern literature, contemporary books

Id: j_q8jHikKng

Length: 20min 38sec (1238 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2024