The best new books out in April 2025

Lila Crayne is one of the biggest stars on the planet. She’s just moved in with her fiancé, Kurt, an older and legendary Hollywood director. As they begin work adapting F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s Tender is The Night, Lila starts secretly working with a therapist Jonah. As the novel progresses so too do the secrets, lies and burning passions. You’re not sure who to believe or trust, but one thing is for sure: you won’t see the ending coming.

Released on 3 April

It’s a Tuesday evening at 7 o’clock in an ordinary tower block in Westminster. Four very different people are brought together by three things that bond them; they all suffered a traumatic experience six months ago, they can’t put it behind them and they’ve been invited to a counselling session by Genevieve, who wants to test an unusual theory. If you’re looking for a novel to give you a serious boost of lightness in these dark times, pick this up.

Released on 3 April

With a title like ‘Chaotic Energy’ we already know we’re going to get along well with this book. Temz is thriving - she’s full of self-confidence, got a great marketing job and has a side hustle as a plant influencer (yes it’s a thing). However, the one thing not locked down is her love life. So when Ruben slides into her DMs asking for plant tips, they begin to grow a connection. But then Temz commits the ultimate online sin by accidentally catfishing him. Is it too late to backtrack? And what will happen when she gets a chance to meet him IRL?

Released on 3 April

I could easily read five more novels about the adventures of Pen and Alice. They’re two 18 year olds who come over from Canada to study in Edinburgh. Pen is forming a bond with a high society Scottish family, who have connections with her family back home. In spending time with them she’s hoping to understand what drove her own parents to divorce. Alice, meanwhile is an aspiring actress with dreams of the West End, however, her first year is overtaken by an affair with her married tutor. Told over the course of one year, it’s an unputdownable novel about female friendship and the events that shape us.

Released on 10 April

April is always romcom season in book world and so you’re going to want to pick up Paige Toon’s new novel What If I Never Get Over You. Ellie is travelling Europe and falls hopelessly in love with Ash in just three days while in Lisbon. They arrange to meet up again in Madrid, but Ellie turns up late and Ash has disappeared. Six years later, Ellie is still thinking about Ash, so when a job as a gardener in Wales pops up Elie jumps at the chance of a fresh start. How is she going to feel when Ash reappears in her life?

Released on 10 April

Ok, there’s something in the book water this April, as there’s another Fitzgerald inspired tale is heading our way. This story is a gender flipped modern re-telling of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald that sees young Nic Carraway get a cheap summer lease in Long Island. There, she meets and befriends Jay Gatsby who is obsessed with Nic’s married cousin Danny Buchanan. And as the summer heats up Nic finds herself in over her head as lies, betrayal and the foibles of the ultra rich reveal themselves.

Released on 10 April

If you want the book version of Knives Out, pick this up. It’s a fun and modern classic who-dunnit novel about a woman called Mimi and her game developer granddaughter who attend a luxury auction, after Mimi is blackmailed into going. As the night draws in a string of murders take place at the isolated house and it’s up to Mimi and Addie to solve the crime. Expect martinis, secrets and 2025 Agatha Christie vibes.

Released on 10 April

This is technically not a new novel. In fact it was first acquired by Toni Morrison back in 1984, but hasn't been published in the UK until now. It’s a story about 1970s New York centred on Lewis Jones. She’s a party girl, who is bankrolled by her husband and runs around town with her friend Kitty. She’s having the time of her life, that is until she meets Brook. He’s handsome but cruel and is the one man who won’t let her be in control.

Published on 15 April

This is a coming of age novel set in Stockholm. Sickan arrives at university, aged 21 and feels totally unprepared for the journey ahead. However, she throws herself in at the deep end. She makes her first ever friends and then she meets Abbe. He’s beautiful and charming and crucially very into Sickan. Unlike Sickhan however, he’s comfortable with who he is, can a romance bloom between them?

Released on 24 April

She’s back guys! Emily Henry returns with her new novel Great Big Beautiful Life which follows Alice Scott who is invited to interview reclusive famous heiress Margaret Ives on her remote island. However, Margaret has also invited another writer Hayden to do the same. The pair are tasked with trying to unearth the story of Margaret’s family and after one month Margaret will pick which writer gets to pen her story. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, there’s also a yearning energy between them that Alice can’t ignore every time she steps in a room with Hayden.

Released on 24 April