The Best of #Booktok: May

Booktok is still a thing - we can confirm. The Booktok girlies are still finding new books to read, from authors that blew up in the Booktok Boom, to new voices making waves on the FYP.
If you need some inside info on your next read, or want some recommendations from the infamous readers of the net, here are the top picks for May, no matter which side of Booktok you're on.
We'd love to know your thoughts, don't forget to tag @exclusivebooks in all your reviews!
King of Envy
He had everything he could've wanted . . . except her.Dangerous. Powerful. Reclusive.Vuk Markovic is notorious for shunning human interactions. The scarred billionaire rarely talks, and he has no interest in relationships outside his small but trusted circle.His only exception? Her. The beauty to his beast, the object of his obsession.He saw her first. He wanted her first. But now, she's engaged to his oldest friend-and the closer the wedding looms, the more he's torn between loyalty and desire.She should be his . . . and he might just risk it all to have her.***Beautiful. Successful. Glamorous.To the world, supermodel Ayana Kidane leads the perfect life. Her career has skyrocketed, and she's engaged to one of New York's most eligible bachelors.What people don't know is that the engagement is only a business arrangement. He gets his inheritance when they marry; she gets the money she needs to leave her abusive agency.Pretending to be in love should be easy-until she finds herself increasingly drawn to her fiancé's enigmatic best man.Vuk thrills and terrifies her in equal measure. She knows she should stay away, but when her wedding is thrown into chaos, he's the only person who makes her feel safe...Until his past catches up with them and threatens everything they love.
R 290.00
Great Big Beautiful Life
When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication. The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing. The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which she’ll choose who’ll tell her story. The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. Pieces they can’t put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story – just like the tale Margaret’s spinning – could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad … depending on who’s telling it.
R 370.00
Watch Me
Lose yourself in this exhilarating return to the #1 global bestselling Shatter Me universe, the first book in a new series set ten years after the fall of The Reestablishment. This breathtaking custom deluxe edition Shimmery jacket with holographic foilGorgeous designed endpapersFoil case design with a quote from the novelStunning holographic edgesQuantities are limited for this deluxe edition so be sure to preorder now!James Anderson had a plan. Or half of one. All that matters is that he managed to do what his older brother, the famous Aaron Warner Anderson, never infiltrate Ark Island, the last refuge of The Reestablishment. In the past decade no outsider has breached the stronghold of the authoritarian regime, but James is in. In a prison cell, sure, but as far as James is concerned, a win is a win.It’s been ten years since the fall of The Reestablishment. Ten years since the notorious duo—Juliette Ferrars and Aaron Warner Anderson—led a worldwide rebellion and established the New Republic of the West. But after a decade of unsettling quiet, The Reestablishment is ready to make a devastating move, and they have the perfect person for the job.Rosabelle Wolff had a plan. She always has a plan. On Ark Island, where constant surveillance is packaged as security, even emotions must be experienced with caution. A trained assassin, her every movement is monitored by synthetic intelligence—and when she’s given an order to kill, she never hesitates.Brimming with pulse-pounding action and torturous romance, Watch Me is an explosive journey through a dystopian landscape where enemies-to-lovers has never felt more impossible. Step into a beloved and breathtaking world that demands an answer to a desperate question—Who are we when no one is watching?
R 315.00
Wild Side
Discover the number 1 Sunday Times bestseller and your newest small town romance obsession! FROM THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR*, ELSIE SILVER! SET IN THE SAME BELOVED UNIVERSE AS SMASH-HIT SERIES CHESTNUT SPRINGS: SMALL-TOWN, BIG CHARACTERS, FOUR ADDICTIVE LOVE STORIES . . . MEET THE SINGLE DADS OF ROSE HILL. 'Elsie Silver's writing is a true revelation!' ALI HAZELWOOD' This book contains a hero to die for' TESSA BAILEY----I'd always dreamed of my wedding day. But not like this. Not looking into the eyes of the man who betrayed me. But when my nephew's guardianship is contested, I decide I'll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy. Rhys Dupris. A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises-ones he won't talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all. Which would be fine, except when he's not talking, he's staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent. The tension between us has always been palpable. But living under the same roof is a dangerous temptation. I swore I would never forgive him. But that was before I knew the man behind the mask. The one who's fierce and protective. The one who's gentle and patient. The one who shows up for us when we need him most. He's not at all who I thought he was. And that makes hating my husband so much harder... and loving him just a little too easy. Readers can't get enough of the Rose Hill series . . . 'Billionaire romance but make it rustic . . . Elsie Silver just hits the mark every time'? ? ? ? ?'Hands-down my favorite book Elsie has written. HIGHLY recommend'? ? ? ? ?'Did I devour this in a single day? You bet I did!'? ? ? ? ?'Elsie Silver is the queen of small-town romances'? ? ? ? ?'The banter. The tension. The relationship between Ford & Rosie. The character development. Wow'? ? ? ? ?'I was hooked from the first chapter'? ? ? ? ?*Wild Side was an instant no.1 Sunday Times bestseller in the second week of March 2025.
R 270.00
The Maid's Secret
When a daring art heist takes place at the Regency Grand, Molly’s life is threatened. The question is who’s out to get her, and why? Long-buried secrets will be revealed in this intriguing and heartwarming novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest.Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away.But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things for appraisal, and much to everyone's surprise, one item turns out to be a rare and priceless treasure. Instantly, Molly is both a multi-millionaire and a media sensation—the world’s rags-to-riches darling—until the priceless piece vanishes from the hotel in the boldest, brashest antiquities heist in recent memory.The key to the mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about Gran’s true-to-life fairytale, a young girl to the manor born, the only child of a wealthy magnate. But when Gran falls head over heels in love with a young man her parents deem below her station, her life is thrown into turmoil. As fate would have it, the greatest love of Gran’s life is someone Molly knows quite well…Together with her friends, Molly combs the past and the present to catch the thief before looming threats against her become real.A spirited heist caper and an epic love story, The Maid’s Secret is a spellbinding whodunnit that will capture and warm your heart.
R 395.00
The Unworthy
A fearsomely dark, incantatory new dystopia set in a post-apocalyptic convent from the author of viral sensation Tender is the Flesh In the House of the Sacred Sisterhood, the unworthy live in fear of the Superior Sister's whip. Seething with resentment, they plot against each other and await who will ascend to the level of the Enlightened - and who will suffer the next exemplary punishment.Risking her life, one of the unworthy keeps a diary in secret. Slowly, memories surface from a time before the world collapsed, before the Sacred Sisterhood became the only refuge.Then Lucía arrives. She, too, is unworthy - but she is different. And her arrival brings a single spark of hope to a world of darkness.
R 360.00
If You're Reaching for Romantasy
Author of the Month: Ana Huang
Celebrate the release of King of Envy picking up The Kings of Sin series, The Twisted series and more: