BPL Hidden Gems Tournament 2025Like this list

13 items

• The Guest in Room 120

  Ackerman, Sara

  Add The Guest in Room 120 to your for later shelf

  Historical fiction: A century-old mystery haunts Honolulu’s Moana Hotel, where betrayal and secrets ripple across generations. From a formidable woman in 1905 to a bestselling author in 2005, lives intertwine through danger, dreams, and hidden…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Magic Deep & Drowning

  Fox, Hester

  Add A Magic Deep & Drowning to your for later shelf

  Historical fiction: In 17th-century Friesland, a young woman’s search for freedom collides with forbidden love and ancient legend. Drawn to a mysterious stranger, she discovers that passion and peril are inseparable. As a blood-forged bargain…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Wayfinder

  Johnson, Adam

  Add The Wayfinder to your for later shelf

  Historical fiction: On a remote island, a young girl embarks on a voyage that promises salvation but delivers peril. Guided by a stranger, she enters the collapsing empire of Tonga, where magic, danger, and royal feuds abound. With talking corpses,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Her Many Faces

  Cloke, Nicci

  Add Her Many Faces to your for later shelf

  Mystery/Thriller: When four elite club members are poisoned, suspicion falls on a young waitress whose life is scrutinized from every angle. Family, friends, lovers, and strangers each paint a different portrait of her—innocent, conspiratorial,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• If the Dead Belong Here

  Faust, Carson

  Add If the Dead Belong Here to your for later shelf

  Mystery/Thriller: A family shattered by the disappearance of a young girl struggles to navigate grief and unanswered questions. Her sister, plagued by haunting dreams, begins to suspect deeper connections to past tragedies. Guided by ancestral…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dead of Summer

  Maxwell, Jessa

  Add Dead of Summer to your for later shelf

  Mystery/Thriller: Returning to Hadley Island stirs old wounds, unanswered questions, and unsettling discoveries. As memories of a vanished friend resurface, three lives—an outsider, a newcomer, and a recluse—become entangled in the island’s dark…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Pieces You'll Never Get Back

  a Memoir of Unlikely Survival

  Ali, Samina

  Add Pieces You'll Never Get Back to your for later shelf

  Memoir/Biography: A young writer’s near-death experience during childbirth leaves her with profound memory loss and a fractured sense of self. As she relearns how to walk, speak, and mother her newborn, she confronts the painful disconnect between…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Deliver Parcels in Beijing

  Hu, Anyan

  Add I Deliver Parcels in Beijing to your for later shelf

  Memoir/Biography: A literary sensation in China, this memoir captures the gruelling reality of short-term jobs in anonymous megacities. With humour and resilience, the author recounts night shifts in sweltering warehouses, endless searches for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Semi-well-adjusted Despite Literally Everything

  a Memoir

  Stoner, Alyson

  Add Semi-well-adjusted Despite Literally Everything to your for later shelf

  Memoir/Biography: From child stardom to personal turmoil, this memoir reveals the hidden costs of growing up in Hollywood. The author recounts exhausting work schedules, family struggles, eating disorders, and the search for identity in a world…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Heart of Winter

  Evison, Jonathan

  Add The Heart of Winter to your for later shelf

  Contemporary Romance: Spanning seventy years of love, loss, and resilience, this novel traces the life of a couple whose disastrous blind date blossomed into a lifelong partnership. From raising children to tending a farm, their journey is marked by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Summers Between Us

  Nanja, Noreen

  Add The Summers Between Us to your for later shelf

  Contemporary Romance: Returning to her family’s summer cottage, a successful lawyer is confronted by memories of a first love she thought she had buried. Reunited with the boy who once knew her dreams best, she must face the secrets and heartbreak…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Know How This Ends

  Smale, Holly

  Add I Know How This Ends to your for later shelf

  Contemporary Romance: After a devastating breakup, a woman plunges into chaos, sabotaging her career and embracing reckless choices. Then visions of her future begin to unfold—each one coming true exactly as she sees it. When she meets a single…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• 2025 Hidden Gems Book Tournament | BPL

  View on on.ca

  12 books. 4 genres. 1 head-to-head tournament to determine the best under-the-radar read of 2025. Check out what each defender has to say about their hidden gem reads, and follow us @BurlONLibrary on social media.