A woman’s spree of “free” book acquisitions on her Kindle took an unexpected turn when her boyfriend revealed mounting charges she had no idea about.
In a viral tiktok videothe woman shared a clip of her boyfriend showing her the various automated messages he has received from Kindle alerting him of new purchases. Since the clip was posted, it has received more than 1.5 million views.
“My boyfriend showing me that all of the books on my kindle were, in fact, not free,” the woman captioned the video. “He just took all of those charges in silence.”
The creator clarified the misunderstanding in the comments, explaining that her boyfriend gifted her the Kindle, along with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, but she was “fairly new to the whole concept.”
The woman had assumed all books were free with an Unlimited subscription, even if there was a listed price. Instead, Kindle was charging her boyfriend every time she purchased a new title.
The situation prompted a lively discussion among TikTok users.
One commenter questioned the premise, asking, “Why would they be free?! It either says ‘read free with kindle unlimited’ and if you don’t have it prompts you to sign up. Or, literally tells you the cost of the book.” To this, the creator responded that she doesn’t receive any follow-up questions after she clicks to acquire a book.
“It just says ‘processing’ and boom—in my library,” she wrote.
Other users shared relatable anecdotes of their partners’ silent patience or their own past financial mishaps.
“I mean … My man always says he’d rather I read or craft than go out or club every day,” one person wrote.
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Another user described a similar financial entanglement with their fiance: “My fiance and I both have our own (American Express) cards that end in the same last four (digits), I have both cards on my Apple Pay, so it’s really a guessing game which card I’m charging—but he never says a word when I charge the wrong one.”
A particularly striking tale came from a user who recounted a childhood billing surprise: “I did this to my mom at 13. We both found out once I had racked up $800+ in book charges.”
But one commenter had the solution to end the Kindle confusion once and for all—one that requires no money at all. “Libraries exist,” the viewer wrote. “This hurts me so much.”
Newsweek reached out to @cyn.shine for comment via TikTok.
