Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022, with Dini at Dini Panda Reads as co-host from February 2025.
Let’s Talk Bookish 9th January:
Bookish Trends of 2025
Prompts: Looking back on the past year, what bookish trends have you noticed? Are certain tropes, types of blogging, or other book-related content becoming more popular? If you did this post last year (Bookish Trends of 2024), do you notice any trend changes from that post? What changes do you foresee in 2026? What bookish trend would you most want to see become popular, or come back?
I’m not going to go into my general thoughts on trends too deeply, as I covered it last year (link above!). What I will say is…I think I got my 2025 trends predictions pretty right? Vampires have made a comeback and seem to be everywhere in books (yay for me!). Retellings are still popular, though as I noted last year there’s a shift away from the mythological retellings, with more centred around different literature, often – or maybe this is because it’s the books I’m picking up! – told from a queer lens and by queer authors.
Romantasy feels like it’s pushing into oversaturation at this point – books are being marketed as Romantasy when they would have previously just been ‘Fantasy’, and like we’ve seen in the past with books being marketed as YA when they’re not, this is mainly impacting books by women. I do think it’s a genre that’s here to stay, but I think in 2026 we’ll start to see a drop off in it. I did note last year that the TikTok ban would impact bookish trends, but the ban didn’t remain, so that was a bit off!
As for changes going into 2026, I think the above will all continue, and we’ll see retellings expand even further. In Horror, I think we’ve had a fair run of 80s set horror, and with Stranger Things finishing, I think we’ll see more of a bump for 90s set horror. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing Traitors inspired crime, mystery and horror emerging, either – the show has been a success for a few years now, but with the pace of the publishing industry, I think 2026 might be when we start seeing things hit the shelves. Similar for Knives Out – I think those kinds of mysteries will pick up even more this year.
I haven’t been paying as much attention to indie spaces last year as I would have liked, due to various reasons, but I stick by what I said last year – keep an eye out for what’s ‘trending’ in indie, and you can pretty much predict the next ‘trad’ publishing trend.
I do feel like I’m seeing more Gothic and Dark Academia. Dark Academia has been a little fashionable for a while, but maybe we’re hitting the high point with it. Gothic I imagine will have a long cycle, coinciding with vampires. As for what I would like to see become more popular…I don’t think we’ve seen werewolves really in the spotlight! Though shifters are always popular in fantasy romance, I wonder if we’ll start seeing a shift away from fae and dragon romances and a slight pull towards more paranormal type romances. Other than that, I’m pretty much happy to see how things unfold! It’s always interesting to see what books are popular and when.
Let me know your predictions for book trends in 2026! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Unwrapping Words 