Our List of Must-Listen Books for the New Year
We’re thrilled to kick off 2025 with the promise of even more incredible stories and inspiring narratives on xigxag. Whether you’re drawn to gripping historical epics or fascinated by groundbreaking scientific insights, there’s an audiobook for every curiosity and passion. Discover our must-listen picks for the year ahead – perfect for broadening your horizons or sparking your imagination.
Fiction
Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn’t. My first love was figure skating.
Katarina Shaw has always known she’s destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating – and each other – to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating fans with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style and rollercoaster relationship.
Until, at the Olympic Games, as the world holds its breath, a shocking incident instantly destroys their partnership.
Ten years later, an unauthorised tell-all documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha. If Kat wants to own her story, she must break her silence. As Kat’s account of her dramatic rise and fall alternates with scandalous interviews from the film, The Favourites spins into a dance between passion, ambition and what it truly means to win.
Sensational rumours have haunted Kat and Heath’s every step for years, but the truth may be even more outrageous than the headlines.
Pre-order The Favourites here.
A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.
Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A junior at Stanford and a student athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships – at least, that’s what she tells herself.
Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.
So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water…
Pre-order Deep End by Ali Hazelwood here.
One ordinary school. Three extraordinary women …
In the 1920s, three young girls enter a strict, cheerless convent school in a quiet London suburb.
Six years later they leave, to change the world …
Maureen was the movie star, whose role as Tarzan’s Jane helped rewrite the rules of cinema censorship.
Sonia was the aspiring writer who became George Orwell’s wife and the guardian of his literary legacy.
And Vivien was the actress as iconic as the roles she played, from Cleopatra to Scarlett O’Hara.
Together their careers encompassed glamour and tragedy, triumph and scandal. From Bloomsbury to Hollywood, and from the cafés of Paris to the theatres of New York, this novel is a breath-taking epic spanning four decades in three unforgettable lives.
Pre-order The Socialites by Caroline Lamond here.
‘I did an evil thing to be put in here, and I’m going to have to do an evil thing to get out.’
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. There, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to keep her baby and escape to a commune. Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Every moment of their waking day is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid . . . and it’s usually paid in blood.
Pre-order Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix here.
‘A love story in more ways than one, Homeseeking is a beautiful, nuanced look at Chinese history, family, young love, and the wisdom of age’ – Vanessa Chan
There are moments when a single choice can define an entire life. Haiwen and Suchi are teenage sweethearts in 1940s Shanghai; their childhood friendship has blossomed into young love, and they believe that they are soulmates. But when Haiwen secretly decides to enlist in the army to keep his brother from the draft, their shared future is shattered. Their paths take them far afield from each other, with the exception of one pivotal chance encounter on the Hong Kong ferry in 1966.
Sixty years later, Haiwen, now in his late seventies, is bagging bananas at a 99 Ranch in Los Angeles when he lifts his head to once more see Suchi. As they begin to rekindle their friendship, it feels like they might have a second chance to live the life they were supposed to have together. But the weight of the past lives with them at every moment, and only time will tell if they are able to forge something new.
Told in alternating narratives, Homeseeking spans seven decades, through the most tumultuous period of modern Chinese history up to contemporary times, tracing the separated lovers as they migrate from Shanghai to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and America.
Pre order Homeseeking by Karissa Chen here.
Non-Fiction
This is the book for life’s twists and turns, when being human starts to get complicated.
A must-have companion to Dr Julie’s international bestseller Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?, which taught us the skills to strengthen our future mental health, Open When… is the book to turn to when you find yourself in the eye of the storm.
Within this book are a series of Open When style letters from Dr Julie to help navigate the moments of overwhelm, confusion or self-doubt that we all face when life gets messy. Offering calm, clarity and a laser focus on the best way forward, each personal letter is followed by real-time tools that will help you re-frame the situation and decide on your next move.
Every chapter covers a new scenario; universal problems that each of us will likely face at some point. So, whether you are experiencing stress, pressure to perform, dealing with difficult people, trying to fit in, making big decisions, arguments with your partner, or big emotions that are causing anxiety, Open When… brings the words you need to hear to put you back on the front foot, feeling ready to take on everything life throws your way.
Download Open When… by Dr Julie Smith here.
From bestselling author Martha Beck, a new path to overcoming anxiety by awakening the creativity within.
We live in an epidemic of anxiety. Most of us assume that the key to overcoming it is to think our way out. And for a while it works. But there is always something that sends us back into the anxious spiral we’ve been trying to climb out of.
In Beyond Anxiety, Dr Martha Beck explains why anxiety is skyrocketing around you, and likely within you. She also tells you how to not only reduce your anxiety but use it to propel you into a life filled with peace, meaning, and joy.
Using a combination of the latest neuroscience as well as her background in sociology and coaching, Beck explains how our brains tend to get stuck in an ‘anxiety spiral,’ a feedback system that can increase anxiety indefinitely. To climb out, we must engage different parts of our nervous system – the parts involved in creativity. Beck provides instructions for engaging the ‘creativity spiral,’ in a process that not only shuts down anxiety but leads to innovative problem solving, a sense of meaning and purpose, and joyful, intimate connection with others – and with the world.
The opposite of anxiety, it turns out, is a wonderful new way of life – one that can calm and inspire us as individuals and help us become a source of healing for everything around us.
Download Beyond Anxiety by Martha Beck here.
Sunday Times bestselling author Dr Rangan Chatterjee reveals how to make positive change that actually lasts in his latest, most innovative book to date.
We all have things we rely on going our way to help us feel calm and happy. Your partner waking up in a good mood. No traffic on the way to work. No queues at the supermarket. And no rain on your day off.
But what happens when things don’t work out that way? We fall back on soothing habits. A trip to the cupboard for snacks. Scrolling on social media. A few beers or a couple of glasses of wine after a stressful day.
Make Change that Lasts will show you the nine hidden ways day to day life causes these responses — and show you how to respond to them consciously. Blending ancient philosophy with a deep understanding of health, host of one of the biggest podcasts on the planet, Feel Better, Live More, Dr Rangan Chatterjee will provide a personalized approach and simple techniques for reducing our reliance on the chaotic and uncertain outside world – and helps us become an expert in ourselves to finally unlock true, long-lasting health and happiness.
Download Make Change That Lasts by Dr Rangan Chatterjee here.
‘I haven’t had a drink since August 2022. My journey from wild party girl to an alcohol-free mother of two has involved walking, step by step, through shame, guilt, anxiety and grief to finally reach a place of hope and healing. I feel relieved and grateful to be free from the place I felt stuck in, because giving up drinking hasn’t been easy for me. I feel vulnerable sharing my own story and nervous about the way people might react, but I also know that it’s important for me to do this.’
Millie Mackintosh took the decision to go alcohol free after observing the impact drinking alcohol was having on her health and wellbeing. Now, more than two years into her sober curious journey, Millie shares her full experience with honesty and warmth, from the events that led to her decision to stop drinking, through to the positive effects of the alcohol-free lifestyle she enjoys today. Writing with NHS GP Dr Ellie Cannon, Bad Drunk combines practical, scientific advice with Millie’s personal experience – what has worked for her, what hasn’t, what she has struggled with as well as tips and advice on how to navigate the road ahead.
Whether you’re simply looking to cut back your alcohol consumption, you’re ready to quit drinking altogether or you want to understand how to help a loved one, Bad Drunk will be an essential guide that will help you make decisions for your future health and happiness.
Pre-order Bad Drunk by Millie Mackintosh here.
Hollywood star Naomi Watts opens up about the challenges she faced on reaching early menopause, providing a supportive, holistic guide based on the latest advice from hormone experts, doctors and nutritionists.
At 36, Naomi Watts was at the height of her fame when suddenly she started experiencing symptoms she couldn’t explain – dry, itchy skin, raging hormones, night sweats – leaving her lost and confused, only to learn that she was going through menopause.
It is estimated that 13 million women in the UK are currently dealing with menopause symptoms, and yet the very word ‘menopause’ continues to be associated with stigma and confusion. With so little information, many women feel unprepared, uninformed and – because of the varying ages it begins – deeply alone when the time comes. This is the book Naomi Watts wishes she had when she first started experiencing symptoms. Like sitting down over coffee and having an intimate chat with the girls, Dare I Say It blends stories from Naomi and her friends with humour and expert advice, to take the stigma out of menopause and ageing.
Answering questions such as: What’s HRT and should I be on it? Will I ever sleep again? What happened to my libido? Do I need 18 serums for my ageing skin? Whose body is this anyway? Naomi Watts shares the most up-to-date learnings on how to manage menopause symptoms and tackle the physical and emotional challenges we encounter as we age. Irreverent, bold and funny, Dare I Say It is the companion every woman needs to inhabit the best version of themselves.
Pre-order Dare I Say It by Naomi Watts here.
All of these amazing titles are available for pre-order or available right now on xigxag. What else are you looking forward to enjoying in 2025? Let us know!
