15 books you should read this summer: Most anticipated releases for 2025's hottest months

USA Today

14-05-2025

15 books you should read this summer: Most anticipated releases for 2025's hottest months
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How's that 2025 reading goal coming along?
We're nearly halfway through the year, and the book world is buzzing with new releases. We've seen scathing tech tell-alls (see: 'Careless People' by Sarah Wynn Williams), new releases from beloved authors like Suzanne Collins and Joan Didion, BookTok favorites return and some books that make us feel a little more hopeful about the world. Not to mention the celebrity memoirs that keep us talking about our favorite stars.
Now it's time to look ahead at which summer reads to pack in our tote bags and audiobooks to queue up on road trips.
Most anticipated books of summer 2025
From seaside romances to nonfiction survival stories to twisty crime dramas, here are the books USA TODAY is most excited for in summer 2025. Titles are listed in order of anticipated publication date.
'Atmosphere' by Taylor Jenkins Reid (June 3)
'Atmosphere' is a love story set against the backdrop of NASA's space shuttle program in the 1980s. Quietly ambitious Joan Goodwin has been looking up at the stars for as long as she can remember, but her life is firmly rooted on the ground. But when she's accepted into a selective trainee class, she finds both her dreams, unlikely friends and unexpected passion. 'Atmosphere' is a character study brimming with heart, both quietly lyrical and an action-packed nail-biter.
'A Family Matter' by Claire Lynch (June 3)
This stunning debut novel is told in two timelines. In 1982, Dawn is a young mother adjusting to her new life when neighbor Hazel upends everything she thought she knew and desired. The buried consequences are revealed decades later by her grown daughter. 'A Family Matter' is based on real custody cases in the UK, where, in the 1980s, the majority of lesbian moms lost custody of their children. It's a fast-paced, quickly consuming read that interrogates what happens when we follow rules designed to oppress rather than protect.
'The Dry Season' by Melissa Febos (June 3)
'Girlhood' author Febos chronicles her year of celibacy and romantic abstinence in this memoir. In 'The Dry Season,' Febos undergoes a period of transformation and pleasure where she defines life on her own terms outside of romantic pursuits, also weaving through narratives of purposefully solitary women throughout history.
'Flashlight' by Susan Choi (June 3)
Choi's latest follows one family fractured by tragedy. When Louisa is 10 years old, she and her father walk on the beach. When she wakes up, barely alive, she is alone. 'Flashlight' weaves the ripple effects of his disappearance as well as the family's complicated dynamic, shared memories and secrets.
'The Catch' by Yrsa Daley-Ward (June 3)
In 'The Catch,' twin sisters Clara and Dempsey live severed lives, adopted into different families after their mother's disappearance. Clara lives with a wealthy couple and has become a glitzy celebrity author. Dempsey was sent to live with a distant city counselor and grew up to work in data entry, confined to her apartment computer. But when Clara sees a woman who looks just like their mother, it'll send the sisters crashing together to uncover the past.
'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil' by V.E. Schwab (June 10)
From the bestselling author of 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue' comes a sweeping lesbian vampire story sure to knock you off your feet. It follows three young women from distinct periods – 1500s Spain, 1800s London and Boston in 2019 – weaving through centuries and each other's lives with a deep hunger for love, rage, revenge and freedom. 'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil' is a gory, character-driven masterpiece.
'King of Ashes' by S. A. Cosby (June 10)
A Southern crime drama to the tune of 'The Godfather,' 'King of Ashes' follows three siblings in the aftermath of an accident that leaves their father in a coma – except it might not be an accident. Youngest brother Dante is reckless and indebted to dangerous criminals. Eldest son Roman, a finance whiz, is determined to save him. And their sister, Neveah, tries to uncover the mystery of their mother's disappearance while also holding the family business together.
'With a Vengeance' by Riley Sager (June 10)
Sager's latest thriller is about a woman on a quest for retribution – Anna Matheson has lured the six people responsible for her family's downfall to a luxury train, where she intends to confront them, get them to confess and deliver them to the authorities when the train stops. But after one of the passengers is murdered, she realizes she isn't the only one with a revenge plot.
'Don't Let Him In' by Lisa Jewell (June 24)
This thriller follows three women drawn together by one man. There's Nina Swann, remarried to a seemingly perfect man after her husband's death. Her daughter, Ash, thinks he's too good to be true. And then there's Martha, a florist living in a nearby town, irked by her husband's frequent, days-long disappearances. As Ash begins to dig into her stepfather's past, the women collide and realize they should've obeyed the warnings they heard long ago: Don't let him in.
'These Summer Storms' by Sarah MacLean (July 8)
Bestselling historical romance author MacLean is going contemporary with 'These Summer Storms,' which follows a woman returning to her family's private island after her father's shocking death. But instead of leaving quietly like she intends, Alice is swept into a game with her estranged family because of her father's last wishes, which stipulate the family must spend one week together and complete an assigned task to receive the inheritance.
'A Marriage at Sea' by Sophie Elmhirst (July 8)
This is nonfiction that reads like fiction – the best kind. 'A Marriage at Sea' seamlessly brings readers alongside Maurice and Maralyn Bailey's journey to sea, giving an intimate look at the weeks they spent stranded on a tiny life raft after a shipwreck. Elmhirst's retelling is a triumph, second only to the seemingly impossible feat of Maurice and Maralyn themselves. You won't be able to put it down.
'The View from Lake Como' by Adriana Trigiani (July 8)
In 'The View from Lake Como,' a recently divorced woman moves back in with her parents and becomes the family handmaiden. After the family suffers an unexpected, shocking loss, Jess questions those she thought she trusted most and escapes to Italy in search of the truth behind her family history.
'Love is a War Song' by Danica Nava (July 22)
If you love hyper-contemporary stories or couldn't get enough of 'Hannah Montana: The Movie,' this summer romance novel is for you. 'Love is a War Song' follows disgraced Native American pop star Avery, who is sent to live with her estranged grandmother after she's canceled for an offensive photoshoot. There, she meets grumpy ranch hand Lucas, who can't stand what Avery represents. But when the ranch's future is in jeopardy, they'll have to put their differences aside to save it.
'People Like Us' by Jason Mott (Aug. 5)
From the author of the National Book Award-winning 'Hell of a Book,' 'People Like Us' follows two Black authors, one of whom is traveling the world after winning a major prize and the other who is giving a speech at a school that's been through a shooting. As the two authors intersect, they share loss and longing, humor and love and try to find peace in a world of gun violence.
'Katabasis' by R.F. Kuang (Aug. 26)
The author of 'The Poppy War' and 'Yellowface' returns with a dark academia fantasy described as Dante's 'Inferno' meets Susanna Clarke's 'Piranesi.' In 'Katabasis,' two graduate students must put their rivalry aside as they make the life-threatening journey to hell to save their professor's soul.
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at [e-mail].