Our Most Popular Stories of the Week
Welcome to The Best of Book Riot. Here’s your weekend highlight reel of the week’s most popular stories.
11 Book Club Picks for February 2025
Whatever your relationship status is, books do not care. This means that regardless of how you feel toward February turning into the month of love, you are sure to find a great book to read on this list rounding up great book club’s picks for February 2025. The book clubs included here are all different from each other. They offer all or some virtual component; some include in-person options; many offer author chats; and all of them allow you to participate as much or as little as you’d like. It’s a win-win all around.
Department of Defense Education Activity Demands Book Bans, Curriculum Censorship In Its Schools
Last week, administrators at Department of Defense Education Activity Schools received a memo directing them to pull certain lessons and materials from their curriculum pending review. Materials include books that are out of alignment with the new administration’s “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” executive orders. This order comes after the Department of Defense signaled they would be following the Pentagon’s January 31 directive to end all celebrations related to identity and race.
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The Best New Books Out This Week
New book-wise, there is, of course, lots to love. There’s small-town romance Frenemies with Benefits by Synithia Williams, and the third in the thriller-romance series Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver. Under the romantasy category, there’s another third in a series (Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett), a sapphic monster romance that is The Shape of Water/Mexican Gothic-esque (But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo), a cozy and sapphic YA (Where Shadows Bloom by Catherine Bakewell), and lightly fantastical romance with older protagonists (Losing Sight by Tati Richardson).
Goodbye, Goodreads: 5 New Reading Tracker Apps to Try
Once upon a time, Goodreads was the holy grail for tracking books, in addition to being an all-around bookish website. Many readers, however, fell out of love, bemoaning the platform’s outdated design and a dearth of necessary features. And since it’s associated with Amazon, many have sworn to have nothing to do with it. This is compounded by the many issues that plagued Goodreads over the years, such as the rise of bot reviewers, review bombing, and harassment of authors among other vile things. Thus, readers abandoned Goodreads in droves in favor of newer bookish apps.
These Are the Horror Novels That Will Be Big in 2025
Horror has always been popular. But this year horror is the genre everyone is talking about. In 2025, I think it’s safe to say we’re all a little on edge, and horror speaks to our fears and anxieties most directly. Horror fans everywhere are noticing that the once-subversive stories they reach for are also the stories all their coworkers, family members, and friends are gravitating towards.
