With the exception of the ARC I’m currently reading, all of the ARCs I have are 2025 releases. Most of the time I like to read an ARC either the month before it’s released, or the month it is released, but I have a few that I’m just so excited about that I’d love to read them before the year is out. Most of these actually come out in January, so I’ll be reading them either this month or in December, but I’ve got a few others that are coming out a little later that I can’t wait to read!
Get comfy and cozy and let’s chat 2025 ARCs I’m most excited to read!
The Rival by Emma Lord
January 21st, 2025
Rivals-to-lovers gets an academic send-up in this charming and irresistible romantic comedy from Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of Tweet Cute and Begin Again!
At long last, Sadie has vanquished her lifelong academic rival — her irritatingly charming, whip smart next door neighbor, Seb — by getting the coveted, only spot to her dream college. Or at least, so she thinks. When Seb is unexpectedly pulled off the waitlist and admitted, Sadie has to compete with him all over again, this time to get a spot on the school’s famous zine. Now not only is she dealing with the mayhem of the lovable, chaotic family she hid her writing talents from, as well as her own self doubt, but she has to come to terms with some less-than-resentful feelings for Seb that are popping up along the way.
But the longer they compete, the more Sadie and Seb notice flaws in the school’s system that are much bigger than any competition between them. Somehow the two of them have to band together even as they’re trying to crush each other, only to discover they may have met their match in more ways than one.
First up on the list, unsurprisingly, is Emma Lord’s next YA novel, The Rival, which comes out on January 21st! At this point, when it comes to Emma Lord books I don’t need to know anything beyond the fact that she wrote it to make me want to read it. I LOVE academic rivals, so I’m really excited about that trope being in this book, and I like that for her YA novels, Emma has been writing college aged kids. I just know that this one will deliver on the heart and humor that have become synonymous with Emma’s work and I’m sure I’ll love this one as much as I’ve loved all her others.
Yin Yang Love Song by Lauren Kung Jessen
January 28th, 2025
In this charming rom-com filled with Chinese traditions and a family curse, an herbalist fake dates a star musician–perfect for fans of Helen Hoang and Jasmine Guillory.
Chinese herbalist Chryssy Hua Williams never actually believed in the Hua family curse. But after Break-Up #9, Chryssy stopped laughing. Now she and her aunties run a special healing retreat center for the broken-hearted. After all, there’s nothing a proper cup of herbal tea can’t fix…but Chryssy’s innocent run-in with celebrity cellist and bad boy Vin Chao has everyone brewing about a different kind of tea. So he offers her a deal: they’ll fake-date, he’ll “break” her heart (and increase ticket sales), and in return, he’ll promote her business.
It’s like Chryssy’s whole cursed love life has been leading up to this moment. But all it takes is one kiss—and a whole lot of unexpected chemistry—to land both of them in hot water . . .
Coming out on January 28th, we have Yin Yang Love Song by Lauren Kung Jessen and I am really looking forward to reading this one. I loved both Lunar Love and Red String Theory by Jessen — her romances are so lovely and sweet and there are always really great family dynamics which always appeals to me. This one also involves some fake dating, and you know I just can’t resist that trope! Plus, I love that the main character is a Chinese herbalist, and since Jessen’s books usually involve food in some way, I’m looking forward to seeing how tea is incorporated into this one (I’ll for sure have to have a nice big cup of tea with me while I read!)
I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang
January 28th, 2025
After getting rejected by every single Ivy League she applied to and falling short of all her Asian immigrant parents’ expectations, seventeen-year-old Jenna Chen makes a wish to become her smarter, infinitely more successful Harvard-bound cousin, Jessica Chen—only for her wish to come true. Literally.
Now trapped inside Jessica’s body, with access to Jessica’s most private journals and secrets, Jenna soon discovers that being the top student at the elite, highly competitive Havenwood Private Academy isn’t quite what she imagined. Worse, as everyone—including her own parents—start having trouble remembering who Jenna Chen is, or if she ever even existed, Jenna must decide if playing the role of the perfect daughter and student is worth losing her true self forever.
Another January 28th release is Ann Liang’s next novel, I Am Not Jessica Chen. I’ve read all of Ann’s YA novels (I have A Song to Drown Rivers on my shelves and will hopefully be reading it soon!) and I’ve given them all 5 stars, so I have high hopes for this one as well. The premise of this one sounds like the exact kind of thing I’ll love, so I’m really excited to read this one.
Lovely Dark and Deep by Elisa A. Bonnin
March 25th, 2025
From author Elisa A. Bonnin comes Lovely Dark and Deep, a YA dark academia novel exploring magic, loneliness, and the power of found family.
Hidden off the coast of Washington, veiled in mist, there is an island that does not appear on any map. And on that island is Ellery West.
Ellery West has always been home for Faith. After an international move and a childhood spent adjusting to a new culture and a new language, the acclaimed school for magic feels like the only place she can be herself. That is, until Faith and another student walk into the forest, and only Faith walks out.
Marked with the red stripe across her uniform that designates all students deemed too dangerous to attend regular classes, Faith becomes a social pariah, an exile of Ellery West. But all she has to do is keep her head down for one more year to graduate, and she gets to keep her magic. Because when students fail out of Ellery West, they have their magic taken away. Forever. And Faith can’t let that happen.
Except terrifying things are still happening to students, and the dark magic that was unleashed in the forest still seems to be at work. To stop it, Faith and the other Red Stripes will have to work together, risking expulsion from the magical world altogether.
I loved Elisa’s debut novel, Dauntless, and her second novel, Stolen City, so I’ve been looking forward to Lovely Dark and Deep for a long time. I also feel so thankful to have been part of her street team for her other books and once again for Lovely Dark and Deep. I love dark academia, which we all know, and I love dark academia with a touch of magic, so I think this will really work for me and I’m looking forward to starting it in the next few weeks!
The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li
May 6th, 2025
Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in Christina Li’s haunting novel about the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet, and the intertwined fates of the two Chinese American families fighting to inherit it.
Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the eighties, only to disappear from the spotlight at the height of her career to live out the rest of her life as a recluse.
Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will, and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood home: Vivian’s grand, sprawling, Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead—one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement.
In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. As Vivian’s daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother’s life, disturbing visions and bizarre behaviors start to take hold of everyone in the house, forcing them to realize they are being haunted by something far more sinister and vengeful than their regrets. After so many years of silence, will the families finally confront the painful truth behind the house’s origins and the last, tragic summer they spent there—or will they cling to their secrets until it’s too late?
Told in dual timelines, spanning three generations, and brimming with romance, betrayal, ambition, and sacrifice, The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic that examines the true cost of the American Dream—and what happens when the roots we set down in this country turn to rot.
When I saw “Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” in the blurb I went “Oh, this is a must read” and I can’t believe I was able to get an ARC of The Manor of Dreams. I love a good dual timeline story, and then add in some horror elements and family secrets, and you’ve really got a book that checks off so many boxes for me. I’ve got high hopes for The Manor of Dreams and I really hope it meets them.
I have a few other 2025 ARCs on my NetGalley shelf, but these five are the ones I’m most excited for.
Do you have any of these books on your TBR? What are some 2025 releases you’re looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time 💜
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