January 2025 Book Releases
I am so excited to read the January 2025 book releases. I know choosing a new book can seem daunting with hundreds of book choices, so I included only the books that Kirsten and I cannot wait to read.
Every month, Kirsten and I scour the internet to find the books we are the most excited to read. We look through publishers’ lists, our personal lists of advanced reader copies (ARCs), as well as a few other sources. I cannot give away all our secrets, can I? If you are looking for December 2024 book releases, you can check them out here.
From this list of hundreds of books, we look through the picks and decide our most anticipated books for January 2025. I have divided the books by genre to help you decide which books to add to your TBR! If you are looking for more tips on how to choose your next book, check below. I am happy to help with that as well.
Most Anticipated Books for January 2025
Most Anticipated Fiction
Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen- Click here for a book description
Most Anticipated Historical Fiction
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis- Click here for a book description and more books in this category
Most Anticipated Fantasy
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros – Click here for a book description and more books in the category
Most Anticipated Thriller /Mystery
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix- Click here for a book description and more books in the category
Most Anticipated Romance
Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar- Click here for a book description and more books in the category
Most Anticipated Nonfiction
Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth): A Memoir by Markus Zusak- Click here for a description of the book and more books in this category
Most Anticipated Young Adult
– Click here for a description of the book and more books in this category
*January 2025 Book Releases Post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through links result in a small commission to us at no cost to you.
Fiction Book Releases
Let’s Call her Barbie
Author: Renee Rosen
Genre: Biographical Fiction
Release Date: January 27, 2025
Plot
In this well-researched biographical fiction, we learn about Ruth Handler, and how Barbie was born. In a time when the only dolls were babies, Ruth envisioned a doll who could be anything. This looks like a pick from the January 2025 book releases that will be going on our list of Best Books for Book Clubs to Read.
Tartufo
Author: Kira Jane Buxton
Genre:
Release Date:
More info: Thurber Prize Finalist author of Hallow Kingdom
Plot
This book takes place in a small ding village in Italy where the mayor nearly lost the election to a donkey. Now, the restaurants are shuttered and the town is falling apart. When a local truffle hunter finds a huge truffle (Tartufo), it could be worth a fortune and change the village for good. This book set in Italy looks like a hilarious pick from the January 2025 book releases.
Homeseeking
Author: Karissa Chen
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: January 7, 2025
More info: An epic tale of love over sixty years
Plot
Suchi and Haiwen met when Suchi was seven in their Shanghai neighborhood. Their friendship grew to love only to be separated when Haiwen enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother. Now, sixty years later, Haiwen sees Suchin in a Los Angeles market for the first time in 60 years. In this pick from the January 2025 book releases, we will travel from Hong Kong to Taiwan, New York and California as Haiwen’s story is told from Present to past and Suchi’s story is told from the past to the present.
Good Dirt
Author: Charmaine Wilkerson
Genre: Literary Fiction
Release Date: January 28, 2025
More Info: New York Times Bestselling author of Black Cake
Plot
In this powerful novel, Ebby Freeman, from a wealthy Black family, is haunted by a childhood tragedy—the unsolved shooting of her brother and the destruction of a cherished heirloom. Years later, after her public breakup, Ebby flees to France, only to be drawn back into the mystery surrounding that day. As she reconnects with her family’s history, she discovers that the centuries-old jar may hold the key to understanding her past and shaping her future. This pick from the January 2025 book releases is perfect for our post on the best Family Sagas.
Historical Fiction: January 2025 Book Releases
The Stolen Queen
Author: Fiona Davis
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release Date: January 7, 2025
More info: New York Times Bestselling Author
Plot
In 1936, when tragedy struck, Charlotte Cross was an anthropology student headed to a dig in the Valley of Kings. In 1978, Annie Jenkins worked for a former Vogue editor to organize the Met Gala. When an ancient Egyptian artifact goes missing on the night of the Gala, she must work with Charlotte, now the associate curator in the Met’s Department of Egyptian Art, to recover the lost artifact. Their search will take them back to Egypt where danger awaits them.
Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf
Author: Isa Arden
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Plot
Margaret Shoard is a Shakespearean stage actress I was just finished playing Lady Macbeth. When she has a public meltdown, she is prescribed uppers by her doctor. She is married to Wesley, her best friend, but is not solely interested in women. When Wesley is invited to join the Shakespearean cast by an eccentric Director. He decides to go and Margot decides to join him. Soon, Wesley is involved in an affair with a man who may be more trouble than he’s worth. Their story is on its way to ending in tragedy.
The Girls of the Glimmer Factory
Author: Jennifer Coburn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: January 28, 2025
More info: Author of Cradles of the Reich
Plot
In this WWII novel, Jewish prisoner Hannah is determined to expose the truth behind the Nazi propaganda film being shot in the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she’s held captive. As she and other resistance members work to disrupt the production and stop deportations, Hilde, a Nazi propaganda worker and Hannah’s former friend, sees an opportunity to advance her career by manipulating their past connection. The story explores themes of resistance, friendship, and the dangers of propaganda during WWII.
Isola
Author: Allegra Goodman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: January 21, 2025
More info: Author of Sam
Plot
This pick from the January 2025 book releases is inspired by a real sixteenth-century woman. After Marguerite is orphaned and her guardian sells off her property to pay off his debts, he leaves her on a deserted island after he discovers her love affair with his servant. Stripped of her former life of privilege, Marguerite must rely on her faith, love, and inner strength to survive the harsh elements of the island.
The Kennedy Girl
Author: Julia Bryan Thomas
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Plot
In this novel by Julia Bryan Thomas, newly orphaned Mia is offered a seemingly glamorous modeling job in Paris at the House of Rousseau in 1960. However, she soon discovers that the fashion house is involved in an international espionage scheme, pulling her into a world of intrigue and danger. As Mia becomes entangled in national crimes and politics, she must choose where her loyalties lie.
Fantasy/ Sci-fi: Most Anticipated
Onyx Storm
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release Date: January 21, 2025
More info: The Empyrean Series Book 3
Plot
There have been no leaks about the plot of this follow-up to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. If you want to catch up on all the info, check out our posts Fourth Wing Series in Order: 5 Fantasy Books to Obsess Over! and The Best Books Like Fourth Wing. Pre-order now to receive the gorgeous sprayed edges.
A Sea of Unspoken Things
Author: Adrienne Young
Genre: Fiction/ Magical Realism
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Plot
James and Johnny are twins who have a connection to each other that is unexplainable. They can feel each other’s feelings. When Johnny is killed, James knows immediately that something happened and she is determined to find out what happened to her brother. But as she investigates, she realizes that the connection is not gone and that the further she digs, the more unwanted secrets she might discover.
The Rainfall Market
Author: You Yeong-Gwang
Genre: Coming-of-age fantasy
Release Date: January 21, 2025
More info: Translated by Slin Jung
Plot
There is a house outside of Rainbow Town where you can send a letter telling all your troubles. If they send you a ticket, you can bring it to the house on the first day of the rainy season you are granted admission to the Rainfall Market. Once inside, you have a week to find what your perfect life will look like. But if you cannot, you will be left to wander the Rainfall Market forever.
The In-Between Bookstore: A Novel
Author: Edward Underhill
Genre: Magical Realism Fiction
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Plot
Darby Oaks is a trans man who is almost 30, unemployed, and forced to move from his home in NYC back to his hometown in Oak Falls. Some things about the town seem very different but the bookstore that was his refuge feels exactly the same. When Darby realizes that the newspapers in the bookstore are dated from 2009 and the kid behind the counter looks just like his 16-year-old self, he realizes he has a chance to change his own present for the better.
The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds
Author: Jennifer Moorman
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: January 14, 2025
More info:
Plot
Josephine Reynolds is widowed at thirty-five and feels like her life is directionless. Her sister convinces her to buy their family home, in need of a good fixing, as a distraction. When Josephine finds the home’s original door, she installs it only to find that she is transported back to 1927. There, she meets her great-grandmother, Alma, who runs a speakeasy out of the house’s basement. Soon Josephine discovers that by stepping into the past, she may have put her own future in jeopardy.
Thrillers and Mysteries for January 2025
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
Author: Grady Hendrix
Genre: Horror Thriller
Release Date: January 14, 2025
More info: New York Times Bestselling Author
Plot
In 1970, Fern arrived at Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida. It is a home for wayward girls where pregnant girls are expected to have their babies in secret and give them up for adoption. Everything the girls do is monitored very closely until Fern meets a librarian who gives her a book on witchcraft. Suddenly, everything is about to change.
Beautiful Ugly: A Novel
Author: Alice Feeney
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: January 14, 2025
More info: Bestselling Author
Plot
Grady Green is an author who calls his wife Abby to tell her exciting news when he hears her slam on the brakes and then he hears nothing. When he finds her car on the edge of a cliff, the door is open and she is gone. A year later, he still has no word from Abby and he cannot get over the loss. When he travels to an island in Scotland to reset his life, he sees a woman who looks exactly like his wife! We will be putting this pick from the January 2025 book releases on our Best Books About Scotland!
Plot
This looks like a creepy thriller from the author of The Family Plot and I cannot wait to read this pick from the January 2025 book releases. Rosie Lachlan was left at the alter and now she is determined to find the one- especially after she received a life-saving heart transplant. When she learns the identity of her heart donor, she becomes convinced that she and the donor’s husband are meant to be together. Even when she learns that he may have had something to do with his wife’s death, Rosie is not sure she can stay away.
The Crash
Author: Freida McFadden
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: January 28, 2025
More info: #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Plot
Teagan is eight months pregnant when she leaves her old life. She gets in her car and flees to her brother’s house until she can figure out what to do but gets stranded in Maine after a car crash in a blizzard. She thinks she has been saved when a couple finds her and brings her to their cabin to wait out the storm. But as time goes by, she realizes she and her unborn baby are in grave danger, and she needs to find a way to escape. This pick from the January 2025 book releases is perfect for our list of Novels about Weather, Hurricanes, and Blizzards
Trust Issues: A Novel
Author: Elizabeth McCullough and Greg Wands
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: January 28th
Plot
Hazel and Kagan are siblings who have been cut off from the family fund after their mother remarried Perry. When they receive news of their mother’s suspicious death, the police have the two of them on their list of suspects. When they discover that Perry has disappeared with all the family money, the siblings must put aside their differences to find this conman. This pick from the January 2025 book releases is perfect for our Books about Con Artists and Thieves.
Romance: January 2025 Book Releases
Flirting with Disaster
Author: Nina Kumar
Genre: Romance
Release Date: January 14, 2025
More info: Author of Say You’ll Be Mine
Plot
Oooh. I cannot wait to read this second-chance romance that is a reimagining of one of my favorite movies Sweet Home Alabama. Meena is a high-powered lawyer engaged to another lawyer and they are perfect together. The only problem is that before they can get married, Meena needs to go home to Texas to get a divorce from her husband Nikhil. When a hurricane traps Meena at home for longer than she thought, she begins to remember the reasons she married Nikhil. The reasons she left are suddenly not nearly as clear.
The Heart of Winter
Author: Jonathan Evison
Genre: Romance Fiction
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Plot
Abe and Ruth had a disastrous blind date and somehow managed to get married and stay married for 70 years. They live on a farm in Bainbridge Island where they have lived an entire life together. When Ruth gets a loose tooth and it turns out it is a much more serious health crisis, Abe and Ruth must learn to be there for each other in different ways. Abe must learn how to take care of Ruth, even while their children question his ability to take care of her.
Plot
This is a STEM romance from the January 2025 book releases that I can’t wait to get my hands on. This 26 Grumpy Sunshine Trope Book about an astronomer and an entomologist looks like its part nerdy banter and part steamy tension. This looks like the perfect book to add some steam to the cold winter nights!
Plot
Alix Morgan is an entertainment writer who has just taken a job as a ghostwriter for a memoir by Sebastian Green. He is a member of the famous boy band True North which fell apart after the disappearance of the lead singer. Now, Alix is staying at Sebastian’s Vermont report where she can write and take skiing lessons with a handsome instructor named Tyler. She soon realizes that they mystery of True North may be within her grasp.
Nonfiction January 2025 Book Releases
Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth): A Memoir
Author: Markus Zusak
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: January 21, 2025
More info: International Best-Selling Author of The Book Thief
Plot
In this memoir, the author of The Book Thief tells the story of his family adopting three large, wild street dogs. The dogs caused complete havoc with fights, property damage, injuries, and more. This is truly a story of family and love.
The Survivor: How I made it Through Six Concentration Camps and BEcame a Nazi Hunter
Author: Josef Lewkowicz
Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: January 27, 2025
Plot
Josef Lewkowicz survived six Nazi concentration camps and became a Nazi hunter in pursuit of Justice. He managed to capture SS Kommandant Amon Goeth, the nazi who tormented him throughout the war (portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List). This looks like a book that cannot be missed from the January 2025 book releases.
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the NationÂ
Author: Michael Cannell
Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Plot
This pick from the January 2025 Book releases is the shocking story of NYPD detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who acted as double agents for the Mafia in the 1980s. For over a decade, they leaked critical information to mob bosses, staged hits, and obstructed justice. Despite early evidence, they weren’t convicted until 2009, due to the relentless efforts of a determined cop, Tommy Dades.
Best YA January 2025 Book Releases
Plot
When Amber arrives home on her bike, her mom sees her and screams. Amber died seven years ago when she was hit by a car riding the bike she now has in her hands. Life has moved forward seven years and Amber is unchanged. From her parents who are estranged and fighting over her to her sister who is now 7 years older, everyone is affected by Amber’s reappearance. This pick from the January 2025 book releases is on my TBR.
Plot
Four teens live at Almus Terra Academy (inspired by UWC of the Atlantic), a boarding school for the elite and the next generation of the world’s leaders. One of them will inherit a European kingdom. King Leander Eldana has not named the heir to the crown during his 50-year reign and will look to the walls of Almus Terra Academy to choose.
Breath of the Dragon
Author: Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: January 7, 2025
More info: Book 1 of Breathmarked
Plot
Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of redeeming his family’s honor by winning the elite Guardian’s Tournament, a competition that chooses the protector of the magical Scroll of Heaven. Despite his father’s strict prohibition and the fact that Jun lacks the special abilities his twin brother has, he secretly joins the tournament. As Jun competes, he realizes that more than just his future is at stake—he may be fighting to save his country and loved ones.
Mystery Royale
Author: Kaitlyn Cavalancia
Genre: YA Mystery
Release Date:
More info: Inheritance Games meets Hotel Magnifique
Plot
Mullory Prudence is sixteen-year-old and only has her late mother’s warnings to “run if the strange finds you,” left as memories. Nevertheless, she is drawn into a game called Mystery Royale at Stoutmire Estate, where the prize is a massive inheritance. Once there, she discovers the true prize is Xavier Stoutmire’s illusionary magic, coveted by a family willing to kill for it. To win the game, Mullory must solve the murder of Xavier Stoutmire while navigating family secrets and deciding whom she can trust.
The Last Bookstore on Earth
Author: Lily Braun-Arnold
Genre: LGBTQ YA Fiction
Release Date:
More info: YA Debut
Plot
In a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by devastating storms, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been surviving in an abandoned bookstore in New Jersey. When a new storm threatens, Liz reluctantly lets Maeve, a mysterious outsider with useful survival skills, stay with her. As the two grow closer and romantic feelings develop, they must confront not only the impending climate disaster but also Maeve’s hidden past and Liz’s personal struggles.
The Queen’s Spade
Author: Sarah Raughley
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: January 14, 2025
More info: The Count of Monet Cristo meets Bridgerton
Plot
This pick from the January 2025 book releases is a historical thriller inspired by the true story of Sarah Bonetta Forbes, an African princess kidnapped and made the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Set in 1862, Sarah, now known as Sally, seeks revenge against the British monarchy that enslaved her. As Queen Victoria grows suspicious, Sally must navigate a deadly game of power, manipulation, and a looming marriage, where the price of her vengeance may be her own freedom and heart.
We LOVE to support independent bookstores. You can shop our entire list of January 2025 book releases on Bookshop.org
Expert Tips
Looking through 30 books can be daunting if you are trying to add some books to your TBR. Remember that this list is for fun. You may add books to your TBR stack and never read them. That is OK! I have two tips to help narrow down the choices for you.
- If you do not want to look through 30 descriptions, I selected a top pick from each genre. I narrowed it down for you!
- If you have a favorite genre that you like to read, head over to that section and pick from those books.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is your most anticipated January 2025 book release?
There are so many books that we cannot wait to read from this list. There are favorite authors like Markus Zusak, Charmaine Wilkerson, Grady Hendrix, Megan Collins, and Naina Kumar to some debut authors as well.
Related Content
Epilogue
I hope you love this list of most anticipated January 2025 book releases. If there is a book you want to read and don’t see on this list, please let me know. You can also tell me which books you look forward to reading.
