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A look at the books that dominated the New York Times bestseller list in 2025
2025 was a big year for books and for readers. From gripping fiction to memorable memoirs and bold new voices in every genre, many titles captured attention and climbed the charts.
Below is a look at best selling books from 2025. This list is not comprehensive and includes only new release books that reached the number 1 spot on the New York Times bestsellers list for at least one week in 2025.
Whether you are looking for your next great read or want to see what made an impact last year, these bestselling books reflect what readers could not put down.

Table of Contents
Best Selling Thriller Books of 2025

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
Release Date: June 24, 2025
From #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Jewell, an author “at the very top of her game” (Lucy Foley)—three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
Release Date: August 12, 2025
First Book in a Series
Welcome to North Falls—a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think.

Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon and Harlen Coben
Release Date: October 14, 2025
An unforgettable suspense novel that combines the storytelling talents of Academy Award-winning actor Reese Witherspoon and internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben, Gone Before Goodbye is the story of a woman trapped in a deadly conspiracy—where uncovering the truth could cost her everything.
Best Selling Romance Books of 2025

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
Release Date: April 1, 2025
There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. After one incredible and seemingly endless date, Samantha is forced to admit any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.
Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Release Date: October 7, 2025
A Human hybrid and an Alpha Were claw against the bonds of fate in the highly anticipated companion novel to the New York Times bestselling Bride.
Best Selling Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books of 2025

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Book 3 in the Empyrean Series
Violet Sorrengail leaves Basgiath War College to seek allies beyond failing wards as war closes in on Navarre. Carrying a dangerous secret, she must uncover the truth to gain the power needed to survive a coming storm.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (A Hunger Games Novel)
Release Date: March 18, 2025
The phenomenal fifth book in the Hunger Games series!
When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

Enchantra by Kaylie Smith
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Book 2 in the Wicked Games Series
Return to the world of USA Today bestselling BookTok favorite Phantasma in this spicy, stand-alone romantasy, where seven immortal siblings are trapped in a deadly game of hide and seek . . . until one mortal woman changes the rules. The print edition includes custom silver foiling on the cover.

A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Second book in The Saga of the Unfated Duology
A shield maiden fights to break the shackles of prophecy—and to overcome the betrayal of the man who broke her heart—in this searing conclusion to the Norse-inspired fantasy romance duology that began with the bestselling A Fate Inked in Blood.

Rose in Chains by Julie Soto
Release Date: July 8, 2025
USA Today bestselling author Julie Soto crafts a lush romantic fantasy that’s filled with intrigue, magic, and an irresistible enemies-to-lovers romance.

Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Release Date: August 5, 2025
3rd Book in the Assistant and the Villain Series
Once Upon a Time meets The Office in Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel, about the sunshine assistant to an Evil Villain…and their unexpected romance.

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own.

Brimstone by Callie Hart
Release Date: November 4, 2025
Second Book in the Fae & Alchemy Series
The epic story begun in runaway bestseller and global phenomenon Quicksilver continues.
Best Selling Fiction Books of 2025

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Release Date: April 22, 2025
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Release Date: May 6, 2025
#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.
Best Selling Historical Fiction Books of 2025

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Release Date: June 3, 2025
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
More On The Blog
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- 2026 Reading Goals and Reset
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