In the past few years, reading has been on the rise, especially among the young adult audience. Some of this can be credited to the rising popularity of social media platform TikTok’s subculture, BookTok. Influencers use the platform to film and post short videos to share their thoughts on their favorite and least favorite novels with the public. While users share a multitude of different genres and novels on the platform, certain books have taken over TikTok.
The two novels, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (AGGGTM) by Holly Jackson are among the most well known in the BookTok universe. Each of the novels can be found displayed at the front of many bookstores and their covers have become a familiar sight among book lovers. With each following the journey of a teenage girl with a romance subplot, the books have generated a lot of hype among readers. However, this sparks the question, are these two BookTok favorites really worth the hype?
The Inheritance Games trilogy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is likely the most talked about series on TikTok, with over 40 thousand tags. The story follows the life changing journey of Avery Grambs, who finds herself inheriting the fortune of famous billionaire and game fanatic Tobias Hawthorne, and along the way crosses paths with his four conveniently handsome grandsons.
With a mix of mystery, twisted games, and romance, the plot of The Inheritance Games proves to be a standout from others in the young adult genre. Throughout the novels, Barnes does a great job of planting little details that eventually become shocking twists or key plot points later in the novels. Barnes did not fail to keep my jaw on the floor at the most unexpected moments.
Like The Inheritance Games trilogy, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder (AGGGTM) series is also an engaging mystery with a touch of romance. However, this book contains murder. A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson follows 17 year old Pippa Fitz-Amobi and her new friend Ravi Singh as she works to solve the murder of teenage town darling Andie Bell that shook the town years ago, with twists and turns at every chapter.
While the AGGGTM novels have a similar feel to many of the other books in the young adult murder mystery genre, the plot has a thrilling factor that is hard to deny. Like Barnes, Jackson does a great job of planting details that add to the overall suspense to the story. While the first novel takes a bit of a lull in the middle, with a decline in exciting events, Jackson keeps readers on their toes as she picks it right back up in the end with a shocking plot twist. The second novel, Good Girl, Bad Blood is similar and has a very similar thrilling vibe and keeps you guessing until the last page. However, the third book, As Good As Dead does not quite follow the same structure. The third book was not as entertaining and definitely experimented with a new and even more gory plot, and I would say it missed the mark.
Many people find the characters are also a highlight of all of these series, however, I would disagree. Neither, Avery or Pippa stood out to me as protagonists. They each had basic teenage girls, with a bit of angst, character traits, and were very predictable. Although they had a range of vibes from old money Texas to small town Connecticut, I felt Avery and Pippa were very similar as they were both very immature and selfish at points throughout the novel. Their character developments were also very basic and followed a similar pattern to many other books in the genre: from quiet and overlooked, to angsty and irrational, and eventually to confident and honestly a little bit self-absorbed, though the self-absorbedness is often overlooked.
In addition, it is not surprising, with the fun romantic subplots, that the novels are so popular with the young adult audience. However, I will admit, the romance subplots in each of the books tend to lack uniqueness. The Inheritance Games followed a love triangle between two attractive brothers, Grayson and Jameson Hawthorne. The sibling love triangle was definitely entertaining, but it was also very similar to many other novels in the genre and I think it would have made the books more interesting and less predictable if the love trope did not follow the same pattern as many other teen dramas.
Similar to The Inheritance Games, AGGGTM follows a basic romantic plotline. From the beginning of the first novel, the pending romance between Pippa and Ravi was very predictable. While the romance subplot is admittedly entertaining, it is not particularly complex or unique and follows a pretty cliche take on the trope, so if you’re looking for romance that is fresh and less predictable, I would not particularly recommend these series. However, sometimes a basic love trope can be a breath of fresh air in such a complex mystery.
Overall, both of the novels are definitely entertaining and thrilling, so I can see why they are so popular. However, I will admit, I probably would not have picked up the books if they weren’t so popular on BookTok and they did not really stand out to me in comparison to others in the genre.