The Road to Perdition

Babel author R.F. Kuang tops our hardcover fiction list with the deluxe edition of Katabasis; the standard edition is #11 on the list. “Kuang’s latest foray into dark academia takes readers on a clever and deeply cerebral, if sometimes fatiguing, journey through hell,” according to our review. The main characters’ trek through the underworld directly references Dante, Orpheus, and more, and though occasionally plodding, it culminates in a “thrilling third act.”

Bless This Mess

Naptime Kitchen blogger Kate Strickler (331K Instagram followers) debuts with I Just Wish I Had a Bigger Kitchen, #2 on our hardcover nonfiction list. Subtitled “And Other Lies I Think Will Make Me Happy,” the book explores “how the chronically dissatisfied can swap comparison for contentment,” per our review. “While the ills of social media–induced envy are hardly news, the author effectively validates the real needs for safety, belonging, and connection that underlie the apparent desire for more. In the process, she explains how readers can better fulfill such needs through straightforward practices like compiling and sharing a list of all the positive traits one appreciates about one’s partner.”

Mystery Achievement

The Color of Death, by Fox News host and former U.S. representative Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson, a successful self-published author of mysteries and thrillers, debuts at #2 on our hardcover fiction list. It’s the first fiction release from Fox News Books, the joint venture that the eponymous network launched with HarperCollins in 2020.

As the World Falls Down

High school English teacher Logan Karlie built up her platform on social media before self-publishing the YA gothic romantasy Dream by the Shadows in 2023. The book, billed as “ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ meets Labyrinth,” gained fans and nabbed the author a two-book deal with Little, Brown imprint Christy Ottaviano Books. It lands at #7 on our children’s fiction list in the wake of a tour that took the author from her home state of Illinois to California, Tennesse, and Florida, appearing in conversation with authors including Hannah Whitten and Adalyn Grace. The second volume of the Shadow Weavers duology is due out in 2026.