If you’re in the market for some obsessive trendspotting, you’re in the right place.
 
Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we see so many books passing through—so many—and it’s fascinating to track the various concepts that echo over multiple genres. It’s a wild thing, really. All of a sudden, multiple authors in various categories are looking in the same direction or zeroing in on something.
 
As such, we’ve compiled 18 separate book trends we spotted in 2025, sorted into handy stacks for optimal browsing. The titles below were mostly published in 2025, though we've included a few early forerunners from 2024 and some incoming 2026 books where the trend is holding strong for next year. Interested readers who just can't get enough are invited to double back to our forward-looking trendspotting item from this past January.
 
Among the biggest waves in 2025 is a dual phenomenon we might call the New Medieval and the New Western. Authors across the genre spectrum are coming up with particularly interesting takes on these two settings. There’s also a strange meta thing happening concerning the real-life intrusion of fictional worlds from books and TV.
 
If books are one of the ways we talk to ourselves as a culture (and they are), then we’re thinking a lot these days about memories and inheritance issues. Also, weirdly: dinner parties, family curses, and tarot cards. You’ll find a few interesting location-based trends (Atlanta!) and some intriguing trends in book cover illustrations.
 
And there’s so much more: Browse the categories below, and click on the book cover art for more information about each title. You can also use the Want to Read button to add potential leads to your digital bookshelf.