Author shares the five books you 'need' to add to your summer list

If you're on the hunt for some literary inspiration and need a nudge in the right direction, an has just shared her must-read list for 2025 – and they're perfect for those lazy summer days. Nothing beats the feeling of lounging by the sea or poolside, book in hand. But which titles does writer Cassie Steward, known to her followers as @cassieauthor, suggest you snap up without delay?

Cassie has hailed 2025 as a standout year for literature, stating: "There have been so many incredible new ." She's convinced these books "are absolutely worth the hype," insisting "it is impossible not to fly through them."

1. Number Thirty-Two by Cassie Steward

Keen to plug her own work - and rightly so - Cassie mentioned this novel wasn't a new release, but added: "Everyone is reading it anyway".

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She called it an "emotional rollercoaster of a book" where two women's lives are irrevocably altered, thanks to a tragedy that happened 40 years earlier.

2. The Sirens by Emilia Hart

Cassie labelled this title as the "most anticipated second book from the author of Weyward."

She confessed she had "such high hopes for this one, and it did not disappoint."

She detailed: "It's a story of two sisters in , and one of them goes mysteriously missing in the tiny coastal town that she's moved to.

"And as the other sister searches for her, she uncovers some very disturbing things about the town and people that have disappeared over the years in it and how all of the mysterious goings on date back hundreds of years."

3. The Favourites by Layne Fargo

Cassie hailed 'The Favourites' by Layne Fargo as "so addictive and fast-paced" after devouring it in just a couple of days.

"It's the story of Heath and Kat, a couple of childhood sweethearts, who fight their way to the top of the ice dancing to escape their dark pasts," she revealed.

She went on: "They eventually become world champions, and then everything unravels as their pasts come back to haunt them.

"There's betrayals, there's drama, there's secrets, there is everything in this book. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through".

4. The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

Regarding 'The Three Lives of Cate Kay' by Kate Fagan, Cassie enthused, "If you loved Evelyn Hugo, you will love this book."

She described Cate Kay as a "world famous author, but no one knows who she really is" due to her concealed real identity, leaving everyone questioning, "Who is the real Cate Kay? Who is the woman behind the books and what is she hiding from?"

Cassie assured readers that "everybody will fly through" this gripping tale because it's simply impossible to put down.

5. The Lamb by Lucy Rose

Cassie said: "This is the story of a young girl who lives deep in the Cumbrian woods with her mother. In fact, they live so deep in the woods that the only visitors they ever get to their small cottage are people who've lost their way on the hiking trails around them.

"Every time they get a knock on the door from one of these lost souls, they invite them in, and they eat them.

"Yep. Cannibals. This is the first literary horror-type book that I've ever read, and whilst it was super gory and gruesome, I absolutely loved it. It was the biggest surprise of the year for me by far."