52 Books Coming Out in 2025 That You Need to Know About - Part 1
Gird your TBRs
Hello!
New year, new reads! And I have 52 books coming out in 2025 that should be on your radar. (And this is only for the first half of the year! We’ll cover back half releases later—a lot of them don’t even have covers yet!).
We’re doing this in two parts because the whole thing was so egregiously long, I couldn’t fathom anyone reading it all. Look out for part 2 next Tuesday. In the meantime, pour a beverage, crack your back, and open your Libby app: let’s dive in.
* = I’ve already read and enthusiastically endorse!
In this house, we love supporting first-time authors!
1. Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff | Jan 7: An actress comes unraveled when she starts therapy while filming an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. Goodreads reviewers call this book “tense” and “suspenseful.”
2. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight | Jan 7: A university student goes sleuthing for family secrets at the English Manor of a family friend and finds first love in the process. This has book club fodder written all over it—in fact, it’s the January “Read with Jenna” pick.
3. Deep Cuts* by Holly Brickley | Feb 25: A literary romance about two Berkeley students whose love of music trumps their chances for romantic love. Think: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but swap video games for the early-aughts indie music scene.
4. Liquid: A Love Story by Mariam Rahmani | March 11: A muslim PhD grad who fancies herself the smartest person in any room abandons academia to devote herself to “marrying rich.” Pitched for fans of Kaveh Akbar and Elif Batuman.
5. Early Thirties by Josh Duboff | Mar 18: Imagine a reboot of GIRLS if Hannah Horvath was a gay male entertainment reporter. An ensemble story for the extremely online about niche online dramas and the very real effects they have on their offline lives.
6. Any Trope But You* by Victoria Lavine | Apr 1: The EmHen girlies (me!) are going to be feral for this trope-filled novel about a romance writer who escapes to the Alaskan wilderness in the wake of her online cancellation, only to run headlong into the arms of the hotel proprietor’s too-good-to-be-real son.
7. The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff | Apr 22: A multi-generational saga about a Texas family whose history is riddled with secrets and addiction. If you’re a Claire Lombardo reader, this sounds right up your alley.
8. Favorite Daughter by Morgan Dick | Apr 29: Estranged half-sisters are begrudgingly brought together when their problematic father leaves his fortune to just one sister. But in order to receive it, she must attend a series of therapy sessions. The problem? The therapist is her sister.
9. The Names by Florence Knapp | May 6: “What’s in a name?” this book asks, as the narrative explores three Sliding Doors scenarios of different lives for the son of a mother trapped in an abusive marriage based on the name she gives him.
10. After Taste by Daria Lavelle | May 20: Food story meets ghost story in this speculative novel about a talented and ambitious chef who can reunite diners with a dead loved one for the duration of a meal.
11. Sunny Side Up* by | June 24: A Sex and the City for the next generation follows Sunny, a recently-divorced, plus-sized newsletter writer who channels her love of fashion into launching a swim line, all while managing modern-day dating disasters. Fun and New York-y and oh so, Katie! If you’re one of her 800K+ Instagram followers (or even if you’re not), you’re going to love this.
We’ve been waiting for you. Here are 5 new books that are part of pre-existing series.
12. Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams | Jan 7: I didn’t think clean romance was for me, but this series has so much delicious tension you won’t even miss the spice. This book follows Emily (the bossy teacher sister) and her rival second-grade teacher. Though the series is loosely connected and you could start here, I’d be sad for you to miss out on the first two (book 2 is my fave).
13. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros | Jan 21: Fantasy fans have been counting down to the third installment of the Fourth Wing series, and if anything happens to Andarna or Tairn, I will be holding the publisher liable for damages.
14. Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn | Mar 11: My favorite granny assassins are back in this series that’s Grace & Frankie meets Ocean’s 8.
15. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore | Mar 13: I have so many to catch up on, but there’s yet another book in the Pumpkin Spice Café universe. This one follows two characters who I’m not even sure are introduced in the first book? But, if you need to unplug your brain, this small-town romance series will do it (complimentary).
16. The Love We Found by Jill Santopolo | Mar 18: I’m so thrilled about this sequel to The Light We Lost that I won’t even complain it’s been 7 years (well… complain much). I don’t know how to pitch this to you without heavy spoilers for the first one (WHICH I ALL-CAPS ADORED! Maybe you did, too?). I assume we’ll want to stock up on tissues.
Just some books I have a feeling people are going to be talking about (maybe that includes your book club? or maybe you can be the in-the-know friend to tell them about these!).
17. The Favorites* by Layne Fargo | Jan 14: Daisy Jones and the Six meets I, Tonya in this delicious, soapy novel about a notorious figure skating couple (also first loves). Told partly as an oral history and partly in real-time narrative, I could not rip myself away.
18. Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson | Jan 28: Wilkerson has a tough act to follow after her debut, 2022’s Black Cake, but I’m already hearing great things about this sophomore novel that unravels a crime committed against a Black family in a predominantly white New England suburb.
19. This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer | Feb 4: Elin Hilderbrand made a grid post calling this book an “ABSOLUTE MUST” (caps hers), so I immediately added it to my list. This multi-POV recounting of the fifty-year love between two people as the wife is on her deathbed sounds like it will destroy me in the best possible way.
20. Crush by Ada Calhoun | Feb 25: I wasn’t sure if we’d consider this a debut since it’s a first novel written by a widely acclaimed poet. In it, a couple explores opening their marriage, which leads the wife headlong into the equally fizzy and gut-wrenching experience of a crush. This feels primed to be the All Fours of 2025, and already has the diametrically opposed Goodreads reviews to prove it.
21. Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche | Mar 4: The first new novel in ten years from the author of Americanah. This one, spanning the US and Nigeria, explores the nature of love and whether happiness is actually achievable via four female protagonists.
22. Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall | Mar 4: I remember
read this book last year and predicted it was going to be THE book club book of the year (for me that conjures images of Lessons in Chemistry or Where the Crawdads Sing). And reading the description, which includes mention a love triangle and the mystery of a dead farmer, secrets and a stranger returning to town, I think she might be onto something with this theory.
23. Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley | Mar 11: Date night is interrupted for a couple twenty years into a lackluster marriage, when climate activists take the entire restaurant hostage. It’s would be terrifying… except, the whole thing is eerily reminiscent of the plot of Jane’s failed novel. This sounds zany and unique with whiffs of Bel Canto, and I am ready for it.
24. Heartwood by Amity Gage | Apr 1: Another
rec.1 An experienced hiker goes missing on the Appalachian trail and while she battles the elements, the outside world—including an unlikely armchair detective in the form of a 76-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community—races to find her.25. The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by | Apr 8: Two sisters—also halves of an early-aughts pop duo—are estranged until one of their daughters, determined to become famous herself, starts digging into their past and what broke up the band.
As I mentioned up top, 27 more coming next week. Get ready!
Happy reading,
Becca
P.S. Putting this guide together was quite an undertaking (one I love, but still). If you value this work and are in a position to afford it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Book recs are always free, but paid subscribers get access to travel guides, more personal content (like last week’s peek inside 6 people’s journals—including mine!), Q&A’s, and more. Paid subscribers also make free work like this possible.
Honestly, she hasn’t stopped talking about this book since reading it. If I was a betting woman—and one could bet on such things—I’d put money on this being our April BOP book club pick (it’s Olivia’s month to pick, not mine).
ok paid content suggestion: unveil your incredibly impressive notion set up for tracking *all this* bc it is kind of mind blowing
A new Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie! how did I not know! So excited