1. 25 Alive

James Paterson

Maxine Paetro

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Rating:  ★★☆☆☆ Gold tones, a woman with a gun, and big action vibes—but it’s Book 25 in a series we never met. Sorry, Patterson, we’re sitting this one out.

2. King of Envy

Ana Huang

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆ A cool title gets lost in a vague, perfume-bottle-meets-hand-grenade cover. We're confused, and not in a good way.

3. Great Big Beautiful Life

Emily Henry

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JABBIC Great Big Beautiful Life Book Review We practically needed SPF 50 to look at this cover—it’s blindingly loud, with…

13. James

Percival Everett

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆ This seems to be about a guy named James with a bindle, off on some journey—hardly a thrilling invitation to dive in.

14. Blood Moon

Sandra Brown

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆ We’ll give it credit for an intriguing title, but we wish we could actually see the image. Sandra Brown, tone it down.

1. Everything is Tuberculosis

John Green

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Rating: ★★★★☆ A soft, strange cover with a loud, outrageous title that makes you stop and ask, “Wait, is my couch tuberculosis?”

2. Abundance

Derek Thompson

Ezra Klein

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆ A quietly earnest cover that hints at global solutions — but fails to make us curious enough to open the book.

3. The Tears of Things

Richard Rohr

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Rating: ★★★☆☆ It piqued our interest, but the bait-and-switch from outrage to existential grief leaves us unsure of what we’re in for.

4. I’ll Have What She’s Having

Chelsea Handler

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆ A glitzy, chaotic cover that screams Chelsea Handler first and a book title second—if you love her, you’re in; if not, there’s nothing here to make you want to pick the book up.

5. The Art of the SNL Portrait

mary ellen matthews

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Rating: ★★★★☆ A bold, eye-catching cover that immediately grabs our attention with its surreal humor—though the illustration style makes us wonder if it truly represents the photography inside.