MEDIA RELEASE 

The 2025 Whitcoulls Top 100 Books List is announced today (Monday, July 28, 2025, 5:00am) and with it the news that an astonishing 25 percent of titles chosen are in the fantasy genre. Thirty-one of the titles featured are new books and twenty books on the Top 100 feature writers from Aotearoa New Zealand. 

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 particularly pleased to see readers voting more New Zealand writers into the 2025 Top 100 – one-fifth – an increase of five from last year. Interestingly, eleven of these are non-fiction books while the other 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. 

Leading the charge and claiming the number one spot in the Top 100 for the first time is Rebecca Yarros with her Empyrean series of novels. She topples bestselling, fantasy writer Sarah J. Maas from first place last year, who is now at number two with her A Court of Thorns & Roses series. Historical fiction author Kristin Hannah’s standalone novel The Women comes in at number three; Richard Osman storms up the List to sixth place, – a massive increase of 48 places from #54 in 2024 with his hugely popular The Thursday Murder Club series of books. 

Memoirs, romantic fiction, and self-development books also feature strongly in the Top 100, notable among them are Pippa Latour and Jude Dobson’s locally acclaimed book, The Last Secret Agent (#50); Callie Hart’s dark romance fantasy book, Quicksilver (#20); and Mel Robbins’s famous ‘life transformation’ 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. 

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 https://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/recommends/top-100 from Monday, 28 July 2025, when the embargo lifts at 5:00am. 

-ENDS-

JOAN MACKENZIE IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW / IMAGES AND BOOK GIVEAWAYS ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST 

Media contact: Sarah Thornton, Thornton Communications, 021 753744, sarah.thornton@prcomms.com 

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Whitcoulls is a major national retailer, offering a wide selection of books, stationery, educational toys, puzzles, games, gifts, greeting cards and wrap. Whitcoulls was founded over 130 years ago when George Tombs, a printer and bookbinder, and George Whitcombe, a publisher and bookseller, combined their businesses to create a national publishing company. Whitcombe & Tombs merged with key competitor Coulls Somerville Wilkie and was renamed Whitcoulls in 1973. Whitcoulls is now proudly New Zealand owned by the James Pascoe Group which includes The Farmers Trading Co, Stevens, Pascoes the Jewellers, Stewart Dawsons and Goldmark.