Welcome to an incomplete and skewed new releases list geared towards the publications I am most excited to read from 2025. Stay a while, see if any of the novels below pique your interest and join me on another exciting year of reading and discovery! Don't forget to stop by later to see which novels I have had the opportunity to read and which reads I think are worth an hour of your time.

~ January Releases ~

Release Date: 7 January 2025
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman book cover.
Amazon

Noah Fairchild has been watching his formerly polite Southern parents slip away from him for years, lost to far-right cable news and endless conspiracy theories. When his mother leaves a frantic voicemail about the "Great Reawakening," Noah dismisses the message assuming it is newest fixation for people like his parents; that is, until his calls go unanswered. Concerned about his parents, Noah makes the drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia to check up on them. What he finds stuns him - his childhood home is in ruins, vegetables are rotting in the fridge, and his parents are locked in a catatonic trance in front of the TV.

Then his mother brutally attacks him.

Across the country, families are turning on each other, consumed by a violence that spreads through screens - Noah barely escapes his parents home with his life. He isn't the only one left unaffected, his nephew, Marcus, has not been touched by the media violence and together, they must make it back to Brooklyn, racing against time as chaos engulfs the nation.

Relentless and unsettling, Clay McLeod Chapman’s latest novel is a razor-sharp, high-stakes horror story that cuts to the heart of a divided world—one that may already be beyond saving.

Release Date: 7 January 2025
A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young book cover.
Amazon

When James Golden’s twin brother, Johnny, dies in a tragic accident, she senses the loss before the call arrives. Their bond was more than the average sibling relationship - they had a connection she couldn't explain.

Returning to Hawthorne to settle her brother's affairs, James is forced to confront the ghosts of her pasts, including Micah - the only man she's ever loved and the only one who knows the truth about what they endured. But the deeper she digs into Johnny's life, the more James realizes her twin brother had been keeping secrets. Dangerous ones.

As James unravels the mystery of her brother’s final days, she must decide: how much of the truth is worth bringing to light - and what’s better left buried?

~ February ~

~ March ~

~ April ~

~ January Releases ~

Release Date: 6 May 2025

My Friends by Fredrik Backman book cover.
Amazon

Most viewers don't even notice the three small figures at the edge of a long pier, tucked into the corner of one of the world's most famous paintings. But eighteen-year-old artist Louisa does, and she can't stop wondering who they are and why they're there.

Twenty-five years earlier, four teens - Joar, ted, Ali, and the boy who paints - spend a summer on a seaside pier, escaping the pressures of life through friendship, storytelling, and dreaming of something more. From that summer filled with heartache and hope comes a masterpiece, one that will one day land in the hands of young artist Louisa.

With the painting suddenly in her possession, Louisa sets off on a cross-country journey to uncover the origin behind the figurines and what to do with the iconic painting. The closer she gets to its beginnings, the more tangled her feelings become - about the story the painting tells and her own place in it all. My Friends is a poignant story about the friendships that shape who we become and how happy endings are not always the ones you plan.W

Why I Want To Read My Friends: Fredrik Backman writes heartfelt - and often melancholic - stories that envelop you from start to end. I expect My Friends to fit into that category and is why I cannot wait to read it.

~ June ~

~ July ~

~ August ~

~ September ~

~ October ~

~ November ~

~ December ~

Leave a Comment