Our annual roundup of the top literary trends you’ll see this year—we promise you'll love them all!

2025 Book trends

Trend: the past comes calling

Amazon, $25

We all know that, in the book world, secrets never stay buried, and searching for answers has been fodder for the best stories for centuries. The trend is front and centre this year with a collection of novels that place main characters returning home or venturing far afield and finding lies in what they thought was truth. Dig into the hidden family depths in these new and upcoming books.

More historical fiction picks:

• The Resistance Painter by Kath Jonathan, $25 
• The Day I Left You by Caroline Bishop, $25 
• The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel Tan, $27
• The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry, $26 
• A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall, $39

Trend: vengeance is hers

Amazon, $28

Revenge can be sweet, and in these novels it’s a dish served stone cold—even if there’s some angsty romance on the side. This year starts off strong with female characters—actors and warriors and spies and more—who are laser-focused on their own form of justice. Prepare for the power of women who roar in these new and upcoming releases.

More feminine revenge picks:

• Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff, $28 
• Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland, $44 
• Bad Nature by Ariel Courage, $39 
• The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders, $26 
• Ace, Marvel, Spy by Jenni L. Walsh, $24 

Trend: fiction from fact 

Amazon, $36

Stories that use real events for inspira- tion resonate with readers and writers, adding context and fresh perspectives, or just taking the ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ model as a base. That resonance is especially vibrant when the past is also personal, as in 2024’s The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan and Mark Blagrave’s Felt, which weave in the authors’ own family experiences. Go beyond the history books in these new and upcoming releases. 

More based-on-a-true-story picks:

• The Pretender by Jo Harkin, $36 
• Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen, $37 
• The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue, $35 
• We Would Never by Tova Mirvis, $39
• The Girl from Greenwich Street by Lauren Willig, $36 

Trend: escapism? I'm in!

Amazon, $38

Literary wit and wisdom never goes amiss when the world looks a bit grim. And with the uncertainty we’re all feeling these days, what could be better than a book that puts a smile on your face? This trend covers everything from discovering giant truffles in Italy to an obituary of an off-beat mom to the culmination of all our romantasy dreams (How can we resist you, Onyx Storm?). Find your next five-star read in one of these new and upcoming releases. 

More escapism picks:

• Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton, $38 
• Babylonia by Costanza Casati, $27
• Dirtbag Queen by Andy Corren, $39 
• Bearer of Bad News by Elisabeth Dini, $39
• What is Wrong with You? by Paul Rudnick, $39 
• We’ve Decided to Go in a Different Direction by Tessa Sanchez, $39 
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler, $28 

Trend: Fresh horror 

Amazon, $37

Vampires, beasts, witches and ghosts: Scary, yes, but in the newish iteration of horror novels, it’s palatable—really! Far from the slasher/over-the-top pulp novels of a generation ago, today’s authors are following the more sophisticated, literary path laid down by genre-giant Stephen King to create well-rounded, gothic-inspired novels that leave you satisfyingly unsettled. Get your chills from one of these new and upcoming releases.

More spooky picks:

• Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce, $37 
• The Buffalo Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, $37 
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, $40
• Bat Eater and other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker, $36
• Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen, $27 
• Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel, $25

Trend: found in translation

Amazon, $26

We’re casting a wide net for reading material this year. While translations of Scandinavian crime books and Japanese and Korean novels have been steadily on the rise, 2025 will see more of those, as well as Latin American and South American books. We’re excited to discover what these different cultural perspectives can bring to our TBR list. Look beyond your usual book borders with one of these new and upcoming releases.

More translated picks:

• Punished by Ann-Helén Laestadius, Rachel Willson-Broyles (trans.), $26 
• The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, Sarah Moses (trans.), $26 
• The Katharina Code by Jørn Lier Host, Anne Bruce (trans.), $27 
• We Do Not Part by Han Kang, E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (trans.), $38
• Dengue Boy Speculative by Michel Nieva, Rahul Berry (trans.), $25 
• Death Takes Me by Christina Rivera Garza, Robin Myers and Sarah Booker (trans.), $38 

Trend: conversation starters 

Amazon, $39

If you’re a reader who likes to be educated and have passionate intellectual discussions about the things you’ve learned, 2025 is your year. There’s a host of intriguing books— both fiction and non—from unforget­ table voices that shine a light on topics such as AI, unreliable news, the West’s role in the world, gossip, North American Nazis and reconciling life after the unthinkable happens. Explore the zeitgeist in these new and upcoming books. 

More intellectual picks:

• You Didn’t Hear This from Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney, $39 
• Universality by Natasha Brown, $34
• One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad, $36
• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, $37
• We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, $33
• Codename: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis by Scott Payne with Michelle Shephard, $39

Trend: Agatha, always 

Amazon, $27

The Queen of Crime is forever in fashion—the mystery entries in 2025 prove that. From locked rooms and isolated locations to tricky solutions and quirky sleuths, cozies are taking a page (haha!) from the playbook of the iconic Detection Club (five members star in Marie Benedict’s The Queens of Crime!). Channel the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in one of these new and upcoming releases. 

More mystery picks:

• The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose, $27 
• The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict, $39 
• Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry, $27
• She Doesn’t Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke, $23 
• The Other People by C.B. Everett, $39
• Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd, $27 
• The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea by C.L. Miller, $25 
• Murder in Tinseltown by Max Nightingale, $35
• Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose, $37 

Trend: self-discovery

Amazon, $36

Coming of age is often thought of as something you do as you transition from pre­teen to teen or teen to adult, but the reality is that for women, especially, discovering who we are is an ongoing exploration that happens over a lifetime. These books reflect that, with authors and characters that are finally happy in their own skin in middle age and beyond. See if these searches for self strike a chord in these new and upcoming releases.

More self-discovery picks:

• Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi, $36
• The Book Club for Trouble­ some Women by Marie Bostwick, $24 
• How to Survive a Bear Attack by Claire Cameron, $35 
• Finding Flora by Elinor Florence, $25 
• More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova, $27
• It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished by Kate Gies, $37 
• Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, $39 
• All the Parts We Exile by Roza Nozari, $35 

New romance releases

Whether you like spicy, sweet or something in between, these new stories will have you swooning.

Slow burn: 

• Firebird by Juliette Cross, $44 
• The Trouble with Anna by Rachel Griffiths, $27
• Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown, $37
• The Lodge by Kayla Olson, $25 
• You and Other Natural Disasters by Maria Martinez, $27 
• The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon, $42 
• Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan, $39.50 

Fake dating

• The Empress by Kristin Cast, $29 
• Spiral by Bal Khabra, $25 
• Once Smitten, Twice Shy by Chloe Liese, $26 
• The Matchmaker by Aisha Saeed, $25 
• Story of My Life by Lucy Score, $29
• Wildest Dreams by L.J. Shen, $29 
• Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift, $24 
• Just Our Luck by Denise Williams, $26 

Chance encounters

• Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey, $24 
• Unromance by Erin Conner, $24 
• Pucked Over by Helena Hunting, $24 
• Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez, $26

Forced proximity

• All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles, $27 
• Blood Moon by Sandra Brown, $39
• Beautiful Exile by Catherine Cowles, $29 
• The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore, $24
• The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard, $24 
• Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine, $26 
• A Lady Would Know Better by Emma Theriault, $24

Enemies to lovers

• Into the Woods by Jenny Holiday, $24 
• Enchantra by Kaylie Smith, $20 
• Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch, $27
• Watch Me by Tahareh Mafi, $27 
• Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, $40 
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, $39 
• Playing Flirty by Shameez Patel, $24

Second chance

• Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young, $25 
• A Forty­ Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler, $27 
• The Favorites by Layne Fargo, $38 
• You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon, $24 
• The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid, $24 
• Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage, $25
• Get Lost with You by Sophie Sullivan, $24 
• Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde, $26

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