The Baroness’ Choices of New Books Publishing This Week
2025, Week 24’s New Books
My choices for this week include Middle Grade Adventure, Cozy Animal Mystery, Police Procedural Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Young Adult Adventure Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy, and Cozy Crafts and Hobbies Mystery.
Summer vacation should be in full swing now with all the schools out. Is your reading list set? Do you have any trips in the works? I do have a reading list that I am currently behind on. We don’t have any long trips planned, but we do have a few local day trips that sound exciting.
I think my list for this week has a bit more variety than last week’s. Jen has a book from this list on her TBR.
Here are my choices for New Books Publishing Week 24 of 2025!
Confessions of a Junior Spy by Rosaria Munda
Confessions of a Junior Spy #1
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Middle Grade Adventure
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Raised in a sanctuary hotel for spies, the daughter of one of its top agents is determined to follow in her mother’s footsteps and use her hard-won spy skills to help others in Confessions of a Junior Spy, a fun, fast-paced, middle grade series opener by Rosaria Munda.
Bea dreams of becoming a spy like her mom. Growing up in the Pangean Hotel, a secret sanctuary for spies, she spends her time studying self-defense, languages, codebreaking, and field medicine, preparing for the day when she can follow in her mother’s footsteps. But her mom has a different plan for Bea: She wants Bea to attend boarding school like one of the normal folk. Bea can’t think of a worse fate, the Life is all she’s ever known. But you do not say no to the Pangean League’s top spy.
While Bea is juggling test prep and applications with desperate plans to avoid going to normal school at all costs, a new girl moves into the hotel with her family. Chantal’s family is clearly on the run, and Bea and her best friend Tommy are certain they can use their skills and knowledge to help her…. If boarding school doesn’t get in the way first.
Grave Words by Gerri Lewis
Deadly Deadline Mystery #2
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery
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In the second installment of the Deadly Deadlines mysteries, obituary writer Winter Snow faces her biggest challenge yet when the body of a homeless man is found in a burning building and her best friend is the main suspect, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Kate Carlisle.
Winter Snow has had it! With her business in a death drought, her best friend Scoop implicated in a string of arsons, and an obituary listing Winter herself as deceased, her life is heating up. But just as she’s trying to cool things down, she receives her newest assignment: an obituary for Chester, a homeless man found in a burning building.
Promising the local funeral home manager that she will have the obituary by the deadline, Winter is stonewalled at every turn, failing to discover Chester’s last name, or where he came from. When it is discovered that Chester was murdered and that the fire was set to cover it up, all fingers immediately point to Scoop. Not only is Scoop a person of interest in the arsons, he was also the last person to see Chester alive.
As more nails are pounded into Scoop’s coffin, Winter’s uncle Richard hopes to help by inviting the notorious town gossips, The Nosy Parkers, to a neighborhood food fest. Unfortunately, the breadcrumbs they toss set murder in motion.
More determined than ever, Winter must figure out the twists and turns of the case to clear Scoop’s name, putting her on a deadly deadline to solve the murder and avoid meeting the same grave consequences.
Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot
Noelle Marshall #1
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Police Procedural Mystery
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When a very personal cold case murder is reopened, a detective’s secrets come to light in a novel of shocking twists and suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.
Thirteen years ago, Assemblyman Derrick Bell was murdered in his home by an intruder. His wife, Noelle Marshall, was left for dead. The crime was unsolved, but it wasn’t forgotten.
Today the FBI is tackling a fresh perspective on the case and looking to Noelle, now a detective for the Deschutes County sheriff’s office, for new clues. It is reopening everything Noelle thought was behind her. Memories of her escape from a traumatic childhood. A marriage that wasn’t the perfect love story she’d been promised. And a husband whose charm and privilege hid a dark side. But Noelle has been hiding something too: a secret about the night Derrick died that she has never told anyone.
As past and present and leads and misleads collide, one thing is frighteningly clear. Derrick’s murder wasn’t just unsolved. It’s unfinished. And only the truth―no matter the risk―can save the next victim.
Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Bonfire of the Vanities meets War of the Roses in this latest thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of Best Day Ever and The Next Wife, in which an ill-fated road trip resurrects a married couple’s darkest secrets.
Some secrets keep a couple together.
If you ask Jill Tingley, she’ll tell you she and her husband Jack are college sweethearts living the dream in Southern California. Wealthy, popular and genetically blessed, theirs is an enviable life, though they’ve grown distant in recent years. Newly empty nesting with their daughter Maggie away at college, Jill suggests a road trip to reconnect.
Jack would rather do anything else than drive to Utah with his wife. He’s only stayed in this marriage because of a shared secret, a tragedy in the past he wanted to keep buried. And for his daughter’s sake. But Jack is finished with the charade of his marriage. He’s filing for divorce as soon as they return, no matter what.
But he doesn’t realize what else Jill is hiding.
So begins a cat-and-mouse road trip as a cunning wife―think Ripley in yoga pants―and a reluctant husband match wits and drive each other to the edge. But everything will be fine. Jill still loves Jack and believes he’s the only one for her. She’ll do anything to keep him. Anything. She always has.
Queen Mother by Jeff Wheeler
Angel Sworn #1
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Young Adult Adventure Fantasy
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Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jeff Wheeler weaves a mesmerizing spell of wonder and peril in this eagerly awaited epic fantasy series…
Deep in the mountains lies a valley with a secret to immortality-Clairvaux-where the Queen Mother reigns supreme. Hidden within the cliffs and rocky paths and shrouded by waterfalls, the Gallows Tree grows immortal fruit, but only the loyal angel sworn can partake and live forever, weaving magic with grafting wands and bonding to animals in order to borrow their powers while balancing the good in all living things.
But the idyllic hymns of angelic choirs shatter when death comes to Clairvaux. Bodies strewn and ravaged by claws whisper of a nameless evil threatening the angel sworn and all earthborn. Might Cimree, a young healer in training, hold the key to unraveling the mystery that menaces Clairvaux and the distant bastions it protects? And could a fallen angel held captive deep in the dungeons of Montheron have the answers Cimree seeks? Or will a new magic that transforms animals into monsters force an exodus to a safe haven before all is lost?
Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle
Thieves of Dragemor #1
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
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Two thieves vie for dominance in the illegal dragon egg trade, putting both their lives and their hearts on the line in this scorching romantasy from New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle.
For Brynla Aihr, crime and survival have always gone hand in hand. Ever since she escaped the fanatical dragon-worshipping cult that controls her homeland, she’s had to carve out a life doing the unthinkable: stealing dragon eggs. Egg theft is illegal and, in most cases, fatal. To breach a dragon’s nest means a harrowing journey through the ancient wards spelled to keep the monstrous beasts confined. Dragons can’t get out and only those with a death wish can get in.
Despite the risks, dragon eggs are highly coveted for their magic. An illegal trade flourishes under competing criminal empires, and Brynla’s loyalty has always been to the highest bidder. Until she finds herself kidnapped and blackmailed by Lord Andor, a formidable lieutenant of House Kolbeck, and thrust into the dangerous political games of rivaling dynasties.
Brynla and Andor clash at every turn, sparking heat in ways Brynla’s never felt before. But in a world that’s prophesized to return to the dragons, and rife with betrayal and secrets at every turn…how close to the flames is she willing to stand?
Scoop and Scandal by Lucy Lakestone
Comet Cove Mysteries #1
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genre: Cozy Crafts and Hobbies Mystery
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Mystery meets romantic comedy in the Comet Cove Mysteries!
They’re rival reporters chasing the biggest scoop Comet Cove has ever seen.
She wants a serious story. He wants glitz and gossip.
The problem is, they just might want each other.
Comet Cove, Florida, is all about stars. Star Harbor, Stargazer Point, and a galaxy of space-themed businesses draw more and more famous folks escaping their celebrity lives for a stay in this quiet, quirky town. But when a fishing boat explodes in the Atlantic with a beloved actor on board, the big bang shakes up more than the glitterati.
Fueled on mochas from Bean Me Up, reporter Roz Melander rushes to land the biggest story her beach town has seen in years. Who was aboard the boat? And what caused the blast? Solving the mystery could help her save her family’s struggling Courier newspaper and get her back to her big-city career.
But her annoyingly handsome rival, newshound Alden Knox, is one step ahead of her. A cynical former tabloid scribe, Alden nets scoops for the fluffy Beacon, chasing the VIPs flocking to Comet Cove. And with every quip and quibble he throws at her, he gets on Roz’s last nerve.
As Roz and Alden run after clues, they fall over each other at every step. But when they stumble into danger, they realize someone will do anything to stop them. Teaming up to foil a dangerous enemy might keep them alive, but now they have another problem. One of them has to win. And given their inconvenient attraction, winning might hurt just as much as losing, especially if their hearts get in the way of their deadlines.
Scoop and Scandal is a low-spice funny romantic mystery. This novel contains mild cursing, unabashed longing and closed-door canoodling with lots of giggles.
This is the first book in a new series by Lucy Lakestone, author of the Bohemia Bartenders Mysteries.
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An earlier book by Lucy Lakestone, Desire on Deadline, served as the inspiration and basis for this novel. Locations, characters, and story elements have changed.
Well, that’s it for the New Books Releasing Week 24 of 2025
Drop a comment if you like one of the books above or if you have one to recommend.
Thank you for stopping by,
Happy Reading!
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