My plan for 2025 was to cut down the amount of ARCs I take on. Well, it was until I got a very exciting email from HarperCollins offering me some early 2025 reads. I’m hardly going to turn that down, am I? Thank you as always to HarperCollins for sending me so many amazing books!
Not every book in this post was sent by HarperCollins but I have been sent all of these books in exchange for honest reviews. If you’ve read my ARC reviews, you know just how honest I am.
The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith
By the time this post is published I may have started this already and I’m really hoping my first ARC of 2025 is a good one. This book is apparently The Cruel Prince meets The Selection so it’s safe to say I’m excited to read it. I haven’t read a good fantasy in a while and this sounds so fun. I love a competition in fantasy books, especially one that includes love/marriage. I don’t read marriage of convenience books very often, but I do enjoy them.
Synopsis: Every citizen of England is granted one bargain from their immortal fae queen.
High society girls are expected to bargain for qualities that will win them suitors: a rare talent for piano in exchange for one’s happiest childhood memory. A perfect smile for one’s ability to taste.
But Ivy Benton’s debut season arrives with a shocking twist: a competition to secure the heart of the Queen’s fae son, Prince Bram. A prize that could save Ivy’s family from ruin… and free her sister from the bargain that destroyed her.
Yet every glittering fae deal has a rotting heart—and at the center of this contest is a dark plot that could destroy everything Ivy knows.
Children of the Night by M.A. Bennett
When this landed in my inbox I was so excited. I really enjoyed book one, Young Gothic, so this is one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, so far. The atmosphere of the first book was incredible and this one is set in Transylvania, in the home of Dracula, so I’m expecting good things. Well, I doubt good things will happen, but the tension will be off the charts.
Synopsis: Filled with deadly secrets and the monsters you thought only existed in your mind …
You’ve heard of Jekyll and Hyde, you’ve heard of the Invisible Man, but have you heard of Castle Bran? Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren are whisked away to Transylvania, to the supposed home of Dracula himself. Lured there by a desire to understand more about their true natures, our foursome are instead plunged into the midst of a deadly mystery.
Children are going missing, townspeople are being brutally killed and a suspicious stranger keeps appearing from the shadows. Meanwhile, Ren is trapped in Castle Bran, where his fate lies in the hands of a strange – yet oddly familiar – host.
With terrifying twists and turns around every corner, can the group uncover the answers they seek, or will this be the end of the Young Gothics?
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi
This is a new author to me and I’m always excited to discover potential new favourites. I also love learning about folklore from different cultures. I’ve never heard of soucouyants before, but I’m intrigued and up for finding out more.
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother.
Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn’t even thought to ask.
But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.
Where Shadows Bloom by Catherine Bakewell
I’m yet to read a book by Catherine Bakewell despite owning her debut for quite some time now. However, I’m really excited for this. Her covers are insanely beautiful (sorry no photos of these ARCs yet) and I love a sapphic romantasy. This sounds right up my street and I’m hoping to get to this very soon.
Synopsis: Ofelia has lived her life dreaming of entering Le Château Enchanté—the mysterious court of the gods-blessed King Léo, where the shadow monsters that roam Ofelia’s home never trespass.
Lope has lived her life as a knight, defending Ofelia and her home from Shadows even as she dreams of escaping with Ofelia by her side.
When the Shadows venture too close, Lope and Ofelia are thrust into a journey that will lead them to the heart of the darkness haunting their home: the dazzling and deceptive Château Enchanté itself.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: ARC Review: Witchcraft – A Graphic History by Lindsay Squire