2025 has been an incredible year for readers, filled with new releases from iconic authors and long-awaited sequels, to debuts and a few underrated gems. As the year comes to a close, let’s take a look back at the books that made the biggest impact, and the ones you still need to add to your TBR before it’s over.
Literary Fiction
As my favorite genre, I’m putting it high up on the list of need-to-read new releases. Here we have The Compound by Aisling Rawle and High Finance by Ken Miller. One is a blend of Animal Farm and Love Island: USA (What a hook!), and the other is a financial thriller about the 2008 stock market crash. Two opposite subjects — but trust me, both these books will be the most fun and stressful time you’ll ever have reading literary fiction. The Compound by Aisling Rawle is already in my top five of the year!
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
High Finance by Ken Miller
Romance
Obviously, a new releases roundup wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the latest Emily Henry novel (and we’re thankful for the yearly releases!). This time, she blends romance with mystery as Great Big Beautiful Life follows two rival journalists competing to write the biography of a reclusive heiress in a charming seaside town, only to uncover long-buried secrets and feelings along the way.
Alongside Great Big Beautiful Life comes We Met Like This by Kasie West, an adult rom-com about Margot Hart, a hopeless romantic and literary agent hopeful who keeps rematching with Oliver on dating apps years after a disastrous first date. As she juggles her crumbling career, her dream of a real-life meet-cute, and unexpected feelings for him, chaos (and chemistry) ensues. According to early reviews, fans of Emily Henry will adore this one.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
We Met Like This by Kasie West
Horror
For the horror section, I wanted to spotlight a few iconic authors with exciting new releases. After the bizarre and unforgettable Bunny, Mona Awad returned this September with the highly anticipated sequel, We Love You, Bunny, which dives into the origin story of the cult-favorite bunny girl group. I loved Bunny, so I am both nervous and excited to read this prequel! Next up is Play Nice by Rachel Harrison, a haunting tale about a woman who decides to flip her late mother’s rumored-to-be-possessed house. I love a good haunted house story, and since we’ve been long overdue for one, thank you, Rachel Harrison, for stepping up to the task!
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
Fantasy
Fantasy has had an incredible year, and narrowing it down was no easy task, but Katabasis by R.F. Kuang and The Strength of the Few by James Islington were absolute must-mentions. From the people’s princess of dark academia, Katabasis follows two rival Cambridge graduate students of magick who must journey into Hell to rescue the soul of their murdered professor, if they can survive the trials (and each other).
Coming November 11th, The Strength of the Few is the highly anticipated sequel to the instant classic The Will of the Many. Having just finished The Will of the Many myself, I cannot stress enough that both it and its sequel are must-reads. If The Will of the Many is any indication, Katabasis and The Strength of the Few will both require 100% brainpower, so get ready to put your thinking cap on.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
The Strength of the Few by James Islington
Thriller
There are many great names in thrillers, so here’s one book from a debut and another from someone well-known. The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin is a debut thriller in which a woman is drawn back to the New Zealand bush, where she fled years ago, after a blood-stained child bearing her likeness appears as the lone witness to a murder. The concept alone is a hook, and it is now being added to my TBR immediately.
We also have You Belong Here by Megan Miranda, which follows Beckett Bowery as she’s forced to return to her hometown, Wyatt Valley, when her daughter enrolls at the local college and confronts the haunting secrets of the tragedy that once drove her away. If you set any mystery or thriller in a cozy, fall-feeling college town, I’m reading it, and honestly, so should you.
The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin
You Belong Here by Megan Miranda
Sci-Fi
For the sci-fi lovers, The Glass Garden by Jessica Lévai and Sunward are absolute must-reads. In The Glass Garden, sisters Therese and Lissy travel to a distant exoplanet to study a strange bioluminescent anomaly and realize the “garden” is more dangerous than they ever imagined. In Sunward, Captain Tova Lir mentors adolescent AI bots while navigating political chaos across the solar system after discovering a dead courier with a blank message. These are the kind of concepts that remind you why the genre is so endlessly fascinating.
The Glass Garden by Jessica Lévai
Sunward by William Alexander
Mystery
I’ve got to say, out of all the categories, these covers alone have completely won me over. Thankfully, the stories behind them are just as interesting. In A Beauty Queen’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem by Kristen Bird, Dakota Green, a small-town stable hand, is forced into a beauty pageant by her late mother’s wishes and quickly finds herself wrapped up in a decades-old murder mystery tied to the competition.
All of Us Murderers by K.J. Charles is a gothic-tinged queer romance set in a haunted Dartmoor manor, where estranged lovers Zebedee and Gideon reunite and uncover family secrets, supernatural horrors, and murderous intrigue. While they deliver two completely different vibes, the aesthetics of both are impossible to beat.
A Beauty Queen’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem by Kristen Bird
All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles
Memoir
As we make our way into the nonfiction category, I wanted to immediately draw your attention to two standout memoirs. Finding My Way: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai, releasing on October 21, features the activist and Nobel Prize laureate reflecting on her journey, from an ordinary teenager to a world-changing advocate for education and women’s rights. I’m especially excited for this release because Malala’s work and voice are so powerful and influential, and we’re lucky to see her story continue to be celebrated.
This next one I know is bound to be profoundly heart-wrenching as it is The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path by Emma Heming Willis, a memoir about caring for her husband, actor Bruce Willis, after his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis. Not only is it about the feelings she went through during the time of his diagnosis, but it serves as a guide she wished she had during that time.
Finding My Way: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai
The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path by Emma Heming Willis
Biography
I’m extremely jazzed about these two biographies: Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane by Devoney Looser and It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin by Marisa Meltzer. Both spotlight icons and trailblazers in their own right, these biographies debunk myths and expand on their lasting legacies. I’ll read any biography about legendary women, as is my right!
It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin by Marisa Meltzer
Wild For Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane by Devoney Looser
Creative Fiction
For our last category, I wanted to go out with a bang. For true crime and history lovers, these two releases immediately caught my attention. The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us by John J. Lennon is a powerful, first-person exploration of crime, written from inside prison by Lennon himself. He weaves his own experiences with the stories of four men who committed murder, challenging how society consumes true crime and reminding readers of the people behind the headlines.
On the historical side, The Traitors Circle: The True Story of a Secret Resistance Network in Nazi Germany—and the Spy Who Betrayed Them by Jonathan Freedland recounts the gripping true story of the Solf Circle, a group of German intellectuals who resisted Hitler from within, until one of their own turned against them. Both books delve deep into moral gray areas. Both of these subjects are fascinating, and they are told in deeply fascinating ways.
The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us by John J. Lennon
The Traitors Circle by Johnathan Freedland
If you’re looking to bump up your reading count, I hope one (or several!) of these 2025 releases caught your eye. Here’s to heading into the new year feeling like you truly closed the chapter on 2025, book in hand, of course.
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