January recommended lists you don’t want to miss
It’s a new year! January is always a great time to reflect on the year before, but also a time to think about the future. Will this be the year we try a new reading challenge? Start a book club? Read outside our comfort zone? Or maybe, we’ll really lean in to the joys of reading what makes us happy, no matter what other people might think about it (that’s the one I’m doing, TBH). The new year is going to bring us so many new books to love and obsess over, and your patrons and you have so much to be excited about for 2025!
Below are some great new lists in OverDrive Marketplace that are sure to have your patrons kicking off the year right!
New Year, New You
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This one goes out to all of your patrons who have new year’s resolutions to improve themselves in some way and start off their new year with some new habits. With advice on mental heath, parenting, organizing, and more, everyone can find a way to improve with these great reads.
Featured Title
Who Knew? 10,001 Household Solutions by Bruce and Jeanne Lubin
From the publisher: Whether you’re cleaning house, cooking a meal, improving your appearance, or fighting a cold, this indispensable guide will help you with natural and simple solutions to your daily tasks requiring only basic—and inexpensive—items with multiple uses that you should always keep on hand in your home.
Vinegar, baking soda, lemons, duct tape, and beer are just a few of the all-purpose tools you need to eliminate odors, keep your food fresher longer, get rid of pests, increase storage space, de-stress, give yourself a spa treatment, and so much more. With easy-to-follow instructions, you’ll discover clever and creative ways to give your home—and yourself—a makeover while saving time and money.
Best Books of 2024
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Maybe you aren’t ready quite yet to look forward. Perhaps you want to remember the favorites of 2024, or you want to catch up on the books that you didn’t have a chance to read in 2024. This mega-list of everyone’s favorite “Best of” lists will have something for everyone!
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James by Percival Everett
From your OverDrive DCL: This book was everywhere in 2024, including in many of the OverDrive DCL’s personal best-of lists, and for great reason. The writing is beautiful, and the story flips the source material, Huckleberry Finn, to show the perspective from Jim in a way that was long overdue. Percival Everett has taken this familiar story and given it brand new life, and the story will stay with you long after the book is over. The audiobook is a must-listen, as well. Read this and know why it was on every single list in 2024!
Top Titles of January
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Featured Title
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
From the publisher: Nadya had three mothers: the one who bore her, the country that poisoned her, and the one who adopted her.
Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she’d been missing from birth.
It was cumbersome; it was uncomfortable; it was wrong.
It wasn’t her.
Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake—and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyyreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people.
But even in Belyyreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure.
Coming Blockbusters of January
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Featured Title
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
From the publisher: After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.
Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves: her dragons, her family, her home, and him.
Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.
They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find: The truth.
But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.
Top Mystery/Thriller of January
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Featured Title
The Crash by Frieda McFadden
From the publisher: Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.
She never arrives at her destination.
Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle occurs: she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.
But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.
And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself and her unborn child.
A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.
Top Romance of January
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Featured Title
Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young
From you OverDrive DCL: The couple that were #couplegoals in Out on a Limb are back with their own story, and they are here to prove that the best things can take work and time and happily ever afters are automatic. Sarah and Caleb have been together since high school and are successful in everything, professionally and romantically. However, as time continues to pass, Sarah starts to wonder who she really is as a person alone, without Caleb. When she tries to prove that she can do great things alone, she is again rescued by Caleb, leaving her frustrated and confused. When the chance comes for an extreme couples therapy retreat, they both jump at the chance to push themselves, and their relationship further. Can their love survive the tests?
Top Sci-Fi of January
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Featured Title
The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold
From the publisher: The world is about to end. Again.
Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.
Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.
Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.
As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.
More Recommended Lists You Don’t Want to Miss:
Top Fantasy of January. Shop the list here.
Top Historical Fiction of January. Shop the list here.
Top Self-Published of January. Shop the list here.
Top Nonfiction of January. Shop the list here.
All of the OverDrive DCL team hopes that 2025 is one of the best ever for your libraries and patrons! We’re always here to help, so feel free to email your DCL if you need anything. You can find their contact information on the SUPPORT tab of Marketplace.
About the author: Meghan is an OverDrive Collection Development Librarian and former academic librarian. Her English degree set her up perfectly for grad school, where she received her MLIS and has been immersed in the world of books ever since. You can find her reading with her cat, traveling with her friends and family, or having dance parties with her daughter. HEAs are life.
