As the summer heat rises, so does the excitement for a new wave of contemporary fiction set to hit bookstores in 2025. This season promises to deliver thought-provoking narratives, innovative storytelling techniques, and fresh voices that capture the complexities of our modern world. These ten forthcoming titles represent the most eagerly awaited contemporary fiction works that readers and critics alike are buzzing about. Whether you’re planning your beach reads or curating your summer reading list, these books are poised to define the literary landscape of summer 2025.

Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria

After her divorce, Ava Rodriguez swears off commitment but then she meets hotelier Roman Vasquez. Their arrangement is simple: one steamy night, no strings attached. But their chemistry proves too powerful to resist, leading to multiple secret rendezvous. Their carefully constructed arrangement crumbles when Ava discovers Roman is her cousin’s future brother-in-law. Now, hiding their connection from her family while Roman pushes for something more serious, Ava must decide if she’s brave enough to risk her heart again. In this sizzling contemporary romance, two people with rigid boundaries discover that the most carefully laid plans often unravel in the face of true love.

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Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams

At twenty-three, Charlie lands her dream job at a prestigious London publishing house, where she’ll work with her literary idol, Richard Aveling. When a chance encounter leads to unexpected chemistry, Charlie is flattered by the attention from this brilliant, married author thirty years her senior. As their forbidden affair intensifies, professional boundaries blur, and Charlie finds herself increasingly under Richard’s influence. What begins as a thrilling secret romance evolves into something darker—a relationship built on control and silence. Charlie becomes terrifyingly dependent, realizing too late that losing Richard might not only destroy their relationship but unravel her very sense of self.

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Such Good People by Amy Blumenfeld

One fateful night in a Manhattan bar, freshman April meets Rudy, sparking a connection that changes everything. Within days, their lives implode—Rudy imprisoned, April expelled. When attorney Peter helps rebuild her shattered world, April eventually creates the perfect life with him in Chicago: marriage, children, and community respect. Fifteen years later, as Peter campaigns for office, Rudy’s parole hearing resurrects April’s buried past, threatening everything she’s built. Headlines resurface, forcing her to choose between the life she’s created and the man who sacrificed everything for her. Such Good People explores the blurred boundaries of loyalty, love, and the price of moving forward.

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Among Friends by Hal Ebbott

In a picturesque New York country house, two families with thirty years of shared history gather to celebrate a birthday. Their intertwined lives represent the epitome of comfortable middle age—successful marriages, close friendships, and daughters raised together in privilege. But beneath this polished veneer, dangerous currents of envy and resentment are stirring. When an unthinkable betrayal erupts, it shatters their carefully constructed reality, exposing the fragile foundations upon which these relationships were built. In this stunning book, Hal Ebbott dissects the aftermath of treachery among friends, revealing how quickly decades of intimacy can unravel when the illusions that bind us are stripped away.

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Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski

When Emily encounters her high school best friend Gen at a Manhattan cocktail party, her carefully constructed life begins to fracture. Despite her Upper East Side townhouse and picture-perfect family, Emily’s marriage is crumbling, and old wounds resurface with startling force. Gen—once a lanky, hungry kid with holes in her shoes—is now a celebrated Olympic athlete with fame and success. As they cautiously reconnect, their magnetic attraction remains undeniable. But the painful history of their separation looms large. Can Emily risk her family’s fragile stability for a second chance with the woman who once knew her completely—and still broke her heart?

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The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

When renowned artist Vic Kemp announces his engagement to Bella-Mae—a beautiful artist nearly fifty years his junior—his four adult children are stunned. After Vic abruptly relocates to his Italian lake house with his fiancée, the siblings’ worst fears materialize: six weeks later, their father is found dead, with his will and final masterpiece mysteriously missing. Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris gather at Lake Orta, forced to share the house with the enigmatic Bella-Mae while arranging their father’s affairs. As they confront their grief and long-buried family wounds, they must determine whether Bella-Mae is truly who she claims—or the catalyst that will finally shatter their fragile family forever.

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Sisters Of Fortune by Esther Chehebar

In the tight-knit Syrian Jewish community, the Cohen sisters navigate the delicate balance between tradition and personal desire. As middle sister Fortune approaches her wedding day with growing uncertainty— eldest Nina encounters an old friend who offers escape from mounting marriage pressure and youngest Lucy secretly dates an older bachelor who threatens to steal the family spotlight. Under the watchful eyes of their anxious mother Sally and their charismatic grandmother Sitto—who fled Syria in 1992—the sisters wrestle with cultural expectations and their own dreams. This book explores the bonds of sisterhood, immigrant identity, and the universal search for self-determination—all served alongside perfectly rolled grape leaves.

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Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald

In a Seattle neighborhood bookstore, three lives become unexpectedly entangled. April, a lonely tech worker, leaves an anonymous note for Westley, the flannel-wearing clerk she secretly admires. When Laura, a single mother who’s given up on romance, accidentally purchases the book containing April’s note, she believes it’s from Westley himself. Meanwhile, Westley remains oblivious to both women, distracted by a movie filming at the store and his rekindled ambitions. As April and Laura begin an anonymous correspondence, their predictable routines transform into something hopeful. This novel is a charming comedy of errors celebrating how books—and the notes left between their pages—can change lives.

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Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan

Ambitious and driven, she’s built her life around achieving goals, not pursuing romance. As she balances career aspirations with caring for an aging parent, relationships seem like poor investments of her limited time. Then Maverick Bell walks in—a tech mogul whose tailored suits and magnetic charm immediately challenge her well-ordered world. From their first electric encounter at a summer party, she recognizes a man who truly sees and appreciates her. But Maverick is strictly off-limits if she wants to maintain her carefully planned future. When he begins an irresistible pursuit—courting her with understanding and devotion—she must decide if it’s finally time to desire something more for herself.

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