25 Most Anticipated 2025 Book Releases I Can't Wait to Read - Mollie Reads (2024)

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I can’t believe 2024 is winding down, and with it a year of highly anticipated fiction reads. The new year is sure to bring some of the best book club books of all time, from gripping thrillers and romance reads to literary and historical fiction. These are my most anticipated books of 2025, with some debut releases and some returning beloved authors!

PSST: If you don’t know me, HEY. 👋 I’m a book blogger and professional freelance editor, so books are my world. Happy you found me! I read pretty diversely—mostly “book club books” or domestic fiction, but you’ll see lots of literary fiction, romance, and thrillers on my nightstand. Stick around if you’re looking for your next read!

Anyway, book trends for 2025 seem to favor a growing interest in the impact of technology and social media (sooo much speculative fiction and dystopian literature), but i’m curious what else will pop up.

From 2025 spring books to 2025 fall and winter books, I’m definitely hopeful I’m going to be adding some new books to the favorites list.

25 Upcoming Book Releases in 2025 to Add to Your Reading List ASAP

Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin

This psychological thriller sounds so dark, but also so intriguing. I love a good motherhood story, and with a supernatural spin? It sounds downright chilling.

Clever Little Thing is said to be both thought-provoking and deeply emotional. There’s also some autism representation, but I’m not sure how it will be represented, so fingers crossed it’s a good one.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A taut, powerful mom-noir psychological thriller following a mother who must confront a sudden and terrifying change in her daughter after the abrupt death of their babysitter.

Charlotte’s daughter Stella is sensitive and brilliant, perhaps even a genius, but a recent change in her behavior has alarmed her parents. Following the sudden death of Stella’s babysitter, Blanka, the once disruptive and anti-social child has become docile and agreeable.

But what’s unsettling is that she has begun to mirror Blanka’s personality, from Blanka’s repetitive phrases to her accent, to fierce cravings for Armenian meat stew after being raised a vegetarian.

Charlotte is pregnant with her second child and depleted and sick with the pregnancy. She is convinced that Blanka herself is somehow responsible for Stella’s transformation. But how could Blanka, dead, still be entwined in their lives?

Has Blanka somehow possessed Stella? Has Stella become Blanka? As Charlotte becomes increasingly obsessed, she is sure that only she can save her daughter. . . even though it’s soon clear that her husband believes this is all in Charlotte’s head.

Helena Echlin’s singular, chilling voice holds light to the blurred lines of diagnosis in children and to the vital power of maternal instinct.

Kaleidoscopic and tense, pulse-pounding and genuinely creepy, and infused with shades of the supernatural, Clever Little Thing is an ode to motherhood and a nuanced critique of the caretaking industry, a page-turner that will haunt readers long after its epic, surprising finale.

Clever Little Thing will be published on January 14, 2025, from Pamela Dorman Books.

Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian

Talk about books reflecting real life!! The 2025 book trends of internet culture, influencer life, egg freezing, and reflections of motherhood are all present, it seems, in Goddess Complex, which is described as a book of feminist satire.

I’m really curious to see how I’ll like this one. It definitely touches on some fascinating topics, although they might be quite heavy. Even so, I imagine the thriller parts of this book will be enough to keep me turning pages.

By the way, some of the best thriller books of 2024 had to do with internet culture and influencer lifestyle, so definitely check it out if that interests you too!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

From the author ofGold Diggers, a biting examination of millennial adulthood, the often fraught conversations around fertility and reproduction, and the painful quest to forge an identity.

Sanjana Satyanandais trying to recover her life. It’s been a year since she walked out on her husband, a struggling actor named Killian, at a commune in India, after a disagreement about whether to have children.

Now, Sanjana is struggling to resurrect her busted anthropology dissertation and crashing at her annoyingly perfect sister’s while her similarly well-adjusted peers obsess over marriages, mortgages, and motherhood. Sanjana needs to move forward—and finalize her divorce, ASAP.

There’s just one problem: Killian is missing. As Sanjana tries to track him down, she’s bombarded with unnerving calls from women seeking her advice on pregnancy and fertility.

Soon, Sanjana comes face to face—literally—with what her life might have been if she’d chosen parenthood. And the road not taken turns out to be wilder, stranger, and more tempting than she imagined.

A darkly funny, vertiginous novel about the dilemmas of procreation, pregnancy, and parenting,Goddess Complexis both a twist-filled psychological thriller and a feminist satire of our age of GirlBosses turned self-care influencers, optimization cults, internet mommy gurus, egg freezing, and so much more.

Goddess Complex will be published on March 11, 2025, from Penguin Press.

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers was one of my favorite books of 2023 (here’s my full, in-depth review!), and definitely the most surprising. In this first novel, I fell in love with Vera as an amateur sleuth and grandmother figure, and I always love books about women in the “second act” of their lives.

I was so excited to see there would be another cozy mystery with Vera! Also, **gasp** this one seems to have to do with an influencer gone missing, too! Again, definitely a theme I’m noticing in some of my most anticipated books of 2025.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Vera Wong is back and as meddling as ever in this follow-up to the hitVera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. . . .

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera’s teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend!

All thanks to Vera, because Tilly’s girlfriend is none other than Officer SelenaGray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn’t be ungrateful, even if one is slightly . . . bored.

Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance. The young woman is looking for a missing friend. Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tilly and Selena’s, Vera finds a treasure Selena’s briefcase.Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer—who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.

Online, Xander had it a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer.

The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can’t seem to actually identify him. Who is Xander Lin? Nobody knows. Every contact is a dead end. Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.

Vera is determined to solve Xander’s murder. After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, andthere is nothing she wouldn’t do for her future daughter-in-law.

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man will be published on April 1, 2025, from Berkley.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

Oh, Patti Callahan Henry. Her book The Secret Book of Flora Lea DESTROYED me in the best way. I know a literary mystery by her will do the same.

It looks like this one will also have to do with a mother-daughter/female generational story, and I can’t wait to dive into this one.

Plus, YES, it’s set in South Carolina, close to my own stomping grounds. We love a powerful novel with a good family secrets story set in the South!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Inspired by a true literary mystery,New York Timesbestselling author of the mesmerizingThe Secret Book of Flora Leareturns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.

In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old.

Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more her beautiful mother.

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical.

Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District.

It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose,The Story She Left Behindis a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.

The Story She Left Behind will be published on March 18, 2025, by Atria Books.

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

This book looks soo good! As I mentioned already, I love a good amateur sleuth story. If you’re a true crime fan, I think you’ll probably want to pick up This Book Will Bury Me—or at least that’s what the true crime internet community is saying.

I’ve heard this one is multilayered and twisted, but I am a little nervous to dive in since I’m hearing it closely compares to the real Idaho college murders, which is still very much so in the public eye because the murderer is still on trail. That feels a little icky, but we’re going to see how how we feel when the time comes.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

From the bestselling author ofIn My Dreams I Hold a KnifeandMidnight is the Darkest Hourcomes a chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches.

It’s the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story.

After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory . . .

So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don’t add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence.

When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions. Something’s not adding up, and they begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they’ve faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap . . .

Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans.

This Book Will Bury Me will be published on March 25, 2025, from Sourcebooks Landmark.

The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

There’s nothing I love more than a writing-focused romantic comedy. Well, maybe one with a bit of reality TV thrown into the mix. I mean!? Come on! This one looks so sweet.

The reviews so far are fantastic, and most reviewers are saying it’s a charming, witty, and sizzling read. I can’t wait to get into this one in the new year!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Temi and Wale meet in London. They flirt, date, meet each other’s friends.

. . . Then Wale dumps Temi to go on Love Villa.

Instead of giving in to heartbreak, Temi throws herself into her dream: writing. She’s within touching distance of a book deal that would solve all her problems. But publishers keep passing on her novel and bills still have to be paid. So, when the opportunity to ghost-write a celebrity autobiography arises, Temi finds herself accepting.

And, of course, the celebrity turns out to be Wale . . .

Has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?

The Re-Write will be published on February 20, 2025, from Penguin.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake was one of my favorite books when it came out, and Good Dirt looks like it’s going to be just as good. This sounds incredibly emotional. I love a multigenerational epic with a mystery thrown in!

Good Dirt has multiple POVs and explores a variety of heavy but important topics, such as grief, trauma, mental health, the effects of racism, ancestry and personal history, etc. If your book club loves hard-hitting historical or literary fiction, this might be one to check out.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from theNew York Timesbestselling author ofBlack Cake,a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.

Good Dirt will be published on January 28, 2025, from Ballantine Books.

A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young

This twisty small-town mystery sounds so different from The Unmaking of June Farrow, but it sounds addictive! Now, I hear there is a supernatural element, which I’m here for, and that the story is actually quite shocking. I also found out there’s a twin connection, which I LOVE (I’m a twin, in case you didn’t know!).

Really excited to see what this mystery is all about and how it will intertwine with the magical elements. Also eager to see if it will live up to the hype of The Unmaking of June Farrow!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A woman investigates her brother’s mysterious death while coming to terms with her own haunting past in this atmospheric novel from theNew York Timesbestselling author ofThe Unmaking of June Farrow

The only thing James and Johnny Golden have ever had is each other. For as long as she can remember, James’sdeep connection with her twin brother,Johnny,has gone beyond intuition—she can feel what he feels.

So, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she’s alone—truly alone—for the first time in her life.

When James arrives in the rural town of Hawthorne, California to settleher brother’saffairs,she’sforced to rehash the ominous past she and Johnny shared and finally face Micah, the only person who knows about it. He’s also the only man she’s ever loved.

But James soon discovers that the strange connection she had with Johnny isn’t quite gone, and the more she immerses herself into his world, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew.

Johnny was keeping secrets, and he’s not the only one. What she uncovers will push her to unravel what happened in the days before Johnny’s death, but in the end, she’ll have to decide which truths should come to light, and which should stay buried forever.

A Sea of Unspoken Things will be published on January 7, 2025, from Delacorte Press.

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

I’m not the biggest Jojo Moyes fan—nothing wrong with her. I’m just not a super fan like some readers! But this book about a blended family sounds so wonderful and sweet.

I really like reading about multidimensional characters in a messy family. I suspect this will be an easy book to read with characters I won’t want to say goodbye to.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach about love, and what it actually means to be family.

We All Live Here will be published on February 11, 2025, from Pamela Dorman Books.

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

I know a lot of Carley Fortune fans who are excited about this one! It seems like it’s going to be the #1 pick for summer 2025 reads. I’ll need to check out her backlist titles first, but once I do, I’m going to pick this one up.

I know a beautiful Canadian landscape in the summer will be the perfect atmospheric book to add to the summer 2025 reading list.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune.

I never anticipated Charlie Florek.

Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.

Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay.

But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.

Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun.

Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s 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.

One Golden Summer will be published on May 6, 2025, from Berkley.

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

Abby Jimenez just has the TOUCH. She knows how to write those emotional but still sweet and heartwarming romance novels. This one seems like the enemies-to-lovers story we LOVE.

It also seems like there will be a good deal of family drama in Say You’ll Remember Me, which makes sense.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

From the #1New York Timesbestselling author ofJust for the Summercomes a new playful yet deeply emotional contemporary romance.

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comesdisastrouslyclose. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten?Immediately yes.

That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong . . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake.

But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible.

Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget thatsomethingbetween them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

Say You’ll Remember Me will be published on April 1, 2025, from Piatkus.

The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight

This book intrigues me, but we’ll see if it lives up to the cover. I’ve heard a few readers say it’s not like Remarkably Bright Creatures, even though the title and cover will inevitably remind you of that quirky, fabulous book.

But even so, I’m anticipating this one! It’s about friendship, motherhood, family secrets, love . . . all the right ingredients, if you ask me! Excited to see if it fits the bill.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s—now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox—lives.

When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love.

As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life.

A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world,The Life Cycle of the Common Octopusasks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward.

The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus will be published on January 7, 2025, from Pamela Dorman Books.

The Influencers by Anna-Marie McLemore

Social media/influencer mystery! This is now a book blog all about internet fame 😂 . But really, why do I love stories about influencers so much!?

This one seems to have a lot to say about our current age, especially when it has to do with race, gender, and sexuality. I’ve also heard it’s written from an unusual POV.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A social media influencer’s empire is burned to the ground—literally. The top suspects? The five daughters who made her famous.

“Mother May I” Iverson has spent the past twenty years building a massively successful influencer empire with endearing videos featuring her five mixed-race daughters.

But the girls are all grown up now, and the ramifications of having their entire childhoods commodified start to spill over into public view, especially in light of the pivotal Who killed May’s newlywed husband and then torched her mansion to cover it up?

April is a businesswoman feuding with her mother over IP; twins June and July are influencers themselves, threatening to overtake May’s spotlight; January is a theater tech who steers clear of her mother and the limelight; and the youngest . . . well, March has somehow completely disappeared.

As the days pass post-murder, everyone has an opinion—the sisters, May, a mysterious “friend of the family,” and the collective voice of the online audience watching the family’s every move—with suspicion flying every direction.

A campy and escapist exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and class,The Influencersis an evisceration of influencer culture and how alienating traditional expectations can be, ripe for the current moment when the first generation of children made famous by their parents are, now, all grown up—and looking for retribution.

The Influencers will be published on April 15, 2025, from Dial Press.

The Eights by Joanna Miller

It’s been a while since I’ve read a good historical fiction book set during this time period! And of course, a good sister story will always make my list.

Plus, I’ve never really read anything about the first cohort of women formally enrolled in Oxford University, and this seems like a fascinating subject for a novel.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

They knew they were changing history.
They didn’t know they would change each other.

Following the unlikely friendship of four of the first ever women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War, a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination and the many forms courage can take.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way—and some friends her own age.

Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford—where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.

But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.

The Eights will be published on March 27, 2025, from Fig Tree.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

At this point, I will read Emily Henry’s grocery list! I love her books so much.

(Pssst, here’s my review of Happy Place and my review of Funny Story!)

Great Big Beautiful Life sounds REALLY good, and dare I say it (**gasp**) the most like Beach Read?! Maybe?? But for real, I audibly gasped when I saw the release date. How does she keep coming out with these bangers year after year?!

This seems like such a multilayered story, and if the chemistry is the same as in her other books, I’m sure I’ll devour this book in the new year! TikTok will surely make me do it lol.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives.

Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

Great Big Beautiful Life will be published on April 22, 2025, from Berkley.

Back After This by Linda Holmes

Good news for me! I adored Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo by Linda Holmes, so I will happily pick up anything she writes. This one sounds really good for the new year!

I really like when books incorporate different media platforms, and I think a podcast producer will be an interesting job for a main character. I only hope Cecily is as endearing as Evvie Drake!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Back After This will be published on February 25, 2025, from Ballantine Books.

It’s a Love Story by Annabel Moaghan

This Annabel Monaghan story sounds the most like Nora Goes Off Script, which is definitely my favorite one! Looks like it’s got a forced proximity trope, too, and maybe enemies to lovers? We’ll see.

Annabel Monaghan is usually a safe bet for a sweet, clean romance, so definitely add this one to your list if popular books in the romance category are up your alley!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love.

Rules for a love story: There are none. It’s all a lie.

Jane Jackson knows that true love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth—you can’t fake a belly laugh. Jane should know, she spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punchline on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom.

Now she’s a Creative Executive at Clearwater Studios and she’s living by a new mantra: Fake it till you make it.

Except, she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she opened her mouth and a big fat fib fell out.

She claimed that Jack Quinlan, hottest popstar of the moment, has promised to write an original song for the soundtrack. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years.

Now, Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island, and Dan has an in.

A week in close quarters with Dan while facing down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but Dan just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

It’s a Love Story will be published on May 27, 2025, from G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child was a favorite read for me, and definitely one of the best book club books for winter. I think Eowyn is exceptionally gifted, especially when it comes to writing beautiful Alaskan adventure stories.

I will most likely be adding this one to my favorite cozy winter reads list, but we’ll see!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

An unforgettable reimagining ofBeauty and the Beastthat asks the question: can love save us from ourselves?

Birdie’s keeping it together, of course she is. So she’s a little hungover sometimes on her shifts, and she has to bring her daughter Emaleen to work while she waits tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but it’s a tough town to be a single mother, and Emaleen never goes hungry.

Arthur Neilsen is a soft-spoken recluse, with scars across his face, who brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods one day. He speaks with a strange cadence, appears in town only at the change of seasons, and is avoided by most people. But to Birdie he represents everything she’s ever longed for.

He lives in a cabin in the mountains on the far side of the Wolverine River and tells Birdie about the caribou, marmots and wild sheep that share his untamed world. She falls in love with him and the land he knows so well. Against the warnings of those who care about her, Birdie moves to his isolated cabin.

She and her daughter are alone with Arthur in a vast wilderness, hundreds of miles from roads, telephones, electricity, or outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. She can start a fire and cook on a wood stove. She has her rifle and fishing rod. But soon Birdie realizes she is not prepared for what lies ahead.

Black Woods, Blue Sky will be published on February 11, 2025, from Random House.

The Matchmaker by Aisha Saeed

Fake dating trope, but in a cat-and-mouse mystery? Yes, please! I love wedding stories, and this one seems perfect for spring or summer of 2025. Also, a book that follows the elite of Atlanta sounds super interesting.

Most reviewers are saying it’s a uniquely told story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A society matchmaker realizes she’s in danger when her clients’ weddings are sabotaged in increasingly disturbing ways—an utterly original mystery fromNew York Timesbestselling author Aisha Saeed.

Nura Khan is a third-generation matchmaker in Atlanta and business has never been better. Her exclusive clientele benefits from her impeccable track record.

And while a single thirty-one-year-old matchmaker would normally raise some perfectly threaded eyebrows in the community, Nura’s childhood best friend Azar is willing to double as her pretend fiancé at her clients’ weddings—as long as Nura is able to hide that her feelings for him might not be so pretend.

But Nura quickly learns that all that glitters isn’t gold. While it’s not uncommon to get the occasional hate mail from rejected prospective clients, after a couple’s carefully constructed wedding implodes, Nura is blindsided by a cascading chain of increasingly terrifying events and realizes someone is taking things too far.

With Azar by her side, Nura embarks on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that threatens not only her safety but everything she’s worked so hard to build.

The Matchmaker will be published on April 8, 2025, from Bantam.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten

Anything compared to The Guest List is going to get my attention! I loved a remote island murder story, haha. This one sounds so good! It seems like it will have a dual timeline and will be another podcaster true crime junkie story, but I’ve heard it’s unputdownable!

I’m hoping it will be as atmospheric as a Lucy Foley read, but we shall see!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

ScreammeetsThe Guest Listin this wickedly compelling and compulsively page-turning thriller of friendship and murder from the author ofThe Lost Village,Camilla Sten.

On a remote, craggy island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina—meet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life’s expectations.

The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives.

Ten years later.Ever since she was a teenager, Tessa Nilsson has been consumed by the story of four friends who disappeared on their annual trip to a remote island together. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa urgently covered Sweden’s most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared, leaving a few maddening clues but no concrete answers.

Now Tessa’s podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.

Anneliese is Tessa’s best friend, and before she walks down the aisle, she wants to have a bachelorette party. The Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast—one with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago that it raises the hair on Tessa’s neck.

The idea is to drink gallons of cava, do sunrise yoga, and get in their last chance to bond with the bride. Tessa will not pass this up. It’s her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.

The Bachelorette Party will be published on June 10, 2025, from Minotaur Books.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

I don’t have too many books on my 2025 reading list like this one, and a feminist historical fiction 1960s book sounds perfect, especially one that has to do with The Feminine Mystique.

I knew I’d be in love with the premise, but I’m really looking forward to the execution. Fingers crossed it’s inspiring and hopeful!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Four dissatisfied sixties-era housewives form a book club turned sisterhood that will hold fast amid the turmoil of a rapidly changing world and alter the course of each of their lives.

By early 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan, Viv Buschetti, and Bitsy Cobb, suburban housewives in a brand-new “planned community” in Northern Virginia, appear to have it all. The fact that “all” doesn’t feel like enough leaves them feeling confused and guilty, certain the fault must lie with them.

Things begin to change when they form a book club with Charlotte Gustafson—the eccentric and artsy “new neighbor” from Manhattan—and read Betty Friedan’s just-released book,The Feminine Mystique.

Controversial and groundbreaking, the book struck a chord with an entire generation of women, helping them realize that they weren’t alone in their dissatisfactions, or their longings, lifting their eyes to new horizons of possibility and achievement. Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv are among them.

But is it really the book that alters the lives of these four very different women? Or is it the bond of sisterhood that helps them find courage to confront the past, navigate turmoil in a rapidly changing world, and see themselves in a new and limitless light?

The Book Club for Troublesome Women will be published on April 22, 2025, from Harper Muse.

Swept Away by Beth O’Leary

I loved The Switch by Beth O’Leary, and I think she’s really good at writing sweet rom-coms that hit you right in the feels. I loved a good forced proximity trope, so we’ll see if this one hits the mark.

If you like to read romance WITH adventure, definitely check this one out. The reviews have been pretty great so far.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Lost at sea . . . with your one-night stand.

Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn’t she?

Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he’ll break his rules . . .

Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together.

The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night together, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There’s just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea.

As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the waves pick up, Zeke and Lexi soon realise there’s much more on the line than their new relationship.

How long can they really survive on a drifting houseboat in the North Sea? Will search and rescue find them? And who will they be if they both make it back to dry land?

Swept Awayis the epic new romance from the million-copy bestselling author ofThe FlatshareandThe No-Showabout your one-night stand becoming your one and only lifeline. Sharp, funny and breathtakingly intense, this standout novel is set to capture readers’ hearts next spring.

Swept Away will be published on April 10, 2025, from Quercus.

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton

This sounds like a BIG story about human connection in an interesting setting! I think it’s going to be a page-turner, but I also think it’s going to stick with me for a while. I love a small, close-knit community coming together with a common goal.

I’ve never read Kira Jane Buxton before, but I know she has some dedicated readers and is one of those award-winning authors I’ve always been interested in trying. I’m looking forward to diving in next year!

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Thurber Prize finalist and author of the beloved Hollow Kingdom returns with another fantastical and endlessly funny story featuring a cast of colorful characters in a dying Italian village and a giant truffle that changes their fate forever.

After nearly losing the election to a geriatric but wildly popular donkey named Maurizio, newly installed Mayor Delizia Miccuci can’t help but feel like the sun has finally set on the rural Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino.

Tourists only stop by to ask for directions, Nonna Amara’s cherished ristorante is long shuttered, and the town hall is disgustingly overrun with glis glis poo—even Postman Duccio has been disgraced.

All that’s left is Bar Celebrità, a rustic establishment where weary locals gather to quibble over decades-long disputes, submit their poor stomachs to bartender Giuseppina’s volcanic espresso, and wonder what will become of the place where together they’ve spent their entire lives.

Little do the villagers know that, mere miles away in the forest, local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza has just happened upon something that could change everything.

Swollen to massive proportions, soaking the atmosphere in its pungent fumes, potentially worth six figures in certain international circles, a truffle—un tartufo, that is—sits beneath the soil with the power to either be the greatest gift or the foulest curse the village has ever seen—they’re not completely sure which since Giuseppina’s psychic was a bit unclear on the matter.

Tartufo is much more than a charming romp through the foothills of Tuscany.

Written in the same enchanting style and raucous humor that defines Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures, Buxton’s newest story is a reflection on the interconnectedness of life in all its manifestations—and how holding on to harmony in the face of hardship can grow something beautiful and rare beneath the surface.

Tartufo will be published on January 28, 2025, from Grand Central Publishing.

Most Anticipated Books of 2025 for Your Ever-Growing List

I may not be able to read all of these books in 2025 when they’re released—I know my attention is going to be pulled to other new releases and backlist books (ahem, still some on my most anticipated books of 2024 list! But these are certainly the 2025 books on my radar.

There are also some others that either don’t have covers yet or official publisher blurbs, but I’m excited to read them because they’re written by #BOOKFRIENDS! Plus, they all sound amazing:

• The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager (@NYCbookgirl): Pitched for readers of In Five Years and Remarkably Bright Creatures, which . . . I mean, YES. Morgan is such a great follow!
• Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely (@SallyBlakely): This is billed as a grown-up The Summer I Turned Pretty meets Emily Henry, and I can’t WAIT! Sally is my #booktwin and I’m so excited for her!

As I strive to get make time for reading and pick books for the book club of my dreams, I’m sure I’ll create an ever-evolving 2025 to-be-read list. What are your most anticipated books of 2025? Tell me, won’t you?