Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.

Big Books of the Week

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (Forever; LJ starred review) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)

OverKill by J.A. Jance (Gallery)

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey: Ballantine; LJ starred review)

Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert (Sourcebooks Casablanca)

These books and others publishing the week of March 31, 2025, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Eight LibraryReads and eight Indie Next picks publish this week.

Hall of Fame picks include Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley) and Swept Away by Beth O'Leary (Berkley).

Hall of Fame pick Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (Forever; LJ starred review) is also an Indie Next pick:

“Once again, Abby Jimenez brings us a love story we can root for. There’s always something more to her romances than just the romance. Jimenez puts just as much care and thought into the rest of the story, giving the reader so much more to savor.”—Layne Van Boxtel, Reads by the River, Waterford, WI

The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper (Morrow Paperbacks) is the bonus pick.

Any Trope but You by Victoria Lavine (Atria; LJ starred review)

“Margot and Forest are genuinely likeable, though flawed characters, and seeing through their perspective is a delight. The conflicts come from practical issues, and the couple is not kept apart by miscommunication, but by respect for each other’s priorities and values. A love letter to ‘romancelandia’ and the tropes it celebrates.”—Katrina Dagenais, Bucks County Free Library, PA

I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney (Zibby)

“In this sensational novel, Bud gets a new lease on life after he starts visiting wakes and funerals. With equal measures of laughter and tears along the way, this character-driven novel probes the psyche of the contemporary male mind and takes readers in unexpected directions, all leading to a very satisfying conclusion.”—Todd Krueger, Baltimore County Public Library, MD

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“John Kenney’s coming-of-age novel is the story of an obituary writer who accidently publishes his own obituary, one inebriated night—but he’s not dead. Readers will laugh out loud, cry, and love each and every character.”—Eve Taben, Elm Street Books, New Canaan, CT

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey: Ballantine; LJ starred review)

“Din and Ana return in a new sci-fi/fantasy mystery. This time an official in the Treasury delegation has gone missing from a locked room. Tense negotiations are ongoing between the Treasury and a small outpost kingdom. What Din and Ana find is a hidden hornet’s nest and extreme danger to the Empire. Can the two stop a terrorist from destroying everything?”—Michelle Ogden, Crawfordsville Dist Public Library, IN

The Sirens by Emilia Hart (St. Martin’s)

“In 1800s Ireland, twin sisters are taken from their father and put on a ship bound for Australia. During the voyage, they begin to change as they hear the call of the sea. In 2019, while Lucy looks for her missing sister, she reads her old diary full of strange stories of the sea Spanning centuries, this novel casts its magic with the story it weaves.”—Jennifer Winberry, LibraryReads Ambassador, NJ

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Somehow, Hart engages readers with both a contemporary mystery and an atmospheric historical imagining. The two narratives are expertly written and woven in a story that’s both unlike any other yet resonates as familiar. It’s literary magic!”—Jen Wills Geraedts, Beagle and Wolf Books & Bindery, Park Rapids, MN

Five Additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell (LittlePuss)

“As trans people, we know the spaces that open up to us when we decide to live in the world on our own terms. Blaxell’s essays bring us her invaluable and deeply generous thinking on how we become worthy of the life and the world that she clearly loves so much.”—Ren Dean, Skunk Cabbage Books, Chicago, IL

The Night Trembles by Nadia Terranova, tr. by Ann Goldstein (Seven Stories)

“A gripping account of two strangers navigating a new world in the wake of an unfathomable natural disaster. Nicola and Barbara are brilliantly rendered, each grappling with the lives they had before the earthquake and uncovering what’s possible.”—Emily Tarr, Thank You Books, Birmingham, AL

Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House)

“An outstanding debut! A retelling of Bluebeard that gives voice to the victims of a cruel man and curse. Theodoridou unlocks the door and takes you over the threshold to an ever-growing number of horrors with gorgeous writing.”—Nikki Siclare, Newtonville Books, Newton Centre, MA

Bad Nature by Ariel Courage (Holt)

“After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Hester embarks on a road trip to carry out one final task before she dies: killing her father. She finds herself traveling with a passionate activist investigating superfund sites across the US.”—Kyle Churman, Werner Books, Erie, PA

Heartwood by Amity Gaige (S. & S.)

“Heartwood is a mesmerizing novel that captures the precariousness of being alive. The story centers on 42-year-old Valerie who gets lost in the Maine Woods while hiking the Appalachian Trail and those invested in the search to find her.”—Shelby Newsome, Curious Iguana, Frederick, MD

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly by Hannah Selinger (Little, Brown). Also getting attention are What Is Wrong with You? by Paul Rudnick (Atria; LJ starred review) and Twist by Colum McCann (Random; LJ starred review). “Three Fresh Perspectives” include The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America by Kostya Kennedy (St. Martin’s), Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett (Riverhead), and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (S. & S.; LJ starred review).

The cover feature puts the spotlight on Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, who just released the picture book I Loved You First, illus. by Ramona Kaulitzki (Little, Brown for Young Readers). Also, there are features on Maria Shriver and her new book, I Am Maria: My Reflections and Poems on Heartbreak, Healing, and Finding Your Way Home (The Open Field), and Michelle Zauner, author of the acclaimed 2021 memoir Crying in H Mart (Knopf). Plus, Chelsea Handler, author of I’ll Have What She’s Having (Dial; LJ starred review), recommends Claire Keegan’s novel Small Things Like These (Grove; LJ starred review).

Reviews

NYT reviews The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest To Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto by Benjamin Wallace (Crown): “If Wallace doesn’t close the case, he is an engaging narrator, and his book serves as a useful introduction to one of the century’s true riddles”; The Snares by Rav Grewal-Kök (Random): “Grewal-Kök’s icily clean prose is one of the novel’s greatest strengths, yet also its most off-putting feature. While delivering the necessary chill with such precision, at times he holds us at arm’s length from his characters”; The Power of Parting: Finding Peace and Freedom Through Family Estrangement by Eamon Dolan (Putnam): “Gen Xers with their latchkeys and rusty bicycles mock today’s trend of ‘gentle parenting’ but The Power of Parting reminds that the norms of yesteryear were harsh to the point of harm, ignored by institutions and normalized in pop culture”; Heartwood by Amity Gaige (S. & S.): “The real suspense of Heartwood is whether all three women will make it out of their metaphorical woods”; and Surreal: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí by Michele Gerber Klein (Harper): “While Gala Dalí comes off as fascinating and enigmatic, Gerber Klein makes it clear that her subject was willfully unknowable.”

Washington Post reviews Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu (Farrar): “At the level of the sentence—one of my favorite levels—Chu is hard to match. She can be biting, and she can be beautiful. She can make language do anything she wants without even breaking a sweat”; The Stained Glass Window: A Family History as the American Story, 1790–1958 by David Levering Lewis (Penguin Pr.): “For all the accomplishments of his family, his compatriots and himself, Lewis reminds us of what might have been if not for slavery and its painful legacy”; and four historical books about Henry VIII’s court, to coincide with the return of Wolf Hall to television: The Tudor Revolution in Government by G.R. Elton (Cambridge Univ.), Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful Servant by Tracy Borman (Grove), Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Penguin Pr.), and Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox (Ballantine).

The Guardian reviews two new Gatsby books: The Gatsby Gambit by Claire Anderson Wheeler (Viking) and Gatsby by Jane Crowther (The Borough Pr.): “Two enjoyable debut novels put fresh meat on Fitzgerald’s deathless classic—one a modern-day retelling in which Gatsby becomes a female influencer, another a pacy murder mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie.”

Briefly Noted

Kirkus introduces its list of the best books of the century.

The Atlantic shares the best American poetry of the 21st century so far and will publish The Singing Word: 168 Years of Atlantic Poetry, ed. by Walt Hunter (Atlantic Editions: Zando), in September.

The IAFA Awards winners are announced. Locus has details.

James Patterson and YouTube star MrBeast will team up to write a forthcoming thriller, after an eight-figure bidding war for the novel and film and TV rights, People reports. Vulture has coverage.

As part of a three-book deal, NBA star Stephen Curry will publish Shot Ready, a personal reflection on his life on and off the court, on September 9, ESPN reports.

Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman are the new owners of The Rumpus as of May 1.

NYT previews 20 books for April.

CrimeReads suggests seven new books for the week.

LitHub highlights 25 books out in paperback in April.

USA Today has 15 best new books of March.

NYT distills “The Essential Tanith Lee.”

Salon argues “The case for saving America’s libraries.”

Vogue has an interview with Laurie Woolever, Care and Feeding: A Memoir (Ecco), about “her life in food, addiction, and assisting Anthony Bourdain.”

Actor and author of the memoir Shattered Love, Richard Chamberlain has died at the age of 90. NYT has an obituary. PBS Canvas has a remembrance.

Anthropologist and scholar Gananath Obeyesekere has died at the age of 95. NYT has an obituary.

Scholar and author Linda Williams has died at the age of 78. NYT has the obituary.

Authors on Air

Maria Shriver discusses her new book, I Am Maria: My Reflections and Poems on Heartbreak, Healing, and Finding Your Way Home (The Open Field), with CBS Sunday Morning.

Nintendo announced a release date of March 2027 for its live-action film Legend of Zelda, with associated titles. Variety has the story.

Tess Sanchez, We've Decided to Go in a Different Direction: Essays (Gallery), is on CBS Mornings.

Hilton Carter, The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants (CICO), and Vicky Nguyen, Boat Baby: A Memoir (S. & S.), will appear on Today.

Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.