AUCKLAND, Today: The 2025 Whitcoulls Top 100 Books List dropped today (Monday, July 28, 2025, 5:00am) with a big surprise – 25 percent of the chosen titles are fantasy. Thirty-one books are brand new, and 20 feature Kiwi authors.
Whitcoulls Book Manager Joan Mackenzie says, “the predominance of fantasy books voted for this year captures the zeitgeist; they’re what so many people are reading at the moment and purchasing instore or online.”
Mackenzie is thrilled that more local writers made it into the Top 100 – one-fifth of the list – which is five more than last year. Eleven are non-fiction, while nine are novels.
“Notable among these are Vanya Insull’s cookbook Everyday Comfort Food at #12; Rachel Paris’s novel See How They Fall at #17; and non-fiction book, Fungi by Liv Sisson at #25. Publishing royalty, Catherine Chidgey, Becky Manawatu and Jenny Pattrick also make an appearance, as do local celebrities, Dai Henwood and Matt Heath,” says Mackenzie.
“As a nation of avid readers, we naturally seek out quality stories which offer us windows into other worlds – be they fantasy, romance, literary fiction, affirming true stories or wisdom through the ages.” – Joan Mackenzie
Rebecca Yarros takes the number one spot for the first time with her Empyrean series, bumping Sarah J. Maas and her A Court of Thorns & Roses series down to second. Kristin Hannah’s The Women lands at number three, while Richard Osman rockets from #54 last year to sixth place with The Thursday Murder Club series.
Memoirs, romantic fiction, and self-development titles also shine, including Pippa Latour and Jude Dobson’s The Last Secret Agent (#50); Callie Hart’s dark romance fantasy Quicksilver (#20); and Mel Robbins’s hit book, The Let Them Theory (#21).
“As a nation of avid readers, we naturally seek out quality stories which offer us windows into other worlds – be they fantasy, romance, literary fiction, affirming true stories or wisdom through the ages,” said Mackenzie.
Whitcoulls have been asking readers to vote for their favourite books for close to three decades and the 2025 Top 100 Books List provides us with a snapshot of the nation’s reading habits.
Whitcoulls are proud to showcase Aotearoa New Zealand’s favourite books instore nationwide and online at whitcoulls.co.nz from Monday, 28 July 2025, when the embargo lifts at 5:00am.
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