I could do a standard review for The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore. I could, but that doesn’t mean I will. This book is a good premise to dive a little into the state of literature in this digital era, where reading has become an aesthetic, publishing nothing more than a marketing contest, and books don’t equal reading quality.

I’m guessing you’ve probably heard of this book or at least of the first one in the series, The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. This is one of those TikTok sensation books that consequently travels around all the online book communities, so far and wide that physical bookstores have sections dedicated to the books from TikTok. Because of this, I was well aware of the existence of this series and had no intention of reading it. But when you are gifted the book… oh well… since other people insist, I guess I’m having some fun.

And fun I had, indeed. I knew it would be time well spent, even though I didn’t care for the book whatsoever. I’m not a romance reader. I’m too picky to fully enjoy the genre. Although when you add spice, and nowadays, every cutesy cartoony cover almost always will have some level of spice, I have something to look forward to. And when I say spice, I mean sexy scenes without the y, also known as smut or the devil’s tango.

To me, the only thing I cared about was the romance. Not the feelings talk and falling in love stuff but the under-the-sheets kind. When the story reached that point, it didn’t stop. It was one chapter after another. A small break here and there to focus on the town and the other characters, but it quickly goes back into the adult stuff. I wasn’t expecting the sexy scenes to be so frequent. It’s on the same level as Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James, minus the BDSM. And I’m not complaining. Fifty Shades was one of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read, and the same thing happened with The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore. I had a lot of fun. It was so entertaining. When the romance kicked in, I read more than 200 pages in two days.

And what more could I ask of a book? They are pieces of entertainment, especially fictional books. Their primary job is to entertain. Obviously, we attribute more value to those books that can do far more than that. The books that make us question, open our minds, show us that writing can be more than just telling a story, and that there is art inside a piece of literature. So, it’s understandable why there’s a growing discontent towards the online book communities. In a way, they are “ruining” books. Lately, popular books lack substance and care for the craft. They are by the minute more of a prowess on the marketing teams in the publishing houses than the merit of the author.

While I enjoyed The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore a lot, I can also recognise, in terms of plot and writing, it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not good. It’s not worth the hype. While I didn’t care at all for any other character, apart from the main protagonists, and even those I didn’t care for their family dramas, I also missed having that. This series follows different characters in each book, but they are all connected by the town, and there isn’t enough room to make the town come alive. At some point, there’s a new character who buys the old tree farm, which is the setting for the next book, The Christmas Tree Farm. She popped in, said hello and left. Never to be seen again. Tune in to the next book to find out more! It’s so obvious. It was a scene to set the next book. It didn’t interact with the plot or the characters. It’s a poor way to create a path to the next story.

A few years ago, maybe a decade or two ago, this book probably wouldn’t have been published written like this. However, never underestimate the power of marketing. In a capitalist society, everything exists to generate income. And books aren’t an exception. Publishing houses don’t exist to give the reader the next best writer. They exist to make money doing that. But they’ve realised the book doesn’t have to be good. It just has to sell. And oh boy, Laurie Gilmore has sold a lot. I don’t know the numbers or even care. A book series can’t be this popular without generating a big sum.

The people who work in the marketing departments know what they are doing, and they do it well. They know the target audience. They know that platforms like TikTok, are great for boosting sales, so they publish more and more books like the ones successful on these platforms. And in a way, I’m not too mad about it. Reading is becoming popular. Now, it’s “cool” to be a reader. It’s an aesthetic. And that comes with good and bad perks. The good ones are reading more. Whether the person making the content “actually reads” or not, they are inspiring others to do so. The quality of what is being read also matters, but what’s important is to start reading. Creating a habit. The pursuit of better books will come naturally.

It can also be argued that the reader aesthetic has the opposite effect, putting people off reading because of the poor quality of the recommendations. You only see the same books over and over again. And when you try to read them, expecting to have a great time and end up hating them, it’s annoying. You can easily get into a reading slump and take reading out of your life because it doesn’t bring any joy.

A while back, when I saw people talking about the shocking truth about readers on TikTok, where some people came forward saying books are too long, have too many words, and skip big chunks and read only the dialogue, it broke my heart. I’m not here to tell you how you should read a book, and you shouldn’t allow anyone to tell you that, either. However, that makes me sad because I see it as a case of reading what you don’t like. I have to agree that turning a page and seeing it full of text is jarring. It’s scary. When I read A Little Life by Hanna Yanagihara, at times, I had to take a deep breath before continuing to a page with only one paragraph break. In those moments, you question if you are really enjoying the book. And in my case, I was, so I just kept reading. And that scary paragraph suddenly was over without me even realising it.

While I dreaded those full pages, I also flew through them with ease. If you’re loving a book to pieces, getting lost inside the story, you don’t even realise how long or short the chapters, paragraphs or pages are. You are lost in the moment, and nothing else takes you away from the story. I’ve also encountered dense books that made me question why I keep reading them. But when I look at a page and dread continue reading, thinking of how long it’ll take me, that’s my sign to put the book away. And if that happens constantly, then I’m reading in the wrong genre or the wrong format.

Right or wrong books only exist to ourselves. They are relative to the reader. There are genres we like and genres we don’t like. There are tropes we love and others we despise. There are writing styles we vibe with and others we find obnoxious. I didn’t mind Sally Rooney’s writing style, but I can see it looks dense without any dialogue markings. A Little Life maybe could have been shorter. The author likes to take her time expressing an idea in various ways and that can feel a little repetitive. Although I enjoyed her writing style, so I didn’t mind it. I even prefer it. Meanwhile, in The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, I saw the opposite. The writing is very dialogue-heavy. And while in this case, it didn’t bother me, that translates into a lack of depth.

I’ve mentioned this is my review of Illuminae and Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. Since the story is told mostly through conversations, I felt the book was incredibly tiring and forgetful. So, while I love some dialogue breaks, I also need long paragraphs, descriptions, and showing instead of telling. And I think this is one of the reasons why I didn’t care for the characters in The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore. It was just talking. And if people over on TikTok and other platforms are searching and praising these types of books, it’s normal that more and more books will look and feel like this one. The publishers are just giving those readers what they want to read.

I enjoyed my time reading this book despite its shortcomings. And I believe there is a place for this type of book. That they can and should exist. Should they be in the front of the store? Probably not. Other books are deserving of that place. Although the so-called “popcorn fiction” has a place on the shelves. These books are typically a good introduction to a new genre and generally an easy good time. And while classics and big books are great, sometimes, we only need something easy to take our minds off the world and have some fun. And that’s when these books come in. They are a quick escape. A fun one. And I can’t be mad about it. They have too much attention, they do. But as a reader, if you are willing to put in a bit of work, you can find good books, the right books for you, even if they don’t appear on TikTok.