Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week, the topic is Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025, so I’m spotlighting 10 new-to-me authors I discovered. Let’s check them out!
1. Devney Perry
Title: Shield of Sparrows
Page Length: 528
Pub. Date: May 6, 2025
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Synopsis: Shield of Sparrows is a slow-burn, high-stakes romantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros―where enemies become lovers, monsters stalk a cursed realm, and a forgotten princess finds the strength to tear off her crown and become the warrior she was never meant to be.
The gods sent monsters to the five kingdoms to remind mortals they must kneel.
I’ve spent my life kneeling―to their will and to my father’s. As a princess, my only duty is to wear the crown and obey the king.
I was never meant to rule. Never meant to fight. And I was never supposed to be the daughter who sealed an ancient treaty with her own blood.
But that changed the fateful day I stepped into my father’s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince ruined my life.
Now I’m crossing treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises me as much as I despise him―bound to a future I didn’t choose and a husband I barely know.
Everyone wants me to be something I’m not―a queen, a spy, a sacrifice.
But what if I refused the role chosen for me? What if I made my own rules? What if there’s power in being underestimated?
And what if―for the first time―I reached for it?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
2. A.M. Kvita
Title: An Unlikely Coven
Series: Green Witch Cycle #1
Page Length: 379
Pub. Date: Oct. 28, 2025
Publisher: Orbit
Synopsis: The outcast daughter of a powerful family of witches returns home to New York City and is immediately embroiled in a supernatural power struggle in this wickedly funny fantasy debut from AM Kvita.
After seven long years Joan Greenwood is finally returning home. Unfortunately, her family totally forgot about it.
Joan’s homecoming is lukewarm at best, but soon turns disastrous when news hits that someone has created a spell that can turn an ordinary human into a powerful witch, threatening the balance of the magical world and the Greenwood’s place at the top of it.
When her best friend confesses that he has secretly, accidentally, saved this human-turned-witch from an uncertain fate, Joan is thrust headfirst into a desperate race to undo the spell before it does permanent damage to its unwilling host.
Soon, Joan finds herself drawn deeper into the heart of the city’s magic, into an uncertain alliance with a (very attractive) family rival, and far beyond the limits of everything she thought her own magic capable of.
LINKS: Amazon | Goodreads | Review
3. Callie Walker
Title: Code Word Romance
Page Length: 320
Pub. Date: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: Two exes. One mission. A trip she’ll never forget…
Max is just your average girl. She works odd jobs, has a soul-crushing amount of debt and just happens to have an uncanny resemblance to Europe’s youngest female prime minister, Sofia Christensen . . .
So when the prime minister receives a credible death threat, the CIA approaches Max with a a life-changing amount of money if she pretends to be Sofia on the prime minister’s annual Italian trip.
It would be a dream if it weren’t for those pesky assassins and Flynn, Max’s ridiculously hot handler – the man who broke her heart years and years ago.
With her life now on the line, Max knows she has no choice but to lose herself in the role. But losing her heart to Flynn again? Now that’s a risk that she isn’t willing to take . . .
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
4. Julie Johnson
Title: The Wind Weaver
Series: Reign of Remnants #1
Page Length: 544
Pub. Date: April 8, 2025
Publisher: Ace
Synopsis: Fear of maegic plagues war-torn Anwyvn. Halflings like Rhya Fleetwood are killed on sight. But Rhya’s execution is interrupted by an unexpected savior—one far more terrifying than her would-be killers. The mysterious and mercenary Commander Scythe. In the clutches of this new enemy, Rhya finds herself fighting for her life in the barren reaches of the Northlands. Yet the farther she gets from home, the more she learns that nothing is as it seems—not her fearsome captor, not the blight that ravages her dying realm, not even herself.
For Rhya is no ordinary halfling. The strange birthmark on her chest and the wind she instinctively calls forth means she is a Remnant, one of four souls scattered across Anwyvn, fated to restore the balance of maegic…or die trying.
But mastering the power inside her is only the beginning. Desire for the Commander—a man she can never trust, a man with plans of his own—burns just as fiercely as the tempests beating against her rib cage for release. Rhya must choose: smother the flames…or let them consume her.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
5. Sasha Peyton Smith
Title: The Rose Bargain
Page Length: 400
Pub. Date: Feb. 4, 2025
Synopsis: The Cruel Prince meets The Selection in this captivating duology opener brimming with heart-pounding romance, vicious competition, and beautiful, cruel fae, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven, Sasha Peyton Smith.
Every citizen of England is granted one bargain from their immortal fae queen.
High society girls are expected to bargain for qualities that will win them suitors: a rare talent for piano in exchange for one’s happiest childhood memory. A perfect smile for one’s ability to taste.
But Ivy Benton’s debut season arrives with a shocking twist: a competition to secure the heart of the Queen’s fae son, Prince Bram. A prize that could save Ivy’s family from ruin… and free her sister from the bargain that destroyed her.
Yet every glittering fae deal has a rotting heart—and at the center of this contest is a dark plot that could destroy everything Ivy knows.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
6. K. Valentin
Title: An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder
Page Length: 336
Pub. Date: Oct. 14, 2025
Publisher: Alcove Press
Synopsis: A wannabe witch tries to break a curse on a clueless client in this laugh-out-loud debut for fans of queer fantasy like TJ Klune and Tamsyn Muir.
Mateo Borrero has ninety-nine problems, and all of them hinge on the fact that his terrifying and currently-missing bruja mother trapped a demon in his body when he was born. His mother forbade him from ever using magic, but now that she’s gone, magic’s his only marketable skill, and he’d really like an exorcism—which costs money he doesn’t have. What’s the harm in making a quick buck by calling himself an Occult Specialist and chanting a few half-remembered spells in his crappy Spanish?
Enter Topher, a naive nepo baby with a curse that keeps killing people around him. Most importantly, he’s rich, and too clueless to clock that Mateo–and his (absolutely-not-the-assistant) astral-projecting best friend Ophelia–have never actually had a client before. Lifting Topher’s bad luck curse should be simple, but as luck would have it, nothing is simple, and Topher–who Mateo sort of, kind of likes–might be at the center of a deadly magical conspiracy.
To make matters worse, the more magic Mateo does, the stronger the demon inside him grows and the more he wants to eat people. But would caving to the urges of an ancient evil really be that bad if it helps him get a payday?
Legends and Lattes meets A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer in this hilarious and charming contemporary fantasy readers won’t want to miss.
7. Sarah Chamberlain
Title: Love Walked In
Page Length: 352
Pub. Date: Sept. 2, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Synopsis: He has a struggling bookshop. She has a knack for bringing bookstores back to life. As soon as she walks into his store, all bets are off…
Mari Cole’s whole life is her dream rescuing and revitalizing indie bookstores. Friendship? Love? No thanks. After a hard childhood, she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone. Besides, books have never let Mari down the way people have.Then she gets the offer of a rescuing Ross & Co. Once the most prestigious independent booksellers in London, the store is a shadow of its former self and needs an expert outsider to turn things around. But the offer turns out to be a double-edged Leo Ross, the store’s new owner, is as cold and hostile as the British winter.
For as long as he can remember, Leo Ross has known his future is becoming the next generation to run Ross and Co. He’s sacrificed almost everything he cares about, but the bookshop is still failing on his watch, and now there’s an obnoxiously cheerful American woman convinced that she’s going to magically make everything better. Leo’s life is difficult and messy enough as it is, and he doesn’t want her help.
When Mari and Leo are forced to work closely together to bring the store back to life, Leo’s icy surface thaws to reveal the passionate man underneath. As the cold winter gives way to the possibility of new beginnings, Mari begins to see that true love could be even better in real life than in the pages of a book. Can they put their pasts aside and learn to let love in?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
8. Louisa Morgan
Title: The Faerie Morgana
Page Length: 463
Pub. Date: Sept. 16, 2025
Publisher: Redhook
Synopsis: To the other priestesses of the Nine, a powerful council at the Lady’s Temple, Morgana is haughty and arrogant as she performs feats of magic no human should be capable of. Rumors start that she must be a fearsome fae.
To King Arthur, Morgana is a trusted and devoted advisor, but his court is wary of her and her prodigious talent at divination. But his wife sees Morgana as a rival and a malevolent witch.
To Braithe, Morgana’s faithful acolyte, she is simply the most powerful priestess Camelot has seen.
Morgana doesn’t know why she’s so different from everyone else, and she doesn’t much care. But when she aids Arthur to ascend the throne before his time, she sets off a series of events that will change everything Morgana believes about her power.
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
9. Madeline Bell
Title: The Austen Affair
Page Length: 336
Pub. Date: Sept. 16, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Synopsis: Tess Bright just scored her dream role starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It’s not just the role of a lifetime, but it’s also her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress (no easy feat after being fired from her last TV gig) and more importantly, it’s her opportunity to honor her mom, who was the biggest fan of Jane Austen ever. But one thing is standing in Tess’s way—well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour.
A serious British method actor, Hugh wants nothing to do with Tess (whose Teen Choice Awards somehow don’t quite compare to his BAFTA nominations). Hugh is a type-A, no-nonsense, Royal Academy prodigy, whereas Tess is big-hearted, a little reckless, and admittedly, kind of a mess. But the film needs chemistry—and Tess’s career depends on it.
Sparks fly, but not in the way Tess hoped, when an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen’s era. 200 years in the past with only each other to rely on, Tess and Hugh need to ad-lib their way through the Regency period in order to make it back home, and hopefully not screw up history along the way. But if a certain someone looks particularly dashing in those 19th century breeches…well, Tess won’t be complaining.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
10. Chelsea Abdullah
Title: The Ashfire King
Series: The Sandsea Trilogy #2
Page Length: 544
Pub. Date: April 15, 2025
Publisher: Orbit
Synopsis: A merchant and a prince trapped in the crumbling realm of jinn must figure out how to save one world to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in the Sandsea Trilogy.
Neither here nor there, but long ago… After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. Amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion is on the rise. When Loulie assists a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
It sounds like you had a good reading year. 🙂
I did, thanks! 🙂
This is the first time that I’m hearing about them! There are a couple I actually want to add to my TBR.
Nice! I hope you enjoy them if you get a chance to read them!
I’ve not read any of these authors, at least I don’t think I have.
Devney Perry and Sasha Peyton Smith were new to me as waell. I still have to read The Wind Weaver, but not now as I need a little break from big books.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2026/01/27/top-ten-tuesday-2025-releases-i-did-read-in-2025/
Yes! They’re both so good! And I hope you enjoy The Wind Weaver when you get a chance to read it.
There’s a couple that I haven’t heard of and need to check out! I always love seeing when there are some of our buddy reads on your list. 🙂
We’ve had some good ones over the past few years, that’s for sure!!
I’m not familiar with any of these authors but I confess to being attracted to The Austen Affair, being a Janeite myself.
I’m late posting today but here is what I wrote: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2026/01/ttt-bookish-related-events-of-2025.html
It was a cute read!
I need to get round to Shield of Sparrows! I’ve heard such good things, though it surprised me how big the book is, ahaha.
Yes, it’s a big one, but it’s soooo good!! Definitely worth it!
The Wind Weaver looks amazing! The cover is absolutely gorgeous. I hope you find many more amazing authors this year 😊.
If you’d like to visit, here’s my TTT: https://thebooklorefairyreads.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-discoveries-i-made-in-2025/
I really liked The Austen Affair! I’d be up for reading whatever she writes next.
For me, not always easy to know which authors are new every year. Only know a few who weren’t new
Fun list! I am intrigued by the Austen Affair. My list is here: https://theparteveryoneskips.com/posts/20260201-ttt-new-authors-in-2025/