January 2025 Books to Add to Your TBR Now!
Right around the time fall hits, I feel this strange sense of denial. How has the year gone by so fast? What the heck happened to all of my lofty reading goals? Do I have time to read all of the books I wanted to read in 2024 before the end of the year? What is this life? How did we get here?
But then we get to November, and suddenly I’ve reached a place of acceptance. The year is almost over, and I might have 30 more books to read before the end of the year to reach my goals. But that doesn’t matter. I’ll read what I read. What’s more important is that we have a lot of good books to look forward to in 2025, and we don’t even have to wait that long to get to some of the most highly-anticipated books of the year. Looking for some great new books to add to your TBR to ring in the new year? Here are my top picks!
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (Berkley, January 14)
Grady Hendrix is always at the top of my to-read list whenever he has a new book out, so of course I couldn’t wait till 2025 to dig into this one. This might be Hendrix’s longest book yet at 496 pages, but it still just flew by. The Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida is a place where girls go when they get pregnant outside of wedlock. When 15-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the summer of 1970, she’s pregnant and afraid. But then she meets a librarian who gives her a strange occult book that changes everything for her and her new friends.
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Flatiron Books, January 14)
Alice Feeney’s thrillers are always such a fun time, filled with well-earned twists and surprises. And Beautiful Ugly might just be her best one yet. It follows the story of author Grady Green who calls his wife Abby to share some exciting news, only to hear his worst nightmare: the screeching of car tires. A crash. Then nothing. When he locates Abby’s car, she’s nowhere to be found. A year later, Grady still has no idea what happened to Abby. Desperate for relief from his constant, all-consuming grief, he travels to a tiny Scottish island to escape everything. Only to find a woman there who looks exactly like his missing wife.
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow, January 14)
Speculative fiction author Nnedi Okorafor has a wild meta-fiction novel coming out this January that is going to blow your mind! In Death of the Author, Zelu’s most recent novel has been rejected and she’s been fired from her university job seemingly out of nowhere. Zelu is quickly running out of options and unsure of what to do next. And so she does something no one would have expected: she pens a novel in a genre completely new to her. A sci-fi novel about androids and the extinction of humanity that will change everything.
What book is at the top of your TBR list to ring in the New Year? Let me know your faves! You can message me over on Instagram at emandhercat and let me know. See you soon, lovely readers!
