Maria's Top 20 (2025)

Maria, our resident super-reader and Library Aide here at Happy Valley Library, read 1,002 books in 2025! Here's her top 20 picks.

Updated December 31, 2025
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Broken country
Hall, Clare Leslie
Paper Book
​*****AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR​​​***** INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK AMANDA LAMB BOOK CLUB PICK ...
A dance of lies
Arena, Brittney
Paper Book
2025's most-anticipated new debut romantic fantasy is the epic, unmissable story of hope after heartbreak, secrets, betrayal, dancing - and the touch of a goddess of death. My protector is gone, revealed to be a monster. But I remind myself that I am not a damsel. I'm no...
The favourites
Fargo, Layne
Paper Book
To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession. 'Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones and the Six . . . As brilliantly choreographed as a gold-medal performance' JODI PICOULT BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick
Firebird
Cross, Juliette
Paper Book
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller! 'A scorching love story' - Cosmopolitan A conqueror captivated . . . A witch prophesied to save them all . . . An unforgiving world where dragons rule Rome. Julian Dakkia,...
Grace of the Empire State
Tizzard, Gemma
Paper Book
A daring young woman takes her brother's place to risk her life in New York City. A breathtaking historical novel full of heart and hope, family and friendship, and the sacrifices we make for love... 'A page-turning debut...that reminds us that women have been...
Nightweaver
Gray, R M.
Paper Book
For seventeen-year-old pirate Aster Oberon and her family, life at sea has been a refuge from Nightweavers - mystical beings with elemental powers that rule the land. But when the Oberons are finally defeated in an epic battle that shatters Aster's world, they are thrust into a new life...
Of flame and fury
Bridge, Mikayla
Paper Book
A fiery alliance. An explosive secret. The race is on.Phoenix racing: it's profitable, it's deadly. No one knows this better than Kel Varra and her crew, the Crimson Howlers. They live on the edge of survival.When a mysterious tech billionaire offers them a place at his training facility, it gives...
Rage
Castillo, Linda
Paper Book
In this gripping installment of the Edgar Award winning series, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a brutal double murder that takes her into the dark underbelly of society and exposes the dangers of Amish lives gone wrong. Summer has arrived with a vengeance in...
Say You'll Remember Me
Jimenez, Abby.
Paper Book
'No one does funny, emotional, life-affirming love stories quite like Abby Jimenez. She just keeps outdoing herself' EMILY HENRY 'I absolutely love Abby Jimenez . . . Say You'll Remember Me is warm, uplifting, relatable and sweet' MARIAN KEYES 'The...
Shield of Sparrows
Perry, Devney.
Paper Book
A TREATY SEALED IN MAGIC. A FATE BORN OF MONSTERS. A LOVE FORETOLD BY LEGEND. πŸ”₯ THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER πŸ”₯ The ultimate slow-burn, high-stakes romantasy for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca...
Silver elite
Francis, Dani.
Paper 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. Hide in plain sight. And whatever you do, don't fall for your greatest enemy. -----
Sunrise on the Reaping
Collins, Suzanne.
Paper Book
Tilt
Pattee, Emma
Paper Book
Picked as a most anticipated book of 2025 by Goodreads, Vogue, LitHub and TIME ------------------------------------------------------- 'Heralds the arrival of a powerful new literary voice' VOGUE 'Pacy, immaculately modulated' OBSERVER 'Had me turning the pages...
The wind weaver
Johnson, Julie
Paper Book
The instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller! Discover a world where magic isn't learned. It's survived. A gritty and intoxicating epic fantasy romance. Rhya Fleetwood is a healer, an outcast, and like the realm itself--about to die. Or so she thought. ...
The women on platform two
Anthony, Laura
Paper Book
In 1970s Dublin, all forms of contraception are strictly forbidden, but an intrepid group of women will risk everything to change that in this "heartbreaking, powerful, and ultimately uplifting" (Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House) novel inspired by a little-known true story....

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