Happy Monday, book friends! No new books entered my ecosystem this past week, so I’m deviating from my usual Monday content to spill a little bookish tea.
Today, I’m talking about a few hyped books/authors that I have zero interest in reading. Let’s be clear—books are personal preference and I’m not here to say other people shouldn’t enjoy these books. I’m also not above the hype. I read popular books all the time. Just, not these.
Colleen Hoover
CoHo is everywhere, and it’s kind of fascinating. I can’t really recall seeing an author’s entire backlist become so popular so simultaneously. The hype is generally credited to TikTok but I wouldn’t know since my 48 hours on TikTok included me asking aloud “but how do I find BookTok?” The algorithm didn’t answer me.
From what I’ve seen, these books are not for me. I generally don’t go in for thriller-adjacent stories, even if they do have a love story element.
Taylor Jenkins Reid
This is really just me being stubborn, I think. Similar to how I sort of just refuse to be interested in Taylor Swift because people talk about her too much, the hype outpaced my ability to be interested in TJR.
Some of her books sound fine, but none of them are in my wheelhouse enough to interest me.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
The more I see people talking about these books, the more confused I get. I can’t get a good grasp on what they’re actually about, and there’s been enough controversy around the author that I don’t care to find out.
I fully believe I would have read these when I was younger and used to go in for lengthy fantasy stories with a love story element. But I haven’t read much like that recently and I don’t feel called to anymore.
There you have it, my unpopular bookish opinions on authors who just haven’t grabbed my interest despite being very popular on the bookish Internet. I’ll just say again that I’m not here to say these books are bad or that you shouldn’t read them. I’m just saying they don’t seem like my personal cups of tea.
I’m curious—what hyped books or authors just don’t seem like they’re for you?
Your Book Friend 
I also don’t read TJR. I almost got pulled in by The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but then I heard the ending was controversial so dug up the spoiler and decided yeah….not likely to be my cup of tea!
I like Colleen Hoover’s romances, but she’s written a couple of thrillers and mysteries that I did not like.
I had to giggle as I read your list because I did post about hyped authors I had not read and didn’t plan to read. TJR was on my list. Then, she wrote Carrie Soto. It was the first book of hers that really called to me. It was fantastic. I have read quite a few of Hoover’s romances. I enjoy them, but I don’t seem to be bowled over the way many other readers are. She has really blown up with BookTok. I am glad she is doing well though. She had some hards times and she is very generous in the community with her Bookworm Box. I also like SJM, and I am not even a big fantasy reader. My daughter does what one would compare to TedTalks about her work. She really made me interested.
Haha, “never say never” as they say. I’m glad you enjoyed Carrie Soto! These books are all popular for a reason, so I’m sure there’s plenty to get out of them.
I tried reading TJR and it didn’t work for me, at all. I have read one CoHo book and might read another, who knows. There are several fantasy series that are constantly getting hype, but I am not a huge fantasy fan, so probably won’t read them either. I always feel bad when I don’t enjoy a hyped book, even thought I know I shouldn’t.
It is always a bit strange not to find yourself enjoying a hyped book! I feel like it always makes me wonder what I’m missing. But there are different books for different people, and it’s okay not to like them all!