April 2025 Book Releases: Your Ultimate Guide For The Third Week’s Must-Reads
14th April- 20th April: The third week of April features some exciting new stories as part of the 2025 book releases.
This Week’s April 2025 Book Releases
Featuring three new fantasy books, the first book a dystopian series from the bestselling author of the Shatter Me universe, a magical Middle Eastern fantasy full of swashbuckling adventures and the second instalment to the Sandsea trilogy, to an electrifying new voice in the epic fantasy genre with her immersive world-building and intriguing tales of political intrigue.
Readers who prefer their fiction books more grounded will be excited for the three new historical fiction additions, the first a world war II fiction from New York Times bestselling author of ‘A Calamity of Souls, a captivating debut that follows the unlikely friendship of four women in the aftermath of the First World War, to a beautifully written novel that follows a young Anglo-Indian nurse in 1937 who embarks on a journey that takes her beyond India’s borders.
For the romantic at heart, and fans of spicy romantic books, three new additions will catch your interest: From the fourth book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series by bestselling author of “Done and Dusted”, to the highly anticipated sequel to My Life with the Walter Boys, the internationally bestselling novel that inspired the Netflix series, and the second book in the On the Slopes series, with its reverse age gap and spicy forced proximity romance.
Last but not least for fans of suspense, three new thriller and mystery books wrap up this week’s 2025 book releases: The gripping sequel from the author of the bestselling thriller The Perfect Marriage, to the latest novel from bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill about a former actress who teams up with her sobriety sponsor to solve a murder, to a compelling crime thriller about a violent home invasion that turns a marriage inside out as their solid foundation implodes.
Genre – Fantasy Books
Title: Watch Me
Series: Shatter Me: The New Republic
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Storytide
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 368
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me universe returns with her exhilarating first book in a new series set ten years after the fall of The Reestablishment. Her latest book, Watch Me, sends her characters on a journey through a dystopian landscape brimming with pulse-pounding action and torturous romance.
The book’s synopsis;
James Anderson had a plan. Or half of one. All that matters is that he managed to do what his older brother, the famous Aaron Warner Anderson, never did: infiltrate Ark Island, the last refuge of The Reestablishment. In the past decade, no outsider has breached the stronghold of the authoritarian regime, but James is in. In a prison cell, sure, but as far as James is concerned, a win is a win.
It’s been ten years since the fall of The Reestablishment. Ten years since the notorious duo — Juliette Ferrars and Aaron Warner Anderson — led a worldwide rebellion and established the New Republic of the West. But after a decade of unsettling quiet, The Reestablishment is ready to make a devastating move, and they have the perfect person for the job.
Rosabelle Wolff had a plan. She always has a plan. On Ark Island, where constant surveillance is packaged as security, even emotions must be experienced with caution. A trained assassin, her every movement is monitored by synthetic intelligence—and when she’s given an order to kill, she never hesitates.
Title: The Ashfire King
Series: The Sandsea Trilogy
Author: Chelsea Abdullah
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 544
The Ashfire King is the second book in the Sandsea Trilogy. With its captivating world-building, magical Middle Eastern setting, fantastic character arcs, and plenty of swashbuckling adventures, it is an ideal read for fans of epic fantasy series.
The book’s synopsis;
Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. Amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion is on the rise. When Loulie assists a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
Title: The Raven Scholar
Series: Eternal Path Trilogy
Author: Antonia Hodgson
Publisher: Hodderscape
Publication Date: 17th of April, 2025
Pages: 656
An electrifying new voice has arrived in the epic fantasy book genre with author Antonia Hodgson, who releases her first fantasy book, “The Raven Scholar”, an immersive world packed with history and intriguing tales of political intrigue, bloody competitions, and a dangerous quest to uncover the truth.
The book’s synopsis;
Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.
Then one of them is murdered.
It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.
If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.
We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.
Genre – Historical Fiction Books
Title: Strangers in Time
Author: David Baldacci
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 448
The New York Times bestselling author of ‘A Calamity of Souls’ returns with his newest historical fiction set in 1944, London, where a bereaved bookkeeper and two teenagers scarred by the Second World War find solace in his bookshop and discover the hope they find in one another.
The book’s synopsis;
Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.
Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,” Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: both her parents are gone.
Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where a book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world has ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.
But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is still reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking that it resulted in her death and turned his life upside down.
As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.
Title: The Eights
Author: Joanna Miller
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 384
In her debut, author Joanna Miller’s captivating historical fiction novel follows the unlikely friendship of four of the first women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War. With themes of sisterhood, self-determination, and the many forms courage can take, this is a debut you wouldn’t want to miss.
The book’s synopsis;
They knew they were changing history.
They didn’t know they would change each other.
Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.
Dora was never meant to go to university, but after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, she has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford, where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally, Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.
But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: In 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. As the group navigates this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.
Title: Six Days in Bombay
Author: Alka Joshi
Publisher: MIRA
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 352
From the New York Times bestselling author of ‘The Henna Artist’, her latest beautifully written historical fiction novel follows a young Anglo-Indian nurse in 1937 who embarks on a journey that takes her beyond India’s borders and her home in Bombay, to uncover a mystery and prove her innocence after a famous painter dies in her care.
The book’s synopsis;
When renowned painter Mira Novak arrives at Wadia Hospital in Bombay after a miscarriage, she’s expected to make a quick recovery. Sona is excited to spend time with the worldly woman who shares her half-Indian identity, even if that’s where their similarities end. Sona is enraptured by Mira’s stories of her travels and shocked by accounts of the many lovers she’s left scattered through Europe.
Over the course of a week, Mira befriends Sona, seeing in her something bigger than the small life she’s living with her mother. Mira is released from the hospital just in time to attend a lavish engagement party where all of Bombay society is. But the next day, Mira is readmitted to the hospital in worse condition than before, and when she dies under mysterious circumstances, Sona immediately falls under suspicion.
Before leaving the hospital in disgrace, Sona is given a note Mira left for her, along with her four favorite paintings. But how could she have known to leave a note if she didn’t know she was going to die? The note sends Sona on a mission to deliver three of the paintings—the first to Petra, Mira’s childhood friend and first love in Prague; the second to her art dealer Josephine in Paris; the third to her first painting tutor, Paolo, with whom both Mira and her mother had affairs.
As Sona uncovers Mira’s history, she learns that the charming facade she’d come to know was only one part of a complicated and sometimes cruel woman. But can she discover what really happened to Mira and exonerate herself?
Along the way, Sona also comes to terms with her own complex history and the English father who deserted her and her mother in India so many years ago. In the end, she’ll discover that we are all made up of pieces, and only by seeing the world do we learn to see ourselves.
Genre – Romance Books
Title: Wild and Wrangled
Series: Rebel Blue Ranch
Author: Lyla Sage
Publisher: Quercus
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 368
The bestselling author of “Done and Dusted” and “Lost and Lassoed” returns with her fourth book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series. A small town romance in which past lovers get a second chance to rediscover what they lost. An ideal read for fans of cozy romances and endearing characters.
The book’s synopsis;
Camille Ashwood had always loved a plan. Her latest was her best yet. She was going to get married so she could secure her daughter’s future, get her overbearing parents off her back, and finally start building her own life in small town Meadowlark, Wyoming. Easy, right?
But when her groom doesn’t show up to the wedding, Cam’s life is turned upside down—she doesn’t even have a place to live. That is, until she finds out the house she’s loved since high school is available to rent. There’s only one problem: the neighbor.
Dusty Tucker has spent nearly all of his adult life running. Running from what, though? More like who: Cam Ashwood. But ever since he returned home last year, the girl who was his first, well, everything has become a woman seemingly determined to keep him at arm’s length. And he was okay with that—at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. She was getting married, after all. But now she’s single and living next door. Dusty wants to show her that they can be friends, and that he can stay put.
Despite her best attempts to stay far away from Dusty Tucker, Cam realizes that being close to him is like slipping on her favorite jeans. Easy. Comfortable. That is until past wounds start to open and feelings—both old and new—wreak havoc. Nearly ten years after they first met, Dusty and Cam begin to wonder if their first love can also be their last. And this time, will it be forever?
Title: My Return to the Walter Boys
Series: My Life with the Walter Boys
Author: Ali Novak
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 336
From the voice on contemporary YA romance comes the highly anticipated sequel to My Life with the Walter Boys, the internationally bestselling novel that inspired the Netflix series. An ideal read for fans of fast-paced romance books with themes of complicated relationships and grief.
The book’s synopsis;
Jackie Howard returns to the Walter ranch after a summer in New York. She needed space—and got it. But she doesn’t know where things stand with her and Cole Walter after that goodbye kiss. Over the summer, she stopped texting him. She never stopped thinking about him.
Still, with Cole living off in town to work at Tony’s garage before he heads off to college, Jackie thinks it’ll be easy to avoid him—only to find that when she sees him face to face at last, it’s, well… impossible to resist him. Things are getting complicated: he’s the boy she can’t get off her mind, and the Walters have become the family she loves and needs. How can Jackie move forward when she’s afraid of taking the next step?
Title: Fall Apart
Series: On the Slopes
Author: Dakota Forest
Publisher: Dakota Forest
Publication Date: 17th of April, 2025
Pages: 346
The second book in the On the Slopes series, a reverse age gap, she is 35, he is 28 and her best friend’s off-limits soon-to-be brother-in-law. An ideal read for fans of forced proximity romance, enemies to lovers, and spicy romantic books.
The book’s synopsis;
Lizzy Frank has sworn off relationships after finding out her ex had been cheating on her. She is just looking for a fun distraction before her friends get to town for a vacation. When a tall, tattooed construction worker pulls up a seat next to her at the bar, she thinks she’s found the one, at least for tonight. As a former competitive skier, Clay Chapman is not looking for any distractions. He thrives on order and being in control. Everything has its place, including where he usually sits at the dive bar by one of his job sites.
These two might be opposites, but their pull to each other is magnetic.
Can they each work through their pasts to move on and find love? Can they keep it together and not FALL APART?
Genre – Thriller and Mystery Books
Title: The Perfect Divorce
Series: Perfect Series
Author: Jeneva Rose
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing, Inc.
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 288
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling thriller “The Perfect Marriage” comes the gripping sequel. With twists you won’t see coming and darker than the first book, this highly entertaining, fast-paced, psychological thriller is where everything spirals out of control, leading to a dramatic ending!
The book’s synopsis;
Till death do us part. Yours. Not Mine.
It’s been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress. Sarah has long since moved on, starting a family with her new husband, Bob Miller, and changing careers. Her life is back to being exactly how she always wanted … or is it?
After discovering Bob engaged in a one-night stand, Sarah wastes no time filing for divorce. However, amid their ugly separation, new DNA evidence is uncovered in the case against Adam, forcing the police to reopen the investigation and putting Sarah right back in the spotlight. Everyone wants to know what really happened, most of all former deputy Marcus Hudson, who is hell-bent on finding the truth.
But when the woman Bob slept with is reported missing, he and Sarah start to fight dirty, and a high-stakes game of cat and mouse ensues. Filled with page-turning suspense and Jeneva Rose’s signature twists and turns, this book will have readers wondering: Can Bob and Sarah achieve the perfect divorce? Or will it be “’til death do us part”?
Title: One Death at a Time
Author: Abbi Waxman
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 400
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill comes her latest book, which is about a cranky former actress who teams up with her Gen Z sobriety sponsor to solve the murder that threatens to send her back to prison. It is another ideal read for fans of thrillers and mystery books with quirky and delightful characters.
The book’s synopsis;
When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it’s anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she’s making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia’s name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.
As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices is proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead?
Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing—trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program.
Title: The Death of Us
Author: Abigail Dean
Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: 15th of April, 2025
Pages: 336
Bringing together the slow-burn simmer of psychological suspense and the propulsive drive of crime thrillers, ‘The Death of Us’ is the story of a marriage turned inside out by a violent encounter that sets fire to the hairline faults that were there from the start.
The book’s synopsis;
Late on a summer’s evening when they are thirty years old, husband and wife Edward and Isabel’s home is invaded by a serial killer. Theirs was a classic story of young love that moves into true partnership—but their solid foundation implodes in the wake of this violence.
At fifty-eight, they are reunited for their tormentor’s trial and forced to confront their lifelong love, the secrets, passions, and encounters that bind them still. Isabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be caught. As she’s tracked news of his increasingly violent criminal life, she’s connected with other survivors and prepared for the moment that she’d get to read her victim impact statement aloud in court. She is sure she’ll speak her truth and finally let the past go.
Edward has spent the years since the break-in—and the breakdown of his marriage—trying to figure out how a near-miss with death killed so much else in their shared life. Unlike Isabel, he’s not eager to relive these terrible memories. Even though he’s moved on—he’s remarried, his old life almost unrecognizable to him now—he can’t resist accompanying Isabel to their intruder’s sentencing. What would revenge or justice feel like? Can closure set Isabel free? And what might that freedom mean for Edward?
Conclusion
The third week of April features twelve exciting new book releases featuring dystopian fantasies, swashbuckling adventures, and fantasy political intrigue. Captivating historical tales of hope, sisterhood, and determination set during the world wars and Bombay, India.
To cosy, heartfelt romances and spicy encounters that discover themes of second chances, loss, grief, and enemies to lovers tropes, to whodunnit mysteries and violent crimes full of high-stakes, suspense, unconventional pairing, revenge and justice.
Stay tuned, as I will post my following articles next week about the latest 2025 book releases for the final week of April’s monthly line-up. Additionally, if you are interested in more book-related articles, check out my book section page for reviews, recommendations, details and discussions.
