Your Book Besties Talk 2025 Book Trends & 2026 Reading Predictions

In this episode, your book besties kick off the new year by talking book trends, reading predictions, and goals for the year ahead- with Kat showing up prepared (notes and all). We start by breaking down the biggest reading trends from 2025, including reading becoming more habitual, the continued rise of ebooks and audiobooks, peer-driven recommendations over bestseller lists, and the ongoing dominance of romantasy. From there, we look ahead to 2026 predictions: shifts within romance subgenres, the rise of sports romance and cowboy romance, more genre-blending, more classic retellings, immersive audiobooks, cozy everything, fiction set in the 90s and early 2000s, translated fiction, and the growing interest in hopeful, “solar-punk” style storytelling. We also talk about the business side of books- why Barnes & Noble is expanding again, how retail stores like TJ Maxx and Five Below are entering the book space, the future of mall bookstores, and whether Goodreads is finally losing ground to other tracking apps. Then we get personal. Kat and Amanda share their reading goals for the year, including stepping away from rigid number targets, focusing on quality over quantity, writing more reviews, embracing DNFs, and reframing the TBR as a “wine cellar” rather than a to-do list. Kat also shares a goal to visit 12 independent bookstores in 12 months, while Amanda talks about slowing down, reading more intentionally, and leaning back into writing. We wrap up with a fun, reader-specific question: do you have authors you only read in certain formats? Audiobook vs physical vs ebook preferences, multitasking realities, and unexpected Lego crafting all make an appearance before things spiral delightfully off the rails. It’s a thoughtful, funny, and very us conversation about where reading has been- and where it might be headed next. 💙📚 Want to join our book club? Sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop. You can signup here Can I Bring My Book Social Links: Instagram: @canibringmybook_club TikTok: @canibringmybook_club Facebook: www.facebook.com/canibringmybook