Fiction Staff Picks 2025

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

Updated December 18, 2025
K
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
"A staggering, alien vision of deepest solidarity." - Esquire, Best of the Year. From Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky comes a far-future epic that confirms his place as a modern master of science fiction, in which a political...
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
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Financial Times, Slate, The Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, The TelegraphA...
BOOK OF GUILT
CHIDGEY, CATHERINE
Paper Book
Amazon Editors' Best Books of 2025 | Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Books of 2025 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-...
BROKEN COUNTRY
HALL, CLARE LESLIE
Paper Book
Over 1 Million Copies Sold A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK | A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives...but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that...
Butter
Yuzuki, Asako
Audiobook
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
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
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
The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! This edition includes an exquisite, glistening cover with effects and brilliantly illustrated four-color interior art. A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from...
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
A holographic foil case, glitch-effect endpapers, custom designed edges, stunning foiled case, and exclusive bonus content make this limited deluxe edition of Fable for the End of the World a must-have for fans of dystopian romance like The Last of Us and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, from...
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...
HOP
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
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...
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 in? Find out in a...
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
MAD MABEL
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
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...
MIRES
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....
NAMES
KNAPP, FLORENCE
Paper Book
THE YEAR'S BREAKOUT NOVEL AND WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT--A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND READ WITH JENNA PICK "Dazzling. . . Knapp tirelessly and beautifully replicates not just loss and grief but endless rebirth and delight." --The Washington Post "Elegant. . ....
Nesting
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...
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
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
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
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
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
An exquisite winter tale of courage - and its cost, set in Catholic Ireland.
SOCIETY OF UNKNOWABLE OBJECTS
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
SHAFAK, ELIF
Paper Book
From the Booker Prize finalist, author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two great rivers, all connected by a single drop of water. "Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too...
VANISHING PLACE
RANKIN, ZOE
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...
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
Parker, Sarah A., (Fantasy fiction writer)
Ebook
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The #1 internationally bestselling phenomenon, When the Moon Hatched, is a fast-paced fantasy romance featuring an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages. The Creators did not...
Wild dark shore
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 breathtaking novel of ROMANCE, MYSTERY, AND TWISTS that will shock you...I love this book so much." --Reese Witherspoon "A WILDLY TALENTED...
WILD REVERENCE
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
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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