Category: Events

Why pick one genre when you can have multiple? Whether you’re in a reading slump, looking to explore new-to-you genres, or simply revel in the unexpected, genre blends can be an exciting way to shake up your reading life. And you’re in luck! Today, we’re celebrating all things genre blending. Do you want history + horror? Romance + space? Or even blends that transcend genre definition? We’ve got you. Stick it in the blender, and let’s go!

A new year means new books, and we’re excited about every last one of them, but we’re most excited about these. It’s time to freshen up your TBR and submit your preorders and library holds! You do not want to miss Book Riot’s most anticipated reads, so click through and check them out!

It’s no secret that BookTok has been a major wildcard in driving book sales and reading trends over the past couple of years. Love it or hate it (or just deeply confused by it), today we’re celebrating BookTok’s influence on readers! Come and explore ways to diversify your BookTok feed, recommendations on who to follow, a breakdown on BookTok vs. Bookstagram, and more! Come on in for the scroll!

Are you ready to read harder? The 2024 Challenge, sponsored by ThriftBooks, is up! And it’s new and improved this year — we’re adding a community aspect to the newsletter, where we can share our progress and recommendations with like-minded readers all in one place. Get all the details (and the Challenge itself) right here!

Music and Literature have been some of humanity’s favorite forms of storytelling for thousands of years, often inspiring and building off each other. So we thought we’d celebrate the magic of music and literature with a full day devoted to them! We’re exploring books about musicians, bookish playlists, magical music in fantasy, lyrics as literature, music and the poets, and more. Press play and dive in!

It’s Dark Academia Day here at Book Riot, a celebration of the gothic, the intellect, and the aloof. You’ll find us sitting in the corner of the drafty hall, sipping black coffee, clothed in tweed, brooding over demonic prep boys, Dark Academia tropes, Dark Academia in science fiction and fantasy, horror, YA, and even manga, and of course contemplating the reasons Dark Academia is so perennially popular. Grab your cardigan and pull up a chair, the library’s open all night and there’s plenty to read.

We’re exploring the wide-ranging world of thrillers and mysteries this week, and you’re invited to join the adventure! From “gentle thrill” cozies to the best procedural series, mystery books about dogs to those involving treasure hunts, BookTube channels to TikTok creators to follow, and much more. Or perhaps you’re new to thrillers and mysteries? We got you. We’ll have posts going live each day this week that are sure to explode your TBR. The game is afoot!

There’s never been a better time to be a fan of retellings — from the Mahabharata to King Arthur, the Odyssey to Peter Pan, Arabian Nights to Anne Shirley, writers are exploring beloved older stories and finding ways to make them their own. Today we’re celebrating all of these different retellings, from Asian myths and the many (many!) takes on Cinderella, to the importance of retellings by queer and BIPOC authors, retold tales for kids, and then thinking about the ones we hope to see next. Because there can never be enough, as far as we’re concerned. Come join us!

Oh, you thought the season of scare ended on October 31? HA. Welcome to Dark Reads Day, friends! From dark novels in verse to wintery thrillers, horror literary magazines to Goosebumps, we got you covered. We’ve even included a roundup of bookish goth goods this year, perfect for holiday gifting.

As one Rioter shares in their piece, YA Horror Books Inspired my Love of Reading: “To this day, as an avid young adult books reader, I still gravitate to the dark… these type of books paved the way to today’s most chilling and entertaining slasher lit. I thank these authors for letting me be the reader I am today, and for not letting me be afraid of the dark.”

Cheers to that, and happy (dark) reading!

Welcome back, ghosts, ghouls, and goblins, to the Haunted Riot! Whether you’re looking for full-on spine-tingling reads, just a touch of hair-raising horror, or are a spooky season novice, our writers have been brewing up posts that should suit.

Want some feel-good horror, or perhaps books rated Safe For Scaredy-Cats? Perhaps you need read-alikes for your favorite horror movies, or a travel guide to the most haunted bookish places around the world. Maybe you’ve got your thinking cap on and want to contemplate the popularity of gothic horror, or the enduring appeal of Stephen King to teenagers. Perhaps haunting queer tales are more likely to float your (ghostly pirate) boat. Pick your poison, and enter if you dare!