Publisher's Lunch Semi-Annual Buzz Books List is always a must read for industry professionals and avid readers to plan their schedule and to stay up to date generally on the state of the industry. For those looking for their next read, their are some great excerpts for some of the upcoming publications within these pages.

My primary takeaways:
As an avid fantasy reader, I am thrilled to see several major reads that I've been pining for coming up this fall and winter, including publications by Olivie Blake (Girl Dinner, Tor, 10/21), Veronica Roth (To Clutch a Razor, Tor, 9/16), Rebecca Yarros (The Things We Leave Unfinished, Entangled, 10/21 - not fantasy but a top fantasy author), and Brandon Sanderson (Tailored Realities, Tor, 12/9).

It also does not go unnoticed that of the books that highly appeal to the fantasy audience, Tor seems to be king in this realm.

With the cover revealed just this week, it is great to see Reese Witherspoon's collaboration with Harlan Coben, Gone Before Goodbye, releasing in the US on October 14th on this list. It is unfortunate, however, that Grand Central Publishing was 1 week too late in announcing the the final title for it to be included, instead listed as "Reese Witherspoon Harlan Coben Novel." Just a little less exciting for those who use this to generate their list or who search by title.

Always an odd feeling to see posthumous works published, odder still for them to be released 7 years after death, as is the case with Anthony Bourdain's upcoming publication from Ecco on 10/28.

In the non-fiction realm, I expect that we'll hear much talk in the entertainment trades about the numerous biographies and compilations upcoming publications by so many well known names, including Penn Badgley, Zosia Mamet, Rob Reiner, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Curry, Kenny Chesney, Cher, Tim Curry, Anthony Hopkins, Paul McCartney, Priscilla Presley, Ozzy Osbourne, Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart, Dick Van Dyke, Roy Wood, Jr., Brandy, and Bobbi Brown. Also of note is a pending legal reflection by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett being published by Sentinel on 9/9.

Overall, a great summary and looking forward to reading some of these excerpts in the final pages.

Thank you Publishers Lunch for a fantastic compilation and summary of what's to come in the second half of 2025.

It was fun to read these snyopses - there are a couple I"m interested in would def recommend. Is this done for every season?

As someone whose Kindle has been filled with "samples" of books I had the slightest interest in I found "Buzz Books 2025: Fall./Winter" super helpful in planning my TBR list. I am very much a mood reader and my book choices are sometimes quite eclectic so I am a huge fan of reading a sample or the first paragraph - sometimes I chose to go on, sometimes I am intrigued but realize this is not the right moment for me and add to a list and sometimes I quickly realize something is not for me. This was a great introduction to some books that I would not have otherwise given a second thought for one reason or another. Loved the idea and will look forward to any future releases.

Thanks NetGalley and Publisher Lunch for giving me the opportunity to read through this, personally loved the idea!!

These are always so great to see what is on the horizon for the new season! Especially liked the excerpt of Olivie Blake´s ´Girl Dinner´, can´t wait to read that one!

This wasn’t as helpful as I had hoped it would be. Some good picks but not a lot. Perhaps I will use it more closer to the fall.

How is it that I've just come to know about publications like this now?
All throughout my bookish life, I've manually searched for buzzworthy books. It's only recently that I've started relying on my Facebook reader groups and Bookstagram for book recommendations.

This is ingenious. The excerpts are helpful. I'd love a quarterly release of this.

The Buzz Books 2025: Fall/Winter edition is as wonderful as resource as ever. I appreciate the organization and especially the book excerpts. I am making a list of all the books I want to read based on the descriptions and text provided. I definitely recommend Buzz Books as a resource for anyone who is interested in the books that are about to be published.

Thank you to NetGalley and Buzz Books for sharing this wonderful resource.

This is a good variety of different books! While this was my first preview anthology, I really liked how they gave a summary and then let you dive into the first few chapters of the works. Nothing gave me a strong pull to read the full book this time, but I can be a pretty big mood reader.

Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch BUZZ BOOKS for the ARC sampler!

This was so fun! I loved being able to get a glimpse into what amazing books are on the horizon!
Thanks NetGalley!

I enjoy the insights on future books. I don’t think this should be part of my review statistics though.

Love this. It's great to get a glimpse at upcoming releases- some exciting books on there due to be released in fall/winter. Can't wait

Very excited about several of the books for the upcoming fall/winter season! I was able to add several to my interested in list for closer to the season.

Buzz Books 2025 Fall/Winter is a great way to preview a sample of upcoming books.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

I really liked the display of a lot of the books that I saw on NetGalley that would be an anticipated or interesting read for me to get into for the year. I did however get a peek into a few that will still stay on the list of definitely get when it drops.

First one is Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake which comes out 10/21/2025 and I was impressed with the colorful word choices, It had me hooked just with reading the first few pages. I have to continue reading this one.

I am happy I got the read the prologue for Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane, after reading this, I did get the luxury of receiving this as an ARC read. I am looking forward to this. Comes out 01/27/2026. I feel like this uncannily fitting since the plantation that burned down a few days ago. It is only right to add this to it.

Guilty by Definition-Susie Dent 09/30/2025—> This alone just sounds interesting. It will be out of my ordinary but the synopsis reminds me of the DaVinci Code to me or the National Treasure with the amount of information having to sort through to find someone.

Haven’t Killed in Years- Amy K. Green 11/18/2025—> Father was a serial killer. Living under a new identity then receiving body parts to her door. This was a heck of a preview.

Yes! I love the idea of this--I'd love to get these quarterly, because it's a great way to stay on top of what's coming soon without having to go on a fishing expedition!

Thank you netgall I love these previews of the upcoming books but what would really be cool if we had one for each genre. I’m sure that would be loads more work. But reading some of the comments below that’s what seems to be what I’m reading if there were more of what that person was looking for. If there was one of these for each genre it would be pretty cool if there are even enough books for something like that idk just a thought

I will definitely be checking for future editions of this! I love that it started off with listing upcoming releases of books across genres, many of which sound very interesting to me but I hadn’t heard of. It’s only nice that a good the excepts that were included gave us the option to request the title on here. Here’s a list of some of the titles that stood out to me:
“Cursed Daughters” by Oyinkan Braithwaite
“The True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)” by Rabih Alamein’s
“Palaver” by Bryan Washington
“Minor Black Figures” by Brandon Taylor
“We Love You, Bunny” by Mona Awad
“This Is the Only Kingdom” by Jaquira Díaz
“The Wilderness” by Angela Flournoy
“Where the Wildflowers Grow” by Terah Shelton Harris
“The Hunger We Pass Down” by Jen Sookfong Lee
“Bitter Honey” by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom
“Gray Dawn: An Easy Rawlings Mystery” by Walter Mosley
“Three or More is a Riot: Notes on How We Got Here: 2012-Present” by Jelani Cobb
“The New Book: Poems, Letters, Blurbs and Things” by Nikki Giovanni
“The People’s Project: Poems, Essays and Art for Looking Forward” edited by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith
“Fire in Every Direction” by Tareq Baconi
Untitled by Brandy
“The Waterbearers: My Mother, My Grandmother, and the Women Who Carried Me” by Sasha Bonét
“Mamba and Mambacita Forever” by Vanessa Bryant
“Episodes: My Mental Health Journey” by Gucci Mane
“A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Black Live in America” by Trymaine Lee
“Placeless: Homelessness in the New Guilded Age” by Patrick Markee
“Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore” by Char Adams
“A Killing in Cannabis: A True Story of Love, Murder and Weed” by Scott Eden
“When It’s Darkness on the Delta: How America’s Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land” by W. Ralph Eubanks
“American Grammar: Race, Education and the Building of a Nation” by Jarvis R. Givens

This is so brilliant. Thank you for providing such a thorough guide to upcoming books! It’s organized so well and helps out a ton!

What a great peek into what we have to look forward to in the fall/winter of 2025! Thank you Netgalley for the arc preview :)

I always appreciate these samplers we get. Even though I’m on here frequently there are titles that don’t hit my radar and I’m thankful that this shows me them. Been going through these and can’t wait to check them out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for these!