Here are the Best Books Out This Month
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.
The Best Books of April
As we step into a new season, it feels like we’re stepping into a new season of books, too. A lot of the publications that dabble in bookishness are releasing their own versions of the best books of spring—there’s New York Times‘, Goodreads’, and Harper’s Bazaar‘s. Vogue has even released a list of the best books of 2025 so far, which is kind of doing the most, in my opinion, but I still appreciate the enthusiasm.
And then there’s us. While this isn’t an overview of spring releases like the other publications—I cry at the thought of narrowing that list down—it is one of the best books coming out this month. There’s a thrilling critique of influencers, romantasy inspired by Ancient Rome, an Appalachian queen, queer cozy historical romance with a merman, and so much more.
11 Awesome New SFF Books Out April 2025
These stories include a ghostly Great Gatsby-adjacent fantasy; a Los Angeles librarian in the future trying to save the library’s African American collections; a historical romantasy involving a blacksmith and a merman; a coven of trans witches trying to take down evil artificial intelligence; a time-traveling psychic who uncovers a nefarious plot; and angels and vampires and mortals, oh my!
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Must-See Book-to-Screen Adaptations Out this April!
There’s nothing we love more than books, but movies and TV shows come close. That’s why we’re all counting down the days to these upcoming April releases: adaptations of some of our favorite books, manga, and fairy tales. Will you be putting all of these on your to-watch list for April 2025?
The Latest on the Institute for Museum and Library Services
Two weeks ago, President Trump issued an Executive Order targeting funds allocated to libraries and museums nationwide. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is a federal agency that distributes fund approved by Congress to state libraries, as well as library, museum, and archival grant programs. IMLS is the only federal agency that provides funds to libraries. The Executive Order states that the functions of the IMLS have to be reduced to “statutory functions” and that in places that are not statutory, expenses must be cut as much as possible.
One week later, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the IMLS offices. Many at IMLS were prepared to see their jobs disappear, but that didn’t quite happen. Instead, DOGE installed a new Acting Director of the agency, Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith E. Sonderling.
9 New LGBTQ+ YA Books For Your TBR
It’s kind of hard to imagine, but only 10 years ago, being able to go through lists of new books and pull out more than a couple of books by or about LGBTQ+ characters was not easy. There were some big titles, of course, and there were a number of smaller presses who published excellent queer reads. But lots of LGBTQ+ books across lots of different genres? It was nothing like today, even if today’s publishing landscape still doesn’t wholly represent the breadth and depth of queer experiences in literature.
