I came up with the idea of reviewing TikTok books as a joke.... but I don't think it's a joke anymore. The thing is, right, people often
refer to me as the "Charli D'Amelio of booktube" -- is that true? No. No-one has ever said that... out
loud -- but that doesn't mean they weren't thinking it. I mean, who am I kidding? I'm less WAP and more
NAP. Anyways, like the rest of planet earth, I have spent the last year on TikTok. I actually did
some hosting work for TikTok which is why I've got all of the merchandise, and yes, I do take this
with me everywhere. And one of my favourite parts of TikTok is BookTok because it's just so goddamn
wholesome. On BookTok people share their reading experiences, their book recommendations, and I feel
like there are a few books which are just always being shared by everyone, and so I wanted to see
if these books are actually worth the hype. Y'know, will these books be more Charlie D'Amelio or
Charlie D'Ameli-no? This week we're going to find out. These are the books that I see most regularly
on my "for you" page, so we have The Midnight Library, They Both Die at the End, The Song of Achilles, We
Were Liars, and finally Red White and Royal Blue. And I'm super excited because I'm actually going
to be giving away a copy of all five of these books to five of you to celebrate the fact that we
just hit 500,000 subscribers.... what!?!? That is absurd, but thank you so, so much for all of the support
recently -- it's blown my little brain! And I'm doing this giveaway in collaboration with Karma who
have very kindly sponsored today's video. Now, I've actually worked with Karma before, back when they
were called ShopTagr, on my dark academia video. On Karma you can basically keep track of all the
products that you're interested in and Karma will tell you when they're in stock and, actually, Red
White & Royal Blue has been completely out of stock for so long but Karma let me know when
there were copies back in stock again, so when I say this video wouldn't have happened without
Karma I mean it. You just install Karma as a plugin for your Chrome or download it as an app, head to
any of your favourite stores, and click the Karma button and that saves the item so that you get
a notification when it goes on sale, has a coupon code that's relevant, or comes back into stock,
and get cracking! You can add different items to different folders which work as mini kind of mood
boards and prevent impulse purchases -- which I may be guilty of every now and then -- and you can also
get cashback from a range of retailers which is gorgeous. And they also scan the internet to find
you a cheeky little discount. So what you need to do is click the link down below to download Karma,
and get started get saving and get shopping, it's Karma-n sense... yeah, I should have warmed up for that
one because that was a stretch! So, to win a copy of each of these five books all you need to do
is download Karma, comment down below in the comment section when you've done that, and tag
your Instagram account so we can contact you -- and you've got one week as of today, so don't say
I don't treat you nicely, you lucky sausages! And so, while you do that, I'm gonna get on with reading.
Okay I may or may not have just read this whole thing in one sitting. Ladies and gentlemen.... her.
The first book I read was this one, this is We Were Liars and we were... impressed! I liked this
book a lot. This is a book about a girl who goes on a family vacation every year -- which sounds very
pleasant, right? Well, wrong. Because one summer she has quite a severe head injury which gives her
amnesia meaning that she can't remember that whole summer and no-one will tell her what
actually happened, but when she returns to the place years later she starts to slowly but surely
get her memory back, and so we follow her kind of putting together the pieces. E. Lockhart creates
such a tense atmosphere and, like, you know there's a twist coming but I was not prepared for how good
the twist was. I mean, I was completely gripped. Call me Peter Pan because I was Captain Hook-ed. The one
thing I've seen criticism about is the writing style of this book and that is because basically
there's lots of line breaks, kind of like midway through a sentence it will break up the line and,
to those people i say: "calm down Jamal, don't pull out the nine" because personally I think this is
a really clever stylistic choice, because it's deliberately fractured just like the girl's memory!
I liked the way that the writing style makes us speed up and slow down just like our thoughts do
and that is because we are on the journey with her, we're uncovering things at the same speed and pace
as she is. So I get why it's not for everyone but I thought it was effective I thought it worked. I
guess I should have some kind of rating system for these -- an Addison Rae-ting system --right, well, this
gets a naughty little five star review from me. Let's just say my feet are chilly because this
this knocked my socks off... I rest my case. Okay, day two, book two, this cover is absolutely stunning.
Hello so i've just finished reading They Both Die at the End and I was a teeny little bit
underwhelmed by this -- please don't come for me! Listen, let me start by saying: I loved the concept
of the title of this book -- it is genius to tell us the ending and make us work our way towards it and
to make it still enjoyable to read to get to that point is really impressive. This book imagines a
future where, at midnight on the day you are going to die, you get a phone call telling you you will
die at some point in the next 24 hour period. Now, small qualm, but the first thing I want to say
is that phoning people feels like an incredibly inefficient way of doing this. Like, why there's not an app?
Best believe my phone is on silent at all times. I will miss your call telling me that I'm gonna die.
I don't want to be taking phone calls at midnight, let alone from Vicky on behalf of 0121 you're
about to do-one. This is a textbook example of "if you could have said it in a text, don't phone
me" -- I simply will not pick up! You know, send me an IOS notification at least. Anyways, in the book we
follow two 18 year olds and both of them have just found out that today is their "end date" -- they're
both in kind of predicaments where they don't really have anyone else to spend that last day
with, so they meet via the most depressing version of Tinder you've ever heard. For me, instantly when
I hear about the concepts of this book, straight away I'm thinking "what if you're a single parent
and you get the alert?" "What if it's your wedding day?" "What if you pick up the phone and it's not
for you, it's for your young child?" "What if your partner has just boarded a 24-hour flight to
Australia and then you get the call?" Or, the phone rings and they want to speak to your partner but
they're on the plane. What I'm saying is, this had so much potential to explore and instead we have
two 18 year olds, with barely any connections, who spend their last day with each other... a stranger.
I wanted more. I needed more flavour. I think the reason the book is about these two characters is
because it is marketed as YA. I just felt like the concept was wasted on a book that did very little
with it. To give it credit, though, there is a kind of discussion around capitalism and how, even with
this technology, businesses still will find ways to capitalize by exploiting people who are literally
dying. And we also have some really cool latino, bi, and queer representation in this book. However,
I gave this a three star review because I just felt like the dialogue between characters was
really stale and forced. I don't know, to me it just felt a bit wooden and not the way that real
teenagers really interact with one another and, while we do get to see both of the main characters
perspectives as well as a few other peripheral characters, the peripheral characters literally
added nothing to this. So even though this is a quick read and an absolute page turner, because
the title is so provocative, I was a little bit disappointed by this I can't lie. And i'm as sad
about that as you are. They Both Die at the End? So did my expectations for this book unfortunately.
Okay, one of the biggest books of the last year is this one. This is The Midnight Library. This is
a book that I was skeptical about because Matt Haig (the author) churns out books, whether they're
fiction, non-fiction, children's books -- like, the only person more productive than Matt Haig is Taylor
Swift. It would not surprise me if, in the time it's taken me to film this clip. Matt Haig has published
another book. He's a machine! Anyway, The Midnight Library imagines getting to the end of your life
and finding yourself in a library where each book represents a different life you could have had
if you'd made slightly different decisions. So we follow a character called Nora while she dips
and dives into the potential lives that she could have led. So, let's start by saying this is an
incredibly strong concept. I liked reading it -- it was a fast read because it's kind of episodic.
It's quite good fun dipping into these extremely different lives, whether she's an olympian, a rock
star, a Cambridge professor, and we don't linger on each moment for too long and there aren't too
many characters because the same people sort of crop up in each story. However, I did think the
ending was very very predictable, but I don't know if Matt Haig was necessarily going for a big
twist so much as a kind of "self-help motivational book" disguised as fiction, because Matt Haig has
basically made a career out of de-stigmatizing mental health, which is such important work and
he has a real gift for explaining very complicated emotions and mental states by using metaphors.
And that works in non-fiction, where you need to make your point really clearly, but here in
this book because it's fiction I felt like it was a bit didactic and maybe just oversimplified a
little bit. Like, this book is packed with metaphors but they're all very obvious. These metaphors are
about subtle as a giraffe in a meerkat enclosure... if that giraffe was painted neon pink... and doing the
renegade. It was not very subtle! And, fundamentally, it's a book about suicide, but I actually think
this would be quite triggering for someone who was going through those emotions at the time. So, my
feelings are complicated and I think that maybe an older generation would enjoy this more because
really it's sort of about a mid-life crisis, um, but yeah it is a good read but not one I necessarily
loved, and that's that on that! Okay, the next book was this one. This is the Song of Achilles and
this is probably the most recommended book on booktube, on booktok, and that is because this book
is brilliant, talented, amazing, show-stopping... I'm pretty sure they actually invented the chef kiss
just to describe this book. Like, this is one of my favorite books of all time. This book will rip
your heart into tiny pieces and you will enjoy every damn second of it. It's a retelling of Greek
mythology and it tells the story of Achilles and Patroclus. It's about their experiences of
growing up together, meeting gods, going to fight in the Trojan War, and Achilles is basically
the star of the show in the Trojan War. Like, if you ever see him fighting with a grizzly
bear, help the bear. And I know that so many people will be intimidated by this book because
it's about mythology which can be seen as kind of elitist or confusing but I promise you this
is so accessible and that is because it treats every myth and legend and god and creature as
self-contained characters or features in this book. So it explains everything, and that's why
I think people who don't know very much about mythology will enjoy this book just as much as
people who do. And it's about battle and legacy and friendship and it's also a love story, but I
have to warn you these pages here might get a bit wet because your tears may stain them, because
this book will make you sob like a little baby! If this is the Song of Achilles, I want to join
the choir. I need Noah Beck to teach me a little dance to that song. It's honestly so spectacular, so
exquisite to read. My compliments to the chef. Also, I just realised that I forgot to actually give
you my Addison Rae-ting for these books because, just like my uploads on TikTok, I am inconsistent.
Anyways, this is one of the easiest five stars i've ever given. I would invent a sixth star for
this book. And this was a solid three star review and I will catch you tomorrow, Here we are, this is
the final book: Red White & Royal Blue is a book... it is a book. I forgot what i was gonna say. It's a
book I have very mixed opinions on. Red White & Royal Blue is a queer love story which imagines
the first son of America falling in love with the prince of the United Kingdom. It is sweet,
it is wholesome, it's an uplifting story which I would highly recommend. Like most of these books, if
you're in a reading slump, this will get you out of it. Like it's so easy to read. Also my copy is very
floppy which I'm enjoying. I also thought that the author, Casey McQuiston captured people in their
20s really authentically which is something that a lot of novelists fail to do and this is just full
of pop culture references which I really enjoyed. So if you are looking for something hopeful and
positive and empowering then this is the book for you... it did melt my icy heart. However I also
think it's really important to note how idealistic this book is and that wouldn't really be too
much of an issue if we weren't talking about political figures. I guess I just felt like there
were a few strange elements in here which weren't really necessary to the plot, for example the
monarchy in here are really anti-colonial and while it's cool to read about a beautifully
liberal world -- like, I wish the world was like this -- I think it felt a little bit forced because
the book tried to tackle every social issue ever, and the whole tension of this story relies on risk
and fear of repercussions -- fear of being caught -- but nothing they do in this book ever has a
consequence, like things that would cause international crises are sort of just treated
as minor inconveniences. So the reason I say it's idealistic is because everything was a bit
too perfect, everything was a bit too instantly resolved, and I kind of think that does a little
bit of a disservice to all of the real struggles and trauma that so many people around the world
endure, especially those who don't have the immense privilege that the two main characters of this
book have. So, basically, I'm torn between thinking it was so awesome to see so much representation
and so much joy (especially queer joy) and it being a really sweet and wholesome love story, whilst
also simultaneously feeling that it was just a bit predictable because nothing actually goes wrong
for very long at all... so i'm really conflicted because although I'm giving you a bit of
a mixed review of this book, I would highly recommend reading it! So that concludes my book-tok
odyssey. As a kind of like "tier ranking" system: this book I think absolutely everyone should read.
The Song of Achilles is *chef kiss*. We Were Liars is great -- this is the perfect summer read! Then, The
Midnight Library and Red White & Royal Blue are quite predictable but still good reads, and
my least favourite was They Both Die at the End but it was still a good book. I think what I've
learned is that BookTok loves a little twist, a little sad ending, they want to cry.. BookTok
also tends to recommend YA books and I really do think if you're struggling to get into reading
all of these books would be the perfect way to get you back in, and out of your reading slump, so this
has been good fun! Thank you very much for watching and don't forget there are five opportunities to
win all five of these books thanks to Karma and all you need to do to win is click the link down
below and comment your Instagram handle. Thank you so much for watching, I've been Jack Edwards, have a
wonderful day, and I'll catch you very soon -- bye bye!
