Best Books 2025: Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly

August Lane

Regina Black (Grand Central)

This emotional tour de force unfolds across two timelines: in 2009 Arkansas, two struggling Black teens bond over their shared love of country music before a stunning betrayal pulls them apart. In 2023, the pair are unexpectedly reunited by an upcoming concert. Black uses their wonderfully grounded second-chance romance to probe themes of authorship, authenticity, and self-acceptance. It hits all the right notes.

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Female Fantasy

Iman Hariri-Kia (Cosmo Reads)

No man romance fanatic Joonie has ever met can compare with the lead of her favorite novel—so when she learns that he was based on a real person, she sets out on a madcap mission to track him down. Gleefully meta and laugh-out-loud funny, this is equal parts send-up of and love letter to the genre.

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A Gentleman’s Gentleman

TJ Alexander (Vintage)

In Regency England, the reclusive Lord Christopher Eden, who is trans, needs a wife in order to inherit his father’s estate and needs a valet to find a wife. Perfectly proper James Harding seems a good fit for the job, but the men’s mutual attraction soon complicates matters. The result is a witty romp replete with lush historical details and defiant queer joy.

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Great Big Beautiful Life

Emily Henry (Berkley)

The reigning queen of the rom-com delivers her most ambitious book to date, combining her well-honed talent for crafting sparkling contemporary love stories with a bold dive into historical fiction. Two writers compete to pen the biography of an aging socialite whose glamorous—but not necessarily reliable—memories provide a fascinating backdrop to their entirely believable rivals-to-lovers romance.

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House of Rayne

Harley Laroux (Kensington)

Mixing spicy erotica with chilling gothic horror, this addictive outing pairs a recently jilted woman with the mysterious proprietress of a possibly haunted bed-and-breakfast on a spooky island in the Pacific Northwest. The twisty supernatural mystery is pulse-pounding, and the kinky sex scenes are hot enough to scorch the pages.

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Ordinary Love

Marie Rutkoski (Knopf)

In this tender and insightful sapphic romance, a woman trapped in a toxic marriage unexpectedly bumps into her high school sweetheart, now an Olympic athlete, at a party. Rutkoski neither shies away from nor sensationalizes the effects of emotional abuse, and her prose is lovely, sensual, and psychologically incisive as the fully realized heroines navigate their precarious reunion.

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