Sign up for your FREE personalized newsletter featuring insights, trends, and news for America's Active Baby Boomers

Newsletter
New

Readers' 84 Most Anticipated Books Of Spring

Card image cap









Good news, bookworms! Our annual Big Books of Spring collection returns for 2025 with a particularly good lineup of incoming titles. This year’s batch is a big one, too: 84 new books in total. Stretch out those retinas.  

 

As always, everything is sorted by genre and largely determined by you, the Goodreads regular. Books are selected by tracking early reviews and the titles that people are adding to their Want to Read shelves. All the books listed below are slated to be published in the U.S. between March and May.

 

Some of the familiar names dropping new novels this season include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Isabel Allende, Fredrik Backman, Katie Kitamura, Karen Russell, and Ocean Vuong.

 

Over on the mystery-thriller shelves, look for new books from Harlan Coben and Freida McFadden, plus a wilderness suspense story from genre guest Amity Gaige. In the SFF section, we’ve got new titles from Laila Lalami and Joe Abercrombie, plus some intriguing debuts concerning synesthetic ghosts and the unfortunate future of San Francisco.

 

Horror fans may want to check out the latest from Stephen King and acclaimed Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica. Or just browse the shelves for Blackfeet vampires, medieval debauchery, and an oddly disturbing staircase in the woods.

 

You’ll also find the latest in romance (Emily Henry! Kennedy Ryan!) and romantasy (shield maidens! amphibious love!), plus new YA fiction from Tracy Deonn, Trang Thanh Tran, and Lauren Roberts.

 

Finally, the nonfiction slate covers some fascinating ground this spring concerning corporate malfeasance, sentient waterways, Mark Twain, and the Beatles.

 

Be sure to add anything that catches your eye to your Want to Read shelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments.

 

 

Contemporary & Historical Fiction
 







If you like a little ecological resonance in your stories, consider this intriguing specimen from Australian author Charlotte McConaghy (Once There Were Wolves). With sea levels rising, Dominic Salt and his family guard the world’s largest seed bank on a tiny Antarctic island. When a mysterious woman washes ashore, agendas and secrets are revealed.



Release date: March 4














A sudden death in a small English farming village triggers a cascade of startling revelations, including a fragile love triangle that’s about to collapse in dramatic fashion. The U.S. debut of U.K. author and journalist Clare Leslie Hall, Broken Country has the shape of a love story but the twisty velocity of a thriller.



Release date: March 4







 






Jinwoo Chong, author of the 2023 sci-fi thriller Flux, returns with a gentler riff on his time-travel themes: New Yorker Jack Jr. has just awoken from a two-year coma to find that his world has changed forever. In the spirit of second chances, Jack returns to his family’s sushi restaurant to find new opportunities for life and love.



Release date: March 4














The new novel from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Americanah) tracks four very different women as they navigate life in America, Nigeria, and various points between. Ten years in the making, Dream Count promises to be one of the year’s most ambitious novels. Adichie is unafraid to tackle the really big themes of literature—the mysteries of the human heart and the interconnected nature of all existence.



Release date: March 4














Now this is generous: For her latest book, author Torrey Peters (Detransition, Baby) has compiled one novel and three novellas, each exploring gender and trans issues from different creative trajectories. The main story, a kind of postmodern lumberjack tall tale, joins a sci-fi tale, a Las Vegas adventure, and a story of intrigue at a Quaker boarding school.



Release date: March 11














If you like your historical fiction with a splash of magical realism—and a talking scarecrow—consider the latest from Pulitzer Prize finalist Karen Russell (Swamplandia!). The Antidote follows a group of characters in 1935 Nebraska and folds in elements both historical (the Dust Bowl) and imaginative (prairie witches). Underneath it all is an ecological parable with red-alert relevance.



Release date: March 11














When a massive earthquake levels Portland, Oregon, nine-months-pregnant Annie must reach home on foot across the ruined city. As she reflects on her unsteady marriage and ponders her uncertain future, Annie encounters other survivors with their own stories to tell. Debut author Emma Pattee delivers a groundbreaking (heh) hybrid of survival adventure and character portrait.



Release date: March 25














Katie Kitamura, author of the acclaimed 2021 novel Intimacies, returns with a twisted rope of a story featuring a young man, a veteran actress, the New York theater scene, and multiple competing narratives. Kitamura specializes in books that tinker with the very architecture of storytelling, so you can expect some structural experimentation and pleasant confusion.



Release date: April 8














Historical fiction fans will want to flag this buzzy debut, which tells the story of four of the first-ever women to earn degrees at Oxford University. Set in 1920, Joanna Miller’s novel explores the complex friendship among these four pioneering women, while folding in historical details from the era—the Great War, the Spanish flu, and the eternal peril of vicious misogyny.



Release date: April 15














Billed as a true-to-life story, Sarah Damoff’s The Bright Years chronicles the dissolution and ultimate restoration of a Texas family with problems. Ryan and Lillian Bright brought multiple secrets into their marriage, and their daughter Georgette paid the price. Told from three separate POVs, Damoff’s book is recommended for readers of Mary Beth Keane and Claire Lombardo.



Release date: April 22














What’s in a name? That’s the pivotal question in this ambitious debut novel, which begins with the moment a mother chooses the name of her child. London author Florence Knapp tells three alternating versions of one family’s story—chapter by chapter over a span of 35 years—with each thread shaped by a different choice of name.



Release date: May 6














A kind of turn-of-the-millennium riff on the social novel, this buzzy debut from author Jemimah Wei follows two sisters growing up in working-class Singapore. Under constant pressure, Arin and Genevieve Yang pursue academic perfection at all costs. No friends. No life. No fun. When a betrayal drives them apart, the sisters begin to question the modern obsession with efficiency and achievement.



Release date: May 6














Celebrated Chilean American novelist Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits) is back on shelves in May with this highly anticipated historical fiction novel set in San Francisco, Chile, and points between. Ferociously independent, Emilia del Valle intends to be a writer, regardless of 19th-century societal norms. When she’s sent to cover a civil war overseas, things get dramatic in a hurry.



Release date: May 6














Set in the despair-shrouded shadows of America’s marginalized edges, the new novel from author Ocean Vuong (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous) details a deep and unusual friendship. When an elderly widow saves a teenage boy from attempted suicide, two lives are changed forever. The Emperor of Gladness celebrates two of life’s abiding grace notes: chosen families and second chances.



Release date: May 13














Swedish writer Fredrik Backman has made a name for himself with globally popular novels like Anxious People, Beartown, and A Man Called Ove. His new book begins in a lonesome seaside town with the story of four teenage friends. But by the end, readers have been on a journey that spans the breadth of a country and the passing of 25 long years.



Release date: May 20










Mysteries & Thrillers











After deceiving her way into a nanny gig with wealthy New Yorkers Jay and Violet Lockhart, compulsive liar Sloane Caraway finds herself on the tantalizing edge of a life filled with luxury. It’s only when things start to get creepy that Sloane wonders: What if I’m not the only one who’s lying? Author Sophie Stava has the story in her debut domestic thriller.



Release date: March 4














Dark and twisty, the latest psychological thriller from John Marrs (The One) starts out like Desperate Housewives with the intensity cranked to 11. Three neighborhood frenemies scheme and lie, each desperate to conceal a terrible secret. By the end, one of them is bound and gagged in the worst possible place on Bonfire Night. Uh-oh.



Release date: March 11














After her father’s sudden death, grieving college student Jane Sharp falls into the strange and dangerous subculture of online serial-killer hunters. Houston author and dedicated genre hopper Ashley Winstead (In My Dreams I Hold a Knife) presents a modern thriller set among the sinister intersections of murder, media, and true-crime fandom.



Release date: March 25














For years, detective Sami Kierce has been haunted by memories of a college backpacking trip in Spain gone very, very wrong. When he spots a familiar face in a New York City crowd, Sami must finally turn around and face his past…the hard way. Mystery-thriller kingpin Harlan Coben returns to the story of the estimable detective Kierce, last seen in the 2016 novel (and current Netflix series) Fool Me Once.



Release date: March 25














When experienced hiker Valerie Gillis goes missing on the Appalachian Trail, a tenacious game warden gets to work with the help of an elderly birdwatcher and armchair detective. Author Amity Gaige (Sea Wife) works the literary side of the mystery genre, combining wilderness exploration with slow-boil suspense and detailed character portraits of three remarkable women.



Release date: April 1














Psychological thriller specialist Jeneva Rose continues the story of her 2020 novel, The Perfect Marriage, with this sequel titled—inevitably, somehow—The Perfect Divorce. Defense attorney Sarah Morgan finds herself in another potentially deadly situation concerning her ex-husband, her new husband, some surprise DNA evidence, and yet another missing mistress.



Release date: April 15














Set in the strange liminal spaces of our new digital world, this debut novel from Canadian author Liann Zhang tells the curious tale of Julie Chan, who has just assumed the identity of her recently deceased twin sister. Chloe, it seems, was a rich and glamorous influencer with powerful friends. But as Julie soon learns, Chloe’s life was so much darker than anyone could have known.



Release date: April 29 














Following on her 2022 novel, All Good People Here, writer and true-crime podcaster Ashley Flowers once again teams with author Alex Kiester (In Her Skin) for a twisted and twisty mystery-thriller. The new book features two missing persons, two determined sisters, and an investigation that uncovers a series of terrible secrets in small-town Indiana.



Release date: May 5














Blake Porter has a problem. Recently fired from his high-end executive position, he’s about to lose the mortgage on his proportionally expensive brownstone. So when a charming young woman asks to rent a room, he’s delighted. Until the noises start. And the graveyard stench. The prolific Freida McFadden (The Housemaid) returns with another tale of dark secrets, bad decisions, and severe domestic disturbance.



Release date: May 6














Criminal profiler Dan Garvie has extremely good reasons for doing what he does. As a child, he barely escaped a grisly fate after encountering an infamous serial killer. Years later, when his father dies under mysterious circumstances, Dan must deploy his professional skills and confront a shattering possibility. Could it be the same killer? Alex North (The Whisper Man) has the details.



Release date: May 13










Fantasy Novels









In a world where magic-users can snag hearts with spells, a no-nonsense village girl discovers she’s been ensorcelled by a handsome mage. Compelled to journey to the sorcerer’s enchanted house, Foss Butcher enlists the help of a talking cat to win her heart back—by any means necessary. Andrea Eames’ whimsical fable features adventure, romance, and just enough complicated darkness to keep things lively.



Release date: March 4














The intriguing new fantasy yarn from Canadian author Amal El-Mohtar tells a story of enchanted willows, ancient magical compacts, and two sisters who live at the edge of Faerie. Should be fun: SFF fans will remember that El-Mohtar won the prestigious Hugo/Nebula/Locus award trifecta with 2019’s clever sci-fi novella This Is How You Lose the Time War, co-written with Max Gladstone.



Release date: March 4














Veronica Chapa’s Malinalli is based on the real-life Nahua interpreter who helped Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés communicate with the Native people of Mexico. But in this retelling, Malinalli is a 12-year-old girl with magical powers, kidnapped into slavery and falsely vilified by 500 years of historians.  



Release date: March 11














With last year’s novel The Tainted Cup, author Robert Jackson Bennett introduced a compelling new literary detective with the character of Ana Dolabra, a genius-level sleuth in the vein of Sherlock Holmes. This new sequel expands Bennett’s fantasy setting as the great detective encounters an utterly unique locked-room mystery. Bennett likes to sneak in subversive sociological critiques, too.



Release date: April 1














Back in 2020, Olivie Blake introduced readers to the magical Alexandrian Society in The Atlas Six, one of the year’s best fantasy novels. In her new book, Blake brings us the story of the wealthy and powerful Wren family. Three gifted kids—and by gifted we mean telepathic—grow into three damaged adults, each competing for their father’s fortune. Sibling dynamics + elecrokinetic powers = pyrotechnic fun.  



Release date: April 1














Holy man Brother Diaz has been issued an impossible directive from his bosses in the Sacred City. To pull it off, he’s going to need help from his new congregation—a rogue’s gallery of criminals, vampires, necromancers, and werewolves. Author Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series is beloved among hardcore fantasy types, and early readers are digging this new blend of action, horror, and gritty comedy.



Release date: May 6














At the prestigious Chetwood Academy, director of magic Doctor Walden endeavors to keep her 600 young adult students fed, educated, and safe from demonic attacks. Things get weird. Author Emily Tesh (The Greenhollow Duology) is back on shelves with a new perspective on dark academia from the faculty point of view, featuring subtle satire, sapphic romance, and creative worldbuilding.



Release date: May 13














Debut author Daria Lavelle tells the story of an aspiring New York City chef who can taste the presence of ghosts and reunite the bereaved with their loved ones. This innovative take on urban fantasy promises to be a kind of synesthetic experience itself, crossing evocative food writing with New York City culinary drama, percolating romance, and a new kind of ghost story.



Release date: May 20









 
Sci-Fi Novels

 








Acclaimed Moroccan American author Laila Lalami (The Other Americans) specializes in lucid and urgent literary fiction that drills right to the core of our most difficult societal dilemmas. Her latest book fast-forwards into speculative fiction territory—a near-future surveillance state where tech corporations have even annexed our dream lives. Who’s watching the watchers?



Release date: March 4














In a reunified future Korea, three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—must confront their shared past on a journey from the corporate skyscrapers to the dark underbelly of Seoul. Author Silvia Park explores old cyberpunk tropes and decidedly new 21st-century issues concerning artificial life, societal caste systems, and the very nature of love. Oh, there’s a murder mystery, too.



Release date: March 11














This is why the sci-fi aisle is always the most fun: You know the old yarn about the moon and green cheese? Well, what if that were actually the case? Sci-fi elder statesman John Scalzi follows the fate of several characters when the moon is suddenly replaced by an orb of, yes, cheese. Same size. Same mass. Different taste. Scalzi’s what-if scenario joins a noble tradition of absurdism in science fiction.



Release date: March 25














Meanwhile, U.K. techno-thriller specialist Nicholas Binge (Ascension) proposes another what-if scenario: While caring for her elderly husband, Maggie Webb meets a stranger with a question: What if your husband isn’t losing his memories? What if they’re being stolen? With the mysterious stranger and his high-tech devices, Maggie takes a journey into her husband’s mind.



Release date: March 25














Joining our era’s melancholy parade of poignant eco-fiction, this debut novel from author Susanna Kwan flashes forward to a flooded San Francisco where only the devoted and the stubborn remain. Our narrator, an artist turned caregiver named Bo, bonds deeply with a 130-year-old woman who remembers the grand history of the city. Kwan’s story contemplates the future, the past, and the eternal wisdom of staying in the moment.  



Release date: May 13














How’s this for an interesting premise: A groundbreaking new tech company offers people the chance to revisit the most pivotal moment of their own past—but just for an hour, and just as an observer. Unfortunately, as four strangers soon discover, there are still a few bugs in the system. Author Dete Meserve (the Kate Bradley Mystery series) blends mystery plotting with sci-fi conjecture.



Release date: May 20












Horror Novels











Set in a near-future dystopia, The Unworthy follows a desperate woman trapped in the convent of a violent religious order. Why can’t she remember her previous life? The formidable Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica (Tender Is the Flesh) takes on the really scary stuff: climate collapse, ideological zealotry, and humankind’s own tenacious demons, who seem to come back again and again.



Release date: March 4














Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians) is responsible for some of the scariest books of the new millennium. His new historical horror novel is set in 1912 and features a Blackfeet reservation, a series of transcribed interviews, and a new take on vampire mythology from the Native American perspective. Not coincidentally, the book also revisits an appalling real-world massacre from frontier history.



Release date: March 18














When frustrated writer Riccardo discovers that he’s inherited his grandmother’s villa in Milan, it seems like a stroke of good luck. Turns out…not so much. Grandma’s creepy old friends keep showing up, and her butterfly collection is deeply unsettling. But when Riccardo finds an old diary, things get really scary. Turkish author Yiğit Turhan brings the gothic vibes in his first English-language novel.



Release date: April 8














With previous books like Mary and Nestlings, author Nat Cassidy has proved himself both a devoted student and a skilled practitioner of classic horror. His new book features a young actress and a five-year-old boy on the run from Something Awful, figuratively and literally. Early readers are digging the book’s fast pace, emotional resonance, and innovative variations on the chase-story horror template.



Release date: April 22














Set during the COVID-19 epidemic in New York City, this grim and subversive novel from Kylie Lee Baker follows a crime scene cleaner as she makes a series of terrible discoveries. Bigotry and misinformation have triggered a wave of real-world violence against Asians in the city. But Cora Zeng suspects that something even more deadly is out there hunting, in the season of the hungry ghosts.



Release date: April 29














With one of the spring’s most compelling mental images (and book cover illustrations), author Chuck Wendig (Wanderers) proposes a scenario: On a fateful camping trip, five high school friends discover a staircase in the middle of the forest. One of them goes up but never comes down, and the staircase disappears. Cut to 20 years later: The staircase is back. So is the friend. Pretty good, right?



Release date: April 29














If you’re in the market for dark medieval horror with debauched revels, sapphic lust, and maybe a little cannibalism…well, you’re in luck. Caitlin Starling’s fever-dream vision takes place in a castle under siege. Three main POV characters—a serving girl, a nun turned sorceress, and a lady knight—will need a miracle to simply survive. But when their prayers are answered, the real horror begins.  

 

Release date: May 20














As the undisputed godfather of the contemporary horror genre, Stephen King could easily rest on his blood-soaked laurels. Luckily for us, the man cannot sit still. King’s new book brings back fan-favorite Holly Gibney and threads together two storylines—a vigilante celebrity stalker and an avenging killer on the loose.



Release date: May 27








Romance Novels

 








Canadian author Elsie Silver returns to her Rose Hill series and the increasingly complicated situation between Tabby and Rhys, who have entered into a fragile marriage of convenience. With the guardianship of her young nephew at stake, Tabby is willing to do just about anything to retain custody. Silver specializes in “dirty-talking alpha heroes and strong heroines who clap back,” so keep that in mind.



Release date: March 4














If there’s one thing better than a handsome veterinarian, it’s a handsome veterinarian with a cute kitten. That’s what Samantha always says. So when her date goes pretty much flawlessly, she’s tempted to just leave it at that—a perfect memory of the ultimate pleasant evening. But Fate has other plans. Abby Jimenez (Just for the Summer) has the details.



Release date: April 1














The first queer romance from veteran author Jasmine Guillory (The Wedding Date series) starts with an eternal truism: Flirting is tricky. Everyone knows this. So when recently single Avery Jensen is given the opportunity to learn from the best, she agrees to weekly lessons from Taylor Cameron, Napa Valley’s hottest hottie. Avery dedicates herself. She is duly rewarded. 



Release date: April 8














Magazine writer Alice Scott hopes to pen the book of the year when she’s invited to profile a famous heiress. But she’ll have to deal with handsome industry legend Hayden Anderson, who’s also chasing the lead. Since they’ve both been invited to stay nearby for a one-month trial period, things might get sticky. In a good way.



Release date: April 22







 



Recent

  • I didn't want to get married again after my divorce unless I had kids. I fell in love and had 2, and we've been married for 17 years now. Read More

  • M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap is a perfect Hitman movie Read More

  • Conan O’Brien Will Return as Oscars Host in 2026 Read More