Hey guys, this is Abi here,
And I'm here with my Anticipated Releases for the next three months! There aren't a huge quantity of books to talk about, but rest assured I am still very excited for them!
I hope you enjoy reading about them.
~July~
1. Sunburned, by Katherine Wood
Release date: 1/7/2025
When Audrey's ex Tyson calls, after years of radio silence, threatening to expose the skeletons hiding in her closet unless she helps him figure out who is blackmailing him, Audrey wants to do nothing more than refuse. But a foot has washed up on the shore of Tyson's very succesful tech company, and if word gets out that it belongs to a person they both share a connection with, it could be- problematic, to say the least.
But when Audrey arrives, purely to observe Tyson's household, and all the guests in it, she realises that everyone has motive to be killer. Could it be the gorgeous Belgian wife, whose wings he keeps clipped? Could it be the younger brother who has always been in Tyson's shadow? Any one of Tyson's guests would have good reason. And Audrey better figure who the culprit is- and fast- or she too, could be the next target.
This feels like a mix of Diana Urban's novels, the fiction genre (so not YA) and a bit of Karen McManus. I love both of those authors, so this definitely feels like a book that I'm going to enjoy. I just hope I actually pick it up.
2. Clementine Book Three (Clementine #3), by Tillie Walden
Release date: 8/7/25
THE FINAL VOLUME IS BEING RELEASED. After an eight month delay, Clementine will finally be coming to a close. I'm not ready for this trilogy to end, but you can bet I'll be re-reading books 1 and 2 in anticipation of this release.
I first played The Walking Dead series a decade ago, drawn in by the choices and the characters. Thoroughout, we see Clementine mature from a young girl, to an adult, trying to do her best by a child that no longer has any parents- much like herself in the early stages of the epidemic.
When those games ended, I was overjoyed at reading more about what happens to Clementine beyond the videogames- and that's about to close. You can bet I'm going to be a blubbering mess when I reach this book's final pages.
And then probably start the videogames all over again.
Fairwell, Clementine. It's been nice to know you.
3. Fast Boys and Pretty Girls, by Lo Patrick
Release date: 8/7/25
Following a semi-successful career as a teen model, Danielle Greer has settled back home- to North Georgia, in the mountains- with her husband and four daughters. One stifling, lazy afternoon, when they are wandering the ravine behind her house, purely by chance, they come across a body.
Well, Danielle knows who the body isn't, and that's Benji Law, the boyfriend that was killed in a motorcycle accident, on the main street off her house.
So when a local police officer, Cady Benson, is called to investigate, Danielle's world is turned upside down, and she's thrust back into those dark, terrible days after Benji's death, and memories from that time start to resurface.
They say you can never go home, once you leave for good. And sometimes, you shouldn't.
Fast Boys and Pretty Girls jumps from two points in Danielle's life. Her life as a young girl, being spotted in small-town Goergia, and being catapulted in model-hood; and then when she's returned home with her husband and four daughters, in the home she grew up in, and all the events that unfold after uncovering the body.
I like the sound of this, the style, how it jumps between time periods. I think it'll be an interesting read. I hope I enjoy it, as most of the Goodreads reviews are three stars.
4. Codebreaker, by Jay Martel
Release date: 22/7/25
Codebreaker stood out to me above a million other releases in July, purely because of the cover. It has that sheak late 90s- early 2000 film cover, like from Catch that Kid, or Panic Room that stands out to me above the rest.
Aside from that, finding out that this book is basically a race to find something before the government, developed from a puzzle sent to the protagonist's (Mia's) fugitive father, has Codebreaker completely sold to me.
Obviously, there's more to it than that. There's betrayal, from Mia's dad, after the Government officials sent to Mia's doorstep leave her without her mother, just weeks away from her seventeenth birthday. There's romance, with Logan, a charming hacker that helps Mia with outsmarting the Government, and helps her on the way to figure out the most well-kept secrets across American History.
Basically, what else could you ask for?
5. Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson
Relkease date: 22/7/25
The #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Jackson- author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder gives you her first Adult thriller- a race against the clock to solve her own murder.
In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.
The doctors are convinced that the catastrophic head injury she suffered will, in the space of a week, turn into a brain aneurysm, and that means she's out of time.
But first, she is going to solve it. She's going to find out who killed her.
I've never read a Holly Jackson book, but I have watched A Good Girl's Guide to Murder- and that's enough to make me want to read some of her work. I can't wait for this to be released.
~August~
1. Too Old For This, by Samantha Downing
Release date: 12/8/25
I don't really think I need to say more than this:
- Retired serial killer Lottie, changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small-town, the smaller the better.
- Hasn't been tempted for over 20 years. Her most exciting times are bingo nights with her friends, round the club.
- Until investigator journalist Plum Dixon comes knocking, asking her questions about her involvement in past, unsolved cases. Lottie can't have that.
- Murder is hard enough when you're young. But when Lottie receives another annoying knock at the door, she thinks that this might just be the death of her.
2. Hemlock and Silver, by T. Kingfisher
Release date: 19/8/25
From the Hugo award winner, T. Kingfisher, comes the latest dark 'Snow White' retelling, dripping in poison, treasion and intrigued.
Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.
Not to die- but to find cures that everyone but she has more or less given up on.
When she's approached by none other, but the King himself.
His daughter, Snow, is dying, and nothing seems to be able to cure her. And the King is even willing to try Anja's unorthordox methods to save her.
Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcisstic cat, and a passion for the scientist method, Anja rushes to aid the princess, but alas, nothing seems to work. Until she comes across a hidden world, delved deep inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.
Or it might contain something that could kill them all.
T. Kingfisher's books seem to be everywhere, all at once. I could of sworn that I've seen two releases when I was looking through the endless books that are being released. I've even seen one in the Waterstones I wandered into last week.
Also, it's been ages since I've read a retelling- and this one looks like one I can sink my teeth into- I'm excited.
3. Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang
Release date: 26/8/25
This could be R.F. Kuang's shopping list for all I care. Her stories are always immense, and I only have one left until I've read the lot. This could not have come at a better time.
There's no better way to explain this story, than to quote it. So here's the Goodreads blurb:
"Two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and jounrey to hell to save their professor's
soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.
Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick.
She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality- her pride, her health, her love life, and most
definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in
the world- that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.
Grimes is now in Hell, and she's going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her
very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her
dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdock, has come to the same conclusion."
So what I'm getting is a dark academia, rivales, and an epic journey into hell. If I'm not gifted for this book for my birthday I'm sure as hell walking into the shop the next day and purchasing it.
4. The Secret Book Society, by Madeline Martin
Release date: 26/8/25
Eleanor Clarke- a devoted mother, suffering under the hands of her tyranny husband.
Rose Wharton- an american dollar princess, struggling to conform to her new life as an aristocratic wife.
Lavinia Cavendish- an artistic young woman, haunted by a family secret.
Under the pretence of Lady Duxbury's afternoon tea, in her home, they all find safety, and security, free to speak their long buried thoughts. As the women form deep, heart-warming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they take. But they are all drawn to Lady Duxbury, the thrice widdowed wife, whose untimely deaths have often led to whispers of murder.
As secrets are uncovered, within the Secret Book Society, their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when the secrets turn serious, one misstep could cost them everything.
You know, every book that I add to the list, I want to read. Every single time (I mean duh, that's why it's called Anticipated Releases, Abigail), but I also have to stomach the fact that I'm probably not going to get to all of them. But at this precise moment, this is the book that I want to read the most. That might change after the next one. Or the one after that. But right now, The Secret Book Society is the most interesting one to me.
~September~
1. Among the Burning Flowers (The Roots of Chaos #0.5), by Samantha Shannon
Release date: 11/9/25 (UK)
A SHORTER PREQUEL TO PRIORY!
I've mostly forgotten Priory of the Orange Tree, but since this comes first, I won't even need to read anything in preparation for this release!
*After research*
Okay, so maybe I should read A Day of Fallen Night first since it takes place more or less 200 years before Among the Burning Flowers begins.
But still- time to pick up a Samantha Shannon book again!
I couldn't be more thrilled.
2. Slashed Beauties, by A. Rushby
Release date: 23/9/25
This book has so many details to it, I don't think a summary will do it justice. So I'm just going to quote the blurb again.
"A gothic feminist body horror in two timelines revolving around three Anatomical Venuses- ultrarealistic wax figures of women- that come to life at night to murder men who have wronged
them
Souel, present day. Antiques dealer Alys's task is nearly complete. She has at last secured Elizabeth,
the third and final Anatomical Venus. Crafted in eighteenth-century London and modeled after real-life
sex workers to entice male medical students, these eerie wax figures, known as Slashed
beauties, carry unsavory lore. Legend has it that the figures are bewitched, and come to life at night,
to murder men who have wronged them. Now Alys embarks for England, where she knows what
she must sever her cursed connection to the Venuses once and for all.
London, 1763. Abandoned and penniless in Covent Garden, wide-eyed Eleanor and another young woman, Emily, are taken under the wing of beautiful and beguiling Elizabeth, one of the city’s most highly desired courtesans among the rich and powerful. But as Eleanor is seduced deeper into a web of money, materialism, and men, it seems that Elizabeth may not be the savior she appears to be.
As the timelines begin to intersect, it becomes clear that the women’s stories are linked in deeper, darker ways than it initially seems. And that the only method for Alys to end the witchcraft that binds her legacy is to gather all three models in one place and destroy them."
As the timelines begin to intersect, it becomes clear that the women’s stories are linked in deeper, darker ways than it initially seems. And that the only method for Alys to end the witchcraft that binds her legacy is to gather all three models in one place and destroy them."
The closest comparison I have to this book is probably The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton. Based in Victorian times, it tells the story of a newly married bride, who is them shipped off to her wealthy merchant husband's house, and as a home-coming gift, is given an exact replica of the house, complete with furnishings and characters.
But that in no way is a comparison to the blood thirsty telling of the sex workers in victorian times, or the wax figures coming to life and making off with the men that have done them wrong. I can honestly say that I have never come across a book such as this one. I can honestly say that I am very much looking forward to seeing this in bookstores.
Okay! Those are all the books I am anticipating in the next three months! If you have any releases that you're looking forward to, feel free to let me know in comments (especially if it's on this list).
I hope you all have a wonderful evening, and I'll be seeing you soon!
Byeeee!
-Abi xxxxxx
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