Staff Picks from 2025

By Laura Eckert, Digital Specialist

Need reading suggestions? We can help with our staff picks! We're sharing some of our favorite reads from 2025.

Staff Picks

Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

Book Description: Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her. Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends. When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie's past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can't have that.

"I love this author! All of her books have little twists at the end that I don't see coming, and her characters are always so unlikeable and downright terrible, but you end up somehow liking them anyway. Great book! I'm never disappointed with Samantha Downing!" Skye, Williamsburg Branch

Check out Too Old for This.

Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Book Description: With a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire--or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread. Being evil-adjacent was never part of the five-year plan. But then again--neither was falling for The Villain.

"This is the third book in the Apprentice to the Villain series.  It has been described as Once Upon a Time meets The Office, and I think it is a pretty apt description for the series!  I listened to the audiobook, and it was laugh-out-loud funny.  I was constantly cracking up, and probably looked like a dork to all of my fellow commuters driving past me!" Kasey, Information Services

Check out Accomplice to the Villain.

Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber

Book Description: It starts with a class in an old movie theater. Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor's stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you'll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart. With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles-and into the path of a magnetic stranger.

"Stephanie Garber's first adult novel is a riveting dark academia that takes place in Hollywood. I would suggest this to anyone who enjoys dark academia and spooky mysteries." Manda, Batavia & Willliamsburg Branches

Check out Alchemy of Secrets.

Spellbound by Allie Therin

Book Description: Rory Brodigan's gift comes with great risk. To protect himself, he's become a recluse, redirecting his magic to find counterfeit antiques. But with the city's fate hanging in the balance, he can't force himself to say no.

Being with Arthur is dangerous, but Rory's ever-growing attraction to him begins to make him brave. And as Arthur coaxes him out of seclusion, a magical and emotional bond begins to form. One that proves impossible to break—even when Arthur sacrifices himself to keep Rory safe, and Rory must risk everything to save him.

"Somehow, this hits the feel for both a cheesy romance and a heist novel despite being a historical fantasy." Vic, Collection Services

Check out Spellbound.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Book Description: Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams, she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures from her dreams. Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them.

"One of my favorite books this year, it gave me the worst book hangover, especially after a cliffhanger ending and book two not releasing until next year." Morgan, Library Services and Outreach

Check out The Knight and the Moth.

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