“Here are the top 30 TikTok book recommendations: 2023 edition. BookTok is known for its varied and vast book recommendations in any conceivable genre from a range of voices. Everyone from casual readers to professional reviewers to authors has the ability to promote books they love on BookTok.

Essentially, a lot of people talk about a lot of books with different levels of success. When discussing BookTok, it is important to acknowledge the bias toward white, cis, straight creators promoting white, cis, straight books. However, if you seek them out, you can find a vast resource of diverse Booktokers promoting equally diverse books. This is also the added lens the algorithm adds to the user experience. TikTok’s algorithm learns from your viewing history in the app, which also applies to BookTok.

The following list comes from compiling various BookTok comment sections on videos about TikTok book recommendations in 2023. Naturally, the list will have the natural bias of my personal algorithm. Nonetheless, backlist books and genre books remain popular in 2023 on BookTok. Similar to the top 25 TikTok book recommendations from 2022, YA, romance, and fantasy books remain popular. Additionally this year, the Trans Rights Readathon increased the recommendation of trans books on BookTok.“

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Quinn Saint Nicholas- The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards

Kade Bronson- Wayward Children Series by Seanan McGuire

Leonie Jackman- Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

Seregil í Korit Solun Meringil Bôkthersa- Luck in the shadows/the nightrunner series by Lynn Fleweling

books read in 2023: her majesty's royal coven

four childhood best friends splinter in adulthood in the face of a great evil coming for their two covens- a traditional, bureaucratic coven and a more intersectional and inclusive coven. tackles aspects of transphobia & racism in the uk, to varying degrees of success imo. be sure to check trigger warnings

Gosh, this series is good! The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson is the second in a series that started with Her Majesty's Royal Coven. At it begins (spoiler for the first book ahead), Ciara Kelly is trying to stay incognito as she takes over the body of the soon-to-be High Preistess of HMRC. Meanwhile, Leonie sets out to save her brother from the claws of escaped fugitive Hale, and personal dramas shake and curl in the small town where young Theo nurses a new body and huge magical potential. It's all about to get a whole lot worse.

The last thing I expected following the first book was to genuinely start rooting for Ciara. Talk about a good anti-hero! If the enemy of book one was transphobia, the enemy of this book is virulent toxic masculinity and patriarchy (what a surprise, right?). The novel swerves from humor to horror to dreadful suspense to emotional twists and turns by the pound. It's bold, dramatic, and impossible to put down, and just like the first, it ends with some pretty impossible feeling twists that will leave you reeling (I already have some theories, and am very, very interested in when 3rd book Human Rites is going to come out. Dawson's world continues to be rich, fascinating, and devastating.

Content warnings for g-slur, violence, misogyny, suicide, domestic abuse/violence, emotional abuse, addiction, sexual violence.

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I absolutely adore this series. And this dog. And this cozy blanket and general situation 🖤

THE SHADOW CABINET - JUNO DAWSON Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After the cheeky way Juno Dawson ended book one, I was glad to get an ARC for The Shadow Cabinet, the second book in Her Majesty's Royal Coven series. I have been desperate for answers. The book didn’t disappoint, and it was good to reconnect with the coven. 

I genuinely appreciated how the book blended personal dilemmas with more significant, high-stakes conflicts, giving each character a rich complexity that drew me in even more. 

Once again, the ending packed a powerful punch that left me reeling. The unexpected twists throughout the story kept me on my toes, and I found myself utterly absorbed, racing through to see what would happen next. 

The Shadow Cabinet is an easy five stars for me, and I can’t believe I now have to wait for book three!!! Thanks to Penguin for an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

A Discovery of Witches meets The Craft in this the first installment of this epic fantasy trilogy about a group of childhood friends who are also witches.

If you look hard enough at old photographs, we’re there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple.

At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls–Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle–took the oath to join Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she’s a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.

Juno Dawson explores gender and the corrupting nature of power in a delightful and provocative story of magic and matriarchy, friendship and feminism. Dealing with all the aspects of contemporary womanhood, as well as being phenomenally powerful witches, Niamh, Helena, Leonie and Elle may have grown apart but they will always be bound by the sisterhood of the coven.

🎉 PRIZE DRAW TIME 🎉 📚 📕 ENTER VIA THE LINK IN BIO !

We are kicking off LGBT+ History Month with an amazing prize draw of two signed books by acclaimed author, Juno Dawson!

Enter the prize draw for a chance to win signed copies of:

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven – A journey following a top-secret government department of witches and the deadly threat to the nation that they must confront.

The Shadow Cabinet - Following on from the spellbinding Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, the second instalment in Juno Dawson’s bewitching new series finds trouble seething at the very core of the government.

Juno (she/her) is a #1 Sunday Times best-selling novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and a columnist for Attitude magazine. She won the 2020 YA Book Prize for her novel ‘Meat Market’. Juno’s first adult fantasy trilogy ‘Her Majesty’s Royal Coven’ launched in 2022, becoming an instant bestseller.

Every penny raised from this prize draw will go towards LGBT HERO’s vital work for the LGBTQ+ community, including mental health and wellbeing, sexual health and peer support work.

£3 = 1 entry | £5 = 2 entries | £10 = 5 entries | £15 = 10 entries | £20 = 15 entries | £25 = 25 entries

We will add your name to the prize draw based on what you donate.

The prize draw closes on the 29/02/2024 at 12pm

Enter here: www.lgbthero.org.uk/appeal/prize-draw-juno-dawson Or check out the link in our profile or stories

Her Majesty's Royal Coven Summary:

Hidden among us is a secret government department of witches known as Her Majesty’s Royal Coven.

They protect crown and country from magical forces and otherworldly evil, but their greatest enemy will come from within…

There are whisperings of a prophecy that will bring the coven to its knees, and four best friends are about to be caught at the centre.

Life as a modern witch was never simple … but now it’s about to get apocalyptic.

The Girl from the Sea Summary:

Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends...who don't understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl.Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore.But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

goodreads

If you look hard enough at old photographs, we're there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple. At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.

Mod opinion: I've read it and if you want a british witch story this one is fun :)

“There is no denying it, witch mystery books are absolutely enchanting. I want my books to open with an unexplainable phenomenon. Finally, I want to be lead down paths with enticing red herrings and given an ending with a twist I never saw coming but is so clear in retrospect. While the witchy world building feeds my fantasy obsession, the powerful plots keep me guessing. It is my simple but correct opinion that witch mystery books are simply fantastic. Whether it is a murder or just a general mystery, when you add magic into the mix, you can guarantee my attendance.

In witch mystery books, witches might become involved in detective work to solve a case, or they may keep their day-to-day work but need to follow a series of clues to save the world. Either way, these witches are solving a problem that must be solved. For me, the overall stakes of the case do not really matter. I just want to be invested in the problem and shocked at the end reveal. The books have all the fun of a mystery with all the tools available to magic users. Who doesn’t want to be reading minds, talking to ghosts, and uncovering the secret workings of hidden magic to discover clues?”

Read HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL COVEN by Juno Dawson if you love friend groups, trauma narratives, covens, intersectionality, multiple POVs, the infinite ways to be a witch, demons, disrupting systems of oppression, cups of tea, found family, nature, extreme reactions, and tiny villages.

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Just finished reading Her Majesty's Royal Coven yesterday. Or tbh, the more accurate description is "devoured it in a day". The way the world-building is actually questioned by the cast and is used to explore real-life discrimination just grabbed me. Also, Niamh and her adopted daughter's arc was the heart of the entire story and I actually cried at the ending.

The wait for the sequel will blow. Anyways, this is what Harry Potter wishes it was lol

I preordered this a year ago and she’s here!