We’re thrilled to offer one lucky winner the entire collection of “The 20 Best Books of 2025, So Far,” as personally selected by the knowledgeable hosts of the Book Riot podcast and the expert staff at Powell’s Books. This is your chance to discover the must-reads and expand your personal library with the year’s standout titles!

Here’s something strange: there are two new books on the list this week, and they’re both inspired by Harry Potter (Draco/Hermione) fanfiction: Rose in Chains by Julie Soto and The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley.

JK Rowling now seems to dedicate the majority of her time to trying to strip away trans people’s rights, including using her wealth to back anti-trans organizations. While these books don’t directly make JK Rowling money, they do help keep her brand alive and well: a brand she capitalizes on to fund her anti-trans activism. Rose in Chains is also a romance between a slave owner and enslaved person.

Unsurprisingly, this list continues to lack of diversity on many levels, including being disproportionately by white authors. Some other bestsellers you should know about are Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Indie Bestsellers), Black AF History by Michael Harriot (NYT), and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Indie Bestsellers).

To get these numbers, we look at the New York Times, both Combined Print & E-Book Fiction and Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction lists; Amazon Charts, both Fiction and Nonfiction; Publishers Weekly; USA Today; and Indie Bestsellers, Fiction and Nonfiction, both Paperback and Hardcover.

Books On Four Bestseller Lists:

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (USA Today, NYT, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

Rose in Chains by Julie Soto (Publishers Weekly, USA Today, NYT, Indie Bestsellers)

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (Publishers Weekly, USA Today, NYT, Indie Bestsellers)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Publishers Weekly, USA Today, NYT, Indie Bestsellers)

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Publishers Weekly, NYT, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

Books On Three Bestseller Lists:

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (NYT, Amazon, Indie Bestsellers)

Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden (Publishers Weekly, USA Today, NYT)

Go beyond the bestseller lists with made-for-you book recommendations from TBR, our book recommendation service!

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.