One of our favorite pastimes, here at Goodreads headquarters, is trendspotting. We see a lot of books come down the pike—like, a lot a lot—and it seems to trigger some kind of brainstem-level pattern recognition. We notice things.
 
We notice, for instance, that there are suddenly a bunch of books set on trains. Or multi-level marketing schemes. Or golems. Sometimes these little mini-trends mostly collect around one genre—like speculative fiction set in Appalachia—but more often they are cross-genre phenomena. All of a sudden, authors in multiple aisles are all writing about some random thing. Does it Mean Anything? Are these Jungian spasms of the collective unconscious?
 
Who knows? But it is a lot of fun to track them. Below we have collected 17 different cross-genre trends that we noticed percolating last year—and really heating up this year. These book selections are mainly from 2024 and 2025, with a smattering of late 2023 titles thrown in. (Speaking of smattering, we’ve noticed an odd cover art trend concerning paint splatters, too.)
 
Click around below to explore our collection, and feel free to add any additional new books or categories in the comments section. As always, if any particular book floats your boat, use the Want to Read button to add it to your digital shelf.