It’s already Q3 of 2025! How did we get here? This is an excellent new book release quarter, and I have to say it was hard to narrow down my most anticipated books. But as usual, I have picked my top five books for each month of the quarter: July, August and September. And at the end of the post, I’ll share my results of last quarter, which was…OK but not great. Here we go:
July 2025 Most Anticipated:
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst. I know lots of readers are excited about this book, or have already read it. I’m reading it very soon!
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus. Kraus won my heart after I read the amazing Whalefall, and while Angel Down sounds like the complete opposite, I’m looking forward to it.
The Library At Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw. I just finished this and will be reviewing it later this week. This was super weird and disgusting, with lots of body horror, blood and guts, etc. But wow, it certainly left an impact on me!
A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan. I believe this is a debut, and it’s getting lots of nice, positive reviews. Witches join the war effort, a unique idea!
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I always look forward to her books, and this one sounds great.
August 2025 Most Anticipated:
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch. I’m reading Raasch’s other series (Royals & Romance), so I was surprised to see she was starting a new one (Magic & Romance)!
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher. I mean, who doesn’t love T. Kingfisher’s books? I expect I’ll love this.
Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton. I’m very curious about Liz Shipton’s traditional publishing debut (she’s already self-published lots of books). The concept sounds great, and I look forward to finding out why there’s a cat on the cover!
The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford. Ford has my heart and soul because of his Frost Files series, and now he’s venturing into fantasy. I will say I have already started dipping into this a bit, and it’s got Ford’s signature humor and character-centric elements. I hope to posts a review in July sometime.
The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine. According to the author, the book is full of behind-the-scenes publishing secrets, which makes me want to read it even more:-)
September 2025 Most Anticipated:
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei. I don’t yet a have a review copy of Saltcrop, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed! I absolutely love Kitasei’s writing and imaginative stories, and I understand this is different from her first two books. I can’t wait!
Spread Me by Sarah Gailey. It’s been a few years since Gailey’s last book so I’m really looking forward to this weird sounding sci-fi horror.
The Faerie Morgana by Louisa Morgan. Normally I wouldn’t pick up an Arthurian retelling on purpose, lol. It’s not really my thing. But I will pick up anything Louisa Morgan writes!
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. I’m a sucker for haunted house stories, especially when one of my favorite authors takes it on. This sounds like fun!
The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi. Horror in a retirement home with older protagonists—this is getting fantastic reviews so far.
Second Quarter 2025 Results:
I only read 10 out of 15 of the books on this list, although I did start A Drop of Corruption but never finished it. I know! Everyone loves it, and I hope to pick it up again later. My favorite books of the quarter were The Afterlife Project and When the Wolf Comes Home.
The way you’ve described The Library At Hellebore has led me to believe it may not be for me, but I’ll check out your full review before truly deciding lol. I’m very excited for quite a few of these too and loved The Bewitching. I’m curious about the publishing secrets shared within the Cookbook one and hope you manage to get a review copy of Saltcrop.
Did you struggle to get into A Drop Of Corruption or was it just a time thing? I hope you enjoy it whenever you try again. (And if it makes you feel any better I still need to read the first one )
I think A Drop of Corruption started much slower than I expected and I became impatient. I just need to try again, because I know I’ll love it.
How many interesting books! I have four out of five books out on August on my TBR, and the fifth one is not my kind of book, but it still sounds intriguing!!
Thanks for sharing!!
I’m glad we have some in common, I hope we love them:-)
The Enchanted Greenhouse and The Bewitching are both books I’d like to read.
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards sounds like it could be good too.
Looks like lots of good books to look forward to 😀
It’s really hard to pick what to read next, and I guess that’s a good problem to have:-)
You are amazing!
Thanks Emma!
You’re just out to buck trends, aren’t you;)
LOL not sure what that means, but really, who wants to be trendy? 😉
I am looking forward to the Enchanted Greenhouse too!
I’m reading it now and it’s really good:-)
That cover for The Bone Raiders made me think it was another entry in Nicholas Eames’ Kings of the Wyld series. It’s funny, I didn’t even notice the dragon initially… 🙂
Exactly! I think it might be the same artist, since it’s the same publisher:-)
I’m super behind on T. Kingfisher’s books. Whyyyy. I love their books so much. I guess I just have too many books flying at me right now haha
Me too, there are just too many!
There are a lot of new books coming out in the next few months! I’m looking forward to several including Rage by Linda Castillo and We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall. Happy reading all of these! 😀
I’m also excited for We Won’t All Survive, although it didn’t make this list, I’m still hoping to read it.
So many amazing books are coming out soon!
There are, it’s such a great quarter for new SFF releases!
Most of these are new to me! Hope you get to read as many as you can and that you enjoy the ones you do!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2025/07/09/lisa-loves-to-discuss-8-posting-your-rating-charts/
Thanks Lisa!
You’ve actually made me more excited for The Library of Hellebore. I know it’s the August pick for a special edition book box I subscribe too so I’m excited to get it. There are lots of good books coming out in this quarter.
I’m curious to see some more reviews for Hellebore!
oh you haven’t read A Drop of Corruption. I love that series.
Anne – Books of My Heart
No, I am very behind.
I just preordered Hemlock & Silver today. I’m really looking forward to more T. Kingfisher and of course Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Love everything she writes.
They are two of my “must read” authors as well:-)
Dot Slash Magic sounds really cool! I’m also kind of intrigued by Philip Fracassi’s new book.
I’m sooo curious about Dot Slash Magic!
Great choices and I have a few of these waiting to be read – I actually can’t believe we’re in July though!
Lynn 😀
This is a great list and I have many must reads on here as well. Might use this post to guide my reading for the next few months