Fiction Staff Picks 2025

Recommended reads from staff at Puke Ariki, Community Libraries and the Museum

Updated December 18, 2025
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Kōtui New Plymouth Libraries
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Fiction Staff Picks 2025

Recommended reads from staff at Puke Ariki, Community Libraries and the Museum

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Alchemised
SenLinYu.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy--and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past. This stunning hardcover edition features a...
Alien clay
Tchaikovsky, Adrian
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2025 Locus Awards, Best Science Fiction Novel Finalist for the 2025 Hugo Awards, Best Novel Nominated for the 2025 Philip K. Dick Award A thrilling, page-turning standalone adventure, set in the distant future, from master sci-fi author and Arthur C....
All fours : a novel
July, Miranda
Paper Book
" The New York Times bestselling author returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and surprising novel about a woman upending her life A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after...
All the Colors of the Dark : A Novel
Whitaker, Chris.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD * From the author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that "hits like a sledgehammer . . . an absolutely must-read novel" (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl). Read...
Atmosphere : a love story
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * From the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go...
A Beautiful Family A Novel
Trevelyan, Jennifer.
Paper Book
A New York Times Best Thriller of 2025 Over the course of one sunbaked summer vacation, a family is pulled into a web of mysteries that the younger daughter sets out to solve. A tense, page-turning debut of childhood, innocence, and evil. "I absolutely loved this...
Birnam Wood
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
The Book of Guilt : A novel
Chidgey, Catherine.
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2025 by Amazon Editors * Kirkus * Indigo In an alternate world where nobody won WWII, three brothers are the only boys left in an orphanage whose dark secret is the reason for their existence--and the key to their survival--from the acclaimed author of...
Broken country : a novel
Hall, Clare Leslie
Paper Book
" A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing. "The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him."<...
Butter : A Novel of Food and Murder
Yuzuki, Asako
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and...
City of night birds : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters." - Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club December '24 Pick) A once-famous ballerina faces a final choice--to return to the world of Russian dance that nearly broke...
The covenant of water : a novel
Verghese, Abraham
Paper Book
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in...
Heartless Hunter
Ciccarelli, Kristen.
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history. I couldn't look away." - Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of...
Cry Havoc : A Tom Reece Thriller
Carr, Jack.
Paper Book
"Easily Jack Carr's most ambitious and best realized book yet, a scintillatingly seminal tale with echoes off le Carré, Forsyth, and Ludlum." --BookTrib From the "hottest author on the thriller scene today" (The Real Book Spy), #1 New York Times...
Death of the Author : A Novel
Okorafor, Nnedi.
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER Order now and receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last―featuring a special alternate cover design on the hardcover case, gorgeous sprayed edges, and exclusive endpapers. This breathtaking edition is only available on a limited...
Deep end
Hazelwood, Ali
Paper Book
" A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis. Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a...
The Devils
Abercrombie, Joe.
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times, USA Today, and Indie Bestseller A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey Holy...
The emperor of Gladness : a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller * Oprah's Book Club Pick * Named a Best Book of 2025 by TIME, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, USA Today, NPR, People, Christian Science Monitor, Scientific American, and Kirkus Reviews * A 2026...
Fable for the End of the World
Reid, Ava.
Paper Book
The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this stand-alone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything. By encouraging massive accumulations of debt from its underclass, a single corporation, Caerus, controls all aspects of society. ...
Great Big Beautiful Life
Henry, Emily.
Paper Book
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry. As...
Home truths
Norman, Charity
Paper Book
How do you fight an invisible enemy? An unputdownable and timely new novel from the Ngaio Marsh-winning author of Remember Me.
The Hop : A Novel
Clarke, Diana.
Paper Book
"A fresh ode to sisterhood and sexual agency that crackles with verve and wit. I couldn't put it down."--Gabriela Garcia, author of the New York Times bestseller and Good Morning America Pick Of Women and Salt "Clarke refuses to turn this story into a morality play. . . [and her] newly...
Hum : A Novel
Phillips, Helen.
Paper Book
A Most Anticipated Book for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Goodreads, LitHub, and Book Riot A Best Book of the Summer for Esquire, Electric Lit, and Town & Country A People Book of the...
The Intruder
McFadden, Freida.
Paper Book
"A dark and stormy night. An isolated cabin in the woods. A runaway child with a mysterious past...Thriller fans, buckle up!" -- Jason Rekulak, New York Times bestselling author of The Last One at the Wedding There's someone at your front door - should you let them...
Isola : a novel
Goodman, Allegra
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A shocking story, made all the more stunning by the fact that it has its roots in true history."--Jodi Picoult, author of By Any Other Name "A new generation of survival story . . . an extraordinary book that reads like a...
The Jackal's mistress : a novel
Bohjalian, Chris
Paper Book
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she's willing to risk...
The kill list
Forsyth, Frederick
Paper Book
An extraordinary cutting-edge suspense novel from the master of international intrigue and #1 New York Times–bestselling author. In Virginia, there is an agency bearing the bland name of Technical Operations Support Activity, or TOSA. Its one mission is to track, find, and...
Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way
Feeney, Elaine.
Paper Book
Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way
Feeney, Elaine.
Paper Book
Live, Ranch, Love A Novel
Lucy, Emma.
Paper Book
A sweet and sexy enemies-to-lovers romance about a wellness influencer who returns to her late aunt's ranch in Colorado where she clashes with the grumpy and handsome head rancher. She's here to sell my ranch, but now I think she might steal my heart. Rory Jones prided herself on...
Mad Mabel : A Novel
Hepworth, Sally.
Paper Book
There are two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies. Meet Mad Mabel. Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than anyone else. Aside from being a...
Magic hour : a novel
Hannah, Kristin
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Women comes an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the meaning of home. In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest--nearly a million acres of...
The Midnight Hour : A Novel
Chase, Eve.
Paper Book
In this thrilling, richly woven novel that spans from bustling London streets to the boulevards of Paris, a woman with a dark family secret tries to turn back the hands of time before it's too late. "A wonderful twisty novel of family and secrets--the perfect summer read."-...
The Mires : A Novel
Makereti, Tina.
Paper Book
A literary page turner that explores the intertwined lives of three neighboring families in a small coastal New Zealand town--a blend of Little Fires Everywhere and The Island of Missing Trees, combining domestic drama, suspense, indigenous folklore, and the threat of extremism on ordinary lives....
My Silver Lining
Pavlov, Laura.
Paper Book
Order now and receive the stunning DELUXE FIRST PRINT RUN while supplies last―featuring gorgeous sprayed edges with stenciled artwork and special cover design features. This breathtaking collectible is only available as part of a LIMITED FIRST PRINT RUN in the US and Canada only, a...
The Names A Novel
Knapp, Florence.
Paper Book
The story of one family told three different ways, leading to three different fates--a dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life? In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's...
Nesting : A Novel
O'Donnell, Roisín.
Paper Book
In this beautiful, urgent, and ultimately uplifting novel by a rising Irish literary star comes a heart-pounding, life-affirming story about one woman trying to leave her marriage and start over.   On a bright spring afternoon, Ciara Fay makes a split-second...
Night Swimmers
Maguire, Roisin
Ebook
One Golden Summer
Fortune, Carley.
Paper Book
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! ∙ A radiant escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and This Summer Will Be Different As featured in The New York Times ∙ People ∙ Good Morning...
Onyx Storm Standard Edition
Yarros, Rebecca
Paper Book
Accolades: AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * TV series now in development at Amazon MGM Studios with Michael B. Jordan's Outlier Society * Amazon Best Romantasy Books of the Year 2025 * Apple Books Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Novel Best Sellers 2025, #4 * Apple Books...
Orbital : a novel
Harvey, Samantha
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER **New York Times Book Review Book Club Pick** **Stephen Colbert's The Late Show Book Club Pick** Winner of the 2024 Hawthornden Prize Shortlisted for the 2024...
Out on a Limb : A Novel
Bonam-Young, Hannah.
Paper Book
A hot one-night stand--and an unexpected pregnancy--lead a young woman to someone she can depend on, from the viral TikTok author of Next of Kin and Next to You. "A beautiful love story, full of joy from beginning to end!"--New York Times bestselling author Sarah...
Problematic summer romance
Hazelwood, Ali.
Paper Book
A #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life. Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over...
Quicksilver
Hart, Callie.
Paper Book
This #1 New York Times bestseller is a highly addicting enemies-to-lovers Romantasy with razor-sharp banter, heart-stopping action, and blistering hot romance. Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate. ...
Say you'll remember me
Jimenez, Abby
Paper Book
See How They Fall
Paris, Rachel.
Paper Book
When Skye married into the wealthy Turner family, she thought she was entering paradise. But now, several years later, she remains uneasy amid the opulence of her husband's world, struggling with her own secrets and working to maintain a normal life for their young daughter, Tilly.
Seven brides for Beau McBride
Barry, Amy
Paper Book
From the beloved author of Kit McBride Gets a Wife and Marrying Off Morgan McBride comes a 'sweet, hilarious and totally delicious' love story (Hannah Grace). Beau McBride wants a wife, and his meddling little sister Junebug is itching to find him a mail-order bride....
She's a Killer
McDougall, Kirsten.
Paper Book
'Satire at its best' ELEANOR CATTON, author of Birnam Wood 'Outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely' THE GUARDIAN A stubborn slacker is spurred to radical climate action by a snarky teenager with big ideas in this bold, darkly funny...
Silver elite
Francis, Dani
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * In the first book of a sizzling dystopian romance series, psychic gifts are a death sentence and there are rules to survival: Trust no one. Lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don't fall for your greatest enemy.
Small things like these
Keegan, Claire
Paper Book
**OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK 2024** **NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB PICK 2024** NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CILLIAN MURPHY A New York Times Bestseller * Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize * Winner of the Orwell Prize for...
The Society of Unknowable Objects : A Novel
Brown, Gareth.
Paper Book
From the author of the internationally bestselling The Book of Doors, another fantastical, stand-alone novel in which a trio of seemingly everyday people are members of a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects--ordinary items with extraordinary properties....
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
Klune, T. J.
Paper Book
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES, #1 USA TODAY and #1 INDIE BESTSELLER! Hope is the thing with feathers. And hope is the thing with fire. DELUXE EDITION--Featuring gorgeous golden yellow sprayed edges! Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel...
Speak to me of home : a novel
Cummins, Jeanine
Paper Book
Summer romance
Monaghan, Annabel
Paper Book
" The heart-tugging and hilarious story of a professional organizer whose life is a mess, and the summer she gets unstuck with the help of someone unexpected from her past, by the bestselling author of Same Time Next Summer and Nora Goes Off Script. ...
There are rivers in the sky : a novel
Shafak, Elif
Paper Book
Sweeping across centuries, and stretching from Mesopotamia to London, this enchanting new novel by a Booker Prize finalist conjures a trio of characters living in the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River...
Vanishing Place
Rankin, Zo©±
Paper Book
Instant #1 International Bestseller * A New York Times and Washington Post's Best Thriller of 2025 A shocking murder in the New Zealand bush--and the witness who looks all too familiar--draws a woman back to the very place she swore she'd never return to in this...
Welcome to Glorious Tuga A Novel
Segal, Francesca.
Paper Book
A bighearted page-turner set on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean about love, community, and what it means to come home Passionate about conservation and fleeing an argument with her mother, newly qualified London vet Charlotte Walker has taken up a fellowship on the tiny South...
What happened to Nina? : a thriller
McTiernan, Dervla
Paper Book
A New York Times' best thriller of the year! From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Murder Rule comes an emotional novel of suspense about two families at war. Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his...
When the Moon Hatched : A Novel
Parker, Sarah A.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ORDER NOW to get a limited edition with blue-stained edges - available only on the first printing! This deluxe hardcover features metallic and embossed jacket effects and colored endpapers with exclusive character artwork. The #1 internationally...
White king : a novel
Gómez-Jurado, Juan.
Paper Book
Antonia Scott returns in the explosive climax in this sequel to the international bestselling book and streaming series, Red Queen. Antonia Scott has an unusually gifted forensic mind, whose ability to reconstruct crimes and solve baffling murders is legendary....
Wild and Wrangled A Rebel Blue Ranch Novel
Sage, Lyla.
Paper Book
She's the one that got away. He's the one that never let her go. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small-town romance in which past lovers...
Wild Card (Deluxe Edition)
Silver, Elsie.
Paper Book
*This deluxe edition includes the mountain spine that matches with the rest of the series* From #1 New York Times bestseller Elsie Silver comes the final book in the delicious, spicy, small-town Rose Hill series. Sebastian Rousseau is a grumpy, hot-as-hell fire pilot who is too damn...
Wild Dark Shore : A Novel
McConaghy, Charlotte.
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR 2025 A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (NPR, TIME, USA Today, The Economist, Scientific American, Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest, HuffPost, The Globe...
Wild Reverence : A Novel
Ross, Rebecca.
Paper Book
* This stunning luxe edition includes a jacketed printed case with custom character art, full-color designed endpapers, black stained edges and foiled cover elements. While supplies last! * Set in the world of the gods first introduced in Divine Rivals, #1...
With a vengeance : a novel
Sager, Riley
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A haunted past. A train with no stops. Thirteen hours to reckon with the truth. In 1954, Anna Matheson boards a luxury overnight train bound for Chicago that she's commissioned, along with a list of names and a...
You Are Here : A Novel
Nicholls, David.
Paper Book
THE INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A Good Housekeeping "Book We're Most Looking Forward To" * An Independent Today "Best Fiction Books to Read" * A GQ Magazine (UK) "Best Book of 2024" * A Harper's Bazaar (UK) "Best Novels to Read" * A ...
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