My biggest gripe with Colleen Hoover is how her marketing team targets *young readers!* I teach middle schoolers and I'm blown away at how they're all reading CoHo books (which portray super toxic relationships and glorify things that shouldn't be glorified which young readers soak up and don't know how to critically separate from reality the way adults can) because "everybody else is reading it" and their adults see a fun and colorful cover and don't question anything about it

I think a lot of people on booktok just haven't discovered AO3 yet and it shows in what they're reading

I work at a bookstore and I think my manager explains Colleen Hoover the best - "Colleen Hoover sells millions of books. McDonald's sells millions of burgers. But is McDonald's really the pinnacle of your dining experience?"

PLEASE leave Colleen Hoover in the past I’m begging the world at this point

I guess the main problem with Collen Hoover books is that they are marketed as romance when they deal with abuse

I wouldn't mind tropes so much if authors actually delivered, but if I have to read one more book with enemies to lovers trope where they slightly dislike each other for the first 20 pages...

I think the problem with special editions is when the author (and/or co.) decides to include special and different content in each special edition book, so it's no longer about what the edition looks like, but what it contains. Imagine expecting people to buy 5 copies of the same book so they can read 5 different extra chapters… that's a nasty move by the publishing industry.

My biggest quarrel with the new Romantasy genre is that although the books are written for adults getting past the YA stage, they are still written as if the author never learned how to actually write a book FOR adults. The only “adult” aspects are explicit sex scenes and cursing… but the writing, world building, and plot are all explained as if they are still writing to teenagers. They aren’t producing books for adults, but for people who want to read smut. It is really, really disappointing! The 4th Wing is a prime example of that.

I want actual fantasy prose back in books!!! Like no-one's saying it has to be at the level of George R R Martin but I'm tired of seeing modern slang and lingo in fantasy settings 😭 Also more period-appropriate names with actual thought put into them plssss

For me, one thing I'd really like to see disappear is the idea that EVERYTHING needs a dark, gritty side so if you're right that this is going away, I'll be much happier. Great video, Leonie! Hope your holiday season is going well!

I think "cozy" books are great for when you are in a reading slump or in between heavier reads and I love the potential that lies within the fantasy genre for more low stake books. I always wished some of the bigger fantasy novel series came with sidebooks that let us get to know the characters in a low pressure enviorment more. A slice of life look at the elves in LOTR would be amazing. Slice of life books are somewhat missing in fantasy and hope that this trend of "cozy" pushes us to see more of that specific subgenre within fantasy. So, i hope the "cozy" trend keeps up because it opens up a lot of doors within genres and lets authors know that not every single books needs to be high stake or emotionally intense. It helps keep a bit of balance in the publishing world.

unpopular opinion but i dont like tropification😭i could never put my finger down on why bookish content nowadays lowkey bothered me but you said my exact thoughts

My problem with tropification of books isn't so much with sorting/recommending books based on tropes they use to but with writing the books around the tropes that are popular on booktok. I read multiple books this year that were written like the author was playing trope bingo and trying to get as many tropes in as possible. Like it's not just enemies to friends to lovers it also has to have fake dating AND there's only one bed AND that trope where we find out guy had feelings all along... I'm tired. I want a story, not a collection of cliches.

I like knowing about tropes, because sometimes I just need to scratch a certain itch. But I hate that some books are written to just fit a popular trope - esp. when it just feels so forced.

tbh I don’t think a lot of romantasy are actually that much more mature than YA. on page sex is the only distinct difference imo

Caleb Joseph, the original Hoover hater, started that trend with a genuine reflection and criticism of her and I agree, it's been done! He did the damn thing Edit: Joseph, not Hammer. Too overconfident in my abilities to remember things around the holidays

I think because media makes women seem like we're all the same and there's a right way to "girl", all women will eventually go through a "I'm not like other girls" phase whether it's doing sports, how you dress, what you read, what your hobbies are. We're all made to believe all other girls are like this and that, and we're not so we're cool. without realizing that we're all cool.

Romantacy - I want ACTUAL slow-burn relationship building to become a part of it. And for books without any lust to be written. Romantasy should technically be my favourite genre by definition. And yet I hate it for what it currently is in the adult category. Being an adult book is about SO MUCH more than just “ooooh look, they’re thirsty”

I indeed need more gothic literature.

I’m surprised romantasy has just started getting popular as a genre. I thought it’s just as popular as in my country, we call it romfant. I’m not a fan of the genre, but it’s very popular

I love AO3's tagging system so part of me enjoys there being more of an emphasis on tropes. I'm a big mood reader so anything that will give me an inkling that this book will suit the mood I'm in is great. However the tiktok trope-based marketing goes a step too far especially when the tropes aren't even done well IMO.

Counter point for the Colleen Hoover (?) girly one; it's got nothing to do with being shallow. Yes, people always find something wrong with what girls read, especially the paradox of wanting girls to be 'soft' and then essentially bullying them for reading romance. But people not liking Hoover has NOTHING to do with her books being romance. It's because she romanticises abuse, and that's not okay.

My pet peeve is the: how spicy is it? question. People are asking this about every book, and it concerns me. I'm down for a spicy book, why not. But people were asking the author of Keeper of Enchanted rooms about how much doing the deed is in it. That book is the most tame urban fantasy ever. Nothing in the description talks about romance or spiciness. But I feel like lots of readers just go to Kindle Unlimited and expect every book to be a romantasy full of adult scenes. My concern is: If you only read spicy books, and this is the only thing that matters is how hot it is, ( no plot, no story, no world building, no characters ) when does it became a corn addiction?

I'm a bookseller, and I see so many people who buy tons and tons of books for a book haul that they see just because it's popular or because it looks pretty, which I have nothing against in theory, if you think you're going to like a book, or your collecting editions of your favorite books then it makes sense, but so many of those same people I see showing off huge book hauls either never actually read any of the books, or they end up not liking the book, but keep it on their shelves anyway because it looks pretty. Idk about other people, but I want my shelves to be a reflection of who I am as a reader, I want to have all my favorite and most loved books on display, of course there are books on my shelf I haven't read yet, because who doesn't have those, but I'm not going every other week and buying hundreds of dollars worth of books that I haven't even read the synopsis of. I think a lot of the algorithm promotes buying books and promoting the ones that become popular so that you can get more views and clicks, and I honestly don't fully blame the people involved just because I know social media and keeping up with trends can be exhausting. I think it would be so beneficial for places like booktok, which is so saturated with over-consumption and constant book hauls, to start promoting libraries and maybe unhauls and stuff. Libraries are amazing, and idk how accessible they are outside of the US, but here, a majority if not all libraries are free and genuinely such wonderful places for community. they do so much more than lend books out, and as a kid who grew up in a lower-class family who loved to ready, libraries were really a saving grace because I didn't have to waste money on books I didn't end up liking. I love a sprayed edge and a fancy hardback as much as the next person, but I think the over-consumption on the internet, and booktok specifically, is more than just that. (sorry for the essay lmao I apparently had a lot to say)

I want a cozy dystopian where we just follow Peeta and Katniss starting their new life after the 3rd book. And for them to meet Mosscap 🤖🌳

I'm grateful for the romantasy / cozy fantasy trends because it finally shifts the fantasy pub away from YA and grim dark and gives me something new. For a LONG time, there wasn't a lot of new fantasy... everything was YA. Trad pub is always going to pursue popular trends to death but I'm so happy there have finally been shifts in what they publish.

About the overconsumption (especially special edition) trend: I think that the biggest problem with it that has come out this year is that some authors, most notably Sarah J. Mass with her crescent city series, have started including certain important chapters of their books only in specific special editions making fans feel like they need to collect every single edition to get the full story. The booktuber Petrik Leo has a very good video about this. Definitely a trend to leave in 2023.

I honestly think Baldurs Gate 3 is helping the vampire comeback with Astarion, I’m deffo on board Edit: it also won game of the year 2023 and the voice actor for Astarion also won “Best Performance” this year too

As a traditional epic fantasy reader, I'm so glad romantasy exists as a genre now. It genuinely hurts to see romantasy novels winning during years where some of the most intricately crafted, well told epic stories of our time are released. (Ignoring the fact that The Will of the Many got shafted even *with* these changes this year...)

For me, the cozy vibes recently are welcomed because of how grim everything else in the world seems. It’s the ultimate escapism, like you mention with animal crossing during covid etc, and in books and general media, it’s nice to have something with minimal stakes, where you can just switch off and have a cute time x

I haven't read any cosy fantasy but it trending makes a ton of sense to me. We have a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East, natural catastrophes, totalitarian regimes thriving while democracies struggle to get their sh*t together. I live in Ukraine and my tbr is mostly classics and fantasy. If I want something dark, I'll just read the news. I also hope we'll see more interesting fantasy subgenres in the future. That being said, boy am I here for Colleen Hoover bashing😅 Here's to hope disliking her becomes a trend instead of reading her. Girls deserve better fiction.

i think one issue i have found in many in so called Romantacy books are that the characters are still often very teenager like so it still feel YA often... or they are just more or less sex books which is fine if that is what you are after but i would love a bit more of it being mix of both plot and sex, and not all so teenage like characters...

As a self declared vampire specialist, here are some recent vampire books: Cracked Coffins series by Beronika Keres Guides to Dating Vampires series by D.N. Bryn A Dowry of Blood and next year's An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave Belle Morte series by Bella Higgin Lore & Lust series by Karla Nikole All These Bodies by Kendare Blake Crave series by Tracy Wolff The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite anthology The Beautiful series by Renée Ahdieh Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson The God of Endings by Jaqueline Holland Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda Cruel Illusions and Vampires, Hearts and Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston Dracula's Child by J.S. Barnes Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste A Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw The Classified Dossier: Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula by Christian Klaver Adrian X Isolde series by Scarlett St. Clair Love Bites by Ry Herman Empire of the Vampire series by Jay Kristoff The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix Go Hunt Me by Kelly Devos Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker Sucker by Daniel Hornsby Night's Edge by Liz Kerin Court of Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas This Blood that Binds Us by S.L. Cokeley Slaying the Vampire Conqueror and The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen Bloody Fool for Love by William Ritter Youngblood by Sasha Laurens The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal Coming in 2024: Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk Vertigo Peaks by Dion Anja and an untitled toxic lesbian vampire book by V.E. Schwab

“Vampires are coming back” Me, who never knew they left: 🧍🏼‍♀️

My biggest problem with these sprayed edges hardback books is that they're extremely expensive and when a book is popular you're suffocated by 2927393 special editions (which in a way also makes a book not that special). But I'm also jealous of the people who can afford such collections 😅

The worst thing I found in 2023 was Haunting Adeline in the Young adult section of local bookstores here 💀

I love this trend of just all types of fantasy is being accepted - that fantasy can fall into all types of sub-genres: grim, cozy, gothic, epic, whatever, it's just nice because I want to see all the things!

My appreciation for the romantasy genre is twofold: a) it means that people will stop demanding smut it teen/ya books. I work in a bookstore and a lot of people ask for teen with spice and I’m just like “ma’am this is for children”. (My beef here is also with publishing- I think there should be a teen 13-15 section and a young adult 16+ section because 16+ people can handle the introduction of romantic/sexual relationships which just aren’t age appropriate for young teens) but basically YES romantasy gives a space for smut people want.I’m also happy to see it because I remember last year seeing really well thought out fantasy books like Babel in the same category as the likes of SJM and Jennifer Armentrout for the goodreads choice awards was just really frustrating because they are two distinct genres. They fulfill different purposes and shouldn’t be compared to each other. So I’m happy to see the romantasy category grow

I don't know for other countries, but in France we do have a big problem with overconsumerism and collector books that wasn't a thing a few years ago. We used to have only paperbacks, and sometimes (but it was really rare) a beautiful hardback version, for an anniversary or something. But now, a lot of books (especially YA books) come out both in paperback and hardback / collector / sprayed edges / limited edition. And the collector version is sold out very quickly because people have the fear of missing out so they rush to buy it. I try to resist but I have done it myself, once or twice. I really don't like the vibe it's creating in the french book industry, the way we are pushed to buy books so quickly, just because they are pretty. The "if you don't buy it now, you will regret it" kind of pressure it's putting on us.

I think vampires can work in many different ways as far as the political/economic symbolism. Definitely not just in times of wealth, which we definitely are not seeing (at least where I live). They can serve as metaphors for the rich living off of the poor, for one. I did read house of hunger this year which was a unique vampire book but wasn't really my taste (more smut than I prefer). I think it's pretty new.

About the sprayed edges I have to say. If you just buy the nice penguin book for example rhey they are the normal price for a paperback/hardcover. The sprayed edges books are extremely expensive and limited editions. They are especially made to make you buy them fast ("limited offers") and are extra expensive. They definitely have a different vibe than just normal different editions

i personally love people recommending/marketing books with tropes BUT only if the actual plot is also talked about, it also definitely only works with certain types of books (usually any book with romance) i think a lot of the recent trends with especially romance books being marketed with tropes is because a lot of new romance readers and writers are coming from fanfiction backgrounds and are trying to mimic AO3 tags

I haven’t even started the video but I already know I’m gonna agree with all of her points 😭

Another aspect of the ice hockey book trend that people aren't talking about is that a lot of those books are hockey player x figure skater romances. The fact that this very "masculine" sport has a built in "dainty, feminine" counterpart makes it SO EASY for cishet writers to insert cishet romance into the premise. It's literally "here's the boy version of the ice sport and here's the girl version, now let them kiss".

I think part of the “I’m not a coleen hoover girlie” is also the allegations that her son abused his gf ( or something like that) and coleen ignored the girl and so people see it as “if you read coleen hoover you promote abuse”

the Bridgerton television series adaptation got me into actually reading Jane Austen novels, one of which was Northanger Abbey...which got me into early 19th century gothic literature.

Just a point about the hating Colleen Hoover and being 'not like the Colleen Hoover girlies' that I myself have fallen into a few times. I think it stems from the type of girlies who read this stuff most likely being the type of girls who made fun of us for reading books like 10 years ago. For example, I know I hate on these books quite alot (besides the valid criticisms) because my sister, who had never read a book in her life until this point, started devouring Colleen Hoover books. And I know we should be happy more people are getting into reading, but I think it's ultimately a trend right now because those same girls hated on us for liking books.

Brandon Sanderson wrote the Tress of the Emerald Sea specifically for his wife and what she likes. She is the one who encouraged him to publish it.

When you started talking about how fast fashion is made, it reminded me of how some books are kind of just made to the "pattern" laid out by tropes-- although it's definitely not harmful in the way fast fashion, fast furniture, etc are! I just mean sometimes with the trope-y books it's like it's just a template where you put in different character names and settings. With the way things like Kindle Unlimited work, that's a lot of authors' bread and butter-- the more pages people read, the more you get paid, so it makes sense to put out as many pages as possible as quickly as possible, and having a template of tropes makes that easier. It also makes it easier to jump on microtrends and get max value out of them before they're forgotten. And then, advertising those "template" books by their tropes gets the attention of people who are interested in reading the same thing over and over, because for them it's often a comfort thing, the same way some people loooove Hallmark movies even though they're really all the same thing. Whether any of that ^^^ is good or bad for art and culture and whatever else, I don't know. But everybody's got to make a living, and everybody needs some way to relax, so I get it!

A trend I personally despise is seeing books that should be considered ya (in terms of characters, worldbuilding, writing style, plot) be marketed as "adult fantasy" simply becasue they have spicy scenes in it.

I collect the barnes and noble leatherbounds and vintage-y editions in general, but one way I counteract my consumption is by reading books online, and *then* getting a paper copy if I really love it (and yet I still have 200 books on my shelf).

I will say though, Colleen Hoover is a great author if you want to learn english effectively. Last year, my english was bad asf, I only knew how to make small talk and my fluent friend made me read "ugly love". The vocabulary is simple, the story is far from having any depth or complexity, so do the characters, so I easily understood and got more familiar with the language. It's just that when you're already speaking english, her books feel dull and cringe (and I'm not even mentioning the problematic aspect of them)

Ice-hockey is also really popular in M/M romance, has been for years. I think it's the potential for injury, warming each other up, cute ice-skating lessons, etc.

I love romantic fantasy, and I won't deny it

I don't think limited editions are the main issue with overconsumption within the book community. It's the countless of videos where people do massive book hauls, and either in that video or a different one they admit they already have a lot of books they haven't even read yet. Book unhauls are either been popular for a while now or starting to trend, where people make videos showing the books they haven't read or finished and giving them away. Buying countless of books when their physical tbr are collecting dust on the shelves. Either for the sake of a book haul video or because they've been influenced by said videos.

me writing a dystopian vampire novel, not knowing they're making a comeback: 👁👄👁

one of the things that attracted me to Harry Potter was some of the whimsical magic, which was everywhere in the earlier books and so much fun to read. I wish more writer's would focus on that.

The "not a Colleen Hoover girlie" being compared to "not like other girls" is such a great take lol

My personal issue with Romantacy is its close association with YA. It doesn’t stand out as a unique entity it just feels like YA with the publishing parental controls taken off instead of its own matured form of writing and genre.

As a writer the tropification of books is like a nemesis lol

When I was growing up Fantasy was a fringe genre populated by books like The Lord of the Rings, Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, Anne McAffrey's Pern (arguably sci-fi), or Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea books. All great books but the fantasy section of my branch library was half an aisle of shelves and lumped in with science-fiction. To me, the explosion in fantasy really started with TSR's publication of the Dragonlance trilogy and subsequently a huge number of Forgotten Realms books. The success of those books along with the maturing of the generation that grew up on Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy TTRPGs drove the expansion of the Fantasy genre. Video games and the success of games like World of Warcraft drove the second (and even greater) explosion of Fantasy and brought it fully into the mainstream. This growth and success is, I think, why you're now seeing the Fantasy genre (that one aisle in my library) branching out and being sub-divided into all of the typical modern sub-genres. My wife, who doesn't read fantasy, mentioned that new Fantasy Romance section on goodreads and described it to her as Danielle Steel with Dragons. I expect those games are coming on the heels of its success.

I love your video essays. These deep dive into books, book trends, and characters are so wonderful and fascinating.

my biggest problem with marketing books with tropes is that it reduces it to just that; a singular trope. this can be extremely annoying because of two types of people; authors who write books based upon one trope (e.g enemies to lovers) and end up marketing a wattpad quality book, and tiktokers who reduce complex, insanely well written, heartwrenching, emotion evoking books into nothing more than a wide category (e.g female rage books). People really seem to not understand that what makes a book isn't just a singular charateristic.

This video and your commentary on the booktok experience…. Slay. Criticizing others tastes just divides us readers more and I’m so glad you spoke about how to handle criticism of authors without shaming readers. ❤

as a sustainability enthusiast, i love hearing your thoughts on comsumerism - despite loving the environment and all, i also love collecting things and i think you said it very well, as long as we're being mindful and doing our part to reduce our consumption (even if they are very small steps), it's great!

About the Hunger Games resurgence: Next year the planned Uglies (first big YA dystopia, about a messy female friendship torn to shreds by the dystopian regime forcing everybody to undergo beauty surgery, really good) movie is meant to come out, I really do hope it is so good that it takes that hype and transforms that into a dystopia resurgence. Well, if it ever comes out at all, production was somewhat troubled.

Laura Purcell is an amazing modern gothic author, almost her entire career has focused on it. I hope established gothic authors are benefitting from an increase in interest beyond (and including) the classics.

I think the "problem" with the rising Colleen Hoover Girl is that a lot of them never give other authors a chance. I genuinely know some girls in real life who have openly said something like "oh I hate reading it's so boring, but I like Colleen Hoover." I don't care if they love her, it's more that I want more people to enjoy reading and its community, and some of those girls just assume that she is the best romance author out there, and anything that's written by someone else isn't good.

One thing I do like that has been done recently with a lot of books, is the addition of trigger warnings. This allows readers to know what's going to be in the book and if it's something that they don't like due to personal taste or to past trauma to themselves or to those who they know, then it allows more people to be able to enjoy them. Of course there will always be critics, but to me this allows people to have a healthier relationship with books, especially with new authors.

About the silent reviews online: I really like them. I am hearing but never have sound on when scrolling through Instagram reels (bc I'm usually also watching a KZfaq video or something) so something that I can follow without having to pause my yt vid to read and follow half-visible subtitles for? Amazing. I get the gist with 0 risk of getting spoiled, don't neeeeed to wear my glasses, there's no language barrier, I love this. Please don't let that trend die.

Great video, Leonie!! Loved your theory about romantasy being a continuation of YA and that's why it's gaining so much traction. I also wonder how much of it is people who got back into reading via romance/romance recs on booktok now branching out? I think a lot of people who got back into reading through romance are now looking to dip their toes into other genres, and romantasy is a safe place to start because it contains that same romance, just with higher stakes, alongside what's oftentimes simple world building that's not overwhelming to first-time fantasy readers. It can be a much easier step than starting with a dense adult fantasy book and deciding fantasy may not be for them. It's super cool to see some booktubers talk about in their 2023 reading wrap up videos how they started the year as big romance girlies and now love fantasy! Romantasy can be a great way to bridge that gap, and if it gets people more into fantasy, I'm here for it!

Love your channel…couldn’t subscribe fast enough! Your theory on the Romanticy genre was so spot on..so happy to see someone putting out a well thought out explanation - at last!! I wonder if the overuse of the word cozy is just due, in general, to the fact that many new readers are learning how “cozy” it actually feels to get into a good book - whatever it is! For me, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries is the definition of cozy. I’m at my best in the fall and winter (can’t bear the warm months! 😫) so that book took me exactly where I need to go - under a blanket in front of a fire with a warm cup of tea while it snows outside. 🥰❄️☃️ I don’t want “cozy” to go anywhere but as long as I have a good book and a peaceful setting, I don’t see how it could! ❤️

i think your romantasy theory is so true!! i think that the hole romantasy filled had an even smaller hole in it, previously filled by edward cullen and other vampire boys, damon salvatore and such. i think that hole is now filled by fae! its surely another trend thats gonna go away in a few years, but at least we're still gonna have holly black and her fae w us

Surprised you didn't talk about the Reylo fanfiction to published book pipeline. I think there were at least three this year that were Reylo fanfic rebranded into published books this year with quite a few more due out next year, plus the one that started it all, The Love Hypothesis. I personally want it to stop, and this is coming from a romance reader. I hate questioning if a book I'm reading was fanfiction first.

The steam coming off your cup in the beginning looks so perfect and quaint ❤

Happy New Year Leo! I'm sooo excited for having one more year just watching your videos when the sun goes down while I'm doing my nails :D Love ya!

The Poor Things movie and the upcoming Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Frankenstein kinda make it evident to me that Gothic will be a big interest next year. It was already here in a way but it will make its way to the general public and not just the niche corners of the internet.

I love your theory about romance fantasy! There are so many connections to like those 2010’s YA books we all read

What a fun trend review! 8:40 yes PLEASE, make the video essay about romantasy (and all the other genres, too)! I love love love your deep dives into different bookish topics! You make watching your videos a joy by the way you present your arguments with sound reasoning and show your research for them but also leave room for conversation. That works wonders especially in the video essay format. Have a fun and rejuvenating Christmas break!

Me, who only read danmei novels in this year, knowing nothing about these trends 😂😂 I enjoyed this video thank you 😊

Cozy fantasy has always been confusing to me, cause one of my favorite fantasy series is the Witcher, the world is super dark and brutal, but the first books brings me so much comfort and coziness, each chapter is just Geralt having little adventures and the fact that he's an outcast looked down for most people makes you relate to him. Anyway, coziness is very relative, and I highly recommend The Last Wish.

Enjoy the Holidays, get some rest, see people you love and have a Merry Christmas! 🎀

I feel like the surge in vampire stuff might be a combination of a second big year for Dracula Daily and Astarion taking over the internet when Baldur's Gate came out, but idk lol

i think the tropification thing also might be bc so many of the readers and writers who are creating and consuming books rn (esp on booktok it seems) came up on sites like ao3 and wattpad and tropes in this case have same function as “tags” on those sites.

Please tell me if there is someone else who HATES silent reviews >.< Like for me it doesnt tell anything about the books, only if the person liked it or not. Like tell me why, tell me why not. Or is it just me being really bad at interpreting what people mean when they just silently motion things XD

Cozy Becky Chambers Sci-Fi should never die.

the way you proposed how the book industry could turn into something like the fast fashion/furniture industries was really giving 'basis of a modern dystopian novel' hahaha

I'm not a fantasy reader but i looooove your videos and the way you explain books and deep concepts, i just love it! Thank you and happy end of the year ❤

People are gonna be mad but I'm gonna say it, not all books need to be spicy

i'm conflicted on the tropes thing too, but i think my take is that i don't mind "here are books that have enemies to lovers/forced proximity/etc" as a jumping off point to find out more of the book, but if you're specifically talking about one particular book, i'd rather hear about what makes it special. just my opinion, hope that made sense lol also as someone who just took a "queering the gothic" course, bring on the gothic lit renaissance!!

Another wonderful enlightening video , thank you so much for this. Marry Christmas 🎄

As the end of the year recap, I must say that I just started reading again this year (5 year break because of preparation for university exams and first years in university) and you and caricanread are my most watched youtubers this year. Like i binged all your videos and watch every new video too. I think your channel is amazing and I love the variety of videos and discussions you have here. I do also think your content is underrated and I wish you more success and growth in the next year ✊

I don’t necessarily understand getting the same book in more than one edition just to add to a collection, but this is not a stone I’m willing to throw in my glass house where I own probably more yarn than I can knit up in my remaining years 👀

I need more cozy fantasy tbh xD I'd love to see more books like Legends & Lattes get published. If anyone has recommendations, throw them my way :D

Ok I agree with your theory. I wasn’t able to find adult books that were what I wanted until I started reading romance. And my only issue with tropification is when the authors are writing the book for the trope, it can feel like copy and paste rather than an organic story they wanted to write.

You gave me so much to think about! Ever since reading fourth wing, I’ve been trying to dissect what about that book appeals to so many people and your theories are good!!

The last six or 7 books I read were ice hockey, more specifically MM ice hockey. I think the figure skater x hockey player dynamic is grat for some enemies or rivals to lovers. And specifically for MM the whole teamates getting together or rivals falling for each other is really easy to build and explore. There's also the fact they get injured easily so there's the caring for each other bit, dealing with failure, consoling each other when the lose, etc. To me they're just comfy winter books to set me in the mood of cold but not christmasy yet, kind of a guilty pleasure

It's not exactly a new thing, but I love that trigger warnings are much more of a thing now of a thing than they have ever been! It makes so much easier to curate my reading for my current mood and mental strength, and it has been great! I don't mind cozy literature being written and rediscovered, as this is something that people clearly want to read and if so, enjoy! I do mind "cozy" being stretched as a category to its absolute limits just because it's a popular hashtag. I like to read cozy books from time to time and some of the less popular recommendations I got (especially in the mystery and horror subgenre) actually were quite dark. Sprayed edges are fine and special editions, especially if they are available at book's launch, are also fine - in terms of overconsumption, what's really problematic is buying dozens of books way too often, proceeding not to read them, only to unhaul them unread or barely touched some time later. I'm guilty of that myself and I'm not proud of that - I don't need to be surrounded by 50+ unread books, I never start more than 3 at any given moment and I don't read crazy fast. I wish bookfluencers put some effort into popularizing libraries, book swaps and second-hand book shopping. I know some of them already do that, but giant book hauls of are still to much of a thing.

One of the best collection of small video essays - well done 🔥

Oh I love listening to you talk about your theories because your breakdowns are so spot on!! I only got into (YA) fantasy (again) as an adult and it was through Fourth Wing and ACOTAR - and whilst these are not PERFECTLY-written books, I took them for what theya re -- enjoyable. It's okay for books to just serve an entertainment value and not always be life-changing