Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022, with Dini at Dini Panda Reads as co-host from February 2025.
Let’s Talk Bookish 23rd January:
Underrated Books
(Leyre @ Read You Leyre)
Prompts: What makes a book “underrated”? Did you read any books in 2025 that you think are underrated? Did you read any books with underrated tropes (or micro tropes) or genres? What are some of your favourite “underrated” reads from 2025 and of all time?
I think a book is underrated when it feels like it deserves to be talked about, and it’s not, or it has a small number of high reviews. I think we’ve all come across books that, quite frankly, feel like they deserve more love and attention. Often it’s when it’s a solid book within a popular genre that gets overshadowed by bigger names.
I think books can often feel underrated because they came out a while ago, but still feel incredibly relevant. I often come across books that feel so crucial in terms of information, and really demonstrate the value of reading nonfiction (for example), but get overlooked. Or they deserve to be more widely spread to counter misinformation or maybe help others with their own journeys, all that good stuff.
I do think it’s hard sometimes to judge when a book is ‘underrated’ however – it’s very much easier to pinpoint overrated books! And it’s gotten worse with the fragmenting of social media, the scattering of communities, and algorithms messing up. The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet (Lindz McLeod) has a respectable 968 ratings and 347 reviews on Goodreads, but I barely saw anyone talking about it. Especially with the popularity of Bridgerton and people looking for sapphic stories, it feels overlooked, but maybe it was talked about on Bluesky and I missed it, or it could even be gaining steam on TikTok and I’d be none the wiser.
Maybe we look at books with a high (over 4) average rating but a lower number of ratings and reviews? A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street is part of a delightful series, and a very sweet romance. It has 1,247 ratings, and 170 reviews, and that seems relatively low considering it’s been out since 2023, and with an average rating of 4.28 seems to be well regarded. Or maybe I don’t pay enough attention to ratings and reviews in general and that’s actually a very good number for the book to have?
So, in a roundabout way – I couldn’t tell you what’s underrated and what’s not! I don’t feel like I’m clued in to the right bookish channels anymore, compared to pre-2020 when you had a wider view of popular books if you were on Twitter and through blogs. We can look at ratings and reviews but it’s hard to judge, I think, whether these are good for that particular type of book (and there we can consider genre, trad vs indie published, age range, and so on) or not.
It’s a tricky question with no clear cut answer. I named a couple books above that could be considered underrated, but often I pick out books based on what I personally think I’ll enjoy, rather than something I’ve seen on social media – not to say that’s never had an influence, but it has become less!
What do you think makes a book underrated? Maybe I’m overthinking things and you have plenty of underrated books you know if – if so, definitely throw some recommendations at me.
Unwrapping Words 