With more than 200 fiction titles in our annual Books We Love guide, it's tough to narrow our 2025 favorites down into one single-digit list. But there are always a few standouts, and in the picks below you'll find a little bit of everything that we enjoyed this year: romance, fantasy and sci-fi, oh my!
Curious about the rest of our fiction recommendations? Head to the full Books We Love site to browse hundreds of selections from 2025, and thousands from years past.
Atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid will agree that Atmosphere is one of her best books yet. This thrilling fictional portrayal of NASA's space shuttle program in the 1980s doesn't miss. It opens with Joan in Mission Control managing a catastrophe on the shuttle. Then readers flash back almost five years to learn how each of the astronauts earned their place on the mission. The novel is immediately complex, compelling and high stakes. I recommend listening on audiobook so readers don't destroy a paper copy with tears. Themes include sexism in the workplace, LGBTQ relationships and found family. — Jenna Molster, manager, Rights and Permissions
The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami
Archivist and mother Sara T. Hussein gets detained at an airport. Her crime? A dream deemed too high risk by an AI algorithm. Writing incisively, Laila Lalami brilliantly builds a world where a pre-crime system collides with surveillance capitalism. With the novel's compelling cast of characters and endless parallels to today, I found The Dream Hotel instructive for navigating a society beset by mass surveillance – where the only escape can be found in shouldering risk together. — Emily Kwong, host, Short Wave and Inheriting
The Everlasting, by Alix E. Harrow
First things first, The Everlasting is not a book you're going to get over easily. It's razor sharp and designed to cut you deeply. You'll be moved, you'll probably cry, and by the end you'll say thank you for delivering my suffering so beautifully. This story follows a scholar and a mythical (lady) knight who have lived the same story countless times – caught in a historical time loop. It's a book about storytelling, and how nationalism cannot exist without the support of a well-told myth. It's a thrashing examination of how we choose our heroes. And, most importantly, it's a love story – about two people who learn over and over again that they're doomed in every possible way but still choose each other anyway. What exquisite agony, wonderfully delivered. — Kalyani Saxena, associate producer, Here & Now
Great Big Beautiful Life, by Emily Henry
Journalist Alice Scott has stumbled upon what just might be her big break – a shot at writing the biography of a tragic heiress and onetime tabloid princess turned recluse no one has seen in years. But to win the book contract, Alice must compete with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Hayden Anderson. As Alice and Hayden continue to bump into each other on the fictional Little Crescent Island off the Georgia coast, they begin to see beneath the personas both portray to the outside world, and sparks fly. This is a story about romance, but also about family, secrets and betrayal. — Rachel Baye, editor, NPR Politics Podcast
King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby
Family secrets are something and in this Southern crime drama, they burn! When Roman Carruthers' elderly father is incapacitated by the local drug gang, this prodigal son returns to set things right and protect his hapless younger brother and his hardworking sister. She needs help keeping the family crematorium business going. Know what's good for getting rid of a body you don't want around? A crematorium! Roman gets pulled in deeper and deeper as he tries to take down the gang from the inside, just as his sister thinks she's uncovered the mystery of what really happened to their long-missing mother. This story spins and spins violently to a dark and satisfying conclusion. — Melissa Gray, senior producer, Weekend Edition
The South, by Tash Aw
At times, Tash Aw's The South evokes the quiet intensity of Chekhov. It explores the contradictions within a Malaysian family: generational divides, subtle tensions around sexuality, and class differences – set against the backdrop of late-1990s Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis. At its heart is Jay Lim, a teenager navigating desire and identity amid the disarray of a failing family farm. This coming-of-age novel, longlisted for the Booker Prize, is the first in a planned quartet. It's a strong opening, and a compelling reason to anticipate the Lim family's journey in the volumes to come. — Vincent Ni, Asia editor, International Desk
Sunrise on the Reaping, by Suzanne Collins
Rebel plots, bootleg liquor, underdog alliances and Edgar Allan Poe-try all await you in the latest addition to the Hunger Games universe. Sunrise on the Reaping is the long-awaited account of Haymitch Abernathy's path to victory during the 50th annual Hunger Games. With double the number of children sent into the arena and appearances from a cast of familiar characters, this book provides an entirely new perspective on the history of Panem. While Haymitch's victory at the the end of this book is not a surprise, the stakes still feel higher than ever in the small wins and losses that Haymitch and his loved ones face both in, and outside, the arena. — Dhanika Pineda, assistant producer, NPR Music
Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy
A father and his three (teen and tween) kids live, not exactly harmoniously, on a sinking research island off Antarctica. It's home to the world's biggest seed vault and no other humans – until a mysterious woman washes ashore in a storm. Suspicions arise and trust is tested as the family helps the woman regain her strength. Wild Dark Shore is a thrilling page-turner, but all the action and suspense disguise something deeper: a beautiful meditation on love, loss and resilience in the face of climate change. — Rachel Treisman, reporter, General Assignment
This is just a fraction of the 380+ titles we included in Books We Love this year. Click here to check out this year's titles, or browse nearly 4,000 books from the last 13 years.
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