A new year is only a few weeks away, and that means it’s time to start working on a new TBR list. As you can imagine, the NetGalley team loves looking ahead to see which books are coming out next. Here’s a roundup of the books we can’t wait to pick up in 2025!
Hallie
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
One of my favorite subgenres is historical fiction focused on real-life bookish figures, so I can’t wait to read Harlem Rhapsody next year! This story follows Jessie Redmon Fauset and her time as the literary editor for the NAACP’s official magazine, The Crisis. Jessie Redmon Fauset nurtured many new writers like Langston Hughes and helped usher in the Harlem Renaissance. I adored Victoria Christopher Murray’s co-authored books The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies, and I know this one will be another compelling read!
Courtney
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
I discovered Emily Henry this year and quickly read everything of hers I could get my hands on. The plot of Great Big Beautiful Life is intriguing: two writers competing to win the chance to write the biography of a storied woman. But what is even more intriguing to me is the way the author herself talks about the book, calling it an emotional journey and saying that she’s trying some new things. Henry’s an incredible writer, often drawing complicated emotions out of me that I didn’t even know were there or making me feel seen for things that I never would have expected to see reflected in a romance protagonist. I’m ready to go on whatever ride she’s devised for me with this one.
Kristina
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
When I saw this upcoming book by V.E. Schwab on NetGalley, I immediately put it on my do-not-miss list. I have been a huge fan of her other work, especially the Shades of Magic series and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. The description really got me:
Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.
London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.
Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.
One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.
And all of them grow teeth.
Megan
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix is an auto-buy author for me, and his horror stories are always creepy yet fun. I also love a witch so it’s no surprise that I am eager to read his new book Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. Wellwood House is where young girls are sent when they find themselves pregnant. Every aspect of their life is controlled in Wellwood House, but when some of the girls get their hands on an occult book on witchcraft, they may have found a way to get their power back. Grady Hendrix is used to transporting readers to different time periods, and I’m excited to get transported to 1970 with this one.
Lindsey
The Lake’s Water is Never Sweet by Giulia Caminito
This award-winning novel is already a bestseller in Italy, and I can’t wait to read the English-language edition from Spiegel & Grau next year. It’s described as a perfect read for fans of Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante and categorized as a mix of coming-of-age, literary, and psychological fiction. Sign me up!
Kelly
A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera
Adriana Herrera is an auto-buy author for me! Her romances are filled with deeply nuanced characters, top-notch banter, and electric chemistry—I just can’t get enough. I’ve particularly enjoyed her foray into historical romance with the Las Léonas series, which follows three friends to Paris in 1889. Over the first two books in the series, physician Aurora Montalban and Apollo, Duke of Annan, have butted heads every time they’ve been on the page together. Now that it’s time for them to fall in love, I can’t wait to see the sparks fly!
A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander
I first heard about this book when I met TJ Alexander at this year’s Steamy Lit Con, and I have been impatiently waiting for it ever since! I thrive at the intersection of queer and historical romance, and this book sounds like my exact cup of tea: a slow-burn trans Regency romance between Christopher, a lonely lord who is supposed to be looking for a wife in order to keep his estate, and James Harding, his new too-handsome-to-be-ignored valet. Is it March yet?
Alyce
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
John Scalzi is one of my favorite sci-fi authors, and when I see that a new book of his is coming out it automatically goes to the top of my TBR list. This story is about what would happen if the moon suddenly turned to cheese, and I can’t wait to see how he explains it. I don’t have any doubt this will be an entertaining read!
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
I am very much looking forward to listening to this third book in the Empyrean series! The first two books in this romantasy series were filled with action, romance, magic, and dragons. I must know what happens in the next book!
Darcy
Audition by Katie Kitamura
I can’t wait to get my hands on Audition. I’m a superfan of Katie Kitamura! I remember reading Intimacies and A Separation and returning to sentences and pages to soak in the layers underneath. I look forward to relishing Kitamura’s new book, too. By all appearances, I know Audition will deliver that masterful style of presenting a seemingly sparse plot and characters on the surface with a supercharged undercurrent of meaning.
Alicia
Other People’s Houses by Clare Mackintosh
Other People’s Houses is the most recent installment in the DC Morgan series. I love Clare Mackintosh’s writing, and there are so many great characters in this series. Ffion, despite being a great detective, is a special kind of messed up: She makes terrible decisions, can’t commit, can’t follow the rules… but she sure makes me laugh, and I just love her no-nonsense attitude. I adore Ffion, as well as her on-and-off relationship with Leo. In Other People’s Houses, Ffion and Leo find themselves working together again as a body recovered from a lake and reports of burglaries in a nearby posh (and supposedly safe) neighborhood turn out to be connected. I can’t wait to see these two at it again!
Tarah
Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
A title in ancient Greek and a mysterious journey to the underworld (and back)… sign me up!
Emily
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
The first two books in the Skyland series by Kennedy Ryan took my breath away with their emotional intensity, and I loved the ride-or-die friendship between Yasmen, Soledad, and Hendrix. I’m so excited for Hendrix’s story in the third book.
Looking for even more recs? Check out this roundup of highly-anticipated 2025 releases!
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