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The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week

Danika Ellis May 10, 2024

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Danika Ellis

Associate Editor

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

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We’re back again with the most read books on Goodreads this week! It’s always interesting to see how this interacts with the bestseller list — there’s a lot of overlap, but also some differences. This list is also a little more current, since the bestseller lists are usually about two weeks behind. Of course, Goodreads doesn’t offer a complete picture of what everyone in the world is reading — we haven’t reached quite that state of surveillance dystopia — but it’s the closest thing we’ve got. I’ve also included a couple of books from the StoryGraph most popular page at the end, since there are some differences between these platforms.

Overall, most of these titles will look pretty familiar from last week, though they’ve shuffled around some. Romantasy and romance continue to dominate the most read books on Goodreads list — at least, they do in the very top spots.

Missing from the list this week is Fourth Wing or Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros: those have slipped down to the sixth and seventh spots, respectively. The eighth and ninth titles are also romantasy: they’re books two and three in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Mist and Fury and A Court of Wings and Ruin. Rounding out the top ten is the first mystery novel to show up on this list, The Teacher by Freida McFadden. McFadden takes the next spot down, too, for The Housemaid.

But enough about the runners up. Let’s talk about the top five most read books on Goodreads this week!

#5:

Book cover of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas has leapfrogged over Fourth Wing as the current reigning most-read romantasy title. But as mentioned, this is just one of her widely read books — in fact, of the top 50 most read books on Goodreads, Sarah J. Maas has written 14: that’s more than a quarter of them! A Court of Thorns and Roses currently has 2.6 million ratings on Goodreads, with a 4.2 average rating.

#4:

Just for the Summer (Part of Your World #3) by Abby Jimenez

Just for the Summer has slipped from the #3 spot to #4 this week. This one just came out in April, and it’s the third book in a popular romance series that started with Part of Your World. It’s closing in on 100,000 ratings now, with a 4.5 average rating. This one is #2 on the StoryGraph’s most popular books of the week list, and readers there describe it as emotional, funny, and hopeful.

#3:

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

Eagle-eyed readers of this feature might recognize Twisted Love as one of the most popular books on the StoryGraph last week. This confirms my theory that while the StoryGraph has fewer readers, they’re also a little ahead of the curve: they picked this up a week before Goodreads users did…sort of like how TikTok trends show up on Instagram reels a week or two later. This is book four of the Kings of Sin romance series that began with King of Wrath. It has 28,000 ratings (expect that to jump up soon!) and has a 4.1 average rating.

#2:

The Women by Kristin Hannah

While many of these titles shift around in popularity, The Women seems to have staying power: it was published in February, but it hasn’t moved much on this list. This historical fiction title is a popular book club book, and it’s also one of the few books on all five of the biggest bestseller lists this week. It has 318,000 ratings and a 4.7 average rating — one of the highest on the entire 50 book list of the most read books on Goodreads this week.

#1:

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Emily Henry holds onto her #1 spot on this list with Funny Story, a romance novel about two people who move in together after their exes break up with them…and then those exes get together with each other. This is one of three titles by Emily Henry on the most read books on Goodreads this week list. The other two are Happy Place and Book Lovers. This one has 113,000 ratings and an average rating of 4.4, making it the highest rated of her romance novels.

Two of the Most Popular Books on the StoryGraph This Week

The StoryGraph doesn’t have quite as many users as Goodreads, but it’s still worth taking a look at — not least of all because it seems to gave a little more diversity than the Goodreads most read list. So, here a couple a couple of books on the StoryGraph’s most popular this week page. It doesn’t specify how it determines this page — is it most read, the books most added to the “to read” shelf, or a combination? Regardless, it says something about the books their users are paying attention to now.

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

This one is in the #3 spot, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up on the Goodreads list in a week or two! Five Broken Blades isn’t actually out yet — it releases May 21st. It’s the newest title published by Red Tower Books, which also put out Fourth Wing. This one has a stunning deluxe limited edition with sprayed edges with stenciled artwork. It’s about five untrustworthy killers who have to work together to take down a God King. Users describe it as adventurous, mysterious, tense, and fast-paced.

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

This romance novel is written by the screenwriter of the adaptation of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation! It follows two screenwriters who reunite in the writers’ room of a TV show. They were close until a tragedy tore them apart 13 years ago. Now, they’re tiptoeing into repairing their relationship while dealing with the grief and complications being in each other’s lives again brings up. The StoryGraph users describe it as emotional, funny, and hopeful.

If you’re looking for more buzzy books, check out The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists.

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