The post Forthcoming & New Release Books You Won’t Want to Miss (2025) appeared first on Independent Book Review.
]]>by Eric Mayrhofer
The final quarter of 2025 is upon us.
Autumn—the season when we start pulling out cozy sweatshirts, putting pumpkin in everything, and getting started on our Christmas lists (if we’re ambitious). If you’d rather binge Gilmore Girls for the ninetieth time, you have my blessing, but I also highly recommend checking out this season’s new book releases instead.
The books coming out between October and December 2025 are gearing up to freak you out and give you hope. They’re getting ready to show you the magic in the world and remind you that it’s a wild place to live. In a season of so many extraordinary reads, these are some of the best indie books to add to your TBR.
Here are 12 new release books you won’t want to miss.
1. Magic at the Grand Dragonfly Theatre
Author: Brandie June
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: October 7
ISBN: 9780744311792
Publisher: CamCat Books
To me, autumn is the season of writing. From the motivation of the former beast known as NaNoWriMo to the coziness of drafting by hand while watching the leaves change beyond the window, nothing feels quite as right as writing. But when you add forbidden magic? Now that makes a story worth savoring.
Those elements are the starting point in Brandie June’s new release Magic at the Grand Dragonfly Theatre. Playwright Violet Ashmore lives in the shadow of her sister Iris, who has promised to protect Violet and her dangerous magic from from the Crown. But when bounty hunter Alec Morgan infiltrates the theater and begins falling for Iris, their life—and the theater—could all come undone.
With a literary protagonist longing for more, the danger of books like Caraval and the lyrical magic of The Night Circus, Magic at the Grand Dragonfly Theatre has the potential to be the most enchanting read of the end of 2025.
2. But the Wicked Shall Perish
Author: Catori Sarmiento
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense / Fantasy
Release Date: October 7
ISBN: 9781960018762
Publisher: Running Wild Press
More than a few years ago now, The Golem and the Jinni used Jewish folklore to incredible effect, creating a lush and heartwarming fantasy about the immigrant experience in America. This year, Catori Sarmiento incorporates the culture’s mythology to paint a blood-red portrait of a woman seeking her murderer—and revenge.
But the Wicked Shall Perish slips readers into Tziporah Curiel’s resurrected shoes. When she comes back to life in 1920s Venice, Italy, she begins a quest for justice that will leave a trail of souls in her wake and lead to a deal with a demon, forcing her to come to terms with what happened and what she has become. Supernatural, heart-wrenching, and pulse-pounding, this might be exactly the early Halloween treat you’ve been looking for.
3. The Scald Crow
Author: Grace Daly
Genre: Literary Fiction / Horror
Release Date: October 14
ISBN: 9781951971311
Publisher: Creature Horror
“This isn’t a dream… This is really happening!” Could that iconic quote from Rosemary’s Baby be the inspiration for a new spooky season favorite? It may seem like it when you read The Scald Crow by Grace Daly. Offering laughs and scares in equal measure, the novel asks, “Can a sick woman ever be trusted?”
The sick woman in question is Brigid, a self-doubting protagonist living with chronic pain so severe it cost her her job. To add misfortune to injury, her mother goes missing, a turn of events that forces her back into her childhood home. Soon, a crow starts following her, a painting returns no matter how often she rids herself of it, and nightmares of her mother keep startling her awake. Is it all in her head? After all, her pain has no identifiable cause, and that must be her own fault too…right?
A book that confronts readers with the one thing that is all too often our own worst enemies—the negative voices in our heads—The Scald Crow is a spine-tingling, ultimately empowering entry in the horror genre.
4. The Ten Thousand Things
Author: Debbi Flittner
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: October 7
ISBN: 9798992424218
2025 isn’t all about the scares though. Any time is a good time for beautifully written memoirs. This memoir on silence and belonging is the author’s lifelong attempt to understand her “elusive, unnerving” mother.
Lauren Hayataka of IBR says it’s the lyricism of the prose that elevates the memoir. She says, “Flittner writes with the precision of someone who has carried these memories for decades, shaping them into vivid, almost cinematic scenes: hiding beneath plastic during a sudden storm, watching rain blur the world into a secret cave; lying in the plastic-covered back seat of the family’s Buick as the desert slid past; screaming for help in a kitchen where no one came.”
For all those looking for moving true stories about complex family in lyrical prose, find out why Hayataka calls it “radiant” and “unforgettable.”
5. Bloodletting a Butterfly
Author: Alec B. Hood
Genre: Poetry / Dark
Release Date: Oct 14
ISBN: 9798891328266
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Okay, back to the dead. But with a twist.
Alec B. Hood’s poetry is “visceral, devastating, and brilliantly gory,” says Mandy Bach of IBR. The speaker of the collection is completely preoccupied with death and dying and discusses it with raw, physical imagery.
“Hood expertly uses surreal descriptions of the body to help readers understand the disturbing nature of this preoccupation with suffering and death. He writes, ‘there are insect eggs / embedded in my esophagus // parasites peering / through my pupils // my lungs / flooded with webs // my blood / blinking with lightning bugs.‘”
Feast your eyes on roadkill, ghosts, and more in this “beautifully ugly” collection.
6. The Mongoose
Author: Joana mosi
Genre: Graphic Novel
Release Date: October 14
ISBN: 9782925114475
Publisher: Pow Pow Press
Pow Pow Press is doing some amazing work! After the unique power of The Jellyfish and Botanica Drama, I couldn’t help but get excited about The Mongoose.
This black and white graphic novel about grief and ghosts and, oddly, a phantom mongoose combines what I’ve come to expect from Pow Pow Press: thoughtful and moving visual stories with a dash of strange.
7. A Blood Witch
Author: Joseph Stone
Genre: Fantasy / Dark
Release Date: November 5
Joseph Stone is no stranger to captivating dark fantasy. From the alluring darkness of The Lykanos Chronicles, which we included in our list of best book series of the past few years, to the first book in the Haunted Women series, which Alexandria Ducksworth raved about, Stone writes evocative fantasy with “jaw-dropping” and “downright scary” results.
And now, book two! Victoria Lilly of IBR called it “a chilling, layered, and intelligent gothic piece that tackles the genre from a distinctly feminist angle… Not a comforting read, but a valuable one.”
8. The Sofa
Author: Sam Munson
Genre: Horror / Literary
Release Date: November 11
ISBN: 9781953387974
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Mr. Montessori goes downstairs one morning to find his sofa is different. The doors are all locked. Windows too. Nobody’s broken in. So how did this get here, and where did their old, perfect couch go?
Suddenly, the image of a man in a bowler hat starts popping up all around him. His son’s drawing used to only have the new sofa in it. The mirror used to be only him staring back.
The Sofa by Sam Munson is a surreal piece of everyday horror that nails down obsession in an eerily painful way. Man, what if Montessori just stepped away from this fascination? What if he accepted this weirdly outdated sofa as his own and moved on with his perfectly fine life? It surely wouldn’t turn out like this.
9. A Gathering Place
Author: Vicki salloum
Genre: Literary Fiction
Release Date: November 18
ISBN: 9798999042286
Publisher: Silent Clamor Press
Sometimes faith is all but a voice.
81-year-old Blue Hamieh follows her faith to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, believing that the Virgin Mary wants her to open a gathering place, a cafe, for downtrodden people in the devastated city. Is this a true calling, or is her family right and she should return to Mississippi?
Vicki Salloum imbues this community-driven novel of faith and resilience with artful, meaningful prose and a big heart. I dare you not to fall for Blue by the novel’s end.
10. Hotel Melikov (Citizen Orlov Book 2)
Author: Jonathan Payne
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense / Crime
Release Date: November 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780744311808
Publisher: CamCat Books
What better way to prepare for the oncoming winter chill than to immerse yourself in the chilling espionage of a mountainous, central-European country?
In Hotel Melikov, the second book of Jonathan Payne’s Citizen Orlov series, readers find Orlov as the Minister for Security of a nation on the verge of collapsing. When tension between the government and revolutionaries erupt, all he wants is to return to his former life as a fishmonger. But when he discovers a sinister plot that threatens everyone, what will he choose?
Featuring tense thrills, political intrigue, nuns who are more than they seem, and a comedic twist, Jonathan Payne returns us to the world of Citizen Orlov in style.
11. Hope
Author: Sommer Schafer
Genre: Literary Fiction / Short Stories
Release Date: November 25
ISBN: 9781963115475
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Previously published in Best American Short Stories, Sommer Schafer returns with Hope, a story collection to keep you warm as winter approaches.
Set in the small island community of Hope, Alaska, Hope offers an experience that will delight fans of small-town, big-emotion collections like Olive Kitteridge. Linked stories show the hopes and dreams the townsfolk have for the future, all while questioning how well (or how much) they can bury the past.
With precise descriptions, sharp insights, and subtle humor, Schafer’s collection holds all the promise of an uplifting read on these lengthening nights.
12. Dark Matter
Author: Kaja Kothe
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: December 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781946154972
Publisher: Meerkat Press
Bunny Graves has to make this list. Kathe Koja’s Dark Factory series has already been praised for its wild and mind-bending prose, the esoteric experience it gives readers, and its thrilling combinations of art, technology, and a willingness to explore both reality and virtual reality.
Readers might just have their minds blown in Dark Matter. Here, Bunny and Koja’s array of characters wind through a cyberpunk-ish landscape to break the rules, chase ancient myths into virtual reality and back again, and make it through in a world where corporate wars can be life and death. It’s set up to be a rewarding finish for longtime fans of the acclaimed Koja and a bold new world for readers in search of a Snow Crash-meets-Cyberpunk 2077 fix.
What new release books are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!
Author Bio
Eric Mayrhofer is a marketing creative living in Connecticut with his partner and their three cats, Frosty, Korra, and Zoe. A lifelong reader, Eric is working on his first novel in between illustrating, watching spooky movies, and pretending he knows how to bake after watching reruns of The Great British Baking Show.
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The post Forthcoming & New Release Books You Won’t Want to Miss (2025) appeared first on Independent Book Review.
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Ferren and the Angel
by Richard Harland
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction & Fantasy
ISBN: 9781922856296
Print Length: 242 pages
Publisher: IFWG Publishing
Reviewed by Alexandria Ducksworth
A fast-paced and engaging dystopian fantasy with loads of fascinating lore
What will happen in the next thousand years? Some people believe there will be significant alterations, some that it will be eerily similar, and others think there will be no Earth at all. Maybe we’re on Mars or other places around the solar system.
Author Richard Harland has some other ideas. The future depicted in Ferren and the Angel shows angels and humans in an epic never-ending battle for dominance.
Harland’s Ferren and the Angel is set in a post-apocalyptic world where angels, soulless soldiers, and wandering spirits exist. The worldbuilding here is addictive. You won’t want to miss any developing details about what the world will look like in this future.
What will break young Ferren out of his humdrum life at the start of this book? Watching an angel fall from Heaven. Miriael, the Fourth Angel of Observance, has no way of returning to her ethereal realm. Her powers have faltered since she arrived in the material world, but she cultivates a new friendship in Ferren. Unfortunately, it has to be kept secret, and it doesn’t stay that way for long.
In the meantime, Ferren is doing everything he can to avoid being selected into military service. Since his family has been taken, he must discover the ugly truth and take down the Selectors in charge.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Ferren and the Angel is the angel lore. There are several types of angels here. Miriael is merely an Observance angel. It’s a lower-class status compared to a high-ranking one like Archangel Michael. Some are warriors while others are merely in charge of historical records. Each angel has their own place in Heaven.
The story world’s history is another exciting part of this book. Many life-changing events happened before Ferren was even born. The world as we know it in 2023 is considered the Great Past. It was the golden age of incredible innovation. All was lost when all of humanity fought with angels. The people in Ferren’s world now live in primal conditions, where a lighter and a can of bug spray are considered ancient, treasured relics.
Besides the engaging plot, the book highlights a serious lesson in the dangers of scientific advancement, an “Icarus gets too close to the sun” sort of situation. Angels noticed humans were getting too smart for their own good, that people were resurrecting the dead and exploring Heaven’s lower realms, so they had to be taken down a notch. Science can be good, but there’s a point when it crosses dangerous lines with dire consequences.
Ferren and the Angel is a dystopian adventure must-read! This book has a great plot, some incredible conflict, and secrets just waiting to be revealed. Dystopian fans are in for a treat.
Thank you for reading Alexandria Ducksworth’s book review of Ferren and the Angel by Richard Harland! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.
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