5 Upcoming 2025 New Releases We Hope Get Picked For Reese's Book Club

We're only halfway through 2025, but it feels like we've gotten years' worth of quality books. This year's slate of new releases has been particularly rich. There are memoirs we can't wait to read, romance books we can't wait to get our hands on, and our most anticipated book releases of fall 2025. One thing remains clear: narrative ambition is in the air, and we're happily breathing it in.

Of course, few people have better literary instincts than Reese Witherspoon, whose picks often land right where the cultural breeze is blowing. Over the years, this tastemaker at large has developed a reputation for selecting books that are women-led, emotionally propulsive, tightly plotted, and that feel pre-approved for mass conversation.

So, as we take stock of the year so far, we're also looking ahead. What will be the next book club phenomenon? Which new release will become a bestseller on the strength of a single caption from the Book Lover-in-Chief? If you're already almost done with the best new release beach reads for your summer 2025 TBR, these are the titles we're eyeing up that seem tailor-made for that yellow sticker.

We're looking ahead to July for all the familiar reasons — iced coffees, shorter hemlines, summer vacations, and the heat rising off the pavement. But what we're most excited for is "My Train Leaves at Three," the blistering debut from Natalie Guerrero, arriving July 15th.

This novel introduces us to Xiomara — a grieving, razor-smart Afro-Latina performer from Washington Heights. She's drowning beneath rent arrears, bad men, and the loss of her sister, all while living with her pious mother and cycling through dead-end jobs. Singing at strangers over pancakes at Ellen's Stardust Diner isn't quite the showbiz career she had in mind, as she numbly watches her twenties slip by. It's only when a rare audition for a high-profile director presents itself, Xiomara finds herself both pulled forward and dragged under.

We think this would be perfect for Reese's Book Club because it shares DNA with so many of her standout picks: a complex female lead, a strong sense of voice, a bruising emotional journey, and a high-stakes personal transformation. Guerrero renders the grit and glamour of New York's theatre underworld with a clear eye and a bruised heart. So much so, it's easy to imagine Reese already circling it for adaptation.

As August slows everything down, "Boudicca's Daughter" by Elodie Harper is the ferocious new release set to increase readers' heart rates. We all know Boudicca as the flame-haired warrior queen who led a brutal revolt against Rome. But rather than retelling the myth, Harper places her interest in the girl who lived in her wake — her youngest daughter, Solina.

Solina has been pulled from the wreckage of rebellion and sent to Rome in chains. There, in a city that glitters with wealth and bleeds cruelty, she must navigate a life built on her mother's downfall. She carries her mother's fire and fury, her father's druidic magic, and a survival instinct honed in the backwash of battle. It's a combination that clearly resonates: at the time of writing, the book holds an impressive 4.48-star rating on Goodreads, two months before its publication.

Reese has long shown a soft spot for historical fiction — her book club boasts a whole roster of standout picks in the genre. But "Boudicca's Daughter" brushes up against the mythic edge of fiction. With fantasy being the genre we wish Reese would pick more of, this one feels like the perfect bridge.

We expect September to return with that familiar flicker of change. The leaves begin to change, the air starts to crisp, and a bit of renewed focus settles in. What a time to be alive — and a perfect time for a novel like Jade Chang's latest offering.

Chang, already a shape-shifter across forms — novelist, journalist, screenwriter — is perhaps best known for "The Wangs vs. the World," her exuberant 2016 fiction debut that landed her a Hulu deal and a devoted readership. She also penned an episode of Netflix's "The Baby-Sitters Club." But this new book feels like something both looser and more precise — a searching, sharply drawn novel.

"What a Time to Be Alive," out on September 30th, is a 304-page story about the struggles in finding your footing. Its protagonist is one Lola Treasure Gold, who, in short, is not thriving. She's grieving, broke, and living in her childhood home in the Hollywood Hills, but a bizarre viral moment makes her a reluctant self-help hero on the internet.

Encouraged by her best friend, she leans into the role while remaining completely untethered in her own life. The death of someone close, the silence around her deported mother, and the complications of sudden visibility all begin to surface. Loyal Reese's Book Club members will feel right at home in this emotionally nuanced territory.

Who among us hasn't cobbled together a girl dinner out of scraps and emotional avoidance? Olivie Blake's "Girl Dinner" might not offer much in the way of nutritional value, but this horror-thriller delivers plenty of literary sustenance.

Nina Kaur, back for her second year of college, wants a reset, and The House — a pristine, powerful sorority — promises exactly that. Dr Sloane Hartley, meanwhile, newly returned from maternity leave, also finds herself drawn in. She's offered an academic liaison role, but what she really wants is the confidence The House seems to breed.

Blake's bold new thriller tracks the shift from aspiration to unease as both women are pulled close. How far will they go before the rituals they once admired begin to curdle into something bloodier? We know Reese loves twisty thriller and mystery picks, and she's dipped into dark academia before (notably with Lauren Ling Brown's "Society of Lies" back in October 2024). Out in October, "Girl Dinner" might just be next on the menu.

Reese's Book Club has a dedicated YA offshoot, where singer and LGBTQ+ activist Hayley Kiyoko's "Where There's Room For Us" feels like a natural fit. The novel imagines a version of Victorian England where people are free to love who they choose (in theory).

Ivy is a firebrand New York poet set to relocate to rural England when her brother unexpectedly inherits an estate. Awaiting her there is a finely tuned social machine of decorum and courtship seasons. At the centre of that world stands Freya Tallon — the season's most admired young woman.

Freya has always known what her future is meant to look like: marriage, children, and the preservation of her family's name. But when she ends up escorting Ivy to a formal outing in her sister's place, the encounter sets off a slow-burning reorientation of both their lives. Though written for younger readers, it's a book that has the potential to speak across generations — ideal for fans of "Bridgerton" and "The Buccaneers." Mark your calendars, it lands in November.