Top new literary-fiction books out this week: 19 Oct - 25 Oct 2025
Last updated:
October 25, 2025
This week featuring new releases by Gish Jen, Olivie Blake, Kristen Bailey, Joe Hill, A. Knightley, Max Delsohn, Jean Meltzer and many more.
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Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen
The award-winning author of The Resisters returns with an engrossing, blisteringly funny-sad autobiographical novel tracing a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship.My mother had died, but still I heard her voice. . . Gish’s mother—Loo Shu-hsin—is born in 1925 to a wealthy Shanghai family where girls are expected to behave and be quiet...urban · new-york-state · historical-fiction · historical · fiction · literary-fiction · parenthood · poc-mc · family · female-mc -
![Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake]()
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
A deliciously satirical standalone from the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six. Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake is a contemporary, darkly-fun novel about violence, lust and eating your fill, as wealthy moms and sorority girls practicing a sinister new wellness trend . . .Good girls deserve a treat... -
![Big Nick Energy by Kristen Bailey]()
Big Nick Energy by Kristen Bailey
One woman, two Nicks, and a Christmas season that’s about to get very complicated.When librarian Kay bumps into her ex-boyfriend Nick at a Christmas market, she thinks fate is finally giving her a second chance with her first big love. But then she gets spectacularly tangled in a Christmas tree-netting machine and meets another Nick entirely...romance · contemporary · womens-fiction · fiction · slow-burn · audiobook · season-winter · humor · love-triangle · female-mc -
![King Sorrow by Joe Hill]()
King Sorrow by Joe Hill
Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library...horror · fantasy · fiction · dragons · dark · dark-fantasy · spooky · ghosts · suspense · supernatural -
![The Lookout's Ghost by A. Knightley]()
The Lookout's Ghost by A. Knightley
Reece WestI don’t believe in ghosts. I also don’t believe in cottage cheese as a main food group, but sometimes in life, we are forced to confront when we’re wrong.Thankfully, I was only mistaken about the ghosts.At thirty-four years old, I’m arguably too young to have a midlife crisis, but a life-changing diagnosis followed swiftly by a caustic breakup seems to have done the trick...romance · mlm · paranormal · mystery · ghosts · forced-proximity · fantasy · lgbtq · suspense · contemporary -
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![Crawl: Stories by Max Delsohn]()
Crawl: Stories by Max Delsohn
A darkly comic, introspective debut collection that looks beneath the surface of trans life in 2010s SeattlePeople called it paradise, but baby, it wasn’t...fiction · lgbtq · trans-mc · mlm · lesbian-mc · anthologies · season-winter · literary-fiction · romantic-love · adult -
![The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer]()
The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer
Can these exes rekindle their love this Hanukkah? Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of A Christmas Carol...romance · contemporary · fiction · magical-realism · action-adventure · humor · fantasy · family · urban-fantasy · breakup
