New books to read: 15 March releases, from new 'Hunger Games' to shocking tell-alls

USA Today

28-03-2025

New books to read: 15 March releases, from new 'Hunger Games' to shocking tell-alls
March was a big month in the publishing world. Between a new 'Hunger Games' book, a highly-anticipated nonfiction title from John Green and the third book in Tracy Deonn's BookTok sensation 'Legendborn' series, readers are booked and busy.
And there are plenty of new celebrity memoirs and biographies to indulge your curiosity, including 'Yoko' by David Sheff, Graydon Carter's memoir and a new 'Bangles' deep dive.
What are you in the mood to read next? We pulled together 15 of our favorites to keep your TBR well-stocked.
New books: What to read next from March
From sprawling family dramas and eerie dystopian novels to romance and new literary fiction, there's something for every reader on this list of March new releases. All of these books are out and available for you to buy at a bookstore near you.
For a look at all the 2025 titles we're excited about, check out USA TODAY's most anticipated releases list.
'The Dream Hotel' by Laila Lalami
This novel is in a dystopian near-future where artificial intelligence has an overreaching hand even in your sleep. Our protagonist, museum archivist Sara Hussein, is stopped by government agents from the Risk Assessment Administration after their algorithm analyzed her dreams and determined she's at risk of committing a crime in the future. Now, because of this dubious "crime prevention" program, she's being detained. 'The Dream Hotel' is reminiscent of '1984,' a masterful genre-bending commentary on bodily autonomy, government surveillance and the insidious side of technological innovation.
'Broken Country' by Clare Leslie Hall
With an opening line of 'The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him,' 'Broken Country' doesn't waste any time getting you into this sweeping family drama. The story weaves back and forth in time, examining the consequences of love, pride and obligation. Beth and her husband Frank's willfully ignorant marital bliss is upended when Beth's brother-in-law shoots a dog that belongs to Gabriel, Beth's teenage love. He's returned to the village with his son, who reminds Beth of her own son who died in a tragic accident.
'Sunrise on the Reaping' by Suzanne Collins
'The Hunger Games' author returns with the series' fifth installment, a prequel about Haymitch's win in the 50th Hunger Games. In this 'Quarter Quell,' double the amount of tributes are reaped for the Games and Haymitch must leave his home, his beloved girlfriend and his family to fight in the Capitol arena. 'Sunrise on the Reaping' is teeming with 'Hunger Games' nostalgia, ringing true to the masterpiece of the original trilogy with its themes of propaganda and authority. Fans can expect a few loose-ends tied and the return of many favorite characters.
'Stop Me If You've Heard This One' by Kristen Arnett
Big-hearted and knock-your-socks-off funny, 'Stop Me If You've Heard This One' follows Cherry Hendricks, a professional clown and part time aquarium store employee who is down on her luck. She's constantly hooking up with the wrong person's mom, her own is judgmental and Cherry's grief over her deceased brother is always popping up when she least expects it. And then she meets Margot the Magnificent, a much older lesbian magician whose success and charm manage to pull Cherry in swiftly.
'Careless People' by Sarah Wynn-Williams
'Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism' was kept a secret until less than a week before publication date, and understandably so – Meta quickly filed (and won) an emergency arbitration to stop promotion of the tell-all. In this unflinching memoir, now a bestseller, a former Facebook executive presents shocking allegations against the company's leadership influence, power and decision-making.
'Hot Air' by Marcy Dermansky
'Hot Air' is a hilariously unhinged romp through messy billionaire shenanigans, disappointing hook ups and wanting what you can't and shouldn't have. The story opens on a quickly souring first date (complicated by the fact that their children are on a playdate at the same time) as a hot air balloon, carrying a famous billionaire and his philanthropist wife, crashes into the backyard pool. When one half of the first date and one half of the billionaire couple realize they knew each other in a past life, all four embark on an entangled lost weekend into each other's lives.
'Story of My Life' by Lucy Score
This small-town romance is 'Schitt's Creek' meets 'Gilmore Girls.' It follows a once-successful romance novelist whose breakup and writer's block drives her to impulsively flee to Pennsylvania in search of her next love story. There, she meets the swoony Bishop brothers, including grumpy contractor Campbell, who will renovate her newly purchased house. A fake date for 'research purposes' might be just what she needs to get her pen to paper.
'Stag Dance' by Torrey Peters
You never knew you needed a short story collection that includes lonely lumberjacks exploring queerness and gender, but you do. The 'Detransition, Baby' author returns with a diverse collection that's as fun as it is serious. One short story follows a dystopian, plague-ravaged world where humans can no longer create their own hormones. Another follows a sexual awakening between two roommates at a Quaker boarding school. The titular novella follows restless loggers who plan a wintertime dance, on the condition that some of them attend as women.
'Oathbound' by Tracy Deonn
The highly-anticipated third book in 'The Legendborn Cycle' is finally here. Bree Matthews has isolated herself from her friends, the Legendborn Order and her ancestral connections to keep her community safe, but it comes at a cost. Now, she must make an unbreakable bargain to bind herself to the shapeshifting Shadow King's as his new protege. But can Bree ever really outrun her past?
'Everything is Tuberculosis' by John Green
Green's second nonfiction book is a well-researched and engaging dive into his obsession with one of the world's deadliest infection after befriending a young tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone. Weaving history and solutions, Green explains modern-day tuberculosis as 'both a form and expression of injustice,' writing that 'there is nothing permanent or inalterable about health inequities.'
'The Unworthy' by Agustina Bazterrica
From the author of the horror novel 'Tender is the Flesh' comes a similarly eerie tale that fans of 'I Who Have Never Known Men' and 'The Handmaid's Tale' will love. In an isolated convent, a woman writes her life story in secret – she's an 'unworthy,' low on the totem pole of the Sacred Sisterhood rankings and dreams of one day ascending to be an 'Enlightened.' At less than 200 pages, Bazterrica packs a lot into this story – female rage, abuse, sacrifice, hope and ideological extremism in a world ravaged by climate crises.
'O Sinners!' by Nicole Cuffy
Quickly encapsulating, 'O Sinners!' follows a grieving Muslim journalist's deep-dive into a California cult known only as 'the nameless.' As Faruq embeds himself into the cult and its enigmatic leader, Odo, he finds himself forced to confront his own past. This literary fiction novel is told in three interwoven timelines – Faruq's investigation, one that examines Odo's service in the Vietnam War and another looking back on a clash between 'the nameless' and a fundamentalist church.
'Summer in the City' by Alex Aster
Bestselling fantasy author Aster pens a contemporary romance in 'Summer in the City.' This lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story follows a screenwriter returning to New York City after she nabs the gig of a lifetime. She then runs into her now-enemy 'Billionaire Bachelor' Parker, who she hooked up with two years ago. But when her hate-fueled writing about him helps her turn a corner with her screenplay and as he's scouting for a fake red carpet, the pair realize they might need each other more than they expected.
'The Antidote' by Karen Russell
Several Nebraskans collide after a storm ravages their small town in this Dust Bowl epic. As the town of Uz crumbles from the Great Depression and the drought, its residents (including a 'Prairie Witch' and a Polish wheat farmer) must grapple with generational forgetting and reckon with a violent past and potential fate. A photographer's time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both.
'Raising Hare' by Chloe Dalton
This moving memoir from a UK political advisor and speechwriter follows her unlikely bond with a newborn hare that she finds in her backyard after it had been chased by a dog. Though she's advised that the hare will likely die whether kept in captivity or released back out, she raises and bottle-feeds it for over two years. The hare becomes a companion, wandering the fields by day and returning to Dalton's home by night, imparting valuable lessons about slowing down and the beauty in the unexpected.
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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].