LibraryAware October 2025

Adult Fiction

Stone yard devotional
by Charlotte Wood

"Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident. But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signaling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past"

Gabriela and His Grace
by Liana De la Rosa

In this steamy 3rd and final Luna Sisters Victorian romance, Mexican heiress Gabriela Luna sparks an unexpected attraction with the arrogant Sebastian, Duke of Whitfield, with whom she is forced to share a ship cabin after fleeing from her would-be suitors. Try this next: A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera.

Vianne : a novel
by Joanne Harris

After scattering her mother's ashes, Vianne follows a mystical wind to Marseille, where she begins a new life as a pregnant waitress discovering the magic of cooking with chocolate -- only to find that her secret past may upend the fragile future she's building.

Too Old for This
by Samantha Downing

In Samantha Downing’s wry, twist-filled new novel, 75-year-old Lottie Jones -- once a notorious serial killer -- lives quietly under a new identity. But when a journalist starts digging into her past, Lottie must confront old crimes and consider new ones to stay hidden. Murder, however, isn’t so easy at her age.

The Wasp Trap
by Mark Edwards

At a glamorous London dinner party, six old friends are forced into a deadly game: confess their darkest secrets or face elimination. Tied to a long-buried psychological experiment from 1999, their past resurfaces with chilling consequences. The Wasp Trap is a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller about truth, betrayal, and hidden psychopaths.

The book club for troublesome women : a novel
by Marie Bostwick

"In suburban Virginia of the 1960s, Margaret Ryan forms an impromptu book club with three neighbors, discovering shared dissatisfaction with societal expectations, as the group bonds over personal struggles, feminist ideas and the transformative power offriendship during a life-changing year"

Mrs. Endicott's splendid adventure : a novel
by Rhys Bowen

In Surrey, England, 1938, blindsided by her husband's divorce appeal, Ellie impulsively heads to the South of France with housekeeper Mavis and elderly friend Dora until their Bentley breaks down in Saint Benet, where Ellie is drawn to fisherman Nico—but war looms. Simultaneous.

Automatic Noodle
by Annalee Newitz

In this cozy near-future novella, a group of decommissioned robots suddenly come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen in San Francisco and decide to make it their own, serving delicious hand-pulled noodles to the humans recovering from the aftermath of war. For fans of: science fiction with hope and heart such as Becky Chambers' Monk & Robot series.

Wrath of the dragons : a novel
by Olivia Rose Darling

As war ignites across Ravaryn, dragon heir Elowen Atarah and Demon Commander Cayden Veles must navigate a fragile alliance and their complicated feelings for one another while fighting to claim their thrones and protect a realm on the brink of collapse.

Katabasis : a novel
by R. F. Kuang

Alice has sacrificed everything to work with Professor Grimes at Cambridge, the world's greatest magician, but when he dies in a magical accident and is sent to Hell, she and rival Peter follow him, using only tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them. Illustrations.

Gray Dawn
by Walter Mosley

Running a successful detective agency in 1970s L.A., Easy Rawlins is hired to find a dangerous woman whose secrets threaten to upend the city's fragile balance in the latest addition to the long-running series following Farewell, Amethystine. 80,000 first printing.

The Gilded Heiress
by Joanna Shupe

In Gilded Age Boston, cash-strapped con artist Leo Hardy meets street performer Josie Smith, who bears a striking resemblance to a New York socialite whose daughter was kidnapped as a child. Leo concocts a scheme to pass Josie off as the daughter so he can collect a sizeable reward, but the pair's growing chemistry makes the deception difficult. For fans of: Anastasia-inspired romances like Kate Bateman's The Princess and the Rogue.

The mysterious case of the missing crime writer
by Ragnar Jâonasson

Young detective Helgi must find bestselling crime author Elín S. Jónsdóttir, before her disappearance is leaked to the press, and before it is too late for the missing writer.

Lucky Day
by Chuck Tingle

After the Low Probability Event (LPE) kills eight million people in absurd ways, bisexual statistics professor Vera Norrie teams up with Federal LPE Agent Jonah Layne to investigate a Las Vegas casino where the event may have originated, lest further catastrophe strikes. This fast-paced cosmic horror from the author of Bury Your Gays will appeal to fans of Jason Pargin.

Of Monsters and Mainframes
by Barbara Truelove

Demeter, an intelligent interstellar ship that ferries humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri, would rather do anything than ally herself with monsters. However, when an infamous ancient evil begins killing her beloved passengers, she'll have no choice but to assemble a paranormal crew of her own to take him down. For fans of: chilling science fiction horror with authentic and entertaining characters such as Peter Watts' Echopraxia and Mason Coile's William.

Adult Nonfiction

Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
by Moudhy Al-Rashid

In her accessible and illuminating debut, historian Moudhy Al-Rashid utilizes eight artifacts, including cuneiform tablets and weapon fragments, to explore everyday life and culture in ancient Mesopotamia. Further reading: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World by Selena Wisnom.

We might just make it after all : my best friendship with Kate Spade
by Elyce Arons

Follows two women from college dreams to entrepreneurial success, tracing the decades-long friendship behind a groundbreaking fashion brand, and exploring their creative journey, personal struggles, and the lasting impact of a partnership that shaped their lives and transformed the accessories industry. Illustrations.

Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State
by Caleb Gayle

Journalist Caleb Gayle's compelling and well-researched history offers a nuanced portrait of Black separatist politician and entrepreneur Edward McCabe, whose attempts to establish Black-run communities in the post-Reconstruction Oklahoma Territory spurred the displacement of the Cherokee already living there. Try this next: The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance by Rebecca Clarren.

Youth Fiction

The experiment
by Rebecca Stead

Eleven-year-old Nathan and his parents have a mission to blend in with humans on Earth, but when Nathan starts growing a tail, he begins to question the true purpose of their alien experiment

The Poisoned King
by Katherine Rundell

Ever since his first excursion, Christopher has been longing to return to the Archipelago, a hidden realm of mythological animals. So when he’s summoned by a dragon, Christopher is thrilled to follow it into a mystery involving a sphinx, a spreading poison, and a small girl bent on revenge. This exciting, illustrated sequel will be most fun if you’ve already read Impossible Creatures.

Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories
by Cynthia Leitich Smith, editor

Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In is a food truck that appears wherever Indigenous people across North America need to meet. It provides the setting for the linked stories in this touching and magical anthology that takes readers from Hawai’i to Alaska to Manitoba and many liminal places in between.

Scarlet Morning
by N.D. Stevenson

Abandoned in the boring town of Caveat, orphans Wilmur and Viola trade their only valuable possession -- the mysterious Book -- to pirate captain Cadence Chase in exchange for a voyage on the high seas. But the secrets they uncover on the journey might have deadly consequences. Packed with complex characters and swashbuckling adventure, this illustrated fantasy from the creator of Nimona kicks off a new series.

Contact your librarian for more great books!