July 2025 Loan Stars Adult Canadian Top 10 list

Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows libraries across Canada to indicate popular upcoming titles. Using LibraryData, the library data aggregation service, the forthcoming titles with the most orders become Loan Stars top picks!

The July Loan Stars Adult Canadian top 10 list features ten books that have at least one author, illustrator, translator, or editor (in the case of an edited collection of material) who is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada.

You can see each book and find out a bit more about them in the list below, or you can download our poster if you want to display it, say in your library or on social media (tag us: @LoanStars!). You can also view these titles on CataList in this catalogue.

July 2025 Adult Canadian List

Loan Stars top pick:

She Didn’t See It Coming

by Shari Lapena 🍁

9780385699525 | Thrillers

Description:

Bryden and Sam have it all: thriving careers, a smart apartment in a luxury condominium, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple.

Then Sam receives a call at his office. Bryden—working from home that day—has failed to pick up their daughter from day care. Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife’s car in the underground garage. Upstairs in their apartment her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall.

But Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if she just walked out.

How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all?

With every minute that passes—and as questions swirl around their community—Bryden and Sam’s past seems a little less perfect, their condominium less safe, their friends, neighbours and relatives no longer quite so reliable …

Killer on the First Page

by Ian Ferguson 🍁 & Will Ferguson 🍁

9781443475099 | Mystery & Detective

Description:

The famous are descending on the town of Happy Rock. This time, the stars are not of the screen but of the page. The Happy Rock bookstore, I Only Read Murder, is hosting not only an author festival but a murder mystery festival, with six of the biggest names in crime fiction.

New bookstore majority co-owner and former TV star Miranda Abbott loves nothing more than the idea of hosting literary luminaries. Little does she realize the authors are bringing their egos, their professional jealousies, and their personal grudges along with their books. And they all want the first look at a mysterious posthumous manuscript that has been delivered to the bookstore. This festival of rivals goes from bad to worse when one of the authors turns up dead in a locked room with no windows. And this death is just the beginning—no one knows which author will be next.

Miranda is on the case, along with Edgar, her almost–ex-husband; Andrew, her one-person entourage; Ned, the patient police chief; and the good people of Happy Rock. Together, they’ll stop at nothing to solve three murders, in three locked rooms, and three impossible crimes.

The Deepest Fake

by Daniel Kalla 🍁

9781668032534 | Thrillers

Description:

Liam Hirsch has it all — a loving family, a thriving career as CEO of an AI company, financial security, and a bright future. But when he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness, just weeks after discovering his wife’s infidelity, his perfect life unravels. As he grapples with his fate, he prepares to face his final days on his own terms.

However, unexplained events inside his company make him question everything — including his diagnosis. In a world of deepfake videos, synthetic voices, and digital deception, couldn’t these technologies be weaponized against him? What if nothing is as it seems?

With time running out, Liam turns to Andrea DeWalt, a private investigator contending with her own feelings of betrayal, to help him uncover a conspiracy that threatens his life, his family, and their future. In a world where nothing is as it seems and every digital footprint can be manipulated, who can Liam trust?

The Bewitching

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 🍁

9780593874325 | Gothic

Description:

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva became a grad student focused on the history of horror literature; she’s now researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story—Tremblay attended the same school as Minerva decades before, during the Great Depression, and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the same malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These eerie events also echo the stories her great-grandmother told her about her own girlhood in 1900s Mexico, in which she had a terrifying encounter with a witch. 

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened her great-grandmother’s and Tremblay’s lives is now threatening her in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Valentine in Montreal

by Heather O’Neill 🍁, Illus. by Arizona O’Neill 🍁

9781443475259 | Women

Description:

In the tradition of the serialized novels of Charles Dickens, Heather O’Neill brings us Valentine in Montreal. Originally published in weekly instalments in the Montreal Gazette, this is the unforgettable story of Valentine, a lonely orphan working in a depanneur at a Montreal metro station, who spots her look-alike. As Valentine follows this seeming twin onto the subway and out into the city, her world is changed—she meets gangsters, composers, ballet dancers, and a cricket playing a mournful tune, and she experiences the city in all its teeming energy.

Valentine in Montreal is the playful, moving, and surprising story of a young woman who finds connection and the courage to break free of what has been holding her back. It’s also a celebration of Montreal and its artistry and vibrancy, both above and below ground. Illustrations by graphic artist Arizona O’Neill run throughout.

Runner 13

by Amy McCulloch 🍁

9780735248359 | Thrillers

Description:

It’s the ultimate challenge: a multi-day, two-hundred-and-fifty-mile race across the Sahara, with only the supplies you can carry on your back. It’s the race that Adrienne Wendell was born for.

Years ago, Adri had to abandon her career as a star ultra-marathon runner in the wake of a scandal. She could cope with the threats to herself, but when her young son was endangered, she gave it all up.

Now, at long last, she’s ready to run again. She’s running to win—and to get some answers from the enigmatic, legendary race organizer. Because the past has begun to show up in the present, in troubling ways.

It takes a while for Adri to realise that something is wrong. After all, in a fierce desert environment, the first dead body is too easy to explain away. But once the race begins, it becomes clear that there’s a killer stalking the hot sand, and he's got Adri in his sights.

Immortal by Morning

by Lynsay Sands 🍁

9780063292192 | Romance

Description:

Crispinus Delacort is an immortal rogue enforcer and a homicide detective. But in his quiet city, he’s more likely to be rounding up truant teens than investigating murders. So, when he learns that human bones have been found in the garden of a sprawling rural home, it’s unexpected to say the least.

Abril Newman can’t believe her bad luck when she discovers a body buried on the grounds of her boss’s home, while chasing after Gina’s mischievous lab Lilith. She was just supposed to be house-sitting for a few days! And then Detective Delacort arrives. She knows she shouldn’t be thinking about love when there’s a crime scene outside the door. But ignoring her attraction to gorgeous Crispin is easier said than done.

When Crispin realizes that a rogue is involved, he knows this won’t be a simple investigation. Especially because he’s so distracted by Abril’s presence that all he wants is to kiss her senseless in every room of the manor. But he can woo her, solve the case, and stop a dangerous rogue by morning...right? All in a day’s work.

Demon with Benefits

by Aurora Ascher 🍁

9781496755872 | Romance

Description:

They can run from their demons …

The jokester of the demon brothers, Meph wears his grin like armor and uses humor as a mask. But lately, his composure has been slipping, especially around her. Iris. The blue-haired witch with a vicious temperament. Something about her soothes the darkness within him . . . but he’s not looking for a savior. There’s no such thing for someone like him.

But they can’t hide forever …

Bitter and haunted by her traumatic past, Iris Donovan isn’t keen on welcoming demons into her life — even if they’re her sister’s friends. Especially not teasing, tattooed, Meph, with his red eyes and devilish smile. After a toxic relationship, she’s sworn off commitment, and she’s not looking for another Mr. Damaged. Yet she can’t stop craving what she shouldn’t want.

To conquer this monster … they must tame it together.

With the return of a deadly enemy, the pain they’ve been suppressing is exposed, and Meph and Iris can no longer deny their feelings. Before Meph is swallowed by his darkness, Iris must overcome her fears and embrace that terrible part of him … Or lose him forever.

Birth of a Dynasty

by Chinaza Bado 🍁

9780063397606 | Fantasy

Description:

We shall not forgive. We shall not forget. We will have our vengeance.

After witnessing the massacre of everyone he’s ever known and loved, M’Kuru Mukundi, the sole surviving member of the High Noble House Mukundi of Madada, vows revenge. M’kuru flees to a small village where he hides under the guise of farm boy Khalil Rausi … unaware that the real Khalil’s father is the bloodthirsty General of Zenzele army, and under the direction of the King’s scheming son, Prince Effiom, was responsible for the murder of M’kuru’s people. When an imposter claiming to be M’kuru shows up in the village, the real M’kuru — now Khalil — must bide his time amongst his enemies, pretending to be everything that he hates in order to get vengeance.

In another part of the country where giants roam free, young Zikora Nnamani, the only daughter of Lord Nnamani, knows nothing of political intrigue — she wants little more than to be a fierce Seh Llinga warrior. But a well-known prophecy places too much potential power on her small shoulders, and — as far as Prince Effiom and the King know — she is the only living threat to their dynasty ruling forever. However, when a messenger arrives to “invite” Zikora to stay at the palace, her family is not in a position to refuse. Before she is taken away, she begins The Rite of Blessing, a magical inheritance that she will need to learn how to use, but that may also bring the world one step closer to the completion of the prophecy that Prince Effiom so fears.

Between scheming ladies at court, backstabbing princes on the prowl, and paranoid kings, M’kuru and Zikora must do what they can, no matter how terrible, to save their people and claim vengeance for their families. But they are just two young people against an entire kingdom — and a prophecy destined to thwart their dreams — and the last thing they can do is trust anyone … even each other.

Heal the Beasts

by Philipp Schott 🍁

9781770417830 | Pets

Description:

Sharing the stories of 22 different animal healers and veterinarians from across eras and continents, Dr. Schott examines the always fascinating, often unexpected, and sometimes hilarious veterinary methods employed to treat all manner of creatures. From healing dogs and horses to gorillas and even dragons, at the heart lies the evolution of the human-animal bond, which has been more cyclical than linear.

James Herriot will be familiar to many people, but most of the other featured vets will be new. They range from Palakapya, who treated fighting elephants in India almost 3,000 years ago, to Dr. Louis Camuti, who had the first feline house call practice anywhere, tending to the cats of celebrities in mid-twentieth century Manhattan Whether you have a passion for animals, the history of the medical sciences, or just quirky history, this light-hearted exploration of the empathetic relationship between man and beast will entertain and delight.

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