Kia ora readers!
We’ve had some stellar new releases already this year, with both Onyx Storm from the Empyrean Series and the Hunger Games’ Sunrise on the Reaping selling out on release day thanks to your amazing support. Nobel Prize Winner Han Kang released We Do Not Part, with the gorgeous Books of Mana a non-fiction fave among our readers.
Here are a few of our most anticipated April 2025 New Releases.
April Fiction Releases
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication. The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing.
The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which she’ll choose who’ll tell her story. The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. Pieces they can’t put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story – just like the tale Margaret’s spinning – could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad … depending on who’s telling it.
Our thoughts: The latest book from smash-hit romance author Emily Henry graces our shelves this April. If it’s anything like People We Meet on Vacation or Beach Read, we’re sure this will be a perfect holiday pick or a good book to savour the last bits of summer as Aotearoa heads into autumnal weather. We’re just hoping these characters have better communication skills than the entourage in Happy Place... eek!
The Bookshop Detectives 2: Tea and Cake and Death by Gareth & Louise Ward
In this rollicking new adventure, Garth and Eloise (and dog Stevie) must sniff out a prolific poisoner ahead of a vital fundraising event: the Battle of the Book Clubs. As time runs out and the body count rises, it seems the bad actors are circling closer to the people and places they care about.
Could Pinter, the infamous serial killer from Eloise's past, somehow be involved? And when anyone could be a suspect, how can Garth and Eloise keep their customers, their small town and their beloved bookshop safe?
Our thoughts: Fellow Kiwi booksellers Gareth & Louise have done it again! The real-life owners of fellow independent bookshop Wardini Books (based in Havelock North and Napier) published their debut joint novel The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone in 2024 and was one of Aotearoa’s best-selling fiction picks of the year. We can’t wait to dive back in to this cozy setting that reminds us just why we love books & bookselling so much.
April Non-Fiction Releases
No Words for This: A memoir by Ali Mau
From the age of twelve, Alison Mau wanted to be a journalist like her father. He was a beer-swilling, straight-talking Aussie who was rough around the edges but could quote passages of Hamlet at will. He taught Ali everything - from how to skin a rabbit and throw a punch to how to craft a sharp sentence - and she craved his validation as she navigated the sexist badlands of Australian print and television journalism through the 1980s and -90s.
From Melbourne to London and Auckland, Ali built a glittering career and became a media darling - until an unexpected call from her sister brought her professional and personal lives crashing together with devastating force. As an investigative reporter bringing New Zealand's #MeToo stories to light, she had to survey the wreckage of her family myth and ask herself, -Am I strong enough? and -Are there words for this?
Our thoughts: Many of us recognise author Ali Mau from the television and remember reading her incredibly important #MeToo work that began in 2018. We’re intrigued to hear what it was like to tackle such a ground-breaking initiative from the perspective of being behind the desk, and how Mau’s own personal experiences shaped the inspiration to launch this investigative, industry-changing journalism.
Atlas of the New Zealand Wars: Volume One: 1834-1864, Early Engagements to the Second Taranaki War by Derek Leask
In the Atlas of the New Zealand Wars, five decades of maps and plans from 1834 to 1884 provide remarkable new insight into the deep conflicts running through nineteenth-century Aotearoa.
Beginning with early skirmishes off the Taranaki coast and at the Chathams, Volume One follows the tracks inland from the Bay of Islands towards the Hokianga in the Northern Wars; it reveals the web of Te Rauparaha's influence radiating out from Kapiti to Port Nicholson and across Cook Strait to the Wairau; it takes us inside the barracks and ramparts of the colony's new towns; and concludes as the brewing unrest around Waitara in Taranaki explodes into war. Through the maps, we meet the people: Hone Heke and FitzRoy, Te Rangitake and Pratt, warriors and missionaries; and we go where they went: from the flagpole at Kororareka to Kawiti' s pa at Ruapekapeka, up the Hutt River to Boulcott' s farm, across Taranaki from Waitara to Kaitake pa. Through both tangata and whenua we understand the conflicts and their consequences anew. Based on thirty years of research, the Atlas of the New Zealand Wars reveals a complex series of challenges and misunderstandings, skirmishes and negotiations, battles and wars that have profoundly shaped the lives of Maori and Pakeha on these islands ever since.
Our thoughts: This is a fantastic resource for historians, libraries and Aotearoa history buffs alike! Historic maps, drawings and cartography accompany a rich and detailed guide to our nation’s important history, adding crucial context from both sides to illustrate decades of conflict.