The top forthcoming books in Canadian libraries

May 2025 Adult List

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  1. One Golden Summer
    by Carley Fortune Canada
    Viking
    May 06, 2025
    FICTION/Romance/General
    Paperback / softback

    Description

    A radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune

    I never anticipated Charlie Florek.

    Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.

    Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.

    Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.

    Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
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  2. Nightshade
    by Michael Connelly
    Little, Brown and Company
    May 20, 2025
    FICTION/Mystery & Detective/Police Procedural
    Hardback

    Description

    Introducing Detective Stilwell: a cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.

    Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.

    Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.

    Propulsive and atmospheric, Nightshade launches a brand new character into the Connelly universe, and proves without question that Michael Connelly is “the undisputed master of the modern crime novel” (Real Book Spy).
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  3. The Tenant
    by Freida McFadden
    Poisoned Pen Press
    May 06, 2025
    FICTION/Thrillers/Psychological
    Hardback

    Description

    A new, jaw-dropping thriller from the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boyfriend and The Housemaid!

    There's no place like home…

    Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone he shares with his fiancée, he's desperate to make ends meet.

    Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?

    Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets...

    Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set.

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden knocks at your door with a gripping story of revenge, privilege, and secrets turned sour…

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  4. Never Flinch
    by Stephen King
    Scribner
    May 27, 2025
    FICTION/Thrillers/Suspense
    Hardback

    Description

    Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Vulture, Men’s Health, Book Riot, The New York Post, Goodreads, AARP, Paste, and more!

    From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters.


    When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.

    Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

    Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off.

    Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King’s richest and most propulsive novels.
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  5. My Friends
    by Fredrik Backman
    Simon & Schuster
    May 06, 2025
    FICTION/Literary
    Hardback

    Description

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  6. Hidden Nature
    by Nora Roberts
    St. Martin's Press
    May 27, 2025
    FICTION/Women
    Hardback

    Description

    The #1 New York Times-bestselling author presents a novel about an injured cop who must fight to bring down a pair of twisted killers…

    Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.

    After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.

    She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young—the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.

    Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case—and she's willing to risk her life again if that's what it takes to stop the horror.

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  7. The Book of Records
    by Madeleine Thien Canada
    Knopf Canada
    May 06, 2025
    FICTION/World Literature/Canada/21st Century
    Hardback

    Description

    Named a 2025 Most Anticipated Release by Toronto Star • Literary Hub • Esquire • The Washington Post • 49th Shelf • She Does the City

    The sublime, long-awaited, major new novel from the beloved author of the Governor General's Literary Award-winning, Booker Prize-shortlisted bestseller Do Not Say We Have Nothing.


    The Book of Records opens inside "The Sea," a mysterious shape-shifting enclave, a staging-post for waves of migrants coming and going, a building made of time where pasts and futures collide. Here, a girl named Lina cares for her ailing father.

    Having arrived carrying her few possessions by hand, Lina grows up with only three books to read—a trio taken from a grand 90-volume series about the lives of famous "voyagers" throughout history. As she goes about daily life in the building, finding food and necessities for herself and her father, she befriends three eccentric neighbours, each with a story to share. There's Bento, an ex-communicated Jewish scholar from seventeenth-century Amsterdam (who resembles voyager Baruch Spinoza in one of Lina's books); Blucher, a philosopher from 1930s Germany who escaped Nazi persecution (and whose life mirrors that of Hannah Arendt, from another of Lina's books); and Jupiter, a brilliant but impoverished poet of Tang Dynasty China (whose story shadows that of voyager Du Fu). As Lina grows up, she spends hours with these three, listening to their fascinating tales. But it is only when her father, his strength fading, reveals how he and Lina came to seek refuge in The Sea that she begins to understand her own story, and the acts of love and betrayal shaping her life.

    Exquisitely written with extraordinary subtlety of thought, The Book of Records leaps across centuries as if eras were separated by only a door. It holds a mirror to the role of fate, shows how a political moment may determine the course of an individual's life, and suggests the longings and consolations of a voyaging mind and heart. This is Madeleine Thien at her most exciting, sublime and engaging.
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  8. Whistle
    by Linwood Barclay Canada
    William Morrow
    May 20, 2025
    Hardback

    Description

    “Terrific.”— Stephen King on Whistle

    New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed.

    Evil has a one track mind....

    Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal.

    But Annie’s year is about to get worse.

    Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. Annie is glad to see Charlie happy, but there’s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night—she could swear she hears a train, but there isn’t an active track for miles—and bizarre things begin happening in the neighborhood. Worse, Annie can’t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a children’s book.

    Grief can do strange things to the mind, but Annie is beginning to think she’s walked out of one nightmare straight into another, only this one is far more terrifying…

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  9. My Name Is Emilia del Valle
    by Isabel Allende
    Ballantine Books
    May 06, 2025
    FICTION/Literary
    Hardback

    Description

    In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

    In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.

    To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can no longer satisfy her sense of adventure, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at The Daily Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.

    As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, as does Eric, and while there, she meets her estranged father and delves into the violent confrontation in the country where her roots lie. As she and Eric discover love, the war escalates and Emilia finds herself in extreme danger, fearing for her life and questioning her identity and her destiny.

    A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name Is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart.
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  10. Speak to Me of Home
    by Jeanine Cummins
    Henry Holt and Co.
    May 13, 2025
    FICTION/Family Life/Marriage & Divorce
    Hardback

    Description

    What does it mean to call a place home?

    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jeanine Cummins comes a deeply felt multigenerational family story


    On her wedding day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1968, Rafaela Acuña y Daubón has mild misgivings, but she marries Peter Brennan Jr. anyway in a blaze of romantic optimism. She has no way of knowing how dramatically her life will change when she uproots her young family to start over in the American Midwest, unleashing a fleet of disappointments.

    In the 1980s, against the backdrop of her mother’s isolation in St. Louis, Missouri, Rafaela’s daughter, Ruth, wants only to belong. Eager to fit in, Ruth lets go of her language, habits, and childhood memories of Puerto Rico. It’s not until decades later when Ruth’s own daughter, Daisy, returns to San Juan that her mother and grandmother begin to truly reflect on the choices that have come to define their lives.

    When a hurricane ravages the island in 2023, leaving Daisy critically injured, Rafaela and Ruth return to the city where their story began. As they gather at Daisy’s bedside, we follow them back into the moments that brought them to this point: We watch as they come of age, fall in love, take risks, and contend with all the heartbreaks, triumphs, and reversals of fortune—both good and bad—that make up a meaningful life. As old memories come to light, so do buried secrets, leaving everyone in the family wondering exactly where it is that they belong.

    A striking, resonant examination of marriage, family, and identity, Speak to Me of Home is ultimately a story of mothers and daughters that asks: How can three women who share geography and genetics have such wildly different ideas of where they come from? And, more important, can they discover a common language to find their way back home?

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March & April 2025 Juvenile and Young Adult List

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  1. The Cartoonists Club: A Graphic Novel
    by Raina Telgemeier
    Graphix
    Apr 01, 2025
    JUVENILE FICTION/Comics & Graphic Novels/General
    Hardback

    Description

    #1 New York Times bestselling cartoonists Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud team up for a one-of-a-kind friendship story about creativity and self-expression that blends how-to and comics magic. Welcome to the club!

    Makayla is bursting with ideas but doesn't know how to make them into a story. Howard loves to draw, but he struggles to come up with ideas and his dad thinks comics are a waste of time. Lynda constantly draws in her sketchbook but keeps focusing on what she feels are mistakes, and Art simply loves being creative and is excited to try something new. They come together to form The Cartoonists Club, where kids can learn about making comics and use their creativity and imagination for their own storytelling adventures!

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  2. Karen's Prize: A Graphic Novel (Baby-sitters Little Sister #10)
    by Shauna J. Grant
    Graphix
    Apr 01, 2025
    JUVENILE FICTION/Comics & Graphic Novels/General
    Hardback

    Description

    Another graphic novel in this fun series spin-off of The Baby-sitters Club, adapted by Mimi series creator Shauna J. Grant!

    Karen loves to spell words. She is very good at it, too. First, she wins the spelling bee in her class. Then Karen wins another spelling contest. And another... and another! Soon Karen might be the best junior speller in the state of Connecticut. She's even going to be on TV!

    Karen thinks that is so great. But her friends don't. They think Karen is a show-off!

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  3. Sunrise on the Reaping (A Hunger Games Novel)
    by Suzanne Collins
    Scholastic Press
    Mar 18, 2025
    YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Dystopian
    Hardback

    Description

    The phenomenal fifth book in the Hunger Games series!

    When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

    As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

    Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

    When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

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  4. Pete the Kitty and the Mermaid's Sandcastle
    by James Dean
    HarperCollins
    Mar 25, 2025
    Hardback

    Description

    A magical mermaid adventure from New York Times bestselling creators Kimberly and James Dean!

    Pete the Kitty and his mermaid friend Jessie work together to build a sandcastle. But the castle is missing something. Will one shell, two barnacles, three strands of seaweed, and more gifts from the sea be enough to make their sandcastle the best it can be?

    Young mermaid fans and beachgoers will love building and counting with Pete and Jessie in this My First I Can Read story, complete with original illustrations from the creator of Pete the Cat, James Dean.

    This My First I Can Read book is carefully crafted using basic language, word repetition, sight words, and sweet illustrations—which means it's perfect for shared reading with emergent readers. The active, engaging My First I Can Read stories have appealing plots and lovable characters, encouraging children to continue their reading journey.

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  5. Night of the Dream Dragon: A Branches Book (Dragon Masters #28)
    by Tracey West
    Scholastic Inc.
    Apr 01, 2025
    JUVENILE FICTION/Readers/Chapter Books
    Hardback

    Description

    Drake and Worm go on an adventure with the mystical Dream Dragon in the latest action-packed installment of this New York Times bestselling series perfect for newly independent readers!

    Pick a book. Grow a Reader!

    This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!

    Evil wizard Zoltan has entered the Dream World without permission. He is searching for the Dream Fountain. Anyone who drinks from it can make their dreams real! With the help of Mamu, a Dream Dragon, and her Dragon Master Kishar, Drake and Worm chase after Zoltan in the Dream World. Can the Dragon Masters stop the wizard before he reaches the fountain? And what is Zoltan's evil plan?

    With engaging black-and-white artwork on every page, kids won't be able to put down this page-turning adventure!

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  6. Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin #2
    by Erin Hunter
    HarperAlley
    Apr 08, 2025
    Hardback

    Description

    The second full-color graphic novel adaptation of the blockbuster Warriors series, which has sold more than 66 million copies, covers the third and fourth novels of The Prophecies Begin (Forest of Secrets and Rising Storm).

    The hardcover edition includes a gorgeously illustrated case cover!


    Allegiances are shifting among the Clans of warrior cats that roam the forest. With tensions so delicately balanced, friends can become enemies overnight, and some cats are willing to kill to get what they want. Fireheart is determined to find out the truth about the mysterious death of the former ThunderClan deputy Redtail. But as he searches for answers, he uncovers secrets that might be better left hidden. In the heat of a blazing summer, Fireheart struggles to handle sinister omens, an apprentice with a shocking secret, and a devastated Clan leader who is a shell of her former self. And as the forest gets hotter and hotter, every cat braces for the coming storm....

    Ever since the first Warriors book hit shelves, readers have devoured these epic adventures. This stunning new adaptation retells the original Warriors story arc as a full-color graphic novel.

    • More than 66 million copies of the Warriors books have been sold worldwide!
    • This second graphic novel of the Prophecies Begin arc covers novels 3 and 4: Forest of Secrets and Rising Storm
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  7. Fearless
    by Lauren Roberts
    Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
    Apr 08, 2025
    YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Fantasy/Romance
    Hardback

    Description

    Paedyn and Kai are reunited but face a terrible decision in this thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling romantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and The Red Queen.

    Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer return to the Kingdom of Ilya…

    And Paedyn has a life-altering choice to make. Whatever she decides will determine her fate—and the fate of those around her—forever.

    In the ultimate battle of love and loyalty, who wins?
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  8. The Berenstain Bears: Here Come the Bears!
    by Mike Berenstain
    HarperCollins
    Mar 25, 2025
    Hardback

    Description

    The Berenstain Bears learn about their closest relatives—bears!—in this funny and educational addition to the classic New York Times bestselling series.

    The Bear family is going to the Great Bear Museum to learn about different types of bears! With the help of Doctor Bear and a magical Anywhere-Anyplace machine, they get to meet grizzly bears, polar bears, black bears, and more. Along the way, they might even learn some fantastic bear facts!

    Here Come the Bears! is a Level One I Can Read book, which means it’s perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences. Whether shared at home or in a classroom, the short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts of Level One books support success for children eager to start reading on their own.

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  9. Little Blue Truck and Racer Red
    by Alice Schertle
    Clarion Books
    Mar 25, 2025
    Hardback

    Description

    The #1 bestselling Little Blue Truck meets a zippy red race car with a need for speed.

    Little Blue Truck and good friend Toad are out for a drive when a flash of red whizzes by—then whizzes back to stop and say hi. Sleek and low, Racer Red is made for speed and loves to go fast! When she challenges Blue to a race, Blue knows that win or lose, it’s fun to try! Beep! Beep! Zooooom!

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  10. Mallory and the Trouble with Twins: A Graphic Novel (The Baby-sitters Club #17)
    by Arley Nopra Canada
    Graphix
    Mar 04, 2025
    JUVENILE FICTION/Comics & Graphic Novels/General
    Hardback

    Description

    A Baby-sitters Club graphic novel adapted by New York Times bestselling cartoonist Arley Nopra!

    Mallory knows she's a good baby-sitter. She's been looking after her seven younger brothers and sisters for years. So when Kristy offers her a steady job baby-sitting for the Arnold twins, Mal thinks it'll be easy money.

    The twins sure are cute in their matching outfits. But once Mrs. Arnold leaves, Marilyn and Carolyn turn into twin terrors! They trick Mallory so that she can't tell them apart and they act like spoiled brats.

    Taking care of Marilyn and Carolyn is a baby-sitting nightmare. But Mallory is a responsible member of the Baby-sitters Club and she's not giving up!

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