These Books Are Most Recommended by Librarians
Announcing the winners of the 2025 Libby Book Awards.
Courtesy of publishers
Who better to turn to for book recommendations than librarians? They live and breathe books every day. Whether you’re looking for a mystery, romance, fantasy, memoir, or something else, librarians have got you covered.
And now thousands of librarians have created their ultimate book list. OverDrive—the creator of the Libby app, which is used by millions of readers—just announced the winners of its 2nd annual Libby Book Awards. The winners were chosen from more than 1,100 responses from librarians and library staff worldwide (from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Romania, and Puerto Rico).
On the list are two novels that were on OverDrive’s top-circulating books of 2024: The Women by Kristin Hannah and Funny Story by Emily Henry, which won for Adult Fiction and Romance, respectively. Two books also achieved double honors: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson won both Adult Non-Fiction and Audiobook; and The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley received the Debut Author and Science Fiction awards.
Take a look at the full list of 2025 Libby Book Awards winners below, and see all the nominees here.
- Adult Fiction: The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Adult Non-Fiction: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
- Young Adult: Heir by Sabaa Tahir
- Audiobook: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
- Debut Author: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Best Book Club Book: Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
- Best Business: When We Are Seen: How to Come Into Your Power—and Empower Others Along the Way by Denise Young
- Comic Graphic Novel: Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls
- Cookbook: Anything’s Pastable by Dan Pashman
- Fantasy: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
- Historical Fiction: James by Percival Everett
- Horror: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
- Memoir & Autobiography: Knife by Salmon Rushdie
- Middle-Grade Book: Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
- Mystery: We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
- Picture Book: Little Shrew by Akiko Miyakoshi
- Romance: Funny Story by Emily Henry
- Romantasy: House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
- Science Fiction: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Thriller: One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon
