June 2025 Book of the Month Predictions

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Every month, I make pretty accurate (80-100%) predictions about which books will be featured by Book of the Month (BOTM). I take a lot of time to research upcoming releases, analyze past selections, and choose books that are solid bets.

It is that time of the year when the publishing calendar is full of new releases hoping to be seen across beaches and vacations this summer. This translates to a lot of big thriller releases along with a strong literary and contemporary fiction contingent. There is no shortage of books for BOTM to choose from this month, including a slew of new books by past authors.

Don’t forget to take a look at my May Predictions for books that may still be selections in June, like Disappoint Me.

I think that June books will most likely drop on Wednesday, May 28th, or Thursday, May 29th.

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

I wavered whether to include a few books but ultimately ruled them out (including What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown, When the Music Hits by Amber Oliver, Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin, Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven, Parallel Lines by Edward St. Aubyn, and Among Friends by Hal Ebbott) that I do not think will be among the selections. If there is another early release, I think it will be Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein or The Satisfaction Cafe by Kathy Wang (both July 1 releases).

Notes on Infinity

Austin Taylor

Synopsis: A singular, extraordinary debut about Zoe and Jack, Harvard students who find themselves propelled into the intoxicating biotech startup world when they announce they’ve discovered the cure for aging. A different kind of love story where the thirst for achievement consumes and the stakes are forever.

Debut

A Family Matter

Claire Lynch

Synopsis: A young wife following her heart. A husband with the law on his side. Their daughter, caught in the middle. Forty years later, a family secret changes everything in this “perfect” (Elin Hilderbrand) debut novel.

Debut

The Compound

Aisling Rawle

Synopsis: Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards. Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.

Debut

Palm Meridian

Grace Flahive

Synopsis: A rollicking, big-hearted story of long-lost love, friendship, and a life well-lived, set at a Florida retirement resort for queer women, on the last day of resident Hannah Cardin’s life—perfect for readers of Less and The Wedding People.

Debut

The Other Side of Now

Paige Harbison

Synopsis: A hilarious and heartfelt novel about how loves and lives are never truly lost, for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid

Debut

Kakigori Summer

Emily Itami

Synopsis: A wry and tender novel from the author of Fault Lines about three very different sisters reunited in adulthood for one short summer, for readers of Hello Beautiful and Blue Sisters.

Among Friends

Hal Ebbott

Synopsis: What begins as celebration gives way to betrayal, shattering the trust between two families. Written with hypnotic elegance and molten precision, and announcing the arrival of a major literary talent, Hal Ebbott’s Among Friends examines betrayal within the sanctuary of a defining relationship, as well as themes of class, marriage, friendship, power, and the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.

The River Is Waiting

Wall Lamb

Synopsis: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two Oprah Book Club Picks—She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True—Wally Lamb comes the propulsive story of a young father who, after an unbearable tragedy, reckons with the possibility of atonement for the unforgivable.

Historical Fiction

I considered a few June books that did not make ultimately make it into my predictions: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Blonde Dust by Tatiana de Rosnay, A Promise to Arlette by Serena Burdick, Confessions of a Grammar Queen by Eliza Knight, and The Scrapbook by Heather Clark. I think The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel will likely be a July Aardvark Book Club pick.

When Sleeping Women Wake

Emma Pei Yin

Synopsis: In this remarkable and harrowing debut novel, three extraordinary women—a mother, her daughter, and their maid—are each forced on a journey of survival during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II. At once monumental and intimate, When Sleeping Women Wake powerfully explores how ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things.

Debut

Girls Girls Girls

Shoshana von Blanckensee

Synopsis: A vibrant queer Jewish debut “teeming with heart, angst, love, and self discovery” (Emily Austin) about a young woman who, caught between the expectations of others and her own evolving desires, is forced to make a series of fraught, life-altering decisions.

Debut

The House of Two Sisters

Rachel Louise Driscoll

Synopsis: A young Victorian Egyptologist traverses the Nile River on a mission to undo a curse that may have befallen her family in this spellbinding novel.

Debut

The Listeners

Maggie Stiefvater

Synopsis: The true story of Axis diplomats detained in the U.S. at the start of World War II is transformed into a dazzling historical novel set at a sumptuous West Virginia hotel. #1 New York Times bestselling novelist Maggie Stiefvater dazzles in this mesmerizing portrait of an irresistible heroine, an unlikely romance, and a hotel—and a world—in peril.

These Heathens

Mia McKenzie

Synopsis: From the “razor-sharp and outrageously funny” (Taylor Jenkins Reid) mind of Mia McKenzie comes a vibrant novel exploring how one weekend can change your whole life. A funny, poignant story about Black women’s obligations and ambitions, what we owe to ourselves, and the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend.

Repeat Author

Romance

I also waffled about a couple of books, primarily Homebound by Meredith Trapp, If I Told You, I’d Have to Kiss You by Mae Marvel, Eat Post Like by Emily Arden Wells, The Spirit of Love by Lauren Kate, How Freaking Romantic by Emily Harding, and Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady.

Sunny Side Up

Katie Sturino

Synopsis: From body-acceptance advocate and MEGABABE founder Katie Sturino comes a heartwarming and hilarious debut. Sunny Greene is thirty-five, recently divorced, facing the looming prospect of going solo to her little brother’s wedding, and currently trying to find anything plus-sized in the Bergdorf Goodman swimsuit department that doesn’t make her want to cry. It’s not going well. But isn’t rock bottom the perfect place to start a climb?

Debut

The Summer We Ran

Audrey Ingram

Synopsis: Does your past define your destiny? Told through multiple perspectives, rich with emotion and immersive dual timelines, The Summer We Ran weaves together a story of lost love, devastating secrets, shocking sabotage, and the painstaking decision two people must make in order to fulfill the futures they each desire.

Debut

Last Night Was Fun

Holly Michelle

Synopsis: You’ve Got Mail meets The Hating Game! Vying for a promotion against a bitter rival as the only female data analyst for a professional baseball team, Emmy finds solace in the text-flirting relationship that started as a wrong number exchange—unaware that the man she’s texting is the one she’s fighting for the promotion.

Debut

Ordinary Love

Marie Rutkoski

Synopsis: A page-turning, irresistible novel of class, ambition, and love, this is the breathtaking story of a woman risking everything for a second chance at the one who got away. Ordinary Love is the beautiful, wrenching, completely seductive story of two people trying to forge a path toward hope, bound by a love they discovered when they were too young to understand its power.

Slow Burn Summer

Josie Silver

Synopsis: A talent agent hires an actress to play the part of “novelist” on a book tour for his agency’s publicity-shy client in this delightful rom-com from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick One Day in December.

Repeat Author

As You Wish

Leesa Cross-Smith

Synopsis: A heartwarming story of found family, love, and second chances about three American au pairs in Seoul who realize a wish may be all they need to make their dreams come true.

Repeat Author

Thrillers, Mysteries, & Crime Fiction

I also waffled about a couple of books, primarily Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall, Dear Future Me by Deborah O’Connor, I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert, Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender & Kendall Shores, El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott, Cat Fight by Kit Conway, and Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich.

We Don’t Talk About Carol

Kristen L. Berry

Synopsis: A dedicated journalist unearths a generations-old family secret—and a connection to a string of missing girls that hits way too close to home—in this gripping debut novel.

Debut

So Happy Together

Olivia Worley

Synopsis: Jane and Colin are soulmates. He just doesn’t know it yet. Unrelentingly twisty and utterly compelling, So Happy Together is an unputdownable, shattering read―a riveting blend of You, Riley Sager, and Promising Young Woman.

Debut

Park Avenue

Renée Ahdieh

Synopsis: When a young lawyer takes on a case involving a wealthy Korean American family, she enters a world of deception, seduction, and betrayal. A drama-filled thriller in which fans of Crazy Rich Asians, Schitt’s Creek, and White Lotus will get more than their fix of backstabbing and danger.

The Ghostwriter

Julie Clark

Synopsis: From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell comes a dazzling new thriller. Julie Clark masterfully weaves together a daughter’s long-held suspicions and her father’s deadly secrets with the tragic events from the past.

Repeat Author

Kill Your Darlings

Peter Swanson

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing and Eight Perfect Murders comes an inventive, utterly propulsive murder-mystery in reverse, tracing a marriage back in time to uncover the dark secret at its heart.

Repeat Author

King of Ashes

S.A. Cosby

Synopsis: Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.

Repeat Author

A Beautiful Family

Jennifer Trevelyan

Synopsis: Over the course of one sunbaked summer vacation, a family is pulled into a web of mysteries that the younger daughter sets out to solve. A tense, page-turning debut of childhood, innocence, and evil.

Debut | Early Release

Don’t Let Him In

Lisa Jewell

Synopsis: Three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller. Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.

Repeat Author | Early Release

Horror & Gothic Fiction

Smile for the Cameras

Miranda Smith

Synopsis: An actress desperate to reclaim her fame must survive the real-life plot of the horror movie that made her famous in this psychologically twisted locked-room thriller.

Debut

Glass Girls

Danie Shokoohi

Synopsis: Alice Haserot thought she’d escaped the curse. For sixteen years, she’s lived far from her family and the ghosts she used to conjure as a child medium. But her past isn’t so easily left behind.

Debut

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

V.E. Schwab

Synopsis: From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger. Set over 500 years, this tale of three sapphic vampires is a story about hunger, rage and the ways in which women are told to be satiated even when they aren’t.

Repeat Author

Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism

I wavered whether to include a few books but ultimately ruled them out, including A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace by Emily Skrutskie and This Is Not a Ghost Story by Amerie.

The Art of Vanishing

Morgan Pager

Synopsis: A stunningly original love story between a museum employee and the man in a masterpiece hanging on the walls—a breathtaking debut about time, art, and the enduring power of love.

Debut

A Dance of Lies

Brittney Arena

Synopsis: A debut fantasy romance filled with hope after heartbreak, secrets, and betrayal, as a dancer-turned-spy must decide how far she will go to secure her freedom.

Debut

The Phoenix Pencil Company

Allison King

Synopsis: In this dazzling debut novel, a hidden and nearly forgotten magic—of Reforging pencils, bringing the memories they contain back to life—holds the power to transform a young woman’s relationship with her grandmother, and to mend long-lost connections across time and space. Combining the cross-generational family saga and epistolary form of A Tale for the Time Being with the uplifting, emotional magic of The Midnight Library, Allison King’s stunning debut novel asks: who owns and inherits our stories?

Debut

Ten Incarnations of Rebellion

Vaishnavi Patel

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi comes an epic and daring novel that imagines an alternate version of India that was never liberated from the British, and a young woman who will change the tides of history.

Repeat Author

The Poppy Fields

Nikki Erlich

Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of the smash-hit The Measure—a runaway bestseller and a Read with Jenna TODAY Show pick—comes a stunning speculative story of healing, self-discovery, forgiveness, and found friendship.