Casey McQuiston started writing their debut novel, the 2019 bestseller Red, White & Royal Blue, in early 2016 as a “Veep-esque affectionate send-up of American liberal politics,” according to this interview with the Los Angeles Public Library. The tone of the book changed, they explain, after the election, becoming more hopeful. Since its release, readers have been scrambling to find books that hit the same notes, because once you’ve read RWRB, you just need more. While some of us (ahem) read it a dozen times before moving on, other readers are looking for books like Red, White & Royal Blue after their first — and I’ve got some great reads for all of us!
Continue Reading
The only thing better than reading great books is talking about great books, and that’s why book clubs are the best. If you’ve looked around your communities and not found a book club that you can join, then why not start your own? You don’t need any prior experience, and the only prerequisites are a love of books, and maybe some organizational skills! In this article, we’ll walk you through all of the considerations and expectations of how to run a book club!Continue Reading
This post was originally written by TBR founder and Book Riot’s Chief of Staff Rebecca Joines Schinsky back in 2018 when Tailored Book Recommendations was a fledgling product being run out of her living room. Now, close to 6 years later, the bibliologists at TBR have recommended well over 165,000 books to thousands of subscribers. Join us as we take a look back at where the magic all began! And if you’d like in on the fun, find out more about TBR here.
Politics—it’s a dirty business, but someone has to do it. And just about anyone can these days. We live in a time of political divisiveness, with some elected officials in our government who would disgust comic supervillains. One would think that by the time an election rolls around, readers would be sick of politics and stay away from political books. But much like how dystopian fiction shot up in popularity at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, it turns out people read more about politics near elections. 
Tailored Book Recommendations (TBR) is giving away a pair of Beats Fit Pro earbuds to one lucky winner! Sign up, renew, gift, or purchase a set of drop-in recommendations in the month of October to be automatically entered to win. Or, enter with no purchase necessary using the form below.
This post originally appeared on Book Riot Insiders, now called the New Release Index. Find a curated list of the best new books, all in one place with the New Release Index. 
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a classic novel about a young man, Raskolnikov, who plans and executes a murder in order to obtain money he feels his victim does not deserve, and about his subsequent psychological downward spiral when he is not caught. First published in 1866 as a serial story in The Russian Messenger, a literary periodical that was also publishing War and Peace around the same time — and would go on to also publish Dostoevsky’s novels The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov — the installments were subsequently published as a novel. 
Colleen Hoover is a name you might recognize, whether it’s from BookTok, your local Barnes & Noble, or the New York Times Best Seller list. Her books have leapt in popularity in the last year or so, and nearly everyone is reading them, talking about them, and Bookstagramming them. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, you might be wondering what the draw is. If you’ve read Colleen Hoover books, you know why they’re so popular. Either way, once you’ve read all of her backlist, you might be looking for authors like Colleen Hoover. I’ve got 13 of them for you below — read on for more about Hoover’s books, or skip down to see the recs!
Cormac McCarthy, who died on June 13, 2023, is widely considered one of the great American writers. His body of work, which includes 12 novels, two plays, five screenplays, and short stories, is primarily in the genres of Southern Gothic, western, and dystopian. Loved this author? Keep reading for our list of more authors like Cormac McCarthy. 
Is horror romance a genre? Sort of! Let’s talk about what it means. Horror and romance are both genres that use tropes to build tension, leading up to a satisfying conclusion — albeit in (generally) different ways. 
In the 19th century, books set at school — especially boarding school — were immensely popular. Many of them were sweet coming-of-age stories about girls making lifelong friendships, and often they included (as most “juvenile” books at the time did) some sort of lesson or moral. There were exceptions, of course, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, which is frequently cited as one of the first and best dark academia books (although it is not set in a school).