TikTok and romance made me overcome my dyslexia and start reading.

Love is the key that unlocks the world of reading for Amelia Lord after she’s left it all her life.

After moving from her home in Newport to Gloucester, Love was on her TikTok feed on bookTok – the app’s literary sub-community – when she was looking for a new hobby.

The 28-year-old social media and events coordinator never read anything before she turned 21.

Although “on demand”, she thinks she can’t get a dyslexia diagnosis.

“I kept watching BookToks on TikTok,” she said. “I was seeing a lot about him and it piqued my interest.”

She made her first New Year’s resolution to read just one book. Colin Hoovers ends with usIt was released as a movie starring Blake Lively in 2024.

“I didn’t want to set the bar too high,” she laughs.

“I’m a dyslexic woman and I always thought, ‘Can I do it?’ Then I read it and was instantly hooked.”

“Two days later I went into town and started buying a lot of romance books.”

Amelia, who now lives in Cardiff with her partner and young daughter, has used books to build a very local community.

She said: “When I came back (to Wales) I didn’t have many friends around me.

“And then I became the mother I was before and the hobbies, I didn’t have the interest or the time for now. So before I had my little boy, I still felt like books were the only thing.”

She set up Booked Up Book Club after her boss offered her a place at the Play Cafe where she works in Whitchurch.