Top 5 anticipated reads for Q3 2025

The fourth book in Daniel O’Malley’s Checquy series!

Alexandra “Alix” Dennis-Palmer-Hudson-Gilmore-Garnsey, the twelfth Lady Mondegreen, has never had any control of her life. Her supernatural ability to shatter bones with a touch made her the automatic property of the Checquy, the secret British government agency that deals with the supernatural.

Her aristocratic ancestry made Alix the perfect asset for the Checquy to deploy close to the royal family. Since childhood, Alix has been coached to befriend Princess Louise, second in line to the throne, but despite all machinations, the two have never been close. Now an adult and a full Pawn of the Checquy, Alix is a skilled investigator unravelling supernatural manifestations for the security of the nation.

Everything changes when Louise’s brother, the Prince of Wales, dies abruptly, and all signs point to an unnatural assassination. To protect Louise, the new and unwilling heir apparent, Alix is assigned to be her lady-in-waiting. Thrust into the limelight overnight — both in the everyday world and in the underground world of the Checquy — Alix must juggle her responsibilities and her loyalties as she attempts to unravel the murder, keep Louise safe, and learn how to smile graciously while eerie threats loom around every corner.

The finale in the contemporary fantasy Only a Monster trilogy from Vanessa Len will take Joan into the darkest timeline in the monster world, as she fights to restore the world she remembers.

Joan has failed to stop Eleanor.

Now, Eleanor rules over a cruel new timeline where monsters live openly among humans, preying on them and subjugating them.

Nick — once a hero to humans, and Joan’s first love — is tormented by the choice he made to save her over the timeline itself. And Aaron — the ruthless heir to a powerful monster family — now finds himself a world where monsters have power beyond imagining, while his feelings for Joan grow.

But, wrenched between love and rivalry, the three of them must negotiate their fractured pasts to survive the new world and restore what was lost. Because only they remember that there was once a better timeline.

To save the world they love, they’ll have to outmaneuver an all-seeing queen who controls time itself. Lethal consequences await any failure in this final breathless race against time.

The third novel in Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel.

REWARD OFFERED: Apprentice to The Villain wanted for treason (light), magical property damage (alleged), and one incident involving a weaponized scone (accurate). Frequently seen with a grumpy frog (crowned, judgmental). Answers to “Evie” or “Stop that.”

Evie Sage didn’t mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom’s most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised “light paperwork and occasional beheadings,” and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss.

Now, with a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire — or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread.

Being evil-adjacent was never part of the five-year plan… But then again, neither was falling for The Villain.

A magical office comedy with grumpy bosses, snarky frogs, and definitely-not-feelings.

The highly-anticipated sequel to Holly Black’s stunning adult debut, Book of Night.

There’d always been something wrong with Charlie Hall.

Crooked from the day she was born.

Never met a bad decision she wasn’t willing to double down on.

She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart?