2025 Anticipated Reads
Brace yourselves, bookworms—2025 is coming in hot with a lineup of books so exciting, we’re already considering canceling our social lives to make room for all the reading. From long-awaited sequels that’ll finally answer those cliffhanger questions (looking at you, authors who left us hanging) to new debuts that’ll have us ugly crying in public, this year’s releases are ready to wreck us in the best way. At The Novel Book Club Podcast, I asked for your anticipated reads and you guys didn't hold back! I also did some of my own scouring—because if anyone’s going to scream about books with you, it’s me (& your fellow bookworms via my DMs). So grab your TBR list, clear some shelf space, and prepare for a year of late nights, book hangovers, and that sweet, sweet new-book smell. Let’s get hyped!Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Published Date: January 21, 2025
Brief Description: After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there's no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun; and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it's impossible to know who to trust.
With A Vengeance by Riley Sager
Published Date: June 10, 2025
Brief Description: A story about desperate retribution during one thirteen-hour train ride, this action-packed ticking-clock whodunit will keep you guessing until the very end.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Published Date: April 22, 2025
Brief Description: Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of an heiress with more than a few plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel.
Discovery of Witches Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Published Date: Already completed trilogy!
Brief Description: The story of Diana Bishop, a reluctant witch and historian who discovers a powerful, enchanted manuscript in Oxford's Bodleian Library, which draws her into a hidden world of vampires, witches, and daemons, where she falls deeply in love with a vampire geneticist named Matthew Clairmont as they unravel the secrets of the manuscript together, navigating the complex dynamics between supernatural creatures while facing danger from those who seek the book's power.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Published Date: March 18, 2025
Brief Description: A prequel novel set in the "Hunger Games" universe, focusing on a young Haymitch Abernathy on the morning of the 50th Hunger Games (the Second Quarter Quell), where he is chosen as a tribute and must navigate the deadly arena while grappling with the implications of the Games on his home district and his personal life.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Published Date: Already published!
Brief Description: A historical fantasy novel about a Chinese orphan who is sent to study at Oxford University's Royal Institute of Translation.
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jiminez
Published Date: April 1, 2025
Brief Description: With thousands of miles and a sick cat between them, can this pair find love — or was it all a fluke?
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Published Date: January 30, 2025
Brief Description: A thriller about a new mother whose life is turned upside down when her husband becomes the gunman in a London hostage situation.
A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
Published Date: May 13, 2025
Brief Description: A shield maiden fights to break the shackles of prophecy—and to overcome the betrayal of the man who broke her heart—in this searing conclusion to the Norse-inspired fantasy romance duology that began with the bestselling A Fate Inked in Blood.
The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published Date: June 10, 2025
Brief Description: Poppy and Casteel face their most perilous challenges yet as old enemies rise and ancient powers stir from their slumber. devastation—where every choice has deadly consequences.
The Matchmaker by Aisha Saeed
Published Date: April 8, 2025
Brief Description: A mystery novel about a successful matchmaker in Atlanta whose clients' weddings are sabotaged in increasingly disturbing ways.
The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson
Published Date: May 8, 2025
Brief Description: The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk. Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when he disappears and a dead body turns up at his house.
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Published Date: March 27, 2025
Brief Description: A comedic mystery novel where the titular character, Vera Wong, a meddling and inquisitive woman, finds herself investigating a dead man who unexpectedly appears in her teahouse, leading her to uncover secrets and meddle with the police investigation in her characteristically nosy manner.
The Doorman: A Novel by Chris Pavone
Published Date: May 20, 2025
Brief Description: The Doorman explores humanity’s elite at their lowest under the careful watch of one man. Witty, sharp and twisty, this is perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
Published Date: June 10, 2025
Brief Description: Set over 500 years, this tale of three sapphic vampires is a story about hunger, rage and the ways in which women are told to be satiated even when they aren’t.