Ones to watch! Hottest new book releases for 2025

Hungry? Cause this year is a right fiction feast. From dark fantasy and sizzling romcoms to pulse-pounding thrillers, here’s the most anticipated novels coming soon to a local bookstore near you.

Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid

She’s the mastermind behind TV sensation Daisy Jones and the Six which had us grooving to the 70s soundtrack for months back in 2023. Now, Taylor Jenkins Reid is back with another surefire hit, Atmosphere – an epic novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program and the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits. Following star obsessed Joan Goodwin, when she sees an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program, she practically launches at it. Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, just remember tissues.

OUT 3 JUNE

Gifted & Talented, Olivie Blake

Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six series propelled the writer to stratospheric heights, solidifying her status as a New York Times Best Seller. Naturally, her new book Gifted & Talented is hailed as one of the most anticipated of the year. The fact it’s described as Succession meets magic? Sold. This is the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities and the crushing weight of all their unrealised adolescent potential. Juicy.

OUT 3 APRIL

Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins

Hold me back, the anticipation is too much to handle. Suzanne Collin’s latest surprise installment in The Hunger Games universe is nearly here. This time, we follow the story of Haymitch Abernathy that takes place 24 years before the events of the original books. We already know Haymitch was a tribute in the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, but what actually transpired that led to Haymitch’s tragic lifelong spiral to drink and despair? I can’t wait to find out.

OUT 18 MAR

Iron & Embers, Helen B. Scheuerer

It’s all about fantasy in the bookish world right now. Few new releases come hotter than Helen Scheuerer’s Iron & Embers – an epic romantasy filled with a sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance, dark magic and a world of assassins and warriors. Trust me on this one, it’s well worth a read.

OUT 6 FEB

One Yellow Eye, Leigh Radford

I mean, the artwork alone is enough justification as to why this book should be the next addition to your home library. But the fact it’s also set to be an absolute corker also helps. Kesta has a secret. While her husband Tim was one of the last to be bitten in a zombie pandemic, he’s not quite dead yet. In fact, he’s tied to a bed in her spare room. But one thing’s for sure: she’s determined to find a cure and bring him back. Desperately compassionate, gruesome, and darkly comedic, BRB, just adding to my wishlist.

OUT 17 JULY

Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry

If you’ve ever even remotely dipped your toe into the world of BookTok (a fabulous community of bookworms taking over TikTok), you’d know Emily Henry is practically the Godmother. Her previous best selling hits include Happy Place, Beach Read, and Book Lovers. So say hello to Great Big Beautiful Life. It’s a dazzling new romance full of sizzling chemistry and a must-have in your beach bag this summer.

OUT 24 APRIL

The Mourning Necklace, Kate Foster

I was a HUGE fan of her debut novel, The Maiden, and sophomore read, The King’s Witches. Now, Kate Foster is back with her highly anticipated third book, The Mourning Necklace. It’s historical fiction that takes us way back to 1724, based on the infamous real-life case of Maggie Dickson, who one day, after being hanged for the murder of her newborn child, turns up to her family’s home bruised and dazed. It only begs the question: will they hang her twice? As usual, totally gripping stuff.

OUT 29 MAY

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V. E. Schwab

There’s always an insane amount of noise when V. E. Schwab releases a new book. Her The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is practically a modern day classic, and the anticipation for her upcoming release is all too real. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is about as mysterious as it sounds. Set across three timelines, we follow three women whose bodies are planted in the soil. One grows high, one grows deep, and one grows wild. And all of them grow teeth. Genre-defying, dark fantasy fiction coming in hot.

OUT 10 JUN

We All Live Here, Jojo Moyes

Ahh, the queen of feel-good, riveting novels that pull on every heart string. I’m a sucker for a Jojo Moyes book, and We All Live Here will undoubtedly be no different. In fact, Marian Keyes has described it as “the best book she has ever written”, so the bar has been set well and truly high. Get lost in the fresh, contemporary story of a woman and her unruly blended family.

OUT 11 FEB

My Friends, Fredrik Backman

There’s just something a little bit magic about a Fredrik Backman book. Moving, uplifting, and life-affirming, My Friends is the brand new novel bound to make you laugh and cry. This is a story about four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful, it changes a stranger’s life twenty-five years later. And if it’s anything like his million-copy bestselling phenomenon A Man Called Ove (also turned into a movie featuring Tom Hanks), it’s going to be glorious.

OUT 19 JUNE

Uncharmed, Lucy Jane Wood

Social media went pretty nuts over Rewitched – the debut release from Lucy Jane Wood last Autumn. Thankfully, it’s not long to wait until her follow-up novel graces our lives. Uncharmed is the new cosy fantasy starring perfect witch Annie Wildwood. But when she is tasked with mentoring a troubled teenage witch with extraordinary powers, Annie’s charmed existence is quickly thrown into utter chaos.

OUT 18 SEP

The Crash, Freida McFadden

Nothing like a pulse-pounding psychological thriller to send a chill down your spine. Freida McFadden is back. In case you haven’t heard, the plans to turn her bestselling book, The Housemaid, into a Hollywood hit is well under way, set to feature Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried no less. The Crash is equally full of riveting suspense and emotional twists. Eight months pregnant, alone, and stranded in a blizzard in rural Maine, when Teigen is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin, it feels like a miracle. Well, not quite. Something isn’t right, and as time ticks by, she comes to realise she is in grave danger.

OUT 28 JAN

We Do Not Part: A Novel, Han Kang

It’s the novel that won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2024, so you know it’s something special. Like a long winter’s dream, this haunting and visionary new novel from Han Kang takes us on a journey from contemporary South Korea into its painful history. An extraordinary read not to be missed.

OUT 6 FEB

Say You’ll Remember Me, Abby Jimenez

Another best selling juggernaut, Abby Jimenez’s new release, Say You’ll Remember Me already has us pretty hot under the collar. There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close, and quite frankly, I’m already swooning. After a mind-blowing first date, Samantha has too much on her plate to even entertain the idea of a new relationship. So, she asks Xavier to forget about her. Except, no amount of distance or time is enough to forget that very special something between them. Steamy.

OUT 1 APRIL

Don’t Let Him In, Lisa Jewell

If it’s written by Lisa Jewell, you know it’s going to be good. The captivating new thriller follows three women connected by a mysterious figure from their past. It’s packed to the rafters with shocking twists and turns, and all leads to the wish that they’d headed the same warning. Don’t let him in. Just brilliant.

OUT 3 JUL

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