What bothers me about the tropes is that they are overused and definitely not portrayed well. Like enemies to lovers is almost never actually enemies to lovers. AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE AGE GAP ROMANCES WHERE THE GIRL IS LIKE FRESHLY 18

It's interesting actually... Because I had a similar period of time between 18 and around 23-24 yo, when I also hardly read anything. I guess it was because the amount of reading I had to do for my studies was too overwhelming... to the point that reading itself has stopped to be a leisure activity for me all together.

Interesting perspective. I read a couple of the ACOTAR books, they weren’t for me, but I’m not the target audience. And problematic as they are I applied anything that acts as a gateway into reading for non-readers. The publishing industry is completely cyclical. This has all happened before and it will happen again. This happened after Harry Potter blew up, then Twilight, then Hunger Games. Hell it happened in the eighties with horror after the success of Stephen King, the early nineties with thrillers after Thomas Harris and John Grisham. Every criticism you leveled at the rushed unedited sequels could have been verbatim from a review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when it came out. Publishing industry is a business like any other ie run by the execs not the creatives. It sees something that works and tries to replicate it. They only stop when the next original thing blows up.

Honestly the idea of romantasy as a genre icks me out. I've been reading fantasy since I was a kid. I picked up a legitimate high fantasy novel at, like 12-13 years old and I've been following the series ever since. I'm 33 now. The romance is my _least_ favorite part of this series (Green Rider). It's _much_ more fantasy based with some romance in it. After the "will they/won't they" for like 20 years, I'm _sick_ of Karigan and Zachary.

ive been deinfluenced.

Great analaysis, and I'm psyched for your recs. Have you read any of The Captive Prince trilogy or the Dark Heir/Dark Rise/so far unfinished trilogy, both by CS Pacat? It's a queer romantasy, but I would still call it romantasy, and it's BEAUTIFUL.

I am.. in my early to mid forties....... Back in the day of MY high school, MY college.. all romance fantasy books felt the same. I remember dismissing the most grossest stuff because "eh, I've read worse" And i mean like "oh this guy was so lost in his desire for her that he grinded against her like some mindless dog against her will..... BUT it beats that other book I read where shes sobbing and crying as he forces her to jerk him off in a shower, because 'soulmates; and later he teehee Stockholm syndromes her... but it ALL works out in the end because.. she just ACCEPTS it and soulmates" There are so many tropes and cliches I love, but almost all are done wrongly and I find myself excusing most which shouldnt be, because I hunger for a specific genre but there just seems to be a lack of it whatsoever.. and i am not alone in still waiting for {.................} Story.

I also wish there were fantasy books accessible for asexuals as well because I don't think I've ever seen a fantasy book that appealed to me so far just because major publishers are just going all in on smut scenes and spice :/ But that's just my personal take.

you're the first person i've heard pronounce Intermezzo correctly, tyyyy im a huge normal people book enjoyer but i didn't finish watching the tv show adaptation 🫣

It Ends With Us is such a beautiful book. I think it's wild when people don't like it. Colleen Hoover definitely has earned a lot of the slander she receives but .... IEWU GET BEHIND ME! And I'm SUCH a Normal People girl. I'm so pathetically obsessed with Marianne and Connel.

Favorite Booktok recommendations: A Dowry of Blood for novels. Manacled for fanfiction.

I discovered your channel through this video. Happy Reading! 😎📚👍

I've been struggling to escape the cycle of terrible book recommendations from TikTok and KZbin, and just when I was about to give up, I found you! I absolutely loved Babel-it was also my first book by R.F. Kuang, and now she's my favorite author too. I've just discovered your channel, and let me tell you, your videos are officially going to be my morning coffee companion from now on. Thank you for restoring my faith in book recommendations!

Do you have a StoryGraph or Good Reads

Brandan Sanderson did make a neutral statement in regards to the genocide in Palestine (you seem like you really care so you would probably want to hear it)

Wow hearing you talk I feel like I am out of enemy territory with booktok and booktube lol

Haven't read Bunny, but I loved All's Well by Mona Awad!! As a theatre person who used to love RL Stine's Fear Street series it was ... chefs kiss

As someone who's read (and hated) all of the Twisted series, they're all bad in their own way. I almost thought Twisted Hate was the best and then the MMC SAs the FMC at the end in like a "revenge sex" way...but nobody ever wants to talk about that 👀

This a wonderful video that’s spot on regarding the issue of the publishing industry where romantasy books comes into play. Also thanks for the recs! Definitely adding them to my tbr

Obsesssed with these! Highly agree with CoHo and Seven Days In June. Seven Days In June is SO GOOD. It deserves SO MANY FLOWERS

wait mandy... youre telling me i have to put in WORK to find books i might enjoy???

Its so hard for me to identify just one good book recommendation from tiktok. Probably the most lasting one for me is any Brandon Sanderson book. I think I originally heard about The Way of Kings ~4-5 years ago and read the whole series 4 years ago. I'm actually working through finishing all Cosmere books now. Ive also loved Legendborn, Red Rising, Silver Under Nightfall, A Dowry of Blood, and Gideon the Ninth. The worst rec was an indie published romance novel that I have blocked the name from my memory lol. The author posted a marketing thing that was like text messages between the MMC and FMC. I fell for that and bought it. The prose and dialogue were awful and the plot was nonsensical. Tessa Bailey was also horrible. Kingdom of the Feared was also bad. I DNFed Savage Lands also.

I hate to say it but I DNFed Babel. I found it really boring and the tone and vibe felt condescending.

tiktok is good for book recommendations only if you’re specifically looking for authors and genres you know you like. if you’re reading something just because it is popular online then i think you’re automatically going to like it less than if you found it because it aligns with your interests because you’re reading it just to feel included. honestly i like watching book recommendation videos just in order to get motivated to find books i want to read not necessarily for the books in the video since my interests in books are pretty niche 😭 i loved this video though you’re awesome

I need to pick up Bunny by Mona Awad

Icebreaker was very hard to get through. I wouldn't have picked it up, if it weren't a buddy read 🤣

I've read 3 romantasies and It's not the genre for me. Also I only sampled Acotar and Fourth Wing

I perfectly understand why the Ellen parts on It Ends with Us made you DNF that book. I read them with "cringe eye".

When I first started reading again in 2023, thankfully the only booktok books I got sucked into were Taylor Jenkins Reid books. I ordered Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six. I actually really liked Evelyn Hugo but DNF Daisy Jones. The writing was so cringe and I couldn’t get over it and I was upset I spent money on it My favorite booktok books when I first got on there were the song of Achilles and Circe which are some of my favorite books now

I get some of my best recs from you. Such as chlorine! One of my tops of 2024. I do feel like my algorithm is a bit confused ever since the americans came back so Im back on romantasy tock 🥲, I generally read litfic. However I did just get some niche genre recommendations around cults and academic student-prof affairs

When I started reading better books I realised how terrible acotar plot holes were lol

I hope you'll continue uploading to KZbin even if TikTok might stay up. Your longer videos are just as fun to watch :))

? in Fourth Wing the boy is not ages old?

I’m so glad I was never interested in the romantasy genre as a whole and have never been big into fantasy or romance as their own separate genres as well so it made it easier for me to not get sucked into the booktok influence to read these books or Coleen Hoover. Booktok is a blessing and a curse and I’m glad I ended up on the right side of it where I get unique recommendations from all different genres and bipoc authors whereas typical booktok likes to push a lot of white authors.

When I first joined booktok and read credence because of how much it was recommended to me. I was so mad I almost deleted the app

Rebecca Ross’ other duology (A River Enchanted/A Fire Endless) is just as good if not a bit more since it includes 2 couples and their respective romances, and the magic and world was so atmospheric.

Girl you are actually so funny!! Tiktok has given me some of the worst book recs ever and then Instagram is the same book trash series constantly being reposted. Never ending loop until you get the algorithm to understand your personal taste!

Breaking through the CoHo and ACOTAR sides of booktok is so rewarding because now I never have to hear about Bat Boys and accidental pregnancy tropes ever again

wait the "dear ellen" parts of it ends with us was my favorite part, it was so sweet to me, but hated every other part of it

Love to see you on YT! Please please please try Reign&Ruin !!

I am quite a bit older than you, but I will say that Outlander was my gateway to fantasy. There is a lot of romance and the time traveler aspect. But, I was hooked. I have not read either of these you refer to, and I prefer the traditional fantasy novels without the "romance" as well. Sun Eater series is my favorite read this year.

Regarding your Throne of Glass comment, Nehemia is a large character in the first two books. She doesn’t die in the first one, it’s the second.

A great book (nonfiction) N.galilea books

Warbreaker is getting a sequel in the next few years called Nightbloods. It also bleeds into Oathbringer and the rest of the Stormlight Archives. I…only know this because I was reading Oathbringer and was like “should I know this lady?”

I missed out on the romantasy trend during my reading slump. I notice I still like romantasy in webcomics, but I'm not that into it in novels. Maybe because I was mad at SJM for ToG so I ended up avoiding ACOTAR and anything advertised as ACOTAR-adjacent. The Korean webcomics with pseudo-European settings also heavily rely on tropes like time regression, isekai, or sunshine/dark pairings, etc., so they're hit or miss for me, but for some reason, I can still get into them.

"Girls will read anything with smut so the story doesn't matter" is classic girl boss misogyny. Their readers are obviously smarter than the authors and publishers assume

I thought one dark window was poorly written tbh but I’m obsessed with anything brandon sanderson lol. I liked throne of glass but I totally understand the white savior criticism (though I will say her presence is still remembered so it’s not at least just waved away). didn’t really care for acotar or fourth wing though. I’m really liking the poppy war rn though!

It’s crazy cause I would’ve ateeee these books up in highschool and middle school.

We all saw what happened with the YA dystopia, and I don’t want to see it happening with romantasy

Hey Mandy, new subscriber here! I also love magic realism 😀 I make booktube videos too if you'd like to check out my content 📚 The TikTok ban is so sad, I've loved meeting US friends on there and it won't be the same without them 💔