October is a big month of new releases, and that includes a whole lot of titles that check off 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks. We’re starting to get close to the end of the year, so now is the time to finalize your plans for how to complete any outstanding tasks. Hopefully, some of these books will be exactly what you were looking for.
Task #1: Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author.
The Salvage by Anbara Salam
When marine archeologist Marta Khoury is called to a remote Scottish isle to explore a recently uncovered Victorian shipwreck, she expects salvage to be the most interesting thing she finds. Instead, she’s snowed in as the Cuban Missile Crisis rages halfway across the globe and becomes convinced a shadowy figure stalks her every step, even as she searches for the ship’s artifacts, which have, mysteriously, disappeared. —Rachel Brittain
#3: Read a queer mystery.
All of Us Murderers by K.J. Charles
The author of The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen brings us a fresh gothic mystery following two ex-lovers who must find some way to reconcile under the flickering gaslight of Lackaday House, where they’ve both been summoned to compete for the hand of a young bride—and all the wealth she’ll inherit. Zeb has no interest in playing into these games, but when he tries to leave, he discovers there’s no way out. In this game of love and haunted houses, winning is less important than making it out alive. —Rachel Brittain
All Access members, read on for four more new books in October that complete 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks.
#6: Read a standalone fantasy book.
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
#14: Read a comic in translation.
Nocturnos by Laura Pérez, Translated by Andrea Rosenberg
Can’t get enough of those opening sequences from Only Murders in the Building? Pérez, who designed them, has released a new graphic novel featuring a series of stories that explore the mystical and frightening events that happen at night. —Eileen Gonzalez
#16: Read a genre-blending book.
When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee (Tor Books, October 21)
In this debut historical dark fantasy, a young loner searches for the killer who took the life of her mother, Madam Butterfly, the head of a gang. Her hunt will take her deep into the gang’s violent world and the city’s seedy underbelly, where the body count continues to grow. —Liberty Hardy
#18: Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author.
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
It’s a new charming fantasy from the author of The Teller of Small Fortunes! Certainty is a novice mage unable to perform much magic and, therefore, not much of a help. But when she’s paired up for a task with overachiever Aurelia, whose talents have alienated everyone, the two form an unlikely bond that may bloom into something more. —Liberty Hardy
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