Hello! Thanks for visiting my blog. In this post, I’ll be talking about my most anticipated upcoming book releases, specifically those due to be published between March and August 2025.
Back in January, I talked about the upcoming releases Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue, Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes, Hidden Treasure by Jessie Burton, Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson, and Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, which are all March-August releases that I’m still excited for but won’t repeat myself by discussing here. (Please watch for my review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which I hope to post on March 25.) Since January, I’ve been made aware of more than a dozen other upcoming releases that I can’t wait to get my hands on, so let’s get right into the list!
(Note: Each title links to the book’s Goodreads page, which will open in a new tab.)
The Antidote by Karen Russell (Mar. 11)
This is a Dust Bowl-era retelling of The Wizard of Oz, set in the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. It’s been described as “a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting—enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities.” Considering that Karen Russell has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the past, I’m extremely intrigued to see what she does with this one, because it sounds brilliant.
I have solid plans to read and review this book soon, so please check back for that!
Tilt by Emma Pattee (Mar. 25)
A pregnant woman, an earthquake, and a trek through the wreckage of her city and her life choices. This sounds harrowing and also largely metaphorical, two things I love in a book. I’m always up for a good literary odyssey through an apocalypse.
The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper (Apr. 1)
I love libraries, and I love dollhouses, so the title of this one immediately grabbed my attention. This is described as a mystery that spans across a century, as Tildy tries to save her archival library by tracking down the history of two antique dollhouses. The blurb calls it “a warm, bright, and captivating story of secrets and love that embraces the importance of illuminating overlooked women of the past.” Sweet! Sign me up!
On Isabella Street by Genevieve Graham (Apr. 22)
This is historical fiction set between Toronto and Vietnam in the 1960s, about the friendship between two women who share an apartment on Toronto’s Isabella Street. One is a psychiatrist, the other a singer, but both women get involved in some form of activism regarding the Vietnam War and the changes taking place in their city. This isn’t the typical type of story I reach for, but the Canadian aspect has piqued my interest, and so far the reviews are unanimously positive.
Polybius by Collin Armstrong (Apr. 29)
All I needed to hear about this horror novel is that it’s Stranger Things meets The Walking Dead and is based on an urban legend. I’m here for it! But in case you need a bit more info to convince you to pick this up: A mysterious arcade game causes people to hallucinate and lash out in anger until a whole town descends into chaos. The inspiration comes from a real urban legend about a game called Polybius that was supposedly part of a government experiment back in 1981 to test its addictive properties but that disappeared when people started experiencing physical side effects. I’m excited to see what Collin Armstrong does with this idea.
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (Apr. 29)
This is another horror novel about a group of friends who find a random staircase in the woods. One friend climbs it, and then the staircase disappears, taking the friend with it. Years later, the staircase reappears. There’s something so chilling about the title and description of this one, not to mention the eerie vibes of the cover. I’ve never read anything by Chuck Wendig before, but I’m excited to make this my first.
Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney (May 13)
A bit of a change of pace from the rest of this list so far, but perfectly on brand for this blog! Proto is described as an “epic tale of how one ancient language went global, and the scientific quest to trace it back to its roots.” I’ve been fascinated by the idea of proto-languages for a long time, particularly how Proto-Indo-European (the subject of this book) managed to spread its descendant languages across the entire world. How did Sanskrit, Persian, Russian, and English all descend from the same ancestor? Let’s read this book and find out!
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (June 10)
I’m a bit of a true crime junkie, and this nonfiction from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author examines the history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest, not just of their crimes but also of the conditions that inspired them to kill. Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, Charles Manson… apparently it reads like a thriller, but it also sounds fascinating.
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner (July 15)
This is a horror/thriller about a forest “that seems to be devouring all who enter.” A missing girl is found dead in a creek, but then her body disappears from the morgue, after which her fingerprints show up at a new crime scene. This novel seems to be part of the “fungus fiction” or “mushroom horror” trend and has been compared to T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead, which I enjoyed, so I’m hoping it’ll be a fun[gi] time. (Sorry, I had to!)
Part mystery, part history, this nonfiction tells the story of Argentine women whose pregnant daughters were kidnapped by the military during the dictatorship of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Years later, with the help of government documents and genetic testing, they sought to find their missing grandchildren. I’d never heard about this chapter in Argentina’s history, and I’m intrigued to learn more about these women’s stories.
Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones (July 15)
Stephen Graham Jones fans have been feasting spectacularly lately, with many titles from his out-of-print backlist finally hitting bookstore shelves again, and more than one new publication per year. The man writes like the devil’s on his tail… by which I mean prolifically, but it might actually explain his talent for writing bone-chilling horror, too. This particular publication is a collection of two novellas: The Babysitter Lives, which until now was only available as an audiobook, and Killer on the Road, which I believe is a new release. In Killer on the Road, a runaway and 4 of her friends are being stalked by a serial killer as they road trip along Route 80; and in The Babysitter Lives, a teenage babysitter and her two young charges discover that there’s something weird going on in the kids’ house, and it’s up to the babysitter to keep the kids safe from whatever is after them. If the cover is half as cool as it looks here, this will be my most prized possession come July 15th.
We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall (July 29)
This is a young adult thriller that just sounds fun to me. What was supposed to be a survivalist game show turns out to be a quite literal fight for survival for a group of young people when they’re locked inside the set with limited resources and a murderer among them. The Hunger Games meets Holly Jackson? This is exactly the kind of page-turner I want to read in the summertime.
Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization by Tim Queeney (Aug. 12)
What an interesting idea for a nonfiction! The history of rope and how humanity couldn’t have thrived without it, from its uses in sea travel to architecture to, potentially, space elevators. This sounds fun and educational and completely unique, and I’m ready for the adventure it will take us on.
And there we have it – another 13 amazing upcoming releases that I can’t wait to get my greedy little fingers on. Are you interested in any of these books? Are there others I’ve missed that you think I should look out for? Please let me know in the comments below!
