Books
The Best New Books Of Spring 2025
From bestsellers and debut authors, these 37 novels and collections get a big-time thumbs-up.
Spring has sprung, bringing longer days with it, and what better use for those daylight hours than heading outside with a new book?
Whether you’re in the mood for romance or dystopia, this season offers a bevy of options. Literary hotshots like Katie Kitamura, Ocean Vuong, and Emily Henry return with new work, while breakout authors like Emma Pattee and Emily St. James offer salves for the cataclysmic news cycle. In fiction-land, there’s some high-flying absurdism (Hot Air, Sky Daddy), while in the nonfiction space, smart folks are grappling with our wacky technological age (Searches, Second Life) — and that’s just a teaser.
The Bustle team has pored over the upcoming releases and picked our favorites. Below, the 37 best books of Spring 2025.
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Out March 4. I love a good dream, but I can’t stop thinking about Laila Lalami’s dystopian take on the ramifications of a bad one. In the book’s near-future world, subconscious thoughts can be used against you to stop “pre-crime.” It might sound like total sci-fi, but Lalami conjures it up with such clarity that the Risk Assessment Administration will start feeling a little too real. — Grace Wehniainen, staff writer
Woodworking by Emily St. James
Out March 4. In critic Emily St. James’ debut novel, she crafts a brilliant, heartwarming story of a trans high school teacher’s unlikely friendship with one of her students, who’s also a trans woman. In small-town South Dakota, the pair must contend with social expectations while learning to stay true to themselves. — Gabrielle Bondi, entertainment editor
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Out March 4. When a research hub on a tiny island near Antarctica is abandoned due to rising sea levels, a grieving father and his three distressed children are left as the sole inhabitants. A mysterious woman washes ashore during a terrible storm, and as they nurse her back to health, they begin to feel like a family again. Cynics, fear not: The heartwarming vibes are abruptly cut short when she discovers a freshly dug grave. — Hannah Orenstein, deputy editor, lifestyle and wellness
The Antidote by Karen Russell
Out March 11. I’ll admit, I’ve never been particularly interested in the Dust Bowl — something about the sepia-toned sadness of the era has kept it at arm’s length. But in The Antidote, Karen Russell renders it all in technicolor: the shifting, treacherous landscape; the apocalyptic storms; the disparate individuals just trying to keep on. The Dust Bowl stands as a warning, an indelible portrait of the struggle for life amid human-engineered climate change. (It’s entirely possible that everyone else already knew this, but hey, I got there eventually.) — Chloe Joe, features editor
Just Want You Here by Meredith Turits
Out March 11. The author, a founding Bustle editor, tackles a complicated coming-of-age story in her debut novel. Told through multiple perspectives, Just Want You Here follows Ari as she reels from a breakup, gets involved with her married boss, and then becomes unexpectedly embedded in his family’s life. — Stephanie Topacio Long, copy editor and contributing editor
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Out March 11. From one of the boldest, most innovative voices in fiction today, this collection of short stories (and one novella!) explores gender, identity, and transness. The settings range from a post-apocalyptic Seattle where a pandemic has stopped humans’ production of sex hormones to a boarding school dorm room in which a high school junior begins a clandestine affair with his femme roommate, but what unites them is Torrey Peters’ masterful and unflinching depiction of desire. — Samantha Leach, associate director of special projects
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett
Out March 18. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much in the first chapter of a book, which opens with a clumsy tryst between a professional clown and her client’s mom. From the detailed nods to Florida life to the casual gut punches hidden in Cherry’s occupational musings, Kristen Arnett’s specific point of view makes Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One a book that’ll stick in your psyche. — G.W.
Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
Out March 18. While the idea of a billionaire crashing his hot-air balloon into a swimming pool might sound like the beginning a stand-up bit — or a parable for our current socio-political moment, depending on the storyteller — in Marcy Dermansky's hands, it serves as the inciting event for a hilarious and highly clever new novel. When the billionaire and his wife decide to stick around and hang out with Johnny (the owner of said pool/house) and Joannie (his neighbor/date), that’s when things really take a turn, leading to a “lost weekend” teeming with so much envy and lust that it might all just boil over. — S.L.
I’ll Love You Forever by Giaae Kwon
Out March 18. We’re living in a golden age of fangirl books, from Kaitlyn Tiffany’s Everything I Need I Get from You to Esther Yi’s Y/N and Tavi Gevinson’s “Fan Fiction” zine. Giaae Kwon’s debut — a memoir-cum-cultural history of K-pop and its American and Korean fanbases — is the latest to join the genre. Come for the depictions of pubescent yearning; stay for the analysis of how South Korea’s postwar sociopolitical conditions gave rise to the K-pop we know today. — C.J.
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
Out March 18. In this historical fiction novel, Room author Emma Donoghue is inspired by a real-life 1895 disaster, in which a train carrying 131 passengers derailed and crashed through a wall in Paris’ Montparnasse station. Following an eclectic group of international travelers, the story is a riveting and entertaining snapshot of late 19th century Europe. — G.B.
Early Thirties by Josh Duboff
Out March 18. It’s always a treat when Josh Duboff writes for Bustle (see: his delightful and intimate dual profile of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield from last year), so I raced through an advance copy of his debut novel over the holidays. Early Thirties zooms in on the push-pull friendship between Victor, a magazine journalist on the brink of opportunity, and Zoe, a fashion-start-up employee flirting with blowing up her life, as they weather calamities both personal and professional — and discover that in the decade when you’re supposed to have it all figured out, it’s not too late for a little reinvention. — Nolan Feeney, deputy features director
Tilt by Emma Pattee
Out March 25. Emma Pattee’s debut novel has a unique setup: a hugely pregnant woman is shopping in a Portland, Oregon, Ikea when a catastrophic earthquake hits. For the protagonist, Annie, making it out of the store alive is just the start of her harrowing, yet at times heartening, journey. As she tries to get to her husband on foot, she finds herself reexamining her life, her priorities, and her anxieties over becoming a mother. — S.T.L.
Sister Europe by Nell Zink
Out March 25. Virginian-turned-Berliner Nell Zink puts together quirky characters in her latest novel, Sister Europe, which centers on the invitees to a swanky gala dinner in the German capital who connect during their night out after the event. — S.T.L.
Trauma Plot by Jamie Hood
Out March 25. In her introduction, Jamie Hood braces the reader for what follows: a candid, at times hard to read recounting of sexual abuse. She also addresses how, in the literary world, the “trauma plot” has fallen out of fashion; that people are tiring of bodies that keep the score. And yet, there is still a power in a woman telling her story, which Hood explores and plays with throughout the book, assuming different perspectives and trying out various devices. Alone, none of them are sufficient, but together, they reassemble a shattered whole. — C.J.
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen
Out March 25. What if Harriet Tubman came back to life… and became a pop star? In Bob the Drag Queen’s debut novel, the historic abolitionist does just that, forming a hip-hop band with four enslaved people whom she freed to create an album and live show, which tells her story in a new way. Bob’s voice helps bridge those generation gaps, educating readers and imagining Tubman’s future with the same humor and effortless shade displayed on The Traitors. — Jake Viswanath, staff writer
Free by Amanda Knox
Out March 25. More than a decade after being convicted, acquitted, re-convicted, and later exonerated in one of the world’s most divisive murder trails, Knox is finally reflecting on the aftermath. In her second memoir, she reflects on her life post-incarceration, as she attempts to rebuild and find purpose. Imbued with new stories about her time in prison and surprising return to Italy, Free provides a sense of closure to those who spent years consumed with her case, with the warning that her story isn’t over yet. — J.V.
Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp
Out March 25. Former fashion and music journalist Sophie Kemp’s debut novel, written when she was 25, is technically about a 23-year-old’s attempt to be the best girlfriend in the world to a guy who lives in a DIY punk venue in Gowanus, Brooklyn. What initially scans as absurd reveals itself, through the earnest and energetic voice of a protagonist named Reality, to be an intellectually ambitious story about what it means to be a woman and an artist in the world of men. Paradise Logic is like if Poor Things’ Bella Baxter had a highly active Close Friends Story. — Greta Rainbow, research editor
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Out April 8. In Katie Kitamura’s new novel — about a middle-aged actor, her writer husband, and the young man who upends their carefully negotiated life — all the world’s a stage. Characters dance around one another, slipping in and out of relationships, assuming new roles. A brilliantly disarming read. — C.J.
Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara
Out April 8. Through a blend of personal anecdotes, notes on AI, and experimental musings on our relationships to the Internet, Vauhini Vara urges readers to think about the digital landscape in new and challenging ways. For me, a passage comprised entirely of search terms prompted some serious self-reflection. — G.W.
Sky Daddy by Kate Folk
Out April 8. Anything can be “daddy,” even planes, as Kate Folk proves in her debut novel. Sky Daddy tells an unlikely love story between Linda, a Silicon Valley content moderator, and the airplanes she’s secretly in love with, as she manifests her ultimate dream: marriage via plane crash, uniting her with her soulmate for eternity. If you can’t get enough of shows like My Strange Addiction or Objective Love, this one is for you. — J.V.
Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory
Out April 8. The bestselling author’s new novel is her first foray in sapphic romance, and it’s an absolute treat. The friends-to-lovers story follows the newly single Avery, who decides to take flirting lessons from Taylor, who’s currently trying out celibacy after making a bet with a friend. Of course, sparks fly, but they must decide if their new feelings are worth risking their friendship. — G.B.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Out April 22. Emily Henry is back with a new rom-com, this time inspired by a Taylor Swift song. In this page-turner, writers Alice and Hayden are competing to pen the biography of an 80-something legendary heir, who invites them for a one-month stay at her home for a trial run. The nature of the project forces the two to share notes and work together, leading to some unexpected (and unwanted) yearning. — G.B.
Atavists: Stories by Lydia Millet
Out April 22. If you’re trying to read more fiction this year but feel daunted by the prospect of a whole novel (no shame!), Lydia Millet’s interconnected medley of stories is a perfect way in. With natural dialogue and memorable characters, the vignettes of Atavists give you plenty to chew on. — G.W.
Exit Zero: Stories by Marie-Helene Bertino
Out April 22. Actor Dakota Johnson told Bustle last year that Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is “a book that I will recommend to people for the rest of my life.” Bertino returns with a short story collection that reveals everyday instances of magic via an expert blend of humor and melancholy. She asks the question “Can only houses be haunted?” and the answer is definitely no. — G.R.
People Are Talking by Amanda Eisenberg
Out April 22. Two women join a vigilante society that takes down rapists, only to have their best friend accused of sexual assault. Their disagreement about how to handle it echoes real-world conversations about whether perpetrators can be reformed and why the burden of education often falls to women. The author, journalist Amanda Eisenberg, covers sexual misconduct allegations professionally and has been steeped in this world for years. — H.O.
Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert
Out April 29. The Year of the Girl might have been 2023 — after the coinage of girl math, girl dinner, hot girl walks, and so on — but The Atlantic critic Sophie Gilbert proves the eternal value in analyzing how various media portray the experience of femininity. She takes a knife to everything from the “confessional auteur” girl (think: Lena Dunham, Sheila Heti) to the “impossibly beautiful” girl (Real Housewives of Orange County, America’s Next Top Model) to find out how millennials ended up with a defanged, paranoid version of feminism. In the 2010s, if Gilbert ever mentioned the Kardashians in one of her pieces, she received a flood of angry messages from readers of The Atlantic; with this smart and relevant book, Gilbert has the space to take pop culture seriously. — G.R.
Girls With Long Shadows by Tennessee Hill
Out May 6. Identical triplets are left nameless after their mother's death, then raised by their grandmother in small-town Texas. By 19, as they yearn for individuality, a seemingly meaningless kiss on the wrong sister leads to violent consequences. Echoing The Virgin Suicides, this Southern Gothic literary thriller explores what happens when teenage angst and female desire turn deadly. — H.O.
Second Life by Amanda Hess
Out May 6. Amanda Hess dives into the uncanny intersection of technology and human reproduction, recounting her own experiences with pregnancy, birth, and child care while painting a broader cultural portrait. Deftly, she explains how hospital births and prenatal screenings have become the norm, and how technologies of surveillance and vital-sign monitoring have entered our own homes. All along the way, she prompts the reader: What is a “healthy” baby, and what are the moral implications of aspiring to “normal”? — C.J.
Set Piece by Lana Schwartz
Out May 6. When a rising TV star and a bartender share an electric evening together, it’s supposed to just be a one-night stand. Plain and simple. But five years later, fate has other plans when both are hired on a film (as the star and set designer, respectively). The result is a sharp, swoony exploration of timing, transformation, and the kind of chemistry that doesn’t fade — even when everything else has changed. — S.L.
What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Our May 6. Fired and newly single, a woman moves to Amsterdam for a fresh start. Unfortunately, her apartment floods, the sketchy startup sponsoring her visa crumbles… and she accidentally bikes into the former exchange student who broke her heart a decade ago. She needs a green card; he needs a wife in order to inherit his grandmother’s apartment. The setting is totally immersive. Consider this a whole vacation to Europe for just $19. — H.O.
Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang
Out May 13. Any artists freaked out by generative AI, virtual reality, and the general future of creativity in a technocracy will have fun inside Ling Ling Huang’s near-future version of the competitive art world. In a society split between those born as “fringe” and those in the “enclave,” she grounds her imaginative narrative in the raw feeling of envying a friend who’s more successful and wanting to do crazy things to absorb whatever special touch they have. As the dedication reads, this book is “for the jealous.” — G.R.
Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein
Out May 13. I have the pleasure of hearing Hannah’s musings in her role as a Bustle editor, and there’s no one with a keener eye on relationships, be they among siblings or friends. Her latest novel, a lakeside tale of sibling strife, sounds perfect for summer escapism. I’m imagining myself on a beach towel, smelling of sunscreen, with the pages splayed open. — Brianna Kovan, deputy editor, entertainment
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
Out May 13. I’ve been impatient for a new Ocean Vuong novel since his first, 2019’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. His agile control of language, pulling it apart and piecing it back together in unexpected ways, is a treat to read. — B.K.
Aggregated Discontent by Harron Walker
Out May 20. Harron Walker’s insightful musings on identity, relationships, and her journalism career will have you breezing through Aggregated Discontent, and when you’re done, you’ll likely find one or two essays planted firmly in your mind. (Personally, I can’t stop thinking about her take connecting The Devil Wears Prada to The Intern as part of a commentary on #girlboss culture.) — G.W.
Ask a Matchmaker by Maria Avgitidis
Out May 20. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a group of women discussing their love lives say “Well, according to Matchmaker Maria,” I could pay for top-tier subscriptions to every dating app. Here, she walks readers through her behavioral-science theories, which have led thousands to love. Blunt, funny, and actually helpful, Avgitidis could be the last dating expert you’ll ever need. — H.O.
The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz
Out May 20. Hoping for closure, Abby travels to the tropical island where her fiancée died in a tragic accident. And at first, she’s grateful to be embraced by a community of expats — one of them even claims to know the dark truth about her fiancée’s death. But when he disappears, the group’s unsettling reaction makes Abby fear that a killer is among them. Andrea Bartz, a New York Times bestseller, is known for twisty plots and chilling, lyrical prose. Her latest is no exception. — H.O.
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
Out May 20. Yiyun Li’s 12th book begins: “There is no good way to say this.” No, there is no good way to tell the experience of losing one’s teenage sons to suicide, not even through sharp prose by a Pulitzer Prize fiction finalist. Yet Li manages the near impossible in a complex memoir that is as devastating as it is searingly insightful into the contours of grief and acceptance, recommended for anyone who is navigating the nonlinear timeline of loss. — G.R.
