We all need some March 2025 book releases to cozy up with, right? I don’t know about you, but over here, the beginning of the year has felt like a slog. The bad news seems as interminable as the winter, and it’s difficult to be creative or productive under those circumstances. March, admittedly, is not my favourite month, but this year, I’m grasping onto it for the promise of spring.
Here are five books coming out this March to keep you sane until the spring weather decides to stick around. (And one bonus April release that I’ve been anticipating for a year!)
5 March 2025 Book Releases to Cozy Up With
1. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (March 4)
Amal El-Mohtar is one of the authors of This Is How You Lose the Time War, which I’ve written about not once but twice on this blog. It’s one of my all-time favourite books, so I didn’t even need to read the premise of The River Has Roots for it to make my list of must-reads.
Of course, I did read the premise. The story takes place in a town called Thistleford that sits next to the land of Faerie and follows two sisters, one of whom falls in love with someone from Faerie. You probably know by now how much I love other worlds that are magical and adjacent to our own, so obviously, I am one hundred percent here for this. I think we might be seeing a surge in portal fantasies. Honestly, given the current state of the world, I don’t blame us.
2. The Antidote by Karen Russell (March 11)
I first read Karen Russell in a magical realism writing workshop that I took last year. We read her short story “The Prospectors,” and I immediately wanted to read more of her work. I have a copy of her short story collection, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, and it’s high on my TBR this year. Her stories lean into exactly the kind of weirdness that I love from short fiction.
The Antidote is a novel that takes place in Nebraska during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Its cast of characters includes a “Prairie Witch,” a sentient scarecrow (hello, Wizard of Oz), a wheat farmer, the farmer’s niece, and a photographer. While it sounds as though the novel will be grounded in realism, the presence of witchcraft will undoubtedly lend an uncanny note. I’m so here for it.
3. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (March 18)
Another Hunger Games instalment, you say? About Haymitch? Say no more. Admittedly, I did not read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, even though I’ve heard good things, and I will get to it eventually. The thing is, I care more about Haymitch than I do about President Snow. I’ve been wanting a Haymitch book since Catching Fire. I just think he’s such an interesting character!
Naturally, this book chronicles Haymitch’s own experience in the fiftieth Hunger Games. I’m excited to see exactly what happens since we get so little from Haymitch himself in the books that we do have. And, I mean, maybe these books have started to feel, uh, a little bit more relevant in the last couple of months.
4. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Mar 18)
I read The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones a few years ago when it came out and loved it. Then we talked about his previous release, I Was A Teenage Slasher, on the podcast last year, and that solidified Stephen Graham Jones as a must-read author for me. I have a few of his backlist books on my TBR this year, but this one has rocketed to the top of that list.
It’s a historical horror, told in transcribed interviews, about the life of a vampire haunting a Blackfeet reservation. Let’s be honest, he had me at ‘vampire.’ His take on the slasher was so unique and fun, and while I suspect this one will be much less on the campy meta side of things, I’m excited to see what he does with vampire mythology.
5. Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett (March 18)
I think it’s safe to say we could all use a laugh these days, and Kristen Arnett is here to deliver. I read Arnett’s debut novel, Mostly Dead Things, back in 2019, in which she deftly balances grief with absurdity and humour. In Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, Arnett tackles humour and performance head-on.
The novel follows Cherry Hendricks, a professional clown working in Orlando, as she struggles to make ends meet and figure out her life. She meets Margot, an older lesbian magician, who becomes her mentor, but who Cherry is also attracted to. Arnett is incredible at bringing her characters to life and grounding them in the place where they live. (She teaches a workshop on writing place with Write or Die that is excellent.) I can’t wait to sink into this world with these characters.
+1 April 2025 Book Releases
6. Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin (Expected in North America April 22)
Listen. I have been eagerly awaiting this book since Griffin announced it early last year. Her last release, Other Words for Smoke, came out way back in 2019, and it has lived rent-free in my head ever since. (Seriously, if you’re looking for amazing witchy YA, look no further than Irish authors.)
Eat the Ones You Love has already received a bunch of advanced praise, but I’d be sold on it either way. There is a cannibal orchid in love with a florist, and of course, he wants to eat that florist. It is called Eat the Ones You Love, after all. It’s also about working retail and finding some good when your life is in shambles. The main character, Shell, takes a job at the florist after losing her previous job, leaving her fiancé, and moving in with her parents. Griffin does weird and haunting so well, I would conjure this into my hands right now if I could.
More 2025 Book Releases
Every year, I look forward to writing about the forthcoming books I’m most excited about. I was late to it this year, but I have a few more planned as we move into spring and summer. Keep an eye out for the rest of my most anticipated spring releases, covering May and June.
Until then, which of these March 2025 book releases is on your TBR?
Main photo by Jovan Vasiljević on Unsplash
