This week, Theo of Golden by Allen Levi has been bumped out of the #5 spot by the gothic romantasy novel The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig—the second book in the series that started with The Knight and the Moth. Romantasy is in an interesting spot at the moment. It continues to show up frequently on the bestseller lists and most read lists, but there hasn’t been a breakout title in a while. Sarah J. Maas’s backlist continues to dominate.
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Two New Books Out This Week You Should Know About
Unfortunately, the most read books on Goodreads tend not to be diverse by any definition of the word. So, here are a couple of new books out this week that deserve wider readership.
Anger Is Only a Shadow by Elizabeth Acevedo
She’s back! After a several-year hiatus, Acevedo returns to YA, and it’s a good one.
Lil always seeks freedom, and she’s not afraid to admit to being a little rebellious. Currently on probation through a DC juvenile detention facility and wearing an ankle monitor, Lil feels the weight of other people’s opinions on her–just as much as she feels guilt and worry over the one person in her life who she thinks could understand her: Aldwin, her older brother.
Away at college, Aldwin has felt distant, and his behavior has felt erratic to Lil. She knows the risks of breaking her probation agreement–and the importance of an upcoming court date–but Lil has to find out what’s going on with her big brother. Does she follow the rules or does she break them, knowing her brother’s life might be on the line? —Kelly Jensen
Hometown by Shaun Tan
Award-winning author and artist Shaun Tan has created a new book of striking art, about a young girl in an unusual world who questions if she really belongs there after a stranger appears. —Liberty Hardy
The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week
#5:
The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig
This is the second book in the gothic romantasy series that started with The Knight and the Moth. Approximately a third of the top 50 most read books on Goodreads this week are romantasy novels, the vast majority by Sarah J. Maas. The Knave and the Moon was read by almost 15,000 users this week and has a 4.4 average rating.
#4:
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
This turned out to be the sleeper hit of 2025: it has kept growing in popularity, seemingly just from word-of-mouth recommendations. Katie Couric also named it the first pick for her new book club. It’s about a woman who has written letters daily her whole life. When someone from her past writes back, she has to reevaluate a painful period in her life and find a way to forgive. This was read by almost 16,000 users this week and has a 4.4 average rating.
#3:
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
In this 2025 thriller, 81-year-old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is trying to live a quiet life in the suburbs, but when one of her neighbors turns up dead, all eyes turn to her. When Elsie was 14, she was Mad Mabel, the youngest convicted murderer in Australia. Now, with the help of a couple of podcasters, she’s ready to tell the story in her own words. 17,000 users read it this week, and it has a 4.4 average rating.
#2:
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
This is the newest book from the author of The Help. The Help was a huge bestseller, made into a blockbuster movie, but it received a lot of criticism for its use of stereotypes of Black people and white saviorism, as well as its historical inaccuracies. This criticism didn’t prevent Stockett from snagging a lucrative book deal for her new novel, however, and it looks like it hasn’t hurt its sales. The Calamity Club was read by almost 29,000 users this week and has a 4.6 average rating.
#1:
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
At the top of the list is Yesteryear, which came out in April. It’s one of several buzzy tradwife novels out this year. In this one, a tradwife influencer wakes up one day in the time period she’s been romanticizing, and real-life homesteading turns out to be much more difficult—and dangerous—than it looks on Instagram. Yesteryear was read by almost 35,000 users this week and has a 3.9 average rating.
If you’re looking for more buzzy books, check out The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists.
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