Our Most Popular Posts of the Week

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. Here are our most popular posts from the week that was.

7 New Genre-Blending Books Out in June 2025

I set out to put together a list of new books out in June that complete 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks, but I kept coming back to just one task: Read a genre-blending book. It turns out, there are lots of great genre-blending books out this month, so I decided to focus on them. Romance, especially, is a heavy hitter when it comes to genre-blending books: is there any genre we can’t add a love story to?

The Beach Read Episode

Jeff O’Neal joined by Book Riot editors Danika Ellis and Erica Ezeifedi to talk about what makes a beach read, beach reads picks, and memorable beach reading moments.

The Two Kinds of Book Auctions

I have always been fascinated by the phrase “sold at auction” when hearing about an author placing their manuscript at a publisher. I understand of course what an auction is, but never gave a lot of thought to how exactly these literary auctions work. So when I was reading Kate McKean’s forthcoming book,  Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, the section on the mechanics of the two types of auctions jumped out to me.

BIPOC Beach Reads

For the past little while, we’ve had staff and contributing writers nominate, vote for, and write about what we think are the best beach reads ever. We recently released the list as our contribution to the list of summer season reading. Below is a sampling of the BIPOC books on the list, with descriptions written by our Executive Director of content, Sharifah Williams, and yours truly.

A Most Cozy and Magical Beach Read

I got to write about a few of my favorite beach reads for our recent list of Best Beach Reads of All Time, but one very brief blurb isn’t enough for me! That’s why I’m taking some time here to talk about these favorites and try to convince you to put them on your summer reading list if you haven’t already picked them up. I decided to start with today’s cozy, magical pick because the author has a new book out in July that sounds just as delightful, so if you love this fantasy romance, you can move right on to the next!

Create a Magical Reading Nook with These Goods

Time for a reading nook refresh? Whether you are redecorating for the third time this year — I don’t judge — or creating a reading nook from scratch, I’m here to help. I’ve got ten fantastic items to help you create a magical reading nook in your favorite room of the house.