What's New for Books This Year?—The Booker Albert Newsletter

Author

Rebecca Lawrence
January 02, 2025

By Rebecca Lawrence

Welcome to the Booker Albert Biweekly! Happy New Year! I hope you were all able to relax and enjoy the holidays!

What's New for Books This Year?

I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about some of the great book things coming out this year!

The beloved bestseller When the Moon Hatched is getting a sequel to be released October 7, 2025. We know little about it except it will probably feature love and dragons!

When the Moon Hatched Blurb:
The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons. They certainly did not expect them to FALL.

As an assassin for the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to complete orders and never get caught. When a rival bounty hunter turns her world upside down, blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself imprisoned by the Guild of Nobles—a group of powerful fae who turn her into a political statement.

Crushed by the loss of his great love, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to quell the never-ebbing ache in his chest, he is lured by a clue into the capitol’s high-security prison where he stumbles upon the imprisoned Raeve …

Echoes of the past race between them. There’s more to their story than meets the eye, but some truths are too poisonous to swallow.

Suzanne Collins returns with a prequel to The Hunger Games, focusing on Haymitch Abernathy's journey through the Second Quarter Quell. Coming out March 18, 2025!


Blurb:
As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.

As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

The third installment in Rebecca Yarros' Empyrean series, Onyx Storm continues the epic tale of love, war, and resilience in a richly imagined world. Scheduled for release on January 21, 2025!

Blurb:
After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves―her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find―the truth.

But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

Hannah Nicole Maehrer has pulled through with the third book in the Assistant and the Villain series. Once Upon a Time meets The Office in Hannah Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel, about the sunshine assistant to an Evil Villain…and their unexpected romance. If you haven’t picked this series up yet, check out the first book!

Assistant to the Villain Blurb:
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer―naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain―and his entire nefarious empire―out. Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.

James Islington’s sequel to The Will of the Many promises more magic, mystery, and political intrigue and releases on September 1, 2025. At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

The Will of the Many Blurb:
The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do. I tell them that I belong, and they believe me. But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

Book-to-TV/Movie Adaptations

Esi Edugyan's novel is set to be adapted to screen in 2025. The story follows Washington Black, a young boy on a sugar plantation in Barbados, who escapes with the help of an explorer. Their journey explores themes of freedom and identity.

Blurb:
Eleven-year-old George Washington Black—or Wash—a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother. To his surprise, however, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.

But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, they must abandon everything and flee together. Over the course of their travels, what brings Wash and Christopher together will tear them apart, propelling Wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. Spanning the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, London to Morocco, Washington Black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again.

Liz Moore’s mystery/thriller book is set to become a limited series on Peacock in 2025. The story follows Mickey, a police officer in a Philadelphia neighborhood affected by the opioid crisis, as she investigates her sister’s disappearance amidst a series of unsolved murders.

Blurb:
Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

Season 2 of Disney's Percy Jackson adaptation is based on the second book in Rick Riordan’s series, The Sea of Monsters. Percy embarks on a treacherous journey to protect Camp Half-Blood from mythical threats.

Blurb:
After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson, a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any “normal” friends.

But things don’t stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia, only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name…the Bermuda Triangle.

Now Percy and his friends, Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson, must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family, one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.


Graveyard Segment

Let’s have a moment of silence for those highly anticipated books and/or adaptions that for various reasons might take another decade to be released…

I’m looking at you The Doors Of Stone. And the obvious The Winds of Winter.

I loved Adrian McKinty's The Island, and Hulu acquired the rights to develop a limited series in February 2022, but who knows when it will come out.

And is this the right place to complain about the Hulu adaption of The Devil in the White City staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Keanu Reeves getting cancelled? No? Ok then.


I’m sure I have missed plenty of wonderful things that are coming out this year, but here are just a few of the books and movies that I’m looking forward to reading/watching!

In 2024 Book Sales Saw a 7 Percent Increase

In 2024, the book publishing industry saw an overall revenue increase, with U.S. publishers reporting a 7% year-to-date rise by September and global market growth projected at 3.2%. Fiction outperformed non-fiction, driven by trends like BookTok, while eBooks experienced modest growth, comprising nearly 10% of consumer trade sales. Print books continued to dominate, selling four times more than eBooks. Despite positive trends, the U.S. market faced challenges, including a projected 0.2% contraction and shrinking profit margins due to rising production costs, particularly for paper. Notably, Bloomsbury Publishing exceeded expectations with record sales fueled by the romantasy genre and enduring Harry Potter demand.

Of course DIGGING DR JONES comes out this year in May!!!

A laugh-out-loud spicy adventure romcom. Perfect for fans of The Lost City, Lyla Sage and Christina Lauren.

A surprise gift is exactly what Adriana Jones needs to improve her vacation, and a bracelet with gems will do the trick. Except once it’s on, she’s faced with two problems:

—The bracelet is actually meant for Andrew Jones—the renowned and utterly gorgeous archaeologist.

—It will not come off, no matter how hard she tries…

Andrew Jones needs this bracelet if he wants to find an ancient lost treasure deep in the jungles of Colombia. And there’s no way he’s letting Adriana’s mistake cost him his career. There’s only one solution: Adriana must accompany him on his quest. Trekking through jungles and crawling through crypts wasn’t on Adriana’s vacation agenda, but an adventure with the very sexy Dr Jones might just be the treasure she’s been seeking…

What to expect:

  • Forced Proximity

  • Opposites Attract

  • Fish out of Water

  • Destination romcom

  • Slow burn

  • Spicy

It sounds super fun! Paperbacks will be available for purchase on May 8th, 2025, and the eBook will be available on May 2nd, 2025.



Stay tuned every Thursday 10 AM.

If you have a topic that you think I should write about or you want to write an article for us, email me at [email protected] with your bio and topic. We’re always looking for fresh perspectives.

Of course, authors or industry professionals if you want to write about something email me!

Authors, do you want to submit a book to us?

Check us out at the Booker Albert website.

Happy reading,
Rebecca Lawrence

Reply

or to participate.