There are so many 2025 books that I have written down and saved as want to read on Goodreads. Honestly, there are just so many books to read! I wish I had both the will and the time to read literally non-stop until I manage to read every book on my TBR. Since that’s not possible, these are the ten (okay, 11) books that are at the very tip top of the 2025 releases I cannot wait to have in my hands! Also, I’m doing these in alphabetical order. Does that make sense? Probably not, but it’s what my brain wants today.
Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria
Goodreads Synopsis: After Ava Rodriguez’s now-ex-husband declares he wants to “follow his dreams”—which no longer include her—she’s left questioning everything she thought she wanted. So when a handsome hotelier flirts with her, Ava vows to stop overthinking and embrace the opportunity for an epic one-night-stand complete with a penthouse suite, rooftop pool, and buckets of champagne.
Roman Vasquez’s sole focus is the empire he built from the ground up. He lives and dies by his schedule, but the gorgeous stranger grimacing into her cocktail glass inspires him to change his plans for the evening. At first, it’s easy for Roman to agree to Ava’s rules: no strings, no feelings. But one night isn’t enough, and the more they meet, the more he wants.
Roman is the perfect fling, until Ava sees him at her cousin’s engagement party—as the groom’s best man, no less! Suddenly, maintaining her boundaries becomes a lot more complicated as she tries to hide the truth of their relationship from her family. However, Roman isn’t content being her dirty little secret, and he doesn’t just want more, he wants everything. With her future uncertain and her family pressuring her from all sides, Ava will have to decide if love is worth the risk—again.
Why I’m Excited: I love Daria’s writing so much and although, yes, I did just read her short story Only Santas in the Building, I am just so very excited about a full length novel from her again. I cannot wait!
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Archangel’s Ascension
by Nalini Singh
Goodreads Synopsis: Aodhan and Illium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.
Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.
The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy…and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…
Why I’m Excited: I love Bluebell and Aodhan so very, very much. And also just Nalini Singh in general. I can’t wait for this continuation of the story. Also, I’m prepared (am I?) to be emotionally devastated and also healed all in one go.
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Atmosphere
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Goodreads Synopsis: Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilots Hank Redmond and John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Why I’m Excited: I’m truly so obsessed with TJR. Does this synopsis really appeal to me? I mean… Not really? But I can’t wait to read it nevertheless because regardless of the synopsis, I always, ALWAYS love her books.
Release Date: June 3, 2025
Can’t Get Enough
by Kennedy Ryan
Goodreads Synopsis: Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry’s rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.
She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward. And in the midst of everything, she’s facing her toughest challenge caring for an aging parent.
Who has time for romance? From her experience, there’s a low ROI on relationships. She hasn’t met the man who can keep up with her anyway. Until…him.
Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer’s hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired and appreciated, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.
But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her, understanding her—is it time to let herself have something more?
Why I’m Excited: A) Kennedy Ryan. B) Hendrix. C) That combination. (No, for real, Hendrix is a childfree by choice main character and I’m really excited for that representation and then also, I just love Kennedy Ryan’s writing so very, very much.)
Release Date: May 13, 2025
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison
Goodreads Synopsis: Aiden Valentine has a secret: he’s fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline, that’s a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.
Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she’s as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending… even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.
Why I’m Excited: My obsession with B.K. Borison is going strong, y’all. I loved all four books in her Lovelight Farms series and I cannot wait to continue reading and loving her books forever.
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Great Big Beautiful Life
by Emily Henry
Goodreads Synopsis: Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.
Why I’m Excited: Emily Henry. That’s it, that’s the whole sentence. Have I officially read the synopsis I just shared? Nope. I know that Emily Henry said this is a “The Last Great American Dynasty” style book, which seems weird, but I’m here for it. So I’m just prepared to be along for the ride.
Release Date: April 22, 2025
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarrow
I will not be providing a synopsis for you of Onyx Storm and I could, I suppose, give you the synopsis instead of Fourth Wing, but honestly that book was everywhere so I feel like if you wanted to pick it up, you probably already have or at least have it on your TBR, so I’m going to skip that part. Instead, I’ll just say that I cannot wait to see where this series goes from here. I’m really looking forward to Onyx Storm to the point that I’m tempted to request off work on release day. We’ll see if I actually do.
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Say You’ll Remember Me
by Abby Jimenez
Goodreads Synopsis: There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes.That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…
. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.
Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.
Why I’m Excited: I love Abby Jimenez’s writing so much. She writes a truly fantastic romance and I’m just excited to read this one too.
Release Date: April 1, 2025
The King’s Messenger
by Susanna Kearsley
Goodreads Synopsis: 1613: King James – sixth of Scotland, first of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots – has unified both countries under one crown. But the death of his eldest son, Henry, has plunged the nation into mourning, as the rumours rise the prince was poisoned.
Andrew Logan’s heard the rumours, but he’s paid them little heed. As one of the King’s Messengers he has enough secrets to guard, including his own. In these perilous times, when the merest suggestion of witchcraft can see someone tortured and hanged, men like Andrew must hide well the fact they were born with the Sight.
He’ll need all his gifts, though, when the king sends Andrew north to find and arrest Sir David Murray, once Prince Henry’s trusted courtier, and bring him a prisoner to London to stand trial before the dreaded Star Chamber.
Why I’m Excited: I love Susanna Kearsley’s writing so much, and although this doesn’t sound like it’s a dual timeline, I am still quite excited for her latest historical fiction!
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage
Goodreads Synopsis: Camille Ashwood had always loved a plan. Her latest was her best yet. She was going to get married so she could secure her daughter’s future, get her overbearing parents off her back, and finally start building her own life in small town Meadowlark, Wyoming. Easy, right?
But when her groom doesn’t show up to the wedding, Cam’s life is turned upside down—she doesn’t even have a place to live. That is, until she finds out the house she’s loved since high school is available to rent. There’s only one problem: the neighbor.
Dusty Tucker has spent nearly all of his adult life running. Running from what, though? More like who: Cam Ashwood. But ever since he returned home last year, the girl who was his first, well, everything has become a woman seemingly determined to keep him at arm’s length. And he was okay with that—at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. She was getting married, after all. But now she’s single and living next door. Dusty wants to show her that they can be friends, and that he can stay put.
Despite her best attempts to stay far away from Dusty Tucker, Cam realizes that being close to him is like slipping on her favorite jeans. Easy. Comfortable. That is until past wounds start to open and feelings—both old and new—wreak havoc. Nearly ten years after they first met, Dusty and Cam begin to wonder if their first love can also be their last. And this time, will it be forever?
Why I’m Excited: I am so pumped for this one. So EXCITED. First of all, I’ve loved all three of the first books in this series and secondly, this synopsis sounds fantastic. I cannot wait to have this in my hands.
Release Date: April 15, 2025
Wild Side by Elsie Silver
Goodreads Synopsis: I’d always dreamed of my wedding day. But not like this. Not looking into the eyes of the man who betrayed me.
But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy.
Rhys Dupris.
A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all.
Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent.
The tension between us has always been palpable. But living under the same roof is a dangerous temptation.
I swore I would never forgive him. But that was before I knew the man behind the mask. The one who’s fierce and protective. The one who’s gentle and patient. The one who shows up for us when we need him most.
He’s not at all who I thought he was.
And that makes hating my husband so much harder… and loving him just a little too easy.
Why I’m Excited: I literally started smiling and squealing just reading the first few sentences of this synopsis. I love this series so much. I love Elsie Silver’s writing. I just can’t wait for this book to be in my hands.
Release Date: March 1, 2025
Closing Thoughts
I considered doing an honorable mentions list, but honestly, that list would be way too long so for now, I’ll just keep it to myself. What books are you most excited about next year? Also, how do you feel about taking a day off to read a new release?
xx
firewhiskeyreader 