Show Notes
These are the Australian books being released in September 2025 that we know about. There is no one central place to find out about book releases so we rely on authors reporting to us and also on the publishers who have added us to their mailing lists for advance notice of releases (as opposed to newsletters). We hope these episodes help you find a great new book!
**NB: This is a Soph-alone episode**
Contemporary YA Title: Summer, in Between Author: Holly Cardamone Publisher: Hawkeye Publishing ‘Looking for Alibrandi meets Puberty Blues'
Thriller/crime Title: The Vanishing Place Author: Zoe Rankin Publisher: Moa Press/Hachette ANZ and Berkley US A twisty and daring thriller about how those close to you can be even more dangerous than the deadliest wilderness.
Title: The Stolen Author: Vikki Petraitis Publisher: Allen & Unwin An unputdownable crime thriller featuring Detective Antigone Pollard from the bestselling author of The Unbelieved.
Title: The Farm Author: Jessica Mansour-Nahra Publisher: Hachette An eerie psychological thriller, rippling with the Gothic undertones of Rebecca, from a startling new Australian talent. The Farm enthrals from the very first page.
Romantasy Title: A King's Fate Author: Anneka-Rose Burrell Genre: Epic romantasy Self-pubbed Dual POV with a strong FMC and reluctant hero MMC
Romance Title: The Swiss Chocolatier: European Tycoons Author: Leanne Lovegrove Publisher: Indie A chance of a lifetime that could make her career. Or break her heart …
General fiction Title: Very Impressive For Your Age Author: Eleanor Kirk Publisher: Allen & Unwin A profoundly relatable debut novel about chasing your dreams and losing your ambition from a stunning new Australian voice.
Title: Tenderfoot Author: Toni Jordan Publisher: Hachette By the bestselling, award-winning author of Addition, an exhilarating novel about coming of age in 1970s Australia. For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
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More from Dear Rach & Soph
Nina Kenwood was one of the featured authors at this year’s Rachael Johns Book Club Readers Retreat in Geelong, Victoria, a few months ago, so we met her there. At the time we had not organised to talk to Nina about her new novel, People Skills, which will be released by Text Publishing on 6 October. And we hadn’t yet read the book, but ahead of recording this episode we did (and have both read the novel before it, The Wedding Forecast). As fans of Nina's writing and her storytelling, of her sense of humour and her compassion for human foibles, we had much to discuss when she joined us on the pod for this episode.
A year ago, on the podcast, we talked to Chloe Berry, who was in the process of launching a digital marketing agency for authors and also planning to become a literary agent. Chloe is in her twenties and has worked in publishing as a marketer for romance and other genre fiction. Starting her own agency was, obviously, risky - starting any business is a risk.
Listeners-slash-viewers a.k.a. liewers, you’re going to have to watch or listen to find out why, quite early on in our latest episode, Rachael says, ‘This is not a poo podcast.’ We're not giving you any hints! What we will say is that we recorded this ahead of her going to the RWA conference in Darwin, at which she taught a day-long workshop, gave the opening keynote speech and was made a lifetime member of the RWA. In short, she was an RWA rock star!
At the time of recording this episode Rachael was preparing her day-long workshop for the RWA Conference, which is happening this weekend. Sophie was meant to attend but, due to personal circumstances, had to cancel, so we aren’t seeing each other in person as planned. Yet we are together on screen and in audio in this episode, which we recorded about three weeks ago.
As has become customary, each time Rachael or Sophie releases a book, we devote an episode of the podcast to discussing it. This time it’s Sophie's turn, with The Frock Shop, which was published on 21 July 2026 (blurb below).