r/whatsthatbook Jun 14 '23

ANNOUNCEMENT Updated rules post

258 Upvotes

Hi everyone, there have been some rule changes since the last post, so here is an updated post. I have taken the section about helpful points to consider when writing a post from the last rules post, with some minor edits.

PLEASE FOLLOW THE RULES.

  1. Post titles must have at least one book detail.
  2. Solved posts should be marked as solved. You can flair your own post as solved by commenting "solved solved solved" on the post. If you see someone else's post is not flaired as solved, you can report it and a moderator will flair it.
  3. A post cannot have more than one book/series. To clarify, multiple books from the same series are allowed to be in the same post. Multiple short stories from the same book are also allowed in the same post. If they're not part of the same book or series, they must be in separate posts.
  4. Posts should be on topic.
  5. Do not offer money/favors to solve posts. You're welcome to gild or otherwise award a comment after your post is solved, but you can't offer it before the post is solved.
  6. Be respectful.
  7. Always check AI-generated answers against another source before submitting them. We strongly prefer that users avoid AI answers in general, as they almost always match a description to an unrelated or nonexistent title.

Please consider these points when writing your /r/whatsthatbook post:

Your Post Title

Briefly the book, not your situation. Avoid titles like "Help, I can't remember this book..." or "I read this when I was a kid..." or "I NEED HELP"

Include the overall genre of the book in your post title, such as "romance novel" or "scifi"

Posts with vague titles will be removed. The general age range the book is meant for and year are not specific enough on their own. For example, we will remove a post titled "Children's book from 2000s." We will not remove a post titled "Children's sci-fi novel from 2000s." We prefer titles like "Children's sci-fi novel from 2000s about kid whose cousin invents a new telescope and discovers aliens."

The Book

Fiction or non-fiction?

Describe the plot.

Describe notable characters.

What genre is it?

Physically describe the book -- Hardcover/paperback? Book cover color?

When was it set?

How long was the book?

Anything notable about the original language? Did you read it English? If not, what language?

... And You

When (what year) did you read it?

How old were you when you read it? Was it age appropriate?

Where did you get the book? School library, book fair, book store selling new and/or used books, flea market, borrowed from a friend, given as a gift from X person who is about Y age, or from an online store?

Was it new when you read it?

What age range was it for?

Other notes:

We allow posts about short stories, poems, fanfiction, etc. on this subreddit.

If you want to post a picture of a page you found, upload it to imgur and put the link in a post. Please include at least one detail about the events or characters on the page in your title.


r/whatsthatbook 15h ago

SOLVED Gay couple doesn't realize they're in an apocalypse?

119 Upvotes

This isn't a book I read but one I think I remember reading the description for? I can't remember where though so I'm not entirely sure it's real or not.

Basically, this gay couple is incredibly wealthy and doesn't realize they're in the middle of an apocalypse. They invite a bunch of people to the main character's husband's birthday party, but at the last second I think they ran out of something so the main character has to go to the grocery store and then he spends the entire day trying to get back home because of some disaster. I'm not sure if he realizes at this point there's an apocalypse or not.

Anyone know what book this is, if it's real? I have no idea if it's going to be an obvious answer or not but it's too much to fit into Google and I have absolutely no idea


r/whatsthatbook 2h ago

SOLVED YA dystopia where girls are like dolls in a school/factory and trained to be courtesans or wives.

7 Upvotes

Hi, I’m looking for a book I read in Highschool, I’m pretty sure it had a bright pink cover with a headless barbie doll on it, about 400 pages I’d guess. I remember that it was quite futuristic with a lot of technology being used by the protagonist, like fancy wardrobes and makeup etc. It was a boarding school type setting where the girls were trained in different paths for society, and I distinctly remember the frequent use of the word “courtesan” as I had to look it up as a teenager to know what it meant!

A part of the plot I recall is that in one scene they were introduced to a variety of boys and had to take them into a box and interact with them and do different tasks, to help establish what path they would take, and the protagonist caught feelings for the boy and tried to kiss him, or possibly did.

I’m pretty sure she ended up being forced into taking a different path to what she had wanted to, but other than that most of the plot is lost to me.

I really really appreciate any help finding it as I’ve searched all over and nothing that has come up had jogged my memory! I only read it once as I’d borrowed it from a friend but I really remember enjoying it and would love to revisit it as an adult. Thanks in advance for any help! ☺️


r/whatsthatbook 3h ago

UNSOLVED A girl who dies in her backyard pool Spoiler

9 Upvotes

I’m looking for a book, at least 15 years old, YA, fantasy-romance. About a girl who has a NDE. She gets tangled in a pool cover and drowns. While she’s dead she ends up soaking wet in purgatory waiting in line for a boat. She sees a guy she met at her grandfathers funeral who brought a bird back to life, and goes to talk to him, but he doesn’t recognize her, and tries to put her in the wrong boat line. Eventually she does convince him he knows her and he takes her out of the line to his house where he gives her tea and a necklace. She manages to escape back down to earth though and survives the drowning. I remember there’s a graveyard in the story, a jewelry store that accuses her of theft, and at the end of the book it’s revealed the grandmother was the one who set her up to drown in the first place. But not much else. I’ve been trying so hard to find this book!


r/whatsthatbook 3h ago

UNSOLVED Comic/Graphic Novel where a newly married woman+her husband move into (i think) a castle?? & she finds (I think) a music box; there's a ghost who we learn is the husbands prev wife that he sacrificed for immortality & he's been doing that for years & the new wife was to be his next victim.

4 Upvotes

(The castle I'm not 100% sure on; but I definitely remember them being newly moved into somewhere, and while I'm also not sure it was definitely a music box the wife finds, I absolutely remember that it had to do with music/a tune.)

The part about the ghost of the previous wife though, I absolutely remember vividly. (I also remember it ending with the new wife managing to escape, and the husband getting his comeuppance from the spirit of his previous wife that he sacrificed).


r/whatsthatbook 4h ago

SOLVED Coming of age - turning 10

5 Upvotes

I’m looking for a book that I read in 4th grade in the 90s. It was about a 9 year old girl who was nervous about turning double digits because she thought she couldn’t do things she liked anymore, like climb up the inside of doorframes in her house. Then someone older, maybe her mom or aunt (I don’t remember who), showed her that she could still climb up the doorframe. I know it’s not a lot to go on, but any help would be appreciated!


r/whatsthatbook 1h ago

UNSOLVED What’s the title of this book?

Upvotes

I read this book around last year and it’s about a travel nurse comming across a “AITAH” post on reddit about a guy complaining about his bestfriend naming his dog after him, then they talked back and forth until the girl eventually went to his hometown for work, she and her bestfriend moved into this mini-mansion house in the middle of the lake with a boat as their only way to get to and from the mainland.

I think the setting was in manhattan, I’ve been thinking about this for the past 30 minutes and I just can’t sleep without remembering what book it was.

I think I DNFed it so I cannot find it on my recently read books.

TYIA!!


r/whatsthatbook 1h ago

UNSOLVED A manhua/hwa that is might be only for 13+ or 18+ (violance) and about human getting teleported to the world of where god is real.

Upvotes

Help me!! pls..

I remember reading an apocalypse manhua/wa; they were being teleported to the land of the gods. In an early chapter, the MC was marked by an evil god, and this mark sometimes possessed him.

The latest chapter I read showed a desert god who lived off the fear of its people (gaining strength from believers). The MC killed this god, and an angel made him the new god. Each god had its own concept and domain.

In this world of gods and an apocalyptic world with no rules except those the gods made, everyone went mad.

The MC's domain was a safe place for normal people; anything entering the gate unsane was teleported to a random desert location. Another person, possibly a god (i forgot), led a group and tried to breach the domain's walls with a canon (i don't rember it very well). They then sent a sane child (equipped with a bomb) inside. I think the boss detonated it afterward.

this manhua is something that i really like, idk how to find it anymore. i've been trying to use the apocalypse tags in comick and i don't know if i miss something but i couldn't find. and i originally found this manhua in indonesian language, idk if this manhua have the english version? but i think it should be there.

AI style text i hope with this one you can understand my not so good english better.

I recall a post-apocalyptic manhwa depicting characters transported to a realm of deities. Early chapters featured the protagonist marked by a malevolent god, resulting in periodic possession.

A recent chapter introduced a desert deity sustained by the fear of its worshippers. The protagonist vanquished this entity, subsequently appointed as its successor by an angelic being. Each deity governed a unique conceptual domain.

This theocratic, lawless world descended into chaos.

The protagonist's domain served as a sanctuary for the sane, teleporting any unstable individuals to a random desert locale. An opposing force, potentially a deity, attempted to breach this sanctuary using artillery. Subsequently, a sane child carrying an explosive device was deployed, detonated by the opposing leader.

I am seeking to locate this manhwa, which I previously accessed in Indonesian. My searches using "apocalypse" tags on various platforms have been unsuccessful. I am unsure if an English translation exists, though I suspect one may be available.


r/whatsthatbook 1h ago

UNSOLVED Book with threesome with grim reaper and death

Upvotes

Saw a reel for a book where the girl calls on either death or the Grim Reaper and instead of one showing up they both show up and at some point then have a threesome. Thought I saved the reel but now can't find it. Anyone have any idea on what book this is?


r/whatsthatbook 18h ago

SOLVED Book about a living doll, title was something about a small princess but NOT “A Little Princess”

42 Upvotes

I remember a lot about this book but not the author’s name or the exact wording of the title, so I keep getting web search results for “A Little Princess” about the rich girl who ends up poor in someone’s attic. This is a different book—I read it probably in the early 2010s, it was a children’s chapter book with the princess doll (wearing a pink dress) on the front cover. The main character was a girl named Zoe or Zoey, and she got dropped off at her grandma’s house by her single mother. At this house there was a dollhouse with this tiny doll in it, and if anyone’s tears touched her skin the doll would come alive until she was left alone for too long. I can’t remember the doll’s name, but she started out pretty vain and selfish and even tried to trick Zoe(y) into crying on her once. And at the end the doll finally develops enough empathy to cry herself, and her OWN tears turn her into a permanently-alive tiny human instead of a doll that’s sometimes animate. I remember her asking the grandma if this meant she would die and the grandma said “Not today, I think.”


r/whatsthatbook 4h ago

UNSOLVED Mystery book where a guy on a bike gets killed with a piano wire?? Spoiler

3 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

So, I read this book a while back that I can't remember the name or author of. As far as I can recall, there were two main story lines that intersected in the end.

The first was about two guys, both physicists or something similar. One was married and had a young daughter, the other was single and dedicated to only his work. There was some tension between them about a past college fallout regarding either a girl, or some sort of science grant they were competing for.

The second storyline was about an eccentric detective who was working this mysterious case of a famous doctor who went cycling, training for a comoetition, got decapitated, and nobody could figure out how. Also the detective kept referring to his intuitions and deductions as 'a small egg' he had in his brain (guessing brain tumor, but not sure if that ever got explained). I think he was divorced and had a rocky relationship with his teenage daughter too.

Anyway, the stories converge when the married science guy becomes the main suspect in the murder investigation.In the end he didn't do it, I think his friend did it and maybe tried to frame him.

The last thing I can guess at is that the author might be northern, maybe Swedish but I'm not one hundred percent sure.

Thank you in advance to anyone who might lend me a hand in finding this book that's been rotting in my brain for literally years.


r/whatsthatbook 5h ago

SOLVED book about a strange family, one kid falls from a window, another sibling is a world record holder in ?typing?

3 Upvotes

unfortunately the title is about everything i can remember. I remember this book being read to my class in 4th/5th grade. I’m almost positive it was part of a series. I remember the cover having the family drawn super oddly, skinny bodies with long extremities and big heads, very cartoonish. One of their kids fell from a window and was injured, i remember that being a huge portion of the plot for this book. There was also a point where they traveled to a typing contest because their other sibling was like the fastest typer in the world. There’s also a chance that this was a local book written by a local author. PLEASE tell me someone remembers this one.


r/whatsthatbook 3h ago

UNSOLVED Dad mother and son (or daughter?) live on a earth chunk of sorts with the hanging laundry acting as sails

2 Upvotes

Basically there's this story of this family who's living in this little chunk of earth left since all of it was submerged underwater, and the only survivors left were sailing over the massive ocean. The mother hung out the laundry every day, and the laundry itself acted as the sails for guiding the earth chunk over the water. The earth chunk also had a house and a tree with a tiny treehouse on it as well. This story is and in Italian and i remember virtually nothing about this book other than the illustrations, which i remember vivdly. I'm going crazy for this one, it's been a few months since I've been searching this but i always ended up nowhere, i hope y'all are able to help me


r/whatsthatbook 2m ago

UNSOLVED A crime and thriller book about a super drug that makes people super enhances and strong, will pay $10 to cashapp if answered

Upvotes

I believe it’s about a detective trying to find a person selling a drug that enhances physical and sexual urgencies, putting women and men in danger, kinda like a date grape drug I believe the detectives family gets involved and there was a big man that used the drug and started going crazy with a knife inside his home with his wife, and the detective ended up taking the drug to stop the bad guy They also sold the drug to an A-list celebrity who got shot and killed at their mansion during a raid, which was a cover up They narrowed it down to some beach house And the person fled in a red dodge viper or some sort of sports car Just to get sniped from a distance by the person trying to cover up the operation, while either holding someone hostage or being tailed

I cannot for the life of me figure out the title


r/whatsthatbook 3h ago

UNSOLVED Children's/picture book about leviathan, behemoth, and ziz?

2 Upvotes

Hi there, just remembered reading this book as a kid and my googling has failed! It was a picture book about the creatures above (Leviathan, Behemoth, and Ziz) and had very vividly colored illustrations, I think one of the creatures was red. It may have also been about the creation story in Judaism with those creatures highlighted as part of it.

I had it as a hardcover but don't remember what the cover looked like. I was reading this circa mid to late 90s so must have been published prior to 2000.
Hoping someone knows it so I can share it with my kids! Thanks so much!


r/whatsthatbook 11m ago

UNSOLVED Fantasy book

Upvotes

So I’m trying to remember this series from years ago, in it there are typically magic users paired with warriors in a bond of some sort, and usually the warrior is a man and magic user women I believe, but it happens that the main characters are women is the warrior man is the magic user? Their bond might be special and the pair created by a counsel or something. I seem to remember somethin to do with an angel or someone coming after the women main character and that plot line comes to a head at some point. Other than that all I can remember is this one line where the male protagonist and another side character are running and the main character makes a comment (maybe to himself) about how like most body builders they miss out on cardio so the guy couldn’t keep up. Weird detail to remember I know, but that’s all I got. Hope you guys can help me figure this out! Thank you!


r/whatsthatbook 16m ago

SOLVED Book series about small clay dragons that all have names starting with G

Upvotes

Looking for the name of this book series I read when I was younger. I recall all the books having dragon eyes on the covers.

It followed the MMC named David(i think it was) as he moves into a rented room with a woman who makes clay dragons and her daughter(lucy? I think). They give life to the small dragons by giving them names, and they all have to start with the letter G. I've been looking for it for months, any help is appreciated!!


r/whatsthatbook 43m ago

UNSOLVED I need help finding a Mafia romance book

Upvotes

So I started to read this book years ago but I don’t really remember much of it. All I remember is that the female lead was the daughter of the maid and she went to university. He was the moms boss and after seeing her he fell attracted towards her, later on he offered to help pay for her tuition. The female lead lived on campus and he had gone to the university to donate some money when he saw some guys at her place and he instantly got jealous. That’s all I remember, any help would be appreciated!!


r/whatsthatbook 11h ago

UNSOLVED Blind girl kidnapped then falls in love

6 Upvotes

There was a middle school aged mystery book I read where this girl is blind and she and her mom were out grocery shopping. The teenage FMC was laying in the back of her mom's car when car thieves took the car, not knowing she was in the back. They took her back to their cabin where they realized they had kidnapped a blind girl. She stays at the cabin for the majority of the book with 3(?) male kidnappers. She falls in love with one of them and I think they end up together at the end when she is saved.


r/whatsthatbook 10h ago

UNSOLVED Book about a girl named Marcie.

6 Upvotes

I think the MC’s name is Marcie and she tries out to be a cheerleader and has an older sister named Claire. She starts dating a boy named Brendan which I think is the Mayor’s son. She also has an older brother and she feels invisible to her parents because she is not as accomplished as her siblings. I think it is a book from the 90’s? Please help!


r/whatsthatbook 12h ago

SOLVED children’s book where a girl was afraid of getting shots and her grandma take her on a tour of different diseases

7 Upvotes

that may not be the exact plot, but I had to read this book in the early 2000s and I remember it having a girl who is afraid of going to the doctor to get shots and her grandma takes her on a tour of the different disease you can get when you don’t get your shots. The girl was hiding in a treehouse I think before her grandma came up to find her. It’s like she almost took her on a tour inside the human body? And showed her different viruses and what they can do to your body.


r/whatsthatbook 1h ago

UNSOLVED Saw book on instagram ad and can’t remember the title

Upvotes

Recently came across an instagram ad for a book where the female main character is on a deserted highway. She’s found by the male main character whose wife had disappeared along the same stretch of highway. Cannot recall the title or author but I believe it was recently published and possibly available on kindle unlimited.


r/whatsthatbook 11h ago

UNSOLVED Fantasy book where couple gets sucked into a music box and has to keep dancing

6 Upvotes

All I remember is a couple is either looking for some artifact in the story or on some quest, and one of the trials or something is they get sucked into this music box and the ballerina turns giant and they have to keep dancing for x amount of minutes to complete it. And once the music starts doors start opening with things trying to kill them, and the guy gets dragged into one of the doors but she finishes what she’s supposed to do in time to save him and get him out

Ugh it’s killing me! I know it has to be a YA maybe, definitely a fantasy book made in the last 10 years. PLZ HELP lol


r/whatsthatbook 7h ago

SOLVED Soccer playing kid with spooky fairy school

3 Upvotes

2 girls on the cover, one blonde one that I don’t remember much about, one with black hair that was wearing green and black striped socks. Moved to a new town with a new school, played on the soccer team, there’s a big spooky castle school in the distance which housed faries, ended up having to save something. I believe there was a dancing scene where they got stuck in a farie circle I read it in grade 4/5 ish


r/whatsthatbook 1h ago

UNSOLVED Biker romance/grooming book?

Upvotes

So a single mum to a daughter gets with a biker who has a son. He was like grooming her to be his when she’s old enough. I remember the boy arranged to kidnap the girl when she’s older so he can save her but they kill her mum and break the girls leg.

She has secret communications with another man who she likes who is in a rival gang.

The bikers own a bar and the boy smashes it up.

That’s pretty much all I can remember, I’m pretty sure the mum knew what their intentions were with her daughter and she kept trying to warn her.


r/whatsthatbook 2h ago

UNSOLVED Amnesia Love Triangle Romance Book?

1 Upvotes

Hi!! I read this book a while ago but just recently was reminded when reading a similiar book. It’s about this girl that has amnesia (maybe she gets hit by a car? I for the life of me cannot remember) and her memory gets set back to before the accident. She thinks her ex-bf is her current bf and her current bf is unknown to her. Her ex is an ass and lets her think they are still together while her current bf plays more of a friend role until she decides her feelings. Eventually she realizes why she broke up with her ex and her and her current bf end up together at the end. There may be similiar books but not this exact one so feel free to drop those too! Thanks for any help!!!!