My 10 Most Anticipated Book Releases for 2025

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This week’s prompt was for our most anticipated releases for the first half of 2025. However, that isn’t how I select books. I’m not interested in Netgalley and reading ARCs, I generally don’t care when new books come out unless it’s for a favourite author or series (and those are vanishingly few) so I have no idea what is to be released this year!

I decided to use this prompt to take a look at what Goodreads thinks are the most anticipated releases for 2025 and see if I could pick off some I’d be interested in from that list!

Authors I’ve read before

1. Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Release date: June 3

Set in the ambitious days of the 1980s space shuttle program, the latest novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & The Six) promises adventure, romance, intrigue, and a physics professor determined to be one of the first female scientists in space. NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, circa 1984, should be a fantastic setting for the author’s patented technique of high drama in interesting places.

TKR is usually reliable for an entertaining “soapy” read with light drama, and I do love the 1980s and I do love space things so I will probably get this.

2. Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

Release date: June 24

British author Lisa Jewell (None of This Is True) has been cheerfully blowing readers’ minds with her plot twists for more than 25 years now. She’s awfully good at it. Her latest mystery-thriller features three women who find they are connected by a man who is not who he says he is.

I will probably get myself on the library waiting list for the audiobook whenever that comes out, as I’ve said before, even an inferior Lisa Jewell is usually a good read.

3. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Release date: June 10

Among the most anticipated books in fantasy for 2025, this new novel from veteran author V.E. Schwab is shrouded in mystery. But advance word suggests we can expect a multigenerational sapphic vampire story set in 16th-century Spain. And Victorian-era London.

Ehh.. I will wait to see what the consensus on this is. I have loved some of Schwab’s books in the past (Vicious, Darker Shades, Our Dark Duet) but… I really didn’t like The Invisible Life of Addie La-Rue and something about the only details being a “multigenerational sapphic vampire story” has me a little worried it’ll be in a similar vein to that, lack any edge and feel full of characters and scenes designed for social media and fan art, and that just isn’t what I enjoy.

4. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Release date: January 14

Contemporary horror superstar Grady Hendrix (The Final Girl Support Group) turns his eye for evil to witchcraft with this new novel, which follows a group of pregnant teenagers in a Florida group home for unwed delinquents. When a friendly(?) librarian gives the girls a book on the occult, the teens tap into their own innate powers and turn the tables on their oppressors.

I will probably look out for the audiobook of this. I did have a good time with The Southern Books Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (I wish that title wasn’t so long) but I stopped trying to read The Final Girls Support Group recently as I wasn’t vibing with it on audio. I’m still very open to trying more from this author and I like the sound of that synopsis.

5. Never Flinch by Stephen King

Release date: May 27

Mark your calendars for new Stephen King! A killer out for revenge and a vigilante stalking a feminist celebrity speaker see their tales mingle in the latest novel from the world’s most popular horror novelist. Readers will also find familiar King characters here, including Holly Gibney and gospel singer Sista Bessie.

I haven’t read Stephen King for a while but I’ve never had a bad time with him. This could be interesting – I’d probably add it to my Kindle watch list for a 99p deal.

6. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Release date: April 22

From the author of the immortal Beach Read, this pleasantly twisty romance features two writers in competition, and maybe in love. Rookie author Alice Scott hopes to write the book of the year, but she’ll have to deal with industry legend Hayden Anderson. Since they’ve both been invited to stay in a gorgeous mansion for a month, negotiations should be hot.

Another year, another Emily Henry. I will have to wait for some reviews to come out on this one to see which rom-com tropes are in play before I decide to read it or not. The description sounds promising though.

Authors I’ve never heard of

7. The Names by Florence Knapp

Release date: May 6

What’s in a name? That’s the pivotal question in this ambitious debut novel, which begins with the moment a mother chooses the name of her child. London author Florence Knapp tells three parallel, alternating versions of one family’s story, chapter by chapter, over a span of 35 years. Can a name really change the trajectory of a lifetime? Let’s find out!

I sometimes enjoy a “Sliding Doors” style what if? if it’s done well. This is a debut novel so I’ll hesitate, keep an eye on reviews and wait for a 99p deal most likely.

8. Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

Release date: February 11

Author Eowyn Ivey, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her debut novel, The Snow Child, returns to the shelves with a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast set in the wilds of Alaska. A desperate single mother befriends a famous local recluse. But why are the locals trying to warn her away? For Birdie and her young daughter, Emaleen, the weirdness is just getting started…

I’ve not heard of this author before or read The Snow Child but after having a peruse of reviews for that and early reviews for this books, it sounds interesting. And I’m in the mood for fairy tales after just finished The Snow Song!

9. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Release date: March 4

Acclaimed Moroccan American author Laila Lalami (The Other Americans) specializes in a lucid and frequently urgent brand of literary fiction that drills right to the core of our most difficult societal dilemmas. Her latest book fast-forwards into speculative fiction territory—a near-future surveillance state where tech corporations have even annexed our dream lives. It seems the algorithms have detected a problem…

This sounds weird, topical and literary so I may keep an eye out for it this year.

10 Dissolution by Nicholas Binge

Release date: March 25

Another compelling what-if scenario, this one from U.K. techno-thriller specialist Nicholas Binge (Ascension): While caring for her elderly husband, Stanley, Maggie Webb meets a stranger with a question: What if your husband isn’t losing his memories? What if they’re being stolen? With the mysterious stranger, Hassan, and his high-tech devices, Maggie takes a journey into her husband’s mind.

This also sounds disturbing and maybe a little bit literary.