Must-Read Books
September 2025
Adult Fiction
Cover of The Ascent by Allison Buccola
The Ascent
by Allison Buccola

Twenty years after being the sole survivor of a now-vanished doomsday commune whose members vanished overnight, Lee Burton’s carefully built life begins to unravel. A stranger's sudden offer of answers pulls her back into the mystery she’s long tried to forget, forcing her to confront secrets, rising paranoia, and the fragility of motherhood and identity.
Cover of Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey
Once Was Willem
by M.R. Carey

In 12th century England, recently deceased 12-year-old Willem returns from the grave in the village of Cosham, only to be ostracized and outcast to the forest. As Once-Was-Willem befriends other supernatural creatures, the sorcerer who brought him back claws for more magic and more power...even if it means the lives of all the children of Cosham. M.R. Carey's latest is "a dark and hopeful fable with obvious contemporary resonance" (Kirkus Reviews).
Cover of I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert
I Did Warn Her
by Sian Gilbert

Onboard a billionaire’s lavish yacht, new stewardess Sasha expects glamour and high pay -- but instead finds secrets, rivalries, and murder. When jewels vanish and a crew member turns up dead, everyone’s a suspect. Claustrophobic, twist-filled, and deliciously voyeuristic, I Did Warn Her is a locked-room mystery with a body count.
Cover of Only Lovers in the Building by Nadine Gonzalez
Only Lovers in the Building
by Nadine Gonzalez

Looking for a fresh start after quitting her job in corporate law, New Yorker Lily Lyon books a summer rental at a gorgeous art deco apartment building in Miami, where she meets author Ben Romero, a fellow bibliophile who suggests they form a poolside book club. When their co-written book reviews go viral, they land a podcast deal -- but with summer’s end approaching, Lily’s afraid to make the jump from friendship to something more. For fans of: Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee.
Cover of The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand
The Academy
by Elin Hilderbrand

When a surprise national ranking thrusts underachieving Tiffin Academy into the spotlight, a viral gossip app begins exposing students' and staff's secrets, unraveling reputations and relationships as the boarding school's carefully curated image gives way to chaos, scandal and unexpected alliances.
Cover of Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes
by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Recently widowed Savvy Summers runs a Chicago soul food restaurant and catering business in this engaging series opener that includes recipes. But after a customer dies and people blame her, she must figure out what really killed the man to save herself and her livelihood. Thankfully she has help from her gossipy sous-chef and her cop ex-husband. Try this next: Abby Collette’s Books and Biscuits Mysteries; Danielle Arceneaux’s Glory Broussard Mysteries.
Cover of Fonseca by Jessica Francis Kane
Fonseca
by Jessica Francis Kane

Mining a real 1952 trip to Mexico by Penelope Fitzgerald, this “masterful” (Publishers Weekly) novel follows the acclaimed English writer as she travels with her six-year-old son while broke and pregnant. She’s come at the behest of the eccentric Delaney sisters, who’ve dangled an inheritance before her, but it turns out, she's not the only one. For fans of: Penelope Fitzgerald; witty stories starring real people.
Cover of People Like Us by Jason Mott
People Like Us
by Jason Mott

Jason Mott follows up his National Book Award-winning Hell of a Book with this funny, moving, and surreal tale of two Black writers pondering race, loss, and survival. One of them, who specializes in grief, is at a Minnesota college where a shooting recently occurred, and the other, who just won a big award, is on a book tour in Europe. Try this next: Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour.
Cover of Love Is A War Song by Danica Nava
Love Is A War Song
by Danica Nava

After Muscogee pop star Avery Fox becomes a pariah following an ill-advised Rolling Stone photoshoot, she retreats to her grandmother's horse ranch in Oklahoma to learn more about her heritage. When grumpy ranch hand Lucas Iron Eyes catches her eye, she finds herself torn between returning to the life she thought she wanted and the one she's just now getting to explore. For fans of: Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner.
Cover of The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols
The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective
by Jo Nichols

Elderly Mrs. B. rents her Santa Barbara, California, cottages to people who need help in this charming 1st in a series. When her newest renter, an ex-convict, is blamed when a body is found nearby, Mrs. B. sets out to prove his innocence with help from other tenants, including a single mom and her kids, an agoraphobic man, and a workaholic perfectionist. For fans of: Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building; Richard Osman; Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Vera Wong Mysteries.
Cover of Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill
Greenteeth
by Molly O'Neill

When Temperance, falsely accused of witchcraft, is thrown into a lake, she is unexpectedly rescued by a sharp-toothed monster lurking within its depths. This monster, Jenny Greenteeth, forms an unlikely alliance with Temperance to save the town and Britain from an encroaching evil. For fans of: richly detailed fantasy laden with monsters who are more than their fangs, such as Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. 
Cover of The Original by Nell Stevens
The Original
by Nell Stevens

In 1899, 25-year-old Grace Inderwick, who has face blindness, travels with her aunt to Rome to meet someone claiming to be her cousin Charles, thought to have been lost at sea years ago. While Grace ponders growing up with her cold relatives and her remarkable ability to copy paintings, she and others wonder if the man is an imposter hoping to inherit a sizeable English estate. For fans of: captivating, evocative stories about art forgery; Sarah Waters; Emma Donoghue. 
Cover of The Satisfaction Café by Kathy Wang
The Satisfaction Café
by Kathy Wang

Having left Taiwan in the 1970s to attend Stanford graduate school, Joan marries a fellow student, but that lasts mere weeks. She stays in California, unexpectedly drawn to a wealthy, thrice-divorced older man. They marry, and in this quietly powerful portrait, Joan becomes a stepmother, a mother, a widow, and the owner of café designed to combat loneliness. For fans of: The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin; Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum.
Cover of Circle of Days by Ken Follett
Circle of Days
by Ken Follett

As drought and tension grip the Great Plain, a gifted flint miner and a visionary priestess unite to build a monumental stone circle, but escalating tribal conflicts and brutal violence threaten their civilization and their shared ambition.
Adult Nonfiction
Cover of Baldwin by Nicholas Boggs
Baldwin: A Love Story
by Nicholas Boggs

Drawing on interviews and previously unreleased archival materials, National Humanities Center fellow Nicholas Boggs’ moving and intimate biography of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin examines how his personal relationships impacted his life and career. Further reading: James Baldwin: Living in Fire by Bill V. Mullen.
Cover of A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland
A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought...
by Haley Cohen Gilliland

Yale Journalism Initiative director Haley Cohen Gilliland’s compelling debut spotlights the Argentinian grandmothers who founded the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo in 1977 and stood up to their government’s military dictatorship to help locate their kidnapped grandchildren. Further reading: The Disappeared by Rebecca J. Sanford, a historical fiction novel about the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.
Cover of Black Genius by Tre Johnson
Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy
by Tre Johnson

Cultural critic Tre Johnson's impassioned debut essay collection examines the ways in which Black genius is overlooked and undervalued, revealing how gentrification, cultural appropriation and extraction, and policy undermine Black creatives' accomplishments. For fans of: How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill edited by Jericho Brown.
Cover of The Undiscovered Country by Paul Andrew Hutton
The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West
by Paul Andrew Hutton

Revisits the American West of 1755 to 1890 through the lives of four frontiersmen and three Native leaders, examining the violent realities, cultural myths, and environmental costs behind the celebrated narrative of national expansion and identity.
Youth Fiction
Cover of Dream On by Shannon Hale
Dream On
by Shannon Hale; illustrated by Marcela Cespedes

With a too-big family, too-intense emotions, and a too-cool best friend, life feels like too much for fourth-grader Cassie. When a letter from a magazine contest declares that she’s a winner, Cassie immediately starts fantasizing about how the promised prizes could fix all her problems. For fans of: author Shannon Hale’s Friends series and other honest, heartfelt graphic novels about the ups and downs of everyday life.
Cover of Fateless by Julie Kagawa
Fateless
by Julie Kagawa

Forced to steal an ancient artifact, skilled thief Sparrow accidentally releases a mythical Deathless King bent on destruction. Though she and assassin Raithe make an unlikely team, they may be able to challenge their fates and stop the devastation. Read-alikes: Tahereh Mafi’s This Woven Kingdom; Katy Rose Pool’s There Will Come a Darkness. 
Cover of Sundust by Zeke Peña
Sundust
by Zeke Peña

Following a blazing pink streak of sundust into the desert outside their city, two siblings marvel at the wonders they find there. Illustrated in sun-soaked earth tones, this tale blends fantasy with real-life beauty to create a “surreal exploration of the way the natural world endures and transforms” (Publishers Weekly).
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