The 20 Most Popular New Books On Amazon To Inspire Your Next Read

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

This New York Times bestseller, published in March, follows a man named Dominic Salt and his three kids, who take care of a small island near Antarctica known as Shearwater. The island, which has the biggest seed bank in the world, was previously buzzing with researchers, but rising sea levels left the Salt family as the last caretakers on Shearwater.

Well, that's until a woman, Rowan, washes ashore in the middle of a terrible storm. The Salts help nurse her back to health, but it becomes clear that she has her own secrets about why she set her sights on the island, and so does Dominic.

"As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it's too late–and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together," per the synopsis.

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

King of Ashes centers on Roman Carruthers, who's forced to return home after his father gets into a car accident and winds up in a coma. While there, he realizes his younger siblings are struggling. His sister, Neveah, has been trying to keep their family's crematorium business afloat, and his brother, Dante, had become indebted to criminals.

Suddenly, it's evident to Roman that his father's car accident wasn't truly an accident but actually the result of Dante's connections. And since he's a whiz with numbers, he tries to "buy his brother out of trouble," but the plan doesn't work. This pushes him to offer himself to the criminals instead.

"Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything," the synopsis reads.

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris

Gardiner Harris, an award-winning investigative journalist, published this exposé on the pharmaceutical giant in April. However, the story began over two decades ago in 2004, when he was working as a New York Times pharmaceutical reporter and happened to meet a Johnson & Johnson drug sales representative at an airport bar.

The rep told Gardiner of unethical sales practices that devastated her family, pushing him to conduct investigations and ultimately publish No More Tears, a "blistering exposé of a trusted American institution and the largest healthcare conglomerate in the world."

The book sheds light on "decades of deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that have threatened the lives of millions," including lies about the brand's baby powder being linked to cancer, marketing tactics that heightened opioid addiction, the dangers of Tylenol, and more.

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

The Emperor of Gladness is an Oprah's Book Club pick set in East Gladness, Connecticut. One rainy night, a 19-year-old named Hai is preparing to jump off a bridge when Grazina, an elderly woman suffering from dementia, yells from across the river and urges him to reconsider.

Hai subsequently becomes Grazina's caretaker, and the pair develops an unexpected bond that helps revitalize Hai's relationship with himself and his overall community.

"Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul," per the synopsis.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Sunrise on the Reaping, the fifth novel in the iconic Hunger Games series, was published back in March, centering on Haymitch Abernathy's fight during the 50th annual Hunger Games.

Home to District 12, Haymitch is ultimately chosen during the reaping, which drew twice as many tributes due to the Quarter Quell. He's forced to leave his family and love interest behind to visit the Capitol and struggle to stay alive.

"As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight...and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena," the synopsis reads.

The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley (June 24, 2025)

The Girls Who Grew Big will be released on June 24 and follows a group of teenage moms who live in a small Florida town. The story begins with Adela Woods, a 16-year-old who's banished from her family home in Indiana to live with her grandmother in Padua Beach after becoming pregnant.

There, she encounters Emory, another teen mom who's set her sights on graduating from high school. So, she brings her newborn to class with her every day. Adela also meets Simone, who has 4-year-old twins and recently found herself pregnant again.

"The town thinks the girls have lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, and navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood," per the book's synopsis.

Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks and her partner of over 30 years, Tony Horwitz, worked together as foreign correspondents in conflict zones before settling on Martha's Vineyard and having two sons. They enjoyed writing during the day, cooking family dinners at night, and sharing humor throughout their lives together.

However, on Memorial Day in 2019, Geraldine learned that 60-year-old Tony had collapsed and died on a sidewalk in Washington, D.C. Immediately, she was inundated with demands that left her little room to grieve.

So, three years later, Geraldine flew to a remote island off the coast of Australia to mourn and wondered how the grieving rituals of other cultures could help her begin living again after Tony's passing.

"A spare and profoundly moving memoir that joins the classics of the genre, Memorial Days is a portrait of a larger-than-life man and a timeless love between souls that exquisitely captures the joy, agony, and mystery of life," the synopsis says.

Dead Money by Jacob Kerr

This thriller takes a gripping look at what can happen when a Silicon Valley mogul is murdered. Dead Money follows Mackenzie Clyde, a "problem solver" for a venture capitalist, who has to take on her biggest issue yet.

After the CEO of a startup is killed, and billions of dollars in "dead money" are left frozen in his will, Mackenzie has to work her magic. Her boss stands to lose a fortune, and the police aren't getting anywhere in the case.

"Mackenzie's a lawyer, not a detective. Cracking this fiendishly clever killing, with its list of suspects that reads like a who's-who of Valley power plays, should be way out of her league. Except that Mackenzie's used to being underestimated. In fact, she's counting on it," per the synopsis.

Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid, the acclaimed author of Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, is taking readers inside the 1980s space shuttle program with Atmosphere: A Love Story.

Joan Goodwin is working as a physics and astronomy professor at Rice University when she stumbles across an advertisement looking for female scientists to join NASA's space shuttle program. She'd always loved the stars, and the ad ignites a dream of going to space.

She's soon chosen to train at the Johnson Space Center in Houston alongside various other candidates, including a Top Gun pilot, a mission specialist, an aeronautical engineer, and more.

"As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changed in an instant," the synopsis reads.

Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles

Tina Knowles is a world-famous matriarch, as the mother of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and "bonus daughter" Kelly Rowland. Her aptly-named memoir chronicles her life, beginning as a young girl in 1950s Galveston when she started to grapple with the limitations that race placed on her. This drove Tina to escape Texas and find a new life.

"That life's journey–through grief and tragedy, creative and romantic risks and turmoil, the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts—is the remarkable story she shares with readers here. This is a page-turning chronicle of family love and heartbreak, of loss and perseverance, and of the kind of creativity, audacity, and will it takes for a girl from Galveston to change the world," per the synopsis.

Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride by Will Leitch

Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride is a twistedly humorous literary fiction novel about a man who's racing against the clock to provide for his son.

Lloyd McNeil, who's worked as an Atlanta beat cop for the past two decades, finds out he has just months to live. The big problem? He doesn't have enough money in the bank for Bishop, his teenage son.

But he learns that if he dies in the line of duty, his police benefits will drastically increase. So, Lloyd actually starts trying to get himself killed in all kinds of life-threatening situations, to no avail.

"To his shock, his accidental heroics make him an inspirational icon in the community. But time is still running out for Lloyd to get his affairs in order, to teach Bishop the lessons he needs to be a good person, and to say goodbye," the synopsis reads.

Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp

Published in March, Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash exposes the impact of the global garbage trade. The sheer amount of trash generated every single day has caused landfills and dumps to overflow and led to waste wars that few people even know about.

Author and journalist Alexander Clapp traveled to five continents over two years to "report deep inside the world of Javanese recycling gangsters, cruise ship dismantlers in the Aegean, Tanzanian plastic pickers, whistle-blowing environmentalists throughout the jungles of Guatemala, and a community of Ghanaian boys who burn Western cellphones and televisions for cents an hour."

These revelations made Alexander realize that most trash gets a "second life," where it's shipped, sold, or smuggled between nations and negatively impacts the world's poorest countries.

When We Ride by Rex Ogle

When We Ride centers on Diego Benevides, the son of a single mother who's been taught to focus on school and go to college. That way, he can escape their hometown.

Yet, after Diego is given a car, his relationship with his best friend, Lawson, becomes complicated. Lawson has been dealing drugs and needs a ride, and Diego is initially fine with it since the drugs are "just weed."

"But when Lawson starts carrying powder and pills and worse, their friendship is tested, and their lives are threatened. As the lines between dealer and driver blur, everything Diego has worked for is jeopardized, and he faces a deadly reckoning with the choices he and his best friend have made," per the synopsis.

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, has shed new light on Mark Twain in this New York Times bestseller.

It follows Mark, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, and his journey to becoming one of the most famous American writers. Mark Twain uses the icon's archives, including hundreds of unpublished manuscripts and thousands of letters, to paint a portrait of Mark, "whose career reflected the country's westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery."

Through reading Mark Twain, readers will learn about how his career was disrupted by the Civil War, pushing him to take a job at a local Nevada newspaper, writing under a pen name that remains immortalized in 2025.

Heartwood by Amity Gaige

Heartwood is a suspenseful tale about Valerie Gillis, a 42-year-old Appalachian Trail hiker who goes missing in Maine. As she fights to stay hopeful and alive, she starts writing letters to her mom.

Meanwhile, a Main State Game Warden named Beverly is intent on finding Valerie, and an elderly birdwatcher living in a retirement home in Connecticut turns out to be unexpectedly helpful.

"Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie's disappearance may not be accidental," the synopsis reads.

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams

This memoir chronicles Sarah Wynn-Williams' career at Facebook, the "pressure cooker of a workplace." It's a bittersweet story, showing how the highs, like going on private jet trips and brushing elbows with world leaders, were contrasted by lows, like misogyny and hypocrisy, showing "both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold."

She maps the rise of the social media platform alongside her "challenges and humiliations" of being a working mother, making Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism a candid tale about why things have gone so sideways over the last 10 years.

"Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us," per the synopsis.

The Names by Florence Knapp

The Names asks a burning question: can your moniker change your fate? It starts when the protagonist, Cora, has to leave in the middle of a storm to register her son's birth. Her husband, a doctor named Gordon, might have a solid reputation in town, but at home, he terrifies her. And he wants their son to be named after him.

However, when Cora is asked for her name choice by the registrar, she pauses, and what ensues are varying storylines, all dependent on her selection.

"Spanning 35 years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and her young son's lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing," the synopsis reads.

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Eerlick

Known as the Poppy Fields, a controversial treatment center in the California desert lets people dealing with loss literally sleep through their pain. And when they wake up, they're supposed to feel healed, as long as they're okay with some possible side effects.

Four people set out to visit the Poppy Fields, including a fireman, a book illustrator, an occupational therapist, and a free spirit. Plus, there's a little dog, PJ.

"As they attempt to make their way from the Midwest all the way west to the Poppy Fields—where they hope to find Ellis, its brilliant, enigmatic founder—each of their past secrets and mysterious motivations threatens to derail their voyage," per the synopsis.

Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America by Jeff Hobbs

Due to poverty and domestic violence, a single mother of six named Evelyn found herself in Los Angeles in 2018. She doesn't want to turn to the family crisis network since there's no guarantee her kids will stay together and attend a decent school. So, she spends five years working as a full-time waitress.

Nonetheless, Evelyn still isn't able to afford "legitimate housing" or even qualify for aid from the government. Still, she continues trying to provide for her children the best she can until she meets Wendi, a social worker who has lived through her own housing crisis.

Seeking Shelter is told through multiple perspectives, exploring poverty, homelessness, and education in the United States.

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Carley Fortune has delivered another contemporary romance tale with One Golden Summer. It centers on Alice, who summered at a cottage on the lake in Barry's Bay with her grandmother at 17 years old, and captured a picture of three smiling teenagers on a boat.

Now, as an adult, she works as a photographer. But after her grandmother suffers a fall and breaks her hip, Alice concocts a plan for them to summer at Barry's Bay again. There, she encounters the same boat, driven by the grown-up Charlie Florek she'd previously photographed years ago.

He's a "shameless flirt" who makes Alice reminisce about being 17 again, and spending time with him starts to feel like soup for her soul.

"But when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart. Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back," the synopsis reads.