At the end of just about every year, I make a New Year’s resolution that in the next year I will read more. Occasionally I stick to that resolution (starting my library job in 2024 helped me read so much more this year!), but often my interest falls away at the end of the winter, replaced by excitement for spring and all that comes with it in the Treasure Valley.
This year, to combat the late-winter reading slump blues, I’ve decided to make a list of some of the most anticipated releases of 2025 for myself and a few of my coworkers. I’m hoping that, when I’m inevitably bored with my To-Be-Read list in March, I’ll be able to pull this list back out and find something that will inspire me to read again… if only because it just came out!
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Expected January 14, 2025 - Recommended by Shelly and Virginia
Releasing just two weeks into January, the newest novel by horror and fantasy writer Grady Hendrix features a witchy take on a chilling historical setting. The protagonists are teenaged, unwed, and pregnant—so they have been sent to the Wellwood Home to wait out the pregnancies and ultimately surrender their babies for adoption. However, upon receiving a book about witchcraft and the occult from a librarian, the girls find themselves saddled with the immense strength (and burden) of having real, intense power, many of them for the first time in their lives.
Because it releases just two weeks into the New Year, you can place a hold on Witchcraft for Wayward Girls now. If you’re interested in learning more about the historical precedent behind Hendrix’s setting in the meantime, take a look at The Girls Who Went Away, a nonfiction book by Ann Fessler about real-life maternity homes.
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Expected January 21, 2025 - Recommended by Virginia and Heather
The highly-awaited third installment of Rebecca Yarros’ viral Empyrean series arrives just three weeks into the New Year. Starring a high-fantasy world full of peril and dragons as well as a strong, confident female protagonist, Onyx Storm will surely be a hit with fans of Fourth Wing. Among those who haven’t yet read Yarros’ works, the series might appeal to fans of the new adult and romantasy (high fantasy romance) genres. Its fame among TikTok influencers who post about reading—BookTokers—has created a strong fanbase, one which will certainly only grow as the series continues and protagonist Violet’s story develops.
You can place a hold on it now—and, while you wait for your copy to arrive, refresh yourself on the setting and story so far with a reread of Fourth Wing or Iron Flame.
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
Expected March 18, 2025 - Recommended by Erica
For those readers who know Green as the author of Young Adult hit novels The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, and Turtles All The Way Down, hearing this title may come as a bit of a surprise. After all, this is an adult nonfiction book—one that promises to weave together the history of human responses to the deadly, yet preventable disease with the story of one contemporary individual it’s affected. It’s a lofty goal, but Green is well-prepared. His first foray into nonfiction, a 2021 essay collection, was praised by critics and readers alike. As well, Green’s recent philanthropic work has contributed to a 20% decrease in the cost of rapid test kits for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the US, and the increased availability of generic versions of tuberculosis-fighting antibiotics in low- and middle-income countries. Find out more about his tuberculosis activism in this article from the New York Times, which you can read for free with your library card.
While you wait for the March release date, check out Green’s essay collection The Anthropocene Reviewed or YA hit The Fault in our Stars.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Expected March 18, 2025 - Recommended by Erica
With Sunrise on the Reaping, Collins returns to the dystopian setting of Panem for the first time since 2020. This prequel, Collins’ second in the universe, promises to follow the story of the 50th Hunger Games, which was won by District Twelve’s Haymitch Abernathy—a name that fans of the original trilogy will certainly recognize. Though there are references in the original trilogy to Haymitch’s Games, Sunrise on the Reaping seems to be a promising deep-dive into Haymitch’s character, his Games, and the story of how he went from a handsome, popular young man to the traumatized, cynical alcoholic we meet in The Hunger Games. The movie rights to an adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping have been acquired by Lionsgate, with a release date of November 20, 2026.
Catch up on Panem’s past by reading or watching The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, or refresh yourself on what follows Haymitch’s story by returning to the original trilogy.
The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand, edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene
Expected August 19, 2025 - Recommended by Todd
Stephen King is among the most prolific and well-known writers of the modern age. Many of his 65 novels and novellas are household names, having sold millions of copies and (in many cases) having been adapted for screen. This collection expands on the universe of one of King’s earliest but best-recieved novels, The Stand, and includes short stories that are written by a variety of authors and set in the same world. King has written the introduction, and each short story promises a new perspective on the pandemic-ridden, post-apocalyptic setting of The Stand—some set during the pandemic, some after.
Refresh yourself on the original novel, or check out some of King’s other works, in anticipation of the collection’s August release.
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