I’ve Read Countless Viral BookTok Books—These Ones Are Actually Worth Your Time

One BookTok book Brady thought was so deserving of the hype is Remarkably Bright Creatures. And the fact that it was Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel only had her more impressed. After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the aquarium. Keeping busy has always helped her cope since her son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over 30 years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared, and now he must unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

The Correspondent is another debut novel that BookTok raved about, and according to Brady, it deserves every ounce of hype. Sybil Van Antwerp has lived a very full life. Now, she spends her mornings writing letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class, to Joan Didion, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. When letters from someone in her past start arriving, she’s forced to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, and realizes she might finally have to send the letter she’s been avoiding all these years.

Elin Hilderbrand is one of Brady’s favorite authors of all time. If you’re looking to dive into her world, Brady recommends internet favorite, The Five-Star Weekend. Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend,” where one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life, she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend turns out to be anything but a Hallmark movie.

Brady was so invested in this book that by the end, she was absolutely sobbing (and had the photo to prove it). Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about. When a shocking blow scatters their trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them.

The Grace Year is one of Brady’s favorite dystopian romances she’s ever read. And with dystopian having a moment right now, it’s the perfect time to pick it up. In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive. As sixteen-year-old Tierney James’ own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the elements they must fear. It’s not even the men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls to sell on the black market. Their greatest threat may be each other.

Brady loves anything by Kristin Hannah, but her absolute favorite is The Nightingale. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.

Brady loves Blake Crouch, and while BookTok may hype up Dark Matter the most, she thinks the Wayward Pines Trilogy is his best work. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a mission: locate two federal agents who went missing in the town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation turns up more questions than answers. Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan farther from the world he knew, from the man he was, until he must face a horrifying fact—he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.

If you’re in search of a cozy comfort read, Brady recommends this novel by Monica Wood. Violet Powell is being released from prison after serving time for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed. When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland, their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.

If Brady could live in one fictional world, she would without a doubt choose the cozy pages of Shady Hollow. When reporter Vera Vixen catches wind that the death might be a murder in Shady Hollow, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy. Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera’s cunning and quickness to crack the case.

The detailed writing and atmosphere of Wild Dark Shore had Brady feeling like she was actually there while reading. Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers—and the final inhabitants—of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. During the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore, leaving the Salts to nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength. Over time, it seems the Salts and Rowan fill a missing void for each other. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets.

“Honestly, it kind of changed my life,” Brady said of Project Hail Mary. Per her recommendation, this book must be listened to on audiobook. Ryland is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very long time and his crew is dead. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he?

According to Brady, every person should read this book at least once in their life. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.