The best books to watch out for in 2025

Romantasy, Second World War anniversary recollections and a celebration of Jane Austen are likely to be among the hot book trends of 2025.

“Romance has been absolutely huge this year, particularly what we call spicy romance,” says Bea Carvalho, head of books at Waterstones. “Next year, we’ve got books coming from big-name authors including Jojo Moyes, Emily Henry and Taylor Jenkins Reid.”

New publications are also expected to mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.

Meanwhile, in health and wellbeing, manifesting is still drawing readers, with a new book from self-help guru Paul McKenna, while other subjects set to be addressed include ADHD and ultra-processed food. TikTok remains a huge driver of sales, Carvalho observes.

Here are just a few of the books to look out for in 2025.

Romantasy

The Ballad Of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker (HarperVoyager, Oct 7)

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Currently Waterstones’ biggest pre-order title, this romantasy sequel to When The Moon Hatched sees Raeve and Kaan return to more danger, dragons and romance.

Second World War

Victory 45 by James Holland & Al Murray (Bantam, Apr 24)

This stand-out book marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War features six surrenders which heralded the Allied victory in the summer of 1945.

“James Holland is now one of the top-selling history authors, so this one should do well,” says Caroline Sanderson, associate editor of trade publication The Bookseller.

The Women’s Orchestra Of Auschwitz by Anne Sebba (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Mar 27)

This moving account of 50 female prisoners who were drafted into an orchestra at Auschwitz to play marching music in the camp will be one to watch. Almost all of the musicians survived.

Other conflict

The Accidental Soldier by Owain Mulligan (Hodder & Stoughton, Apr 10)

The brother of actor Carey Mulligan provides this searingly honest and darkly funny account of what it was really like being in the British Army in Iraq during one of the most violent periods of the conflict.

Celebrity books

Matriarch by Tina Knowles (Dialogue Books, Apr 22)

Fans should lap up this memoir from Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, in this chronicle of family love and heartbreak and all the perseverance needed to take a girl from Galveston, Texas, to change the world.

Take Care: A Memoir Of Love, Family & Never Giving Up by Lindsey Burrow (Century, Feb 27)

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The widow of Rob Burrow, the late Leeds Rhinos rugby league legend and fundraiser for Motor Neurone Disease, opens up about finding resilience and love as she cared for her husband while doing her day job with the NHS and raising a young family. With a foreword by the Prince of Wales.

Birthing by Davina McCall (HQ, May 22)

Following the success of Menopausing, the TV presenter is now homing in on birthing in what claims to be the ultimate guide to conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, blending her honesty with expert insights to empower and support women through every stage of the journey.

Romantic fiction

Story Of My Life by Lucy Score (Hodder & Stoughton, Mar 13)

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Billed as the romantic figurehead for a new generation, Score has already sold 15.5 million books in 29 languages worldwide, while her previous novel Things We Never Got Over is now being adapted by Amazon MGM for TV. So there’s much anticipation for her new book, described as Gilmore Girls meets Schitt’s Creek, about a recently divorced writer who moves to a new town looking for new beginnings.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Hutchinson Heinemann, Jun 3)

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Carvalho says: “She is one of the biggest popular authors at the moment (Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo), and this one looks at a group of astronauts against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle programme.” It tells a passionate story about the power of love, this time among the stars.

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes (Penguin Michael Joseph, Feb 11)

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Watch out for this family drama from the bestselling author of Me Before You and The Giver Of Stars, who brings us this follow-up to her novel Someone Else’s Shoes, 30 years after her protagonist Lila Kennedy’s father ran away to Hollywood. Now, he returns to wreck – or save – her life.

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (One More Chapter, Mar 13)

Waterstones is expecting this new small-town romance from the author of TikTok phenomenon The Pumpkin Spice Café to be massive, given its ‘slightly sexy’ content.

Drama

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4th Estate, Mar 4)

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This one from the award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists has been 10 years in the making and centres on a Nigerian travel writer living in the US during the pandemic, who recalls her past lovers, choices and regrets and whose story weaves in three other women close to her, as their loves, friendships, longing and desires are explored.

So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne (Hodder & Stoughton, Jan 16)

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“She’s known as the bestselling author of teen and YA books, but this one will break her out into a wide adult market,” Carvalho predicts. It centres on a group of friends at different stages of their lives, and their decisions on whether to have a baby or not, until the friendships unfold at a baby shower.

Three Days In June by Anne Tyler (Chatto & Windus, Feb 13)

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Out in time for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author brings us the story of a woman whose daughter is getting married and whose estranged husband turns up in time for the wedding, and how family dynamics play out over the course of the wedding weekend.

Historical fiction

Sharpe’s Storm by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins, Oct 21)

The 19th book in the Sharpe adventure series which finds the war against Napoleon raging around Europe and, as Britain is poised to invade France for the first time, Richard Sharpe and his men face a truly fierce army.

Horror

Whistle by Linwood Barclay (HarperCollins, Jun 5)

He’s best known for his taut thrillers, but Linwood Barclay brings us his debut horror in which a children’s author and illustrator finds strange things happening when her son finds a forgotten train set in their new house, and the emergence of a supernatural presence. She is also being compelled to draw a disturbing new character who has no place in a children’s book.

Short stories

Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld (Doubleday, Feb 27)

The acclaimed author homes in on urban Midwesterners dealing with middle-aged disillusionment in this amusing collection of stories featuring moving moments, moral dilemmas, comedy and life lessons.

Crime fiction

The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey (Swift Press, Jan 30)

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Fans of espionage thrillers should bag a copy of the third part in this stand-out series from the former CIA officer which began with Damascus Station, followed by Moscow X. The latest is focused on a Russian mole hidden within the upper reaches of the CIA, with the plot bouncing between the corridors of Langley and the Kremlin.

Death At The White Hart by Chris Chibnall (Penguin Michael Joseph, Mar 27)

Watch out for this debut novel from the award-winning writer of the hit TV series Broadchurch. He brings that expertise to the novel form, set in a small-town community in the South West, in which a city CID detective moves back to Dorset and straight into a murder mystery.

Murder On Line One by Jeremy Vine (HarperCollins, Apr 24)

He’s written romantic fiction and assorted memoirs and now the popular radio and TV presenter leaps into the world of crime, with his debut murder mystery about a killer on the airwaves.

Nature

Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton, May 1)

This acclaimed author explores the past, present and future of our rivers and how they are threatened, wounded and defended, starting in northern Ecuador, meandering through Southern India and ending in north eastern Quebec.