tbrly.
Your new favorite book rec engine.
what you feel >>> what you "should" read
Track your books and get recs that match your mood, taste, and vibe.
How we're starting
1.
Join the community
We’re starting in Discord — sharing recs, tracking vibes, and building tbrly with readers, not just for them.
👥 Emotional reading, but social.
2.
Help us shape what comes next
From mood maps to vibe-based book discovery, everything we build starts with your voice. 🛠️ Polls, feedback, and co-creation welcome.
3.
Be the first to try it when it drops
As a founding reader, you’ll get early access to tbrly’s tools — custom recs, reader profiles, and more. 🚀 It’s coming soon, and it’s built around you.
Imagine what's coming
We’re building more than just a recommendation tool
🎯 Get smart + personalized book recs based on what you like and how you feel.
Not a generic/corporate rec algorithm
Emily, here are the books we think you'll love
🌱 Track your TBR and see your book history in full color
Bring over your existing reading history from Goodreads in just a few clicks.
Emily, these are the pages you have read by genre
🤔 Is a book worth reading? Does it fit your mood? We got you.
Check the book's Reccometer and what others have felt reading it (including video reviews)
🌱 Find your next read based on your current mood
Choose the feeling you’re craving — we’ll find stories that deliver it.
Emily, what do you want to feel with your next book?
👀 Keep an eye on what's trending (just out of curiosity)
See what's hot this week in the US
Built by readers. Grown with you
Be one of our Founding Readers Circle. Join our Discord and help us shape tbrly.
Prefer updates? Join the waitlist
Get first dibs on the future of reading.
tbrly is where readers and stories find each other. Join early, shape what comes next.
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara
tbrly's Recometer
81%
of readers recommend it
😍 A strong favorite
In one line
This book will break you open.
Perfect For You If...
You don’t mind crying in public
You crave stories of resilience in the face of impossible pain
You want queer friendship that feels like scripture
You seek a novel that stays with you—like a scar
Top Themes
Themes: Found Family, Queer Friendship, Trauma & Recovery, Chronic Pain, Enduring Love
What Readers Felt
Books leave fingerprints. These are the words readers couldn’t stop using.
Book Buzz Over Time
You're not the only one—here’s when others got obsessed too.
Our take
Raw, tender, and devastating. A Little Life will make you feel like you're holding someone else's pain in your own chest. It’s about love that defies logic, trauma that rewrites identity, and the unbearable beauty of staying alive despite it all. You will ache. You will hope. And you may never fully recover.
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📬 Join the waitlist to get first dibs on the full experience — built by and for readers. ➡️
Quick Reactions
Readers React
💔😢📖
"I finished A Little Life by: Hanya Yanagihara and was completely crushed."
— @niasnovella
📚💫⚠️
"Hanya Yanagihara’s writing is exceptionally beautiful, I am definitely going to seek out her other books. A Little Life was both infuriating and devastating, proceed with caution."
— @asham0r
🖤🧩🥲
"Heart-wrenching. Haunting. Unforgettable. This is a book that breaks you, then pieces you back together in ways you never expected."
— @canibringmybook
🌟📘😭
"A contemporary must-read. Beautifully written. Only 4/5 stars because it was so, so tragic."
— @valentinavalnz
tbrly. recommends
You felt this one. So based on your emotional taste, you might love…
📖 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong — For another gutting portrait of queer identity, grief, and language as salvation
📖 The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara — For a different kind of moral unraveling, from the same razor-sharp mind
📖 Real Life by Brandon Taylor — For emotionally intelligent fiction about queer loneliness and the weight of unspoken pain
Top Quotes
“And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.”
“It was precisely these scenes he missed the most from his own life with Willem, the forgettable, in-between moments in which nothing seemed to be happening but whose absence was singularly unfillable.”
“He experienced the singular pleasure of watching people he loved fall in love with other people he loved.”
“...things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.”
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📬 Join the waitlist to get first dibs on the full experience — built by and for readers. ➡️
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1)
Martha Wells
tbrly's Recometer
79%
of readers recommend it
👍 Not obsessed, but it delivered
In one line
Anxiety, sarcasm, and unexpected heart in a world that never asked for it.
Perfect For You If...
You love socially awkward protagonists with dry wit
You’re craving short, sharp sci-fi with heart
You’ve ever wished your job didn’t involve talking to people
You’re into reluctant hero arcs and emotional repression
Top Themes
Themes: AI & Autonomy, Queer Coding, Found Family, Capitalism & Control, Anxiety & Social Isolation
What Readers Felt
Books leave fingerprints. These are the words readers couldn’t stop using.
Emily, here are the books we think you'll love
Emily, here are the books we think you'll love
Book Buzz Over Time
You're not the only one—here’s when others got obsessed too.
Our take
Wry, tense, and sneakily moving. All Systems Red sneaks past your defenses with sharp humor and subtle grief, wrapping a story of identity and autonomy in a sci-fi exosuit. You’ll laugh out loud—and then wonder why it made you a little sad.
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📬 Join the waitlist to get first dibs on the full experience — built by and for readers. ➡️
Quick Reactions
Readers React
🤖📚💖
"My All Systems Red hold on Libby became available today, and YOU GUYS the hype is real. I love Murderbot so MUUUUCH!!"
— @mr-sosotris
🪐🧠✨
"The world building tends to be super subtle in the series. But by the time you get to the end of the novellas, you have a pretty fully realized and developed world. It’s pretty cool how Wells built all that up."
—@Cyclone1293
😂😭🌟
"Murderbot is one of my favorite series of all time. Hilarious, emotional, just all around fantastic."
— @SoloFeeders
🤖📈❤️
"The plot is rather weak in the first one but, as Daniel said, that was not the point of this book. It gets better in the later novellas, and the novel has a compelling plot in my opinion. Though the Murderbot itself is awesome. God but I love this series."
— @arienrhod1
tbrly. recommends
You felt this one. So based on your emotional taste, you might love…
📘 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers — For another tender, character-driven space journey with big heart and quiet rebellion.
📘 Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir — For more sarcasm, death, and feelings hiding under layers of armor and attitude.
📘 This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone — For poetic sci-fi that hits the emotional kill switch when you least expect it.
Top Quotes
“I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”
“You may have noticed that when I do manage to care, I’m a pessimist.”
“Gurathin turned to me. "So you don't have a governor module, but we could punish you by looking at you." I looked at him. "Probably, right up until I remember I have guns built into my arms.”
“Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth.”
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📬 Join the waitlist to get first dibs on the full experience — built by and for readers. ➡️
The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #1)
T.J. Klune
tbrly's Recometer
85%
of readers recommend it
😍 A strong favorite
In one line
Like a warm hug with a touch of magic.
Perfect For You If...
You need a serotonin boost without fluff for fluff’s sake
You love grumpy-sunshine dynamics
You believe in giving weird kids a chance
You want a gentle queer story that doesn’t end in tears
You have a soft spot for misfit homes and magical realism
Top Themes
Themes: Found Family, Queer Identity, Belonging, Prejudice & Acceptance, Whimsy & Magic, Late Blooming, Uplifting LGBTQ+ Representation
What Readers Felt
Books leave fingerprints. These are the words readers couldn’t stop using.
Book Buzz Over Time
You're not the only one—here’s when others got obsessed too.
Our take
Gentle, affirming, and quietly radical. The House in the Cerulean Sea will wrap around you like a favorite blanket, reminding you that kindness is a form of rebellion. You’ll leave this story with a softened heart and a deep belief in chosen family, even as the world tries to make people feel “too much” or “not enough.”
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Quick Reactions
Readers React
🧣🧼⚖️
"Fan of?
-Ted Lasso
-Dry humor
-Fighting the system
-Cozy fantasy
Try
T.J. Klune's
The House in the Cerulean Sea"
— @QuiteBrief
😌🌿📘
"Yes glad this one creeped up on you like it did me! We felt the exact same way about it, pleasant but not groundbreaking, a solid 4/5 read that’s refreshing compared to the usual grim fare that we end up consuming so much of the time"
— @BooksWithBenghisKahn
🌈📖🔥
In other news, I finished “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” by TJ Klune (a self-proclaimed anti-JK Rowling) and they were SO GOOD"
— @abigbatchofcumber
😊📚💛
"This book was so heartwarming. I read it after a really bad day at work and had a smile on my face the entire time."
— @Girthquake42069
tbrly. recommends
You felt this one. So based on your emotional taste, you might love…
📖 Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune → Another tender tale of second chances, death, and queer love—this one set in a tea shop for souls in transition.
📖 Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree → Cozy fantasy with low stakes and high heart, centered around an orc opening a coffee shop.
📖 Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire → For a darker, sharper exploration of misfit children and magical homes.
Top Quotes
“Hate is loud, but I think you'll learn it's because it's only a few people shouting, desperate to be heard. You might not ever be able to change their minds, but so long as your remember you're not alone, you will overcome.”
“Change often starts with the smallest of whispers. Like-minded people building it up to a roar.”
“You’re too precious to put into words. I think … it’s like one of Theodore’s buttons. If you asked him why he cared about them so, he would tell you it’s because they exist at all.”
“We should always make time for the things we like. If we don't, we might forget how to be happy.”
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📬 Join the waitlist to get first dibs on the full experience — built by and for readers. ➡️