September 2025 Book Releases
I am so excited about the September 2025 book releases, and I cannot wait to get my hands on these books. It is always so much fun finding the upcoming new books.
This month, there are some fantastic fantasy and thriller picks. September is the time when these books are published to establish themselves before Halloween! I also have a list of August 2025 book releases by genre and summer 2025 book releases by date!
It is also exciting to see debut authors like Madeline Bell on this list. We also have favorite authors like Chanel Cleeton, Ken Follett, and Sarah Hawley. September 2025 book releases (with tons of help from Kirsten) to pick only the books that Kirsten and I want to read.
You can help authors by going into your favorite reading app and adding these books to your To Be Read pile. You can also head to your local indie bookstore and pre-order the books you know you will love. This helps the authors a lot. All the books on this list are linked to Libro.fm and Bookshop.org. Both of these sites are associated with independent bookstores!
Most Anticipated September 2025 Book Releases
Most Anticipated Fiction
The Elements by John Boyne – Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Historical Fiction
The Lost Story of Evan Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Fantasy/ Sci-Fi
Princess of Blood by Sarah Hawley- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Thriller
6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Mystery
The Killer Question by Janice Hallett- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Romance
If it makes you Happy by Julie Olivia- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Nonfiction
Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated YA
Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley- Jump to summary
Most Anticipated Holiday Book
*September 2025 Book Releases Post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through links result in a small commission to us at no cost to you.
September 2025 Fiction Book Releases
The Elements
Author: John Boyne
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: September 9
More info: Bestselling Author
Plot
This book from the September 2025 book releases is an epic saga that I cannot wait to read. The story weaves together four narratives, each related to the same crime. There is the accomplice, the enabler, the perpetrator, and the victim. Each story is related to the next and as the stories unfold, the elements of the crime are revealed. We will see a soccer star, a surgeon, a father, and a mother.
The Academy
Author: Elin Hilderbrand, Shelby Cunningham
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: September 16, 2025
More info:
Plot
I cannot wait to read this book written by the bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter! Tiffin Academy has just jumped 17 spots to be named the number two boarding school in the country. It is a surprise because the school may be well known for its great food and how much fun they have, rather than the academics. Now, a new app called ZipZap is sharing everyone’s secrets- anonymously. Everyone has something to hide and secrets will be spilled.
The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore
Author: Anika Fajardo
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: September 16, 2025
Plot
I cannot wait to read this book from the September 2025 book releases. Dolores Moore is not having a great year. She has lost the last living member of her family, was laid off from her job as a cartographer, and broke up with her boyfriend. She is also living with the chorus of her deceased relatives in her head. They want her to fulfill the promise she made to return to Colombia, her birthplace.
Plot
The narrator is back in Manhattan after the funeral of her best friend, Rebecca. She bumps into Eugene, part of her former friend group and accepts an invitation to a dinner party. The party is delayed by hours as they wait for a newly famous actress to arrive and when she finally comes, it sets in motion a disastrous evening.
xyz
The Wilderness
Author: Angela Flournoy
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: September 16, 2025
More info: National Book Award Finalist Author
Plot
This book from the September 2025 book releases, follows 5 friends from the early 2000s to the present. Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique, and Nakia are in their early 20s when the book begins and follows them as they navigate their way into adulthood.
September 2025 Historical Fiction Book Releases
The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: September 30, 2025
More info: Bestselling author
Plot
I cannot wait to read this pick from the September 2025 book releases. It is the story of a mysterious book that brings together three women and their stories. In 1900, Boston, Eva Fuentes wrote a book that will affect everyone who reads it. In Havana in 1966, Pilar Castillo must risk everything to protect a book entrusted to her. In London 2024, Margo Reynolds is searching for a rare antique book.
Circle of Days
Author: Ken Follett
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: September 23, 2025
More info: Bestselling author
Plot
Ken Follett has taken on one of the world’s greatest mysteries with his newest work of historical fiction: the building of Stonehenge. The story follows a flint miner and a priestess who believes in the impossible.
The Austen Affair
Author: Madeline Bell
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Release Date: September 16, 2025
More info: Debut
Plot
Tess is set to star in an adaptation of Northanger Abbey, the role of a lifetime. It is also her chance to prove to herself she can be a serious actress and honor her mother, who was a huge Jane Austen fan. Her co-star is a serious British actress who thinks Tess is a Joke. When an accident on set sends the two of them back to the Regency era, they will have to depend on each other if they get through and make it back to the present.
The Girl in the Green Dress
Author: Mariah Fredericks
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Plot
This is a story based on the unsolved deaths of Joseph Elwell and New Yorker writer Morris Markey. Zelda Fitzgerald is bored and spends her time socializing in the Jazz Age in New York. When Zelda encounters Joseph Elwell at the Midnight Frolic, she has no idea he will be found dead hours later and that she was one of the last people to see him alive.
September 2025 Fantasy/ Sci-fi Books
Princess of Blood
Author: Sarah Hawley
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: September 30, 2025
More info: The Shards of Magic Book #2
Plot
This book has been on my list to read since the minute I finished the first book. Kenna is not only Fae, but has become the princess of Blood House, a house long ago extinct. With her sentient blade and two best friends, she must find her way in the Fae world. The corrupt king is dead after centuries on the throne, the kingdom of Mistei is in upheaval, and they determine who the next ruler will be.
Wild Reverence
Author: Rebecca Ross
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: September 2, 2025
More info: Bestselling Author, Set in the world of Divine Rivals
Plot
Matilda is a young goddess with messenger magic. A mortal dreams of her, even though they have never met in the waking realm. Now, ten years since Vincett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life, she comes into his bedroom window with a letter for him. This may be the chance for Matilda to change the violent ways of the gods if she can learn to let herself be loved.
Thrillers for September 2025
6:40 to Montreal
Author: Eva Jurczyk
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: September 23, 2025
More info: Perfect for my list of Books Set on a Train
Plot
Agatha’s husband bought her a first-class ticket from Toronto to Montreal. The ride will give her the perfect opportunity to get work done on her new book, a follow-up to her bestselling debut. But, when the train breaks down and a fellow passenger dies, the scenic train ride turns into a fight for survival in the Canadian Winter. As a Canadian with family in Toronto and Montreal, and as someone who has taken this train numerous times, I cannot wait to read this book from the September 2025 book releases.
The Wasp Trap
Author: Mark Edwards
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: September 16, 2025
More info: Dual-timeline
Plot
In 1999, six friends helped build a dating website based on psychological testing. It also helped weed out psychopaths. Now, they have come together at a dinner party to reminisce, but soon realize they’re caught in a deadly game. They are given a choice to tell their secrets to the group, or they will die one by one.
The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold
Author: Cate Holahan
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: September 23, 2025
More info: USA Today Bestselling Author
Plot
Alice Ingold has been kidnapped, but the kidnappers are not asking for money; they are sending out riddles and asking the country to help solve them. The scavenger hunt to find Alice is on. As her parents become more desperate, the crime becomes more complex and soon Alice might not be the only one who needs saving.
Mysteries for September 2025
The Killer Question
Author: Janice Hallett
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: September 23, 2025
More info: New York Times Bestselling author
Plot
I love Janice Hallett’s Books and this is another one that is perfect for my list of Epistolary Novels. This murder mystery is told through phone messages, emails, and quiz categories. Sue and Mal Eastwood run a pub in an isolated rural area. The weekly trivia keeps it afloat. When a body turns up in the nearby river and a new team arrives to win the trivia every week, things start to worry Sue and Mal. After all, they had to flee their last town after being caught up in a police operation. Five years later, they are dead and their nephew is determined to figure out who dun it.
Other People’s Houses
Author: Clare Mackintosh
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: September 16
More info:n DC Morgan Book 3
Plot
Everyone wants to live on The Hill, a prestigious and luxurious place to live in Cheshire. But someone is breaking into the homes. DS Leo Brady is on the case. In Wales, DC Ffion Morgan discovers the body of a real estate agent in the lake. Why would someone want her dead? The cases come together and Ffion and Leo realize that secrets are worth a lot….
The Secret of Secrets
Author: Dan Brown
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: September 9
More info: Robert Langdon Book 6
Plot
Robert Langdon is back. He is traveling to Prague to attend a lecture by Katherine Solomon, a noetic scientist and his girlfriend. She is publishing a book with amazing discoveries that go against conventional thinking. When she goes missing along with her manuscript, Langdon begins his quest to find her.
Plot
Catherine is headed to an Irish Castle to cover the IT wedding of the season for Bespoke magazine. The all-expense-paid trip will make her career. But when Gloria Beaufort, the founder of a billion-dollar beauty empire, is found dead, the family insists that Catherine keep it quiet so the wedding can go on as planned. Catherine is sure that someone in the family is responsible because they each have something to hide
Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests
Author: K.J. Whittle
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: September 9, 2025
More info:
Plot
Seven dinner guests, all strangers, meet for a hosted dinner party. At the end of the nigh,t they are each given a piece of paper with a number on it. This is the age at which they will die. Two weeks later, one of them is dead, exactly when the card predicted. Initially, they think it was a coincidence, but as more guests begin to die, they wonder if there is someone behind the deaths.
Romance: September 2025 Book Releases
If It Makes You Happy
Author: Julie Olivia
Genre: Romance
Release Date: September 2, 2025
More info: Slow-burn romance
Plot
We are traveling back to 1997 with a small town in Vermont and a B&B. I feel some Gilmore Girls vibes from this book and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. Is it worth it to make friends and get settled when going back to Seattle in a few months? So what if the town’s golden boy is adorable? Written in first person, this pick from the September 2025 book releases looks like the perfect cozy read for fall.
Every Step She Takes
Author: Alison Cochrun
Genre: Romance
Release Date: September 2, 2025
More info: Sapphic Romance
Plot
When Sadie’s sister gets an injury she can no longer go on her 200-mile trek along Portugal’s Camino de Santiago. Luckily, Sadie needs an escape from her life. On the plane ride over, turbulence makes her confess her deepest thoughts to Mal, the person next to her on the plane, thinking she is about to die. When the plane lands safely and Mal is also headed on the same tour, for queer women, Sadie might have to come to terms with her gay panic.
Crazy Spooky Love
Author: Josie Silver
Genre: fantasy romance
Release Date: September 2, 2025
More info: first in a series
Plot
Melody Bittersweet comes from a long line of ghost-sensitive women, but unlike her family, she wants to take them out. Her first case for the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency is an old house which has the ghosts of the Scarborough brothers. In order to make them leave the house, she will have to help them solve a murder. Unfortunately, her ex-boyfriend arrives at the house with a camera crew- he is also her rival- and a local reporter covering the case wants nothing more than to discredit Melody. A love triangle and ghosts? Count me in.
Soul Searching
Author: Lyla Sage
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: September 30, 2025
More info: Sweetwater Peak #1
Plot
This is the first book in a new series and it looks delightful. Collins Cartwright hates that she has to move home to Sweetwater Peak, Wyoming. But she is out of options now that she lost her job and her parents need her help saving their shop from a developer. Brady Cooper does not want anyone to know why he moved to Sweetwater. Now that Collins is renting the room above his store, he wonders if he made the right choice, considering she talks to herself all the time. He doesn’t realize that the ghosts in his apartment are being ornery. However, maybe its the ghosts that are trying to push these two together.
Ghost Business
Author: Jen DeLuca
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release Date: September 9, 2025
More info: Boneyard Key #2
Plot
Sophie has always lived in Boneyard Key and loves its supernatural history. She guides the town’s only ghost tour. When Tristan comes to town with his ghost tour (a multicity conglomerate), he knows it’s the perfect place to make a profit and maintain the funding provided by his father. Sophie and Tristan make a deal where only the most successful ghost tour will stay because there is not room for the both of them, or is there?
Plot
When Louisa Walsh is dumped, she is left unable to afford the rent on the house she had shared with her boyfriend. She decides to ask her landlord, Henry Rhodes, if she can rent out the rooms in the house as a bed and breakfast. He agrees and she is shocked when she learns that he is not only young and handsome, but single and heartbroken as well.
Louisa opens the door to the Comeback Inn, a hotel for the brokenhearted and Henry is not amused with her marketing. But as the two get to know each other, they cannot deny their chemistry.
September 2025: Best Non-Fiction Book Releases
Awake: A Memoir
Author: Jen Hatmaker
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: September 23, 2025
More info: New York Times Bestselling Author
Plot
Awake is Jen Hatmaker’s memoir describing the moment she realized her husband was having an affair and the fallout from that discovery. She describes her grief and anxiety and how she eventually found her way back to herself.
All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: September 9, 2025
More info: Author of Eat, Pray, Love
Plot
Elizabeth Gilbert has written her first nonfiction book in 10 years and this is a gripping story of love and addiction. In 2000, Elizabeth met Rayya and the two became inseparable before they realized they were in love. The two started a cycle of addiction and self-destruction. This book looks like a powerful read from the September 2025 book releases.
Best YA September 2025 Book Releases
Sisters in the Wind
Author: Angeline Boulley
Genre:
Release Date: September 2, 2025
More info: Bestselling Author of Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed
Plot
Lucy Smith’s father died 5 years ago and she had been on the run ever since rather than become a ward of the state. She meets Mr. Jameson, who tells her that her father hid her Ojibwe heritage. She has a family she never knew about, including siblings and a grandmother. This YA pick from the September 2025 book releases is a mystery about a young woman claiming her heritage. I loved Boulley’s previous two books and I cannot wait to read this one.
Plot
La Danse des Debutantes is the most exclusive ball in the world, where the debs are hand-selected by La Danse. Chapin has been selected and is a shoo-in for the debutante of the year until one of the other debs creates a PR disaster. To save the ball, Piper Woo Collins, the winner of the international science fair prize, is offered a college scholarship if she wins Debutante of the Year. Her profile is just what they need. Now Piper and Chapin are competing for the crown.
Never Ever After
Author: Sue Lynn Tan
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: September 30, 2025
More info: Cinderella Retelling
Plot
After the death of her uncle, Yining had to become a thief to survive. She acquired an enchanted ring that could be the key to her future. When it is stolen by her step-aunt, Yining must travel to the heart of the imperial kingdom to get the ring back. When she arrives, she finds herself trapped in a web of power, secrecy, and greed. To escape she will have to unravel the mystery of her past.
Holiday Books
Plot
Jill Jacobs is not a fan of Christmas since her ex broke up with her on Christmas Eve, so she is not looking forward to heading home for the holidays this year. When Jill wakes up in a hometown filled with the holiday spirit, she thinks she must be hungover until she realizes she is stuck in a movie. A movie that is in her hometown starring the people from her past. She cannot get home until she completes the plot. This means she has to be the heroine in a love story. Count me in for this fantastic book.
Christmas at the Ranch
Author: Julia McKay
Genre: Christmas Romance
Release Date: September 23, 2025
More info: Second-Chance Romance
Plot
Ranches and romances are the newest thing, so throw in a touch of Christmas and this is a pick from the September 2025 book releases I cannot wait to read. Emory is a disgraced journalist who needs to get away and she ends up at Tate Wilder’s family ranch, the place she spent her happiest Christmas as a teen. She fell in love with Tate back then, but it all went wrong. Will this trip be the second-chance for them?
A Spell for Midwinter’s Heart
Author: Morgan Lockhart
Genre: Christmas magical romance
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Plot
In this holiday romance, Rowan Midwinter returns home to help save her town’s winter festival. The holidays would not be the same without it. Rowan is not excited to see her estranged coven and is worried her magic might go awry around Gavin McCreery. This pick from the September 2025 book releases is on my TBR.
You Make it Feel Like Christmas
Author: Sophie Sullivan
Genre: Holiday Romance
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Plot
Maisie Smart is a photographer who had a one-night stand with Nick King, a professional hockey player. When he bolted the morning after, she was embarrassed and has spent the last 6 months trying to forget it ever happened. Nick is a mess who cannot stop thinking about that night. When the two of them wind up at Tickle Tree Farms for the holidays, the second meeting might be harder to walk away from.
We LOVE to support independent bookstores. You can shop our entire list of September 2025 book releases on Bookshop.org
Expert Tip
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.
What are the most anticipated September 2025 Book Releases?
There are so many books I cannot wait to read. These are the most anticipated:
1. The Lost Story of Evan Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton
2. Princess of Blood by Sarah Hawley
3. 6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk
4. The Killer Question by Janice Hallett
5. Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley
Epilogue
Which September 2025 book releases are you most looking forward to reading?
