The Town Crier: March 2025

Featuring recent favorites, new releases, and other book news this month

Welcome to The Town Crier, a monthly newsletter series in which I curate recent favorite reads, new releases that reflect my personal taste, and other book news I’m particularly excited about.

March always feels like such a transitional month: we’re moving from winter into early spring, about halfway between the holidays and summertime (here in the Northern Hemisphere, at least). I have a little bit of synesthesia that spills into my reading life, leading me to select books in March that either literally have green covers or which are reflective of these themes of quiet fresh starts, or green witchy magic, or other earthy vibes.

When it comes to what’s on the radar for new books publishing this month, the calendar is FULL (I likely won’t have this many new releases highlighted every month). After what has felt like an especially funky January and February, I personally can use some positivity and excitement.

Without further ado, here’s the very first edition of The Town Crier for March 2025!

Favorites I Read Last Month

• Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (Literary Climate Fiction, backlist). I have been meaning to read this author forever and had a feeling I would enjoy her work, but I didn’t expect to be so blown away. Set in a near-future in which many of our planet’s animal species have gone extinct due to climate change and other environmental impacts, the story follows protagonist Franny as she sets out to follow the last Arctic Terns on what very well may be their final migratory journey from Greenland to Antarctica. This is exactly the kind of literary fiction book I like: the writing is beautiful and strong, but concise and not overwritten. The characters are really specific and flawed, but compelling and understandable. The setting is rich and engrossing, from the time spent at sea in frigid waters searching for the last Arctic Terns, to the flashbacks woven throughout that slowly reveal our protagonist’s past and motivations in a way that’s incredibly powerful and effective. I have so much more to say about this book, particularly as someone who works in bird conservation (more to come on that in this month’s Side Quests newsletter!)—but McConaghy quite simply and really brilliantly brings to life a story that I think many would be hard-pressed not to be moved by. I cannot wait to read more of her work.

• Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (Fantasy, backlist). This is the second novella in the “Wayward Children” series—and it’s technically a prequel to the first book Every Heart a Doorway, sharing the backstory for two of the characters that feature in that one. We follow twin sisters Jacqueline “Jack” and Jillian “Jill” from their impending birth, to their rigid upbringing, to the time they walk through a magical door and into a world filled with monsters and vampires and more. There’s a lot here to enjoy from a creepiness and vibes standpoint, but also some commentary around gender expectations and how there’s no one way to be a girl (maybe a bit hammered home at times). I don’t know why I waited so long to continue this series after reading and loving the first book several years ago; it really is perfection and exactly my taste (especially this dark and gory installment with Jack and Jill). I already have the next one sitting on my shelf and plan to pick it up soon (for real this time!).

For reviews of every book I read, follow me on Instagram @hollyslitmagic.

March 2025 New Releases

…That I Want to Read

• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Speculative Literary Fiction, out 3/4). Sara has just landed at LAX when she’s apprehended by authorities who inform her she’s about to commit a crime, against her husband. How do they know this? Using data from her dreams. From here, Sara is taken to a retention center and held for twenty-one days with other dreamers. I’ve never read this author before, but the speculative nature of this premise has me intrigued—it reminds me of books like The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan, which I read and loved a few years ago.

• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Literary Climate Fiction, out 3/4). Speaking of reading more McConaghy! This is why I was pushed to finally pick up her backlist, and from what I’ve read so far, I have something to look forward to in Wild Dark Shore. Like her other books, this one is set in a near future that has been affected by climate change and other environmental events—this time focusing on a remote island housing the world’s largest seed bank, which preserves seeds of plants and food as protection against extinction. Manned by researchers and managed by the Salt family, the facility is thrown into turmoil when a storm hits and a mysterious woman washes up onshore. I can’t wait to try it—but first, I plan to read her other backlist book Once There Were Wolves.

• Saltwater by Katy Hays (Psychological Thriller, out 3/25). Sarah Lingate is found dead at the bottom of the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter. The woman’s old-money family is suspect but denies any involvement—until the thirtieth anniversary of the death, when the necklace Sarah wore the night she died is found at the villa. Sounds like great rich-people-behaving-badly, summer beach read potential—and a good audiobook candidate for me at a time when I’m having trouble concentrating in that format.

• Tilt by Emma Pattee (Literary Disaster Fiction, out 3/25). Nine-months-pregnant Annie is shopping for a crib at IKEA when an earthquake hits the city of Portland, leaving everything in chaos and leaving Annie forced to navigate her way home through the wreckage. I love any kind of natural disaster story and being very pregnant myself right now, I absolutely intend to pick this one up.

…That I’m Considering

• Twist by Colum McCann (Literary Fiction, out 3/25). An Irish journalist is sent to cover a story involving the massive cables that lie underwater, connecting our technological world. He joins a ship headed to repair a section of these cables when he and his companions learn of news that puts their world at risk. I haven’t read McCann’s previous books and only recently spotted this new release, but I’m VERY interested in it.

• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Historical Horror, out 3/19). A diary written by a Lutheran pastor in 1912 is found hidden in a wall, recounting a series of events including a massacre of the Blackfeet indigenous tribe. The story is told as a series of interviews with a Blackfeet named Good Stab. This author has been on my radar for a while now, and I’ve debated where to start in his works. Perhaps this new one?

• The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica (Literary Horror, out 3/4). “From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood…Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape.” I mean—need I say more? I listened to the author’s previous novel, Tender is the Flesh, on audio but put it aside mostly due to my headspace at the time and the fact that I wasn’t fully grasping the story in that format. Maybe this one will pull me back into her work.

• Universality by Natasha Brown (Literary Fiction, out 3/4). A journalist sets out to uncover the truth behind an incident where a man is bludgeoned nearly to death with a solid gold bar. I just discovered Natasha Brown last year when I read her novella Assembly, which I was so impressed by. That made me immediately excited about her new book this year—except I’ve heard some recent early feedback that makes me wonder if I will actually enjoy this one. It sounds like the structure is experimental and potentially polarizing, half consisting of a news article about this incident, and the other half…not? The jury is still out on how much I prioritize it (it is short though, for what it’s worth).

…That I Won’t Be Reading

• Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (General Fiction, out 3/4). I’ve heard this raved about by a few readers so far, but I could immediately tell this is one book that’s probably not for me. Maybe it’s that the promo copy leads with “A sweeping, sexy love story with the pace and twists of a thriller”—the first half of that sentence loses me. The premise involves a woman who finds herself pulled away from her happy marriage in the present day as she’s confronted with a man who brings up the ghosts of her past. It’s comped to Where the Crawdads Sing (which I enjoyed but didn’t LOVE and nowadays feel would suit me even less than several years ago) and feels like it will have more mass-appeal than the kinds of fiction books I’ve been into lately (unless they’re more squarely genre fiction like mystery/thrillers or fantasy).

• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (YA Dystopian Fiction, out 3/18). It’s a new book in The Hunger Games series! I read the original three books many years ago (I loved them but had strong feelings about how a few aspects wrapped up); but I skipped the other recent prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which I heard almost universally panned. I’m very curious at the buzz around this one, especially given how many people hated the last one. I don’t think I’ll be picking it up but hey, convince me if you read it and love it! The comments on this post will remain open.

Other Book News & Items of Interest

• I’m almost a Catriona Ward completist and the cover for her newest horror book coming out this October, Nowhere Burning, was just revealed. It does not disappoint. Cannot wait.

• Also coming this October: a new Sonora Jha book, Intemperance. Another beautiful cover reveal. Jha’s book The Laughter was one of my top favorites I read in 2024 so I’m very curious about this one.

• A new Marissa Meyer book was just announced for this November: The House Saphir. It has a beautiful cover and is apparently some sort of retelling of the legend of Bluebeard? The “romantasy” categorization makes me question whether it’ll be a fit for me, but…could be worth a try.

• Othello is now on Broadway starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal and I would give an arm and a leg to see it (which is pretty much what it costs to go).

• For folk horror fans: the first ever Irish-language horror film, An Taibhse, is getting worldwide pickup. The trailer gives serious chills!

That’s it for this month’s Town Crier! Stay tuned for another newsletter series launching later this month—Side Quests. And from the bottom of my heart—thank you for being here. Please let me know in the comments any feedback or wishes for future pieces.