Welcome to The Best of Book Riot, our daily round-up of what’s on offer across our site, newsletters, podcasts, and social channels. Not everything is for everyone, but there is something for everyone.
These aren’t my favorite writers necessarily (though some of them are) or those I think most deserving (though most if not all of them do), but those I would place chips on, if in some very strange casino I was given 50 chips to place with the hope of one of them hitting.
In this post, you’ll find stories of the creatures of the night finding love with humans, and each other. These stories are on the lighter side of paranormal romance, more rom-com than just nom-nom. Would you want to date a vampire or a werewolf? They each have their pros and cons, I suppose. If you date a vampire, you could only go out at night, which means less sun damage to your skin. But then you’d also be lacking in vitamin D. Werewolves are just regular people 95% of each month, so you could have a normal life. Until that one full moon night when they try to eat your face. But hey, everyone has flaws. And as far as we know, they’re not real. (Omg, if you are dating a vampire or werewolf, tell me pleeease.) For now, you’ll have to settle for reading about them.
In this post, you’ll find stories of the creatures of the night finding love with humans, and each other. These stories are on the lighter side of paranormal romance, more rom-com than just nom-nom. Would you want to date a vampire or a werewolf? They each have their pros and cons, I suppose. If you date a vampire, you could only go out at night, which means less sun damage to your skin. But then you’d also be lacking in vitamin D. Werewolves are just regular people 95% of each month, so you could have a normal life. Until that one full moon night when they try to eat your face. But hey, everyone has flaws. And as far as we know, they’re not real.
At the beginning of Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month, I highlighted several awesome YA books by Latine authors that hit shelves in 2024. It was very much not a complete least, but meant to put some attention on the titles both now and as we move through the rest of the year. I teased that it wouldn’t be the only such list in honor of the month-long celebration. Welcome to your roundup of upcoming Latine YA releases to preorder or request from your bookstore or library.
Learn more about trans history from Roman emperor Elagabalus to the Stonewall uprising with the upcoming Trans History: A Graphic Novel: From Ancient Times to the Present Day by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett. This graphic nonfiction book comes out on May 13, 2025, and it explores diversity in human sex and gender around the world and across time, including how European definitions of gender spread across the globe.
Below is a sampling of the most popular horror books on Goodreads the last five years — a list compiled by looking at horror books with a 3.5 or higher rating that were found on members’ digital shelves the most.
I aimed for books in different age ranges and genres — including a Top Chef’s debut cookbook! — from already beloved authors to debut novelists, so there’s something here for every reading flavor. You can find genres and moods ranging from romance to a darkly funny essay collection. And as a bonus (it just worked out that way), all of these are worth the prebuy for the cover alone! Seriously, just one awesome, beautiful, cover after another.
We have reached the final months of 2024. While we’ve spent many of the past few weeks looking ahead to 2025, there’s still a lot left to happen this year. Your next favorite book might be one of these titles coming out in October, November, and December.
You may be asking, why do we call them “sapphic” romances? It’s definitely a question I’ve gotten from readers while working at my local indie bookstore. In short, the name offers a more inclusive category for romance novels starring women, femmes, and sapphic-identifying nonbinary folks than a name like “lesbian romance.” Sapphic, a word derived from ancient queer poet Sappho, opens its arms to many queer-identified characters and authors in romance. If you want to learn more, check out this great guide to the different terms for queer women’s books, breaking down the differences between F/F romance, WLW books, lesbian books, sapphic romance, and more
