2025 book releases to put on your radar
books coming out in 2025 to get excited about
There’s a chill in the air. In the far distance, I can hear sleigh bells ringing, and then, the faint noise of the countdown to midnight, cheers erupting and fireworks exploding.
Ok, well, maybe not yet. But we are in November now, aka the Thursday of the calendar year. And as a reader, that means one thing: it’s time to start getting excited about some books that are coming out next year!
Not many publishers have released their full 2025 catalogues yet, so I may do a part 2 of this. The release dates listed are based on UK publication, so they may be different in other countries.
Here are some 2025 book releases I’m looking forward to:
The Lamb - Lucy Rose
Release date: 30 January 2025
“Margot and Mama have lived by the forest since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Mam feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies. But Mama’s want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, little Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires and make her own bid for freedom.”
The City Changes Its Face - Eimear McBride
Release date: 13 February 2025
“1995. London. Outside the filthy window, the city rushes by. But up in the flat, there is only Eily and Stephen, nineteen and thirty-nine. The total obsession of new love. Eighteen months later, a rainy Camden night. Eily and Stephen retrace the course of their two-year romance now their world is merging with the common place and ties from the past are intruding.”
What You Make Of Me - Sophie Madeline Dess
Release date: 25 February 2025
“Demetri and Ava. As fiercely competitive as they are co-dependent, the two siblings have long been locked in an emotionally charged relationship. Ava, defiant and impassioned, grew up in the shadow of soft, charming, and intellectual Demetri. But in the aftershocks of familial trauma, it is Demetri who finds himself emotionally ruined, whereas Ava has no time nor patience for grief. As they grow up, following one another from city to city, the siblings are set on their own parallel paths as artists, thinkers, and lovers. When Nati, an Italian gallery owner, arrives in New York, Demetri and Ava orbit her, possessed by their own priorities. But when they both fall for her, Nati refuses to play their game. Once again, and perhaps for the last time, the brother and sister must face what they most want from each other, and what they’re unwilling to give.”
Liquid: A Love Story - Mariam Rahmani
Release date: 11 March 2025
“The unnamed Iranian-Indian American narrator of Liquid, A Love Story has always believed herself to be the smartest person in the room. From an early age, she and her best friend Adam have turned their noses up at other peoples’ riches. But two years after earning a PhD, the narrator is no closer to the middle-class comfort she desires. Jokingly, Adam suggests she just marry rich. But our protagonist takes this idea seriously. What follows is a whirlwind summer packed with martinis sans vermouth with the lazy scion of an Eastside construction empire; board games with a butch producer who owns a house in the hills and a newly dented Porsche; a Venmo request from a “socialist” trust fund babe; and an evening spent dodging the halitosis of a maxillofacial surgeon from Orange County.”
Universality - Natasha Brown
Release date: 13 March 2025
“Late one night on a Yorkshire farm, in the midst of an illegal rave, a young man is nearly bludgeoned to death with a solid gold bar. An ambitious young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement that has taken up residence on the farm. She solves the mystery, but her viral exposé raises more questions than it answers, Who wrote it? Why? And how much of it is true?”
Stag Dance - Torrey Peters
Release date: 13 March 2025
“From the adventures of a lonely logger who, deep in the forest, joins his workmates to dance dressed as a woman, to the story of an obsessive boarding-school romance, to the dizzying spectacle of a gender apocalypse brought about an unstable ex-girlfriend, Peters’ keen eye for the rough edges of trans community and desire reveals fresh possibilities.”
The Night Trembles - Nadia Terranova (translated by Ann Goldstein)
Release date: 1 April 2025
“Each night 11 year old Nicola is tied up in the cellar by his mother, the wife of Calabria’s biggest bergamot producer. On the other side of the sea, Barbara has just arrived in Messina and plans to escape her father, who pulls her towards marriage with a man she does not love. Liberty will be granted to both, but it will come at a very high price. On December 28th, 1908, the earth shakes. Europe’s most devastating earthquake razes the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria and, along with them, everything Nicola and Barbara have known. From the ruins, each must piece back together a life and start anew.”
She’s a Lamb! - Meredith Hambrock
Release date: 8 April 2025
“Jessamyn St. Germain is meant to be a star. She is bound for greatness, and that’s why the part of Maria in the theater’s upcoming production of The Sound of Music is hers. Or it’s going to be. Jessamyn may have been relegated to the position of childminder for the little brats playing the von Trapp children, but it’s so obvious she’s there for a different reason — the director wants her close to the role so when Samantha, the lead, inevitably fails, Jessamyn will be there to take her place in the spotlight. This must be it. Because if it isn’t, well, then every skipped meal, every brutal rehearsal, every inch won against a man attempting to drag her down will have all been for nothing.”
All Our Tomorrows - Amy DeBellis
Release date: 10 April 2025
“Janet, Anna, and Gemma lead separate lives, each ground down by the weight of the world they were born into, lost against the dazzling pixelated backdrop of the city. Too young to remember life before the iPhone 4, they think the real world was destroyed long before they were born. Sharp, incisive, and sparkling with dark humor, this is a novel for the age of the doomer generation. DeBellis delivers an unflinching examination of three young lives as they circle closer and closer to the drain of nihilism, climate anxiety, isolation, and grief. All Our Tomorrows is about finding yourself in a broken world, and the small but mighty decisions that can save you from leaking down the drain.”
Park Avenue - Renée Ahdieh
Release date: 3 June 2025
“Jia Song has always been destined for greatness. As the daughter of Korean bodega owners, she promised herself that she would have every Fifth Avenue luxury when she grew up, and it is all finally within reach. So when her boss asks her to sit in on the family implosion of a high-level client at her law firm, she accepts without hesitation - only to find out that it is one of the most famous Korean families in the world. As Jia sorts through the lies and subterfuge, she finds herself falling for this broken, badly-behaving family in ways she can’t explain. But it is also becoming clear that the Parks are hiding dark secrets. Can she find the truth in time to protect the Parks’ fortune and secure her success at the firm? And can she hold on to what’s most important, even if it means admitting that what she's always wanted isn’t what she needs?”
Finding Grace - Loretta Rothschild
Release date: 10 June 2025
“Honor seems to have everything: she adores her bright and beautiful daughter and her charming, handsome husband, Tom, even if he works one hundred hours a week. Yet Honor’s longing for another baby threatens to eclipse all of it - until a shocking tragedy changes their lives forever, and Tom is left to pick up the pieces. Grace has made her London wine shop a second home for people like her - people running from their pasts. Passionate, studious, and self-assured, she finds herself curious about Tom, who becomes a fixture at the shop. As Grace falls for Tom, she shares things about herself she’s never told anyone - while Tom is keeping a secret that could destroy their burgeoning romance. Through it all, the lasting impact of Honor’s obsessive want looms over them, as does the possibility that their meeting was no accident.”
Thirst Trap - Gráinne O'Hare
Release date: 12 June 2025
“Maggie, Harley and Róise are friends on the brink: of triumph, catastrophe, or maybe just finally growing up. The three girls are still grieving the tragic death of their friend, Lydia, whose room remains untouched. Their last big fight hangs heavy over their heads, unspoken since the accident. And now they are all beginning to unravel.”
Not mentioned: Donna Tartt’s new book. I’m still waiting for the announcement Donna….
thirst trap sounds soooo good i need it now
Thank you so much for including The Lamb ☺️❤️