Must Read Books for 2025 (So Far)

Calling all Australian book lovers on the hunt for their next literary obsession or the perfect bookish gift!

As we settle into May 2025, the year has already delivered a fantastic array of new releases and enduring bestsellers. If you're searching for the must-read books of 2025 so far, or seeking inspiration for book gifts that will delight any reader, you've come to the right place.

We've curated a list of the best selling books making waves across Australia, highlighting titles that are capturing hearts and sparking conversations. Get ready to discover your next favourite read and find the ideal book gift for the bookworm in your life!

Must Read Books This Year So Far

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

A powerful argument for reclaiming childhood - and all human relationships - from the online world, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author

Jonathan Haidt has spent his career speaking truth and wisdom in some of the most difficult spaces – communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the mental health emergency hitting teenagers today in many countries around the world.

In The Anxious Generation, Haidt shows how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared, including time spent comparing oneself to a vast pool of others. Time engaging face-to-face with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health.

But this is not just a story about technology; this profound shift took place against a backdrop of declining childhood freedom and free-play, as parents over-supervised every aspect of their children’s lives offline, depriving them of the experiences they most need to become strong and self-governing adults.

The Names by Florence Knapp

The unforgettable debut novel that became an instant global sensation, The Names asks how a name can shape the course of a life and explores the single what-if moments that can overturn a person's fate

Tomorrow - if morning comes, if the storm stops raging - Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalise who he will become.

It is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes in this moment will shape the course of their lives.

Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerged. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image - but is there still a chance to break the mould?

Too Soon by Betty Shamieh

For readers of Pachinko and Queenie, a funny, sexy, and heart-wrenching literary debut that explores exile, ambition, and hope across three generations of Palestinian American women.

Arabella gets an unexpected chance at love when she’s thrust into a conflict and history she’s tried to avoid all her life.
Zoya is playing matchmaker for her last unmarried granddaughter and stirring up buried memories.

Naya is keeping a secret from her children that will change all their lives.

Thirty-five-year-old Arabella, a New York theatre director whose dating and career prospects are drying up, is offered an opportunity to direct a risqué cross-dressing interpretation of a Shakespeare classic—that might garner international attention—in the West Bank. Her mother, Naya, and grandmother, Zoya, hatch a plot to match her with Aziz, a Palestinian American doctor volunteering in Gaza. Arabella agrees to meet Aziz, since her growing feelings for Yoav, a celebrated Israeli American theatre designer, seem destined for disaster...

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean

It’s the story everyone wants to hear.

That spring night in South London, when Isabel and Edward’s lives were torn apart.

The night Isabel learned that the worst things wait, just outside the door.

The night Edward learned that he was powerless to stop them.

The night they never talk about.

When their attacker is caught, it's finally time to tell the story of that night.

Not to the world. Or to the man who did it. But to each other.

This is a story of murder. This is a story of survival. But most of all, this is a story of love.

Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Shocking and darkly funny, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to the decisions that are shaping our world and the people who make them. Welcome to Facebook.

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook's potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.

From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite - and the consequences this has for all of us.

Life Hacks for a Little Alien by Alice Franklin

Tender, life-affirming and full of humour, Life Hacks for a Little Alien is the story of a young girl growing up in the nineties and noughties, trying to navigate a world that makes her feel like she's from another planet. It's about the wonder of libraries, the power of language and finding a path that fits when you yourself do not.

'Wise and playful and tender and beautiful' Bobby Palmer
'So brilliant, so original and lovely and funny, that it reminds you of the point of reading' Rebecca Wait

Perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Remarkably Bright Creatures, this is a charming, witty and moving novel about what it feels like to grow up neurodivergent.

'Climb up here, Little Alien. Sit next to me. I will tell you about life on this planet. I will tell you how it goes'

From her first words to her first day at school, Little Alien can't help but get things wrong. She doesn't understand the world the way others seem to, and the world doesn't seem to understand her either. Her anxious mum and meticulous dad, while well-intentioned, are of little help.

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Book #3 The Empyrean

Get ready for the breathtaking follow-up to global phenomenons Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from the no. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

ARE YOU READY TO BRAVE THE DARK?

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there's no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it's impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves - her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find - the truth.

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes-all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there's nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong...

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date-possibly the best in living history-Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life-and even a love-worth remembering.

The Favourites by Layne Fargo

An epic love story that reimagines the tempestuous romance of Wuthering Heights in the sparkling, savage world of elite figure skating

Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn’t. My first love was figure skating.

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating – and each other – to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and rollercoaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorised documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the ‘real story’ through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary. But she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy either. So, after a decade of silence, she's telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumours have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

Anticipated Books That are coming out very soon

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild

A gripping love story with a moral-dilemma at its centre: would you tell the truth about the past if it would cost you your future?

'One of the best books I've read this year' Jodi Picoult

She thought it was fate. I knew it wasn't.

Honor seems to have everything: she adores her bright and beautiful daughter, Chloe, and her charming, handsome husband, Tom, even if he works one hundred hours a week. Her bestselling children's books mean that she's made a name for herself doing what she loves. But Honor's desperate longing for another baby threatens to eclipse everything that's good. When a shocking tragedy changes their lives forever, Tom is left to pick up the pieces.

Grace has made her London wine shop a second home for people like her - people who are running from their own pasts. Passionate, studious, and self-assured, she finds herself curious about Tom, who becomes a fixture at the shop.

As Grace falls for Tom, she shares things about herself that she's never told anyone.

Tom knows he needs to tell Grace the truth too. But the closer they get, the harder it is...

The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gilig

From the New York Times million-copy bestselling author Rachel Gillig comes the next big romantasy phenomenon: a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a prophetess who is forced on an impossible quest with the one devilishly handsome knight whose future is beyond her sight.

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.

Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski

A sweeping queer love story about desire, friendship, mistakes and the possibility of second chances, for fans of The Paper Palace and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

FOR EMILY AND GEN, THIS IS LOVE...AT LAST.

Emily has a life many would envy: a Manhattan townhouse, two sweet children and an adoring husband, Jack. But Jack isn't what he appears, and Emily's marriage is secretly troubled.

During their rocky separation, Emily encounters someone she's tried not to think about for years: Gen Hall.

As teenagers, she was Emily's best friend, first love - and first heartbreak. Emily thought that she'd never recover from losing her. Now, separated by over a decade of mistakes and miscommunications, can they find their way back to each other?

What comes next is a sweeping queer love story about desire, friendship, and above all, the possibility of second chances.

With such a diverse and captivating selection of reads already gracing our shelves in the first half of 2025, there's truly something for every literary palate. Don't delay in discovering your next favourite! And for the ultimate book lover gifts in Australia, consider pairing your chosen title with some amazing local treats – the perfect way to enhance any reading experience. Happy exploring, and happy gifting!

Build your own thoughtful gift, or simply select from our curated booxies, choose your favourite book genre and let us choose the perfect book for you!