These New Books Should Be On Your Summer Reading List

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06-07-2025

There's something about the warm and lackadaisical months of summer that begs to be accompanied by a good book (or several). It's a good thing that there's no shortage of new releases to choose from.
Your next great summer read may very well be hiding among the upcoming list that we specially curated for your perusal. Each of these books promises to be satisfying and easy to settle into, with beckoning plots that vow to keep you there, plus one helpful cookbook that's surprisingly timely . You may even recognize new titles from some of your favorite bestselling authors.
Polybius by Collin Armstrong
Inspired by Greek urban legend, Polybius is a fun and wild ride, packed with cinemotographic-like prose and small-town '80s nostalgia à la Stranger Things and Stephen King's It. It's 1982, and Andi Winston has just moved to the Northern California seaside town of Tasker Bay with her mother. When she's not attending Tasker Bay High and avoiding any form of human interaction, Andi is working at the town's Home Video World, servicing gaming cabinets, taking apart their contents, and dissecting the intricate codes that make them run. But when a new and unfamiliar arcade game called 'Polybius' gets delivered onto the shop floor, the town is turned upside down. Players are immediately drawn to the game's hyper-futuristic graphics and immersive renderings that set anyone who watches it into a deep trance. It's not long after the arrival of 'Polybius' that many Tasker Bay residents begin to complain of hallucinatory thoughts and unsettling paranoia, exacerbating the already growing tensions between longtime locals and the encroaching influx of Silicon Valley transplants aiming to push them out with their new money. After a string of uncharacteristic violent crimes rock the community and a dead body turns up, Andi can't help but connect the dots back to 'Polybius.' It's now up to Andi and her new potential love interest and friend, Ro Kemp, to do some digging and uncover the true purpose of the mysterious and sinister arcade game.Price: $18.99+ (also available in hardcover)
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Renowned for the massive success of her books Yellowface and Babel, R.F. Kuang has been churning out some of this century's most notable works of fiction. Her latest, Katabasis, is set to release in August and is a dark academia fantasy that takes readers on a humorous descent into the realm of the dead. Two rival academics head to the depths of hell in order to get the final recommendations needed to graduate from a freshly deceased professor. One of them is Alice Law, a student pursuing a grueling and, at times, dangerous education of Magik at Cambridge. The personification of a type-A student, Alice is determined to become the best student that the sadistic Professor Jacob Grimes could ever wish for. But when Professor Grimes is found with his corporeal body splattered across his office's interior, Alice knows she'll need to head down to hell and bring him back, or risk her prime academic standing with Grimes. Except Peter Murdoch, her only true rival at the university, walks right into Law's plan. And with Peter's big nose, careless good looks and effortless charm, she's forced to drag him down to hell with her. This anticipated tale is a hilarious and succinct take on all-consuming academia, sexism, power struggles, love, seduction, hubris and so much more.Price: $24.50 for pre-order
King of Ashes by S.A. Crosby
In S.A. Crosby's latest Southern crime fiction, King of Ashes, Roman Carruthers is duty-bound to return home to his family, and the family's central Virginia business — Carruthers Crematorium. Roman's father has fallen into a coma after a car accident, and his sister Neveah is struggling to run affairs on her own. There's also the issue of Roman's brother, Dante, who has fallen into an impossible amount of debt with a dangerous group of people. Soon, it's revealed that their father's accident was no accident after all, and it was Dante's recklessness and distressing financial standing that got them where they are. Roman is now forced to barter for Dante's debts using his own financial ingenuity. Already the recipient of high praise from an endless list of acclaimed voices, this Godfather-inspired thriller reads like a bloody and modernized Shakespearean tragedy about family dynamics and loyalties. Price: $28.99
So Far Gone by Jess Walter
With early praise from the likes of Ann Patchett and Tom Perrotta, So Far Gone is the latest from New York Times bestselling author Jess Walter. In this brilliant and riotous jaunt through modern America, Rhys Kinnick has had enough. After assaulting his conspiracy theorist son-in-law over the Thanksgiving turkey, he's fled for the woods, leaving all modern constraints behind him. Rhys makes his way — without a cell phone or any device to tether him back to his family or career — out to a remote cabin to begin a self-imposed hermitage. But Rhys' isolation, save for a few wild raccoons for company, isn't forever. He's pulled back to the real world when he's told that his daughter has gone missing and his grandchildren, whom he just recently reconnected with, may be in danger from a dangerous new militia. Rhys is forced to reconnect with his bipolar ex, Lucy, who happens to be a former detective, and a few other old acquaintances to save his family. But can Rhys come back into the blinding light of a world he was all too keen to leave behind and turn into the hero his daughter and grandchildren need? A bit of satire on modern life and political turmoil, Walter's So Far Gone is a standout read this summer.Price: $24 (originally $30)
With A Vengeance by Riley Sager
New York Times bestselling author Riler Sager (The Only One Left and Middle of the Night) is a virtuoso in edge-of-your-seat thrillers and a skillful curator of twists and turns. His latest book takes place on a luxury overnight train to Chicago in 1954, and our protagonist has just 13 hours to exact her plan of revenge. Twelve years earlier, Anna Matheson's family was destroyed by a group of six individuals who also happen to be on this Chicago-bound train. Though her intention is only to get the perpetrators to confess and into the hands of authorities, the mission is quickly 'derailed' when one of them is murdered. Anna soon learns that the killer won't just stop at the six who are the target of her ire, but rather the whole train is at risk. Now, her sights are set on saving the very people who have wronged her. Sager's With a Vengeance is a novel of cinema-like quality that will appease those in need of a new Murder on the Orient Express and satisfy self-proclaimed Hitchcock fans who believe Strangers on a Train was his greatest work. Price: $20.98
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of cult-favorite fiction novels like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six, is back with another novel that's just as affecting as her last. Atmosphere: A Love Story follows Joan Goodwin, an astronomy professor who joins NASA's 1980s Space Shuttle program only to discover more than intellectual fulfillment when she meets the mystifying Vanessa Ford and the four other complex cast of characters who make up the team of astronauts preparing to make their first flights into space. It's a complex situation for Joan to navigate, as she wants more than anything to preserve her career during a time and place when same-sex relationships are not as widely accepted and women are tasked with needing to prove themselves in a field predominantly occupied by men. Then, during NASA's STS-LR9 shuttle mission in 1984, things take a catastrophic turn. Surprisingly full of technical and historical accuracy, Atmosphere delivers the kind of emotional depth and drama that Jenkins Reid is well-known for.Price: $21
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
This binge-able debut from Irish author Aisling Rawle, The Compound, is perfectly fitting for our modern obsession with reality TV. Lily is a typical 20-something who is among the 19 other contestants on a hit reality TV show taking place on a remote desert compound. Throughout their isolated time filming, Lily and her fellow competitors must complete a variety of challenges to win communal essentials like food and furniture, as well as more opulent prizes like designer cosmetics and champagne, and whoever manages to stay in the Compound the longest wins the game. But as anyone familiar with the producer-driven dramas that are at the heart of every successful competition reality show knows, intense dynamics and desperation quickly develop among the contestants, and cameras are capturing every juicy bit of it. Tensions reach a dangerous pinnacle when producers advance the stakes to a threatening degree, and Lily is forced to ask whether she's actually playing the game or simply surviving it. Price: $20.30
The Cook's Garden by Kevin West
Victory gardens — which were planted during WWI and WWII for supplemental produce — might be making a comeback if grocery prices remain high and the Trump administration continues to cut vital services surrounding food and safety. In the spirit of becoming more self-sufficient, 'The Cook's Garden' might not just be a delightful new addition to your kitchen, it could become a necessary one. Kevin West, who previously wrote the popular cookbook Saving the Season, writes his latest as a guide that even those of us with no gardening expertise or limited grow space will be able to follow, love and utilize. West wants us to use homegrown produce in our daily dishes with confidence and believes that the act of planting and growing will encourage more people to garden. Within these pages, West will lead readers on a learning tour of pickling, soil conditions, and growing zones, plus he offers 125 vegetable-laden recipes that are perfect for your new haul of freshly grown produce. Price: $45 for pre-order