Man, trying to pinpoint the 'biggest' trends from that year is like herding cats, but 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' absolutely took over. It wasn't just a book; it was an event. My entire feed was people in glamorous makeup, debating which husband was the worst and sobbing over the ending. It felt like everyone was reading it at the same time, dissecting every line about love and legacy.
That book single-handedly made 'historical fiction with a celebrity twist' a whole sub-genre to watch. Suddenly, every recommendation list had 'if you loved Evelyn Hugo...' at the top. It also cemented Taylor Jenkins Reid's backlist as essential reading—people finally gave 'Daisy Jones & The Six' its flowers, too. The trend wasn't just about the plot; it was about the shared emotional breakdown in the comments.
I'd argue the real spark was the focus on complex, messy older women's narratives. It pushed against the young adult-dominated space and proved there's a massive, vocal audience for stories about a woman's whole life, not just her first love. Seeing that shift in what gets popular was pretty rewarding.