Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Most Anticipated Book Releases

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.

The topic this week is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025. I will be listing them in order of release date. 

1. The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis 

Expected January 7

The latest historical adventure from Fiona Davis (The Magnolia Palace) jumps from Egypt’s Valley of the Kings circa 1936 to NYC’s Met Gala in 1978. It seems an artifact is missing from the Met and an immortal female pharaoh may be, well, mad about that. An aging scholar and the new intern are about to discover the lethal side of Egyptology.

2. Lightfall (The Everlands Trilogy #1) by Ed Crocker

Expected January 14

A mix of mystery and fantasy, this debut novel from U.K. author Ed Crocker introduces the vampire city of First Light, where the rich get richer and the poor have to drink whatever blood they can find. When palace housemaid Sam stumbles into the wrong room, she must team up with a failed sorcerer and a werewolf assassin to unravel a vast conspiracy.

3. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix 

Expected January 14

 Contemporary horror superstar Grady Hendrix (The Final Girl Support Group) turns his eye for evil to witchcraft with this new novel, which follows a group of pregnant teenagers in a Florida group home for unwed delinquents. When a friendly(?) librarian gives the girls a book on the occult, the teens tap into their own innate powers and turn the tables on their oppressors.

4. Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce

Expected February 25

Child psychologist Mina has just agreed to help a 13-year-old girl who insists she’s being menaced by an ancient witch. As it happens, the girl’s family lives in a remote village with superstitious locals. These seem like red flags, frankly. U.K. author Daisy Pearce delivers atmospheric folk horror.

5. Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Expected March 4

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has earned a worldwide readership with her fiction (Americanah) and nonfiction (We Should All Be Feminists). Her new novel tracks four very different women as they navigate life in America, Nigeria, and various points between. Adichie is unafraid to tackle the really big themes of love, loss, and the fundamentally interconnected nature of all existence.

6. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Expected March 18

Stephen Graham Jones has written some of the scariest books of the new millennium. (Don’t read The Only Good Indians in any kind of low-light situation.) His new historical horror novel is set in 1912 and features a Lutheran priest, a series of confessions, and a vampire who enforces a very specific code of justice. Seriously—keep the lights on. 

7. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Expected Release date: March 18

Technically the second prequel novel to the original trilogy (after 2020’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), Sunrise on the Reaping rewinds to the morning of the 50th annual Hunger Games. It seems a familiar fellow by the name of Haymitch Abernathy has been selected to compete in a diabolical new arena where everything is venomous, poisonous, contagious, or otherwise unpleasant. 

8. The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

Expected April 22

This debut novel follows four generations of a Texas family, through love, loss, and—ultimately—the unveiling of long-held secrets. This big-hearted tale is told from three different characters' points of view.

9. The Devils (The Devils #1) by Joe Abercrombie

Expected May 6

Holy man Brother Diaz has been issued a curious assignment from the Sacred City. To pull it off, he’s going to need help from his new congregation of criminals, vampires, necromancers, and werewolves. Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series has earned him a rabid following among hardcore fantasy types, and this book blends action, horror, and gritty comedy.

10. The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve

Expected May 20 

A miraculous new tech company, Aeon Expeditions, enables people to revisit their past—but just for an hour, and just as an observer. That’s the plan, anyway. Meserve’s novel blends mystery plotting with sci-fi conjecture and some interesting thoughts about causality.