Booktok terminology glossary – an always up to date post

Welcome! I intend to keep updating this post as I learn new terms on my travels, so hopefully we’ll end with a nice big list in the end.

(Last updated 14.04.24)

Booktok Acronyms defined:

ARCs – Advance readers copy

ALC – Advanced listener copy

CR – Current Read

CW – Content warnings

DNF – Did not finish/ do not finish

DRC – Digital Readers Copy

ETL – Enemies to lovers

FMC – Female main character

FTL – Friends to lovers

HB – Hard back

HEA – Happy ever after/ happily ever after

KU – Kindle Unlimited

LI – Love interest

MC – Main character

MC – Motorcycle romance

MG – Middle Grade (genre, refers to young teen novels/ middle grade portion of schooling age in the US)

MMC – Male main character

NA – New adult (a new genre, encompassing books that aren’t quite YA but also aren’t stereotypical ‘adult’ novels- loads of fantasy books fit into this category)

OG – Original

OP – Original poster

OTP – One true partnership

PB – Paper back

PNR – Paranormal romance

POV – Point of View (the viewpoint of the narration)

RH – Reverse harem (one girl, multiple guys)

RTC – Review to come

SF – Science fiction

TBB – To be bought

TBR – To be read

TW – Trigger warnings

UF – Urban fantasy

WIP – Work in progress

YA – Young adult (very broad genre, typically means older teens to mid twenties)

YN – Your name (books where you can insert yourself into the narrative)

BookTok terms (some of these are just Tiktok/ internet terms):

Beta readers – readers who are sent copies of the books ahead of professional editing, usually this is a point where authors hope the readers will catch any plot holes etc that they did not spot

Cannon – An element that’s part of the original narrative, not created by the fandom theories, or fan fics. But you will also come across people referring to fan theories that they now consider ‘cannon’ – basically if people agree it’s a good enough theory, they will say it’s now ‘cannon’

Character ARC – the characters personal journey (this differs from the plot points they experience, it’s about how they develop as a person)

‘Golden retriever’ energy – a character who is loveable, generally a bit goofy and all round, just a sweetheart.

Indie author – an independently or self published author

Love Triangle – two characters one are both in love with/ involved with another character

Sapphic romances – love stories between female same sex characters

Second Chance romance – love interest who gets a second chance after cheating/ some kind of betrayal

Ship/ shipping characters – essentially, it’s characters that you predict will be together/ wish were together: “I SHIP those two’

Slow burn romances – romances that take a long, long time to progress

Smut – romance books with lots of sex scenes (smutty books)

Simp – someone who goes overboard doing things for someone else, usually someone they like, whose not really that interested (although people do use it like ‘I’m such a simp for X thing’)

Spicy Scenes – sex scenes/ scenes of sexual nature, this is also often accompanied by a spicy rating to indicate how graphic/ explicit the scene is

Trad published/ traditionally published: A authors who have gone the traditional route and published through an official publishing house

Trope – A common, or overused theme or devise is the proper definition but it’s definitely evolved to become incredibly specific, rather than simply themes (I.E the ‘who hurt you trope’)

‘Why choose’ romance – kind of similar to reverse harem, one MC, multiple love interests (more of a gender neutral term)

Author acronyms

SJM – Sarah J Maas

Brandy Sandy – Brandon Sanderson

JLA – Jennifer L Armentrout

COHO – Colleen Hoover

Series Acronyms

SOC – Six of Crows

FBAA – From blood and ash

Acronyms for Sarah J Maas’s books:

A court of thorns and roses series:

ACOTAR – A Court of Thorns and Roses

ACOMAF – A Court of Mist and Fury

ACOWAR – A Court of Wings and Ruin

ACOFAS – A Court of Frost and Starlight

ACOSF – A Court of Silver Flames

Throne of Glass series:

TOG – Throne of Glass

COM – Crown of Midnight

QOS – Queen of Shadows

HOF – Heir of Fire

EOS – Empire of Storms

TOD – Tower of Dawn

KOA – Kingdom of Ash

Crescent City series:

HOBAE/ CC1 – House of Earth and Blood

HOSAB/ CC2 – House of Sky and Breath

BookTok trope meanings:

Age gap – huge age differences between love interests

Chosen one trope – MC is the one who is prophesied to save the day/ only one powerful enough to save the day, and so on and so on.

Enemies to Lovers – Enemies who become each other’s love interest over time.

Fake dating trope – fake relationship between MC’s, which becomes less fake over time (think Love Hypothesis).

Forbidden romance trope – exactly what it sounds like, although this ranges from stuff like King with common servant type forbidden to, like, relatives…

Forced Marriage trope – like it sounds, characters are forced to get married.

Forced Proximity trope – love interests’ are forced to be close proximity for X reason, spicy tension and growing mutual respect ensues.

Friends to lovers – Friends who become love interests.

Grump and Sunshine character trope – grumpy character and sunshine happiness character who have interact with one another, amusement ensues. Even better if it’s a romance.

Miscommunication trope – plot relies on miscommunication/ character’s misunderstanding each other

‘Not like other girls’ trope – she’s ‘quirky’, she’s unique, she’s special in some indefinable, incomprehensible way. Think every female MC from the 2010’s.

One Bed trope – two MC’s who are each other’s love interest have to share a room and oh no… there’s only one bed! Then spicy shenanigans ensue.

Touch them and you die trope – also known as ‘touch her and you die’ but I thought it better to include the gender neutral version. Again, as it sounds, someone threatens MC, potential/ future/ current love interest loses their shit being all protective, revealing how much they care.

Who hurt you trope – Like it sounds, one MC is hurt, another MC (usually the love interest) spots it and asks the MC how it happened, usually with cold rage that lets us and the MC finally know how much they care. *que girly swoons on my part*

Spicy book acronyms – THIS IS NOT FOR UNDER 18’s – VERY NSFW

Genders in romance scenes/ novels; FF (female, female) MM (male, male) and so on.

Abbreviations like FMM indicates the genders in a spicy scene with… multiple particpants (so FMM = female, male, male) This can go on and on to extremes like: MFMM (male, female, male male) the order indicates whether ‘swords cross’ between the M’s, as, if there’s an F between, there’s no crossed swords.

DYWMTCOAEYPTYCOMF – Do you want to come over and eat pussy till you cum on my face

GOYKATDLAGG – Get on your knees and take that dick like a good girl

GOHASMALAGB – Get over here and spank my ass like a good boy

Stfuattdlagg- Shut the fuck and take the dick like a good girl

DP/ DVP – Two ‘swords’, one hole (same time)

MLM – Men loving men

TVP – Three ‘swords’, one hole (same time)

WLW – Women love women

WTW – Women tease women

I plan to keep adding to this so suggestions are welcome!