2025 Kawartha Lakes Readers’ Choice Awards Winners

The 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards have come to a close, with well over a hundred community members casting their ballots in support of their favourite reads.

The winning titles include “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach, a charming deconstruction of relationships and the unusual paths they put us on, and Louise Penny’s cerebral mystery “The Grey Wolf”, the latest in the author’s long-running Inspector Gamache series. Kristin Hannah’s “The Women”, a compelling tale of a 60’s-era army nurse and her wartime experiences, dominated the Historical fiction category, while Matt Haig’s “The Midnight Library” explores the fantastical possibilities of a library beyond space and time, where fates can be changed as easily as your library card number!

Carley Fortune’s “One Golden Summer” pushed the idea of the classic summer romance to the next level, winning in the romantic fiction category, while Matt Haig’s second winner on the list, “The Life Impossible,” swept the science fiction category. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus remained one of the most popular debut novels from recent years, with its sharp writing and strong feminist message cementing its place at the top of its category.

For nonfiction, Mel Robbins’s “Let Them Theory” inspired readers with its message of shrugging off social expectations to achieve happiness. Indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s memoir, “Braiding Sweetgrass”, challenged us to view science and nature through her own intriguingly unique lens, while “The Knowing” by Tanya Talaga confronted the prejudice that kept such perspectives out of the spotlight for so long. “Nature’s Year in the Kawarthas” by Drew Monkman remained one of the most popular science books among Kawartha Lakes residents, and Tieghan Gerard’s “Half Baked Harvest Quick and Cozy” helped keep their bellies as full as their brains throughout all those busy hours spent reading!

Finally, teen respondents selected the high school thriller “One of Us is Lying” by Karen M. McManus as their top pick for the general fiction category, the LGBT romance graphic novel “Heartstopper vol. 1” by Alice Oseman as the best of the graphic novel category, and the latest entry in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series, “Sunrise on the Reaping”, as the winner of the fantasy category. Meanwhile, kids chose Peter Brown’s “The Wild Robot” as their favourite chapter book and Eric Carle’s evergreen classic “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” as their favourite picture book.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards! We look forward to seeing what books library users will nominate when the 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards kick off early next year.