Here are the five most-read books on Goodreads this week! These are the buzziest books of the moment, spanning fall romances to paranormal thrillers.
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### What Makes for a Good October Read?
You need some pumpkin spice romance in there, but also some thrillers or horror novels to get your heart racing. Adding in werewolves and vampires doesn’t hurt, either. That’s just about the shape of the top five most-read books of October on Goodreads, though it’s a shame that horror doesn’t make an appearance even in the top 50 list.
Before we dive into the top five, let’s look at some new releases that came out in October and deserve more attention.
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### 4 New Books of October That You Should Know About
Unfortunately, the most-read books on Goodreads tend not to be diverse by any definition of the word. Here are a few new October releases that deserve wider readership.
**Hole in the Sky** by Daniel H. Wilson
A single father in the heart of Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation discovers something strange is happening in the atmosphere. His findings are confirmed by a Texas astrophysicist—something big is barreling towards Earth. It seems to be a spacecraft. But is the world really ready for first contact?
*—Liberty Hardy*
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**Female Fantasy** by Iman Hariri-Kia
Equal parts satirical, steamy, and swoony, *Female Fantasy* is a romance novel tailor-made for book lovers who can’t resist a meta twist. Joonie, a copywriter by day and fanfic writer by night, knows no real guy can measure up to her ultimate book boyfriend—a merman hero named Ryke. When she learns Ryke is based on a real person, she sets off to track him down, dragging along her brother’s infuriating best friend as an unwilling road-trip companion. What follows is a hilariously chaotic, self-aware journey through romance tropes that doubles as a genuine story about finding love where you least expect it. This is a joyful reminder of why readers fall in love with the genre in the first place.
*—Nikki DeMarco*
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**The Isle in the Silver Sea** by Tasha Suri
Here’s a new sapphic fantasy from the award-winning author of the *Burning Kingdoms* series! A witch and a knight fated to fall in love and be torn apart over and over must find a way to halt the cycle of their story. Meanwhile, a mysterious assassin is on the prowl, looking to permanently destroy anyone with a story like theirs.
*—Liberty Hardy*
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**The Unveiling** by Quan Barry
*The Unveiling* is a literary survival horror novel set aboard a luxury Antarctic cruise. Striker is a Black film scout who has joined the cruise hoping to capture locations for a big-budget movie. But nothing about the cruise goes according to plan, and when an excursion goes terribly wrong, Striker and a small group of survivors find themselves stranded in the middle of the Antarctic. As things grow more dire, hostilities and people’s true nature come to the surface.
*—Emily Martin*
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### The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week
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**#5: The Pumpkin Spice Café** by Laurie Gilmore
It’s pumpkin spice reading season! Apparently, a whole lot of people have been saving this to read in fall. This promises a cozy romantic mystery for fans of *Gilmore Girls*, featuring a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting, and a guaranteed happy-ever-after. It’s the first in a series that continues with *The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore*, *The Christmas Tree Farm*, and *The Strawberry Patch Pancake House*. It was read by almost 62,000 Goodreads users in October and holds an average rating of 3.4.
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**#4: Hot for Slayer** by Ali Hazelwood
For Halloween season, Amazon released a series of six original romance short stories called *Scared Sexy*, including this one and *My Boyfriends Are All Monsters* by Kimberly Lemming. Ali Hazelwood, one of the biggest names in romance right now, delivers a story about vampire Ethel and vampire slayer Lazlo, who have been not-so-mortal enemies for centuries. When Lazlo loses his memories, Ethel finds herself in the strange position of having to help him remember who he is. It was read by 65,000 users this month and has a 4.0 average rating.
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**#3: Mate (Bride #2)** by Ali Hazelwood
The second Ali Hazelwood title in the most-read books on Goodreads list this month is a companion novel to *Bride*. This paranormal romance came out on October 7th. It follows Serena, the first Were-Human hybrid, who becomes a political target of Humans, Vampyres, and Weres alike. Her safety depends on the protection of the Alpha Were, Koen. It was read by nearly 75,000 users in October and holds a 4.2 average rating.
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**#2: The Housemaid** by Freida McFadden
This is the first book in Freida McFadden’s *Housemaid* series, followed by *The Housemaid’s Secret* and *The Housemaid Is Watching*. It’s about a housemaid who cleans for a wealthy family, takes care of their child, and lives in their attic bedroom. She’s soon pulled into the family’s dangerous secrets, but her employers may have underestimated what she’s capable of. A movie adaptation is coming out in December. This book was read by 78,000 Goodreads users this month and has a 4.3 average rating.
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**#1: The Intruder** by Freida McFadden
Freida McFadden also has two books in this month’s top five. *The Intruder* is her newest thriller, released on October 7th. It tells the story of Casey, who is weathering a hurricane in her rundown cabin in the woods when she sees a girl outside her window—covered in blood and clutching a knife. “The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.” It was read by 93,000 users in October and has a 4.0 average rating.
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If you’re looking for more buzzy books, check out *The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists.*
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https://bookriot.com/most-read-books-on-goodreads-october-2025/
