When I was conceptualizing my 2025 release, Where He Left Me, one thing was non-negotiable: a strong female protagonist. Although I really enjoyed the “broken heroine” archetype that was wildly popular for a while (as well as their myriad of traumas, addictions, and psychological afflictions), I was craving a smart, well-rounded woman who could stand on her own two feet and be the true hero of her story. Crafting Sadie Sheridan—my college professor, debut novelist, and first-time newlywed-at-fortysomething main character in Where He Left Me—was almost a healing experience. Sadie’s life is marked by heartbreak and neglect, but her trials don’t break her, they make her. She is fierce and determined, kind and fair, and she will move mountains for the people she loves. It was so much fun to write about a fully actualized, healthy and capable middle-aged woman, that I found myself seeking out more novels with heroines I would like to befriend. I think the literary world is beyond ready to embrace powerful women with a story to tell. Here are a few of my recent faves.
This literary mystery has earned a place as one of my top five books of 2025. When Rowan washes up on the shore of Shearwater Island, her sudden appearance throws the Salt family into chaos. Dominic Salt and his kids are the caretakers of a seed vault in a world that is slowly unraveling, and they don’t have a paradigm in which this strange interloper fits. But if things were precarious before her arrival, when Rowan shows up a countdown begins—and it’s only a matter of time before secrets are revealed and everyone realizes just how much danger they’re in. I loved all the characters in this book, but Rowan’s strength, determination, and ferocity stole my heart. This is a beautiful, wrenching story—an absolute must-read.
Format
Hardcover
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around March 4, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
Dark academia is one of my favorite subgenres and Penny Zang pulls out all the stops in Doll Parts. When a group of college girls becomes obsessed with the untimely deaths of several students, the Sylvia Club is born. Rooted in tragic tales, sad-girl aesthetic, and all things Sylvia Plath, the club is dark but harmless—until Nikki begins to suspect that there’s more to the stories than they’ve been told. Now, twenty years later, Nikki is dead, and her former best friend, Sadie, is forced to confront what happened so long ago. Utterly original and addictive, Doll Parts is a fever-dream of a novel. The haunting dual timeline and blistering exploration of the objectification of dead girls work together to create a searing, propulsive narrative that readers will devour.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around August 26, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
It’s 2001 and Chloe wakes up with no recollection of what happened the night before. An assistant at a small, upscale art gallery on the Upper East Side, she remembers that she was at an exclusive party featuring an up-and-coming artist, but nothing more. When Chloe discovers that the rising painter is dead, she finds herself in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse in the sophisticated world of art. But navigating a complicated web of deceit isn’t her only problem: Chloe must also wrestle with her demons in a post 9/11 world and come to terms with the choices that she’s made in the wake of tragedy. Chloe is not always a reliable narrator, but there is an undeniable vein of strength in her that kept me cheering for her page after page.
Format
Hardcover
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around October 14, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
When a “pistols and pearls” gender reveal party goes horribly wrong, one woman is dead and a tangle of lies and secrets is revealed. The mother-to-be, Madeline, finds herself the queen of a crumbling world: claustrophobic, simmering with rivalry, and darker than she ever imagined. Everyone is a suspect, including her, but as the story unfolds, we learn that there is a lot more at play than we first imagined. A wide cast of characters and storylines keep the pages flying by, but The Perfect Hosts is much more than a glitzy “lifestyles of the rich and famous” tell-all. Madeline is a complicated, complex character who is revealed in layers—and the backbone of a story that kept me up well past my bedtime.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around November 4, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
Although this isn’t a new release, I would be remiss not to mention Vera in a list about strong heroines. She lives in infamy in my mind as one of the most compelling, wise, and stubborn protagonists in recent memory. When Vera wakes one morning to find a dead body in her tea shop, she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery. The cops would surely bungle the job, and it couldn’t possibly be an accident—the stranger’s death can only be a cold-blooded murder. As her suspect list grows (and as Vera grows fonder and fonder of said suspects), a hilarious and heartwarming journey ensues. There is absolutely a mystery at the core of this wonderful novel, but at its heart Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders is an ode to found family—and to the tenacity of a mother’s meddling heart.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around March 14, 2023. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
Sadie Sheridan’s new husband Felix, a professor of planetary sciences, has vowed to never leave her. But when Felix doesn’t return from a work trip, Sadie is stranded at Hemlock House, the remote mountain homestead where her husband grew up. Doubt creeps into Sadie’s heart. Then panic. Where is he?
Scared and alone in a place that feels haunted, Sadie struggles to make sense of what her missing husband left behind. But when she catches strangers lurking around the property, Hemlock House instantly becomes both a sanctuary and a prison. Navigating threats from outside and in, Sadie is forced to confront shocking secrets that leave her questioning whether she really knows Felix at all. As a powerful storm bears down, she must decide: is she fighting only for her own survival now–or for the man who promised her the stars?
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around November 4, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
Nicole Baart is the author of several novels, including Where He Left Me and Everything We Didn’t Say. The cofounder of a nonprofit and mother of five, she lives in Iowa with her family. Learn more at www.NicoleBaart.com.
