New blog series - TikTok Tuesday

It's me, hi!  I'm the librarian-who-reads-a-lot-of-YA-fantasy-and-romance, it's me.  (I'm sorry, I really just had to make that Taylor joke, I couldn't help myself)

I do suppose I should introduce myself.  I've been sporadically posting reviews on the library website for a while now but I don't think any of us that write reviews have ever made a post about who we are and what we do for the Chippewa River District Library system.  My name is Arielle Hemingway and I am the Reference and Branch Services Librarian.  If you come into the library I can be found on the reference desk every Tuesday night and a number of other days and times during the rest of the week.  My reading passions include romance, fantasy & sci-fi written for all ages, and Dramione fanfiction.  I have been writing overly long and passionate book reviews for quite a few years now and have amassed almost 600 on Goodreads.  I am also part of a book blog with a few internet friends and have been lucky enough to get my hands on many advanced copies of books because of that. Lately, I’ve fallen behind on reviewing, and it’s felt like more of a chore than anything.  I was looking for something that would help spark my interest in it again while also honing my readers' advisory skills in order to help patrons when they ask for different suggestions.  One day as I was scrolling through TikTok it occurred to me that I should try making a list of different books that have gone viral and have blown up in popularity, either for the first time or again after falling into obscurity after being out for years, and read them.  Some on my list I have already read but most I haven’t.  I want to find out if these books are worth the hype or not, and if not,  I want to delve into why I think they became popular anyway.  For every review I post, I will add links to where you can check the book out with your CRDL library card so that you can decide for yourself if you think each book is worthy of becoming a new sensation. Feel free to let me know if you see me at the help desk!  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

To wrap this first introductory post up, here is a list of some of the most viral books of the past few years that I would like to get around to reading:

Young Adult

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera   

Legend by Marie Lu  

Shatter Me by Tehereh Mafi   

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes   

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard   

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman      

Romance

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover 

Beach Read by Emily Henry (I’ve read some of her books but not this most recent)

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon 

Adult Fantasy

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune  

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

Fiction

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig   

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller   

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid      

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

 

Next week's post will feature books from my initial list that I have already read, and what I thought about them pre-BookTok fame.  I hope you’ll enjoy this series as much as I think I will!