Friday Mood Recs: The 10 best debuts of 2025
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Gothic fiction
19 min read
The article discusses 'Mayra' as a Gothic novel using 'Gothic doubles and mirrors' - understanding the literary tradition and conventions of Gothic fiction would enrich appreciation of how this debut innovates within the genre
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Southern Gothic
12 min read
The review of 'Dominion' specifically mentions 'patriarchal Southern culture' being skewered - this literary subgenre combining Gothic elements with Southern American settings provides essential context for understanding the book's approach
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Family saga
10 min read
The article describes 'The Devil Three Times' as an 'epic family saga of mythical proportion' - understanding this literary genre's history and conventions from Thomas Mann to Gabriel García Márquez illuminates what makes such ambitious debuts remarkable
Friday Mood Recs is a book recommendation series for paid subscribers of the FictionMatters newsletter, but Book of the Month has unlocked today’s post! A huge thank you to BOTM for sponsoring today’s newsletter and putting some of the best debuts of 2025 into my hands.
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The FictionMatters 10 best debuts of 2025
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott*. I know this book is polarizing and I love it all the more for that. This debut novel is bold, stylish, and unapologetically novelistic, relishing in the delights of a turn of phrase and the ability of the writer to implicate the reader while getting at an uncomfortable question.
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino*. My December BOTM pick came at the perfect time as we are in the process of house-hunting and wow was this a ride! I’d heard this described as a satire and a thriller, funny and dark, and I didn’t quite understand how that fit together until I read it myself. Kashino treats readers to something deliciously unexpected in her buzzy debut.
The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne. In the category of “how is this a debut” comes this epic family saga of mythical proportion. It’d demanding and expansive and brilliantly written, interweaving folklore, Christian mythology, and history into an ambitious story about fate and free will.
Dominion by Addie Citchens. This small town family novel takes a hard look at patriarchal Southern culture and offers a skewering that is still heartfelt and humorous. Don’t skip the author’s note…it’s one of my favorites of the year.
Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy*. Levy’s writing is so rhythmic and hypnotic, I might have missed the humor if it hadn’t been delivered with such provocative bravado. The voice of this novel is exceptional as is the rendering of modern life it
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