By all accounts, it is a long way from Tucson to Navarre, the other-worldly setting for Rebecca Yarros’s romantic fantasy, “Onyx Storm.”
Clearly, though, it is a road well-traveled.
The Pima County Public Library released its annual tally of checkouts this week, and “Onyx Storm” headed the list as the library’s most often requested book in 2025.
Library cardholders borrowed print, e-book and audiobook versions of “Onyx Storm” a total of 7,565 times, easily outdistancing “The Women” by Kristin Hannah (6,580) and “James” by Percival Everett (4,905).
The No. 1 book among nonfiction titles was “Careless People” by Sarah Wynn-Williams.
The most popular children’s book was “The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster” by Mo Willems.
All in all, some 5.5 million books were distributed by the library’s electronic lending system and 27 neighborhood branches.
“Onyx Storm” is the third installment in Yarros’s Empyrean Series, and — like “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame” — it took America by, well, storm.
Published last January, more than 2.7 million copies were sold in the first week alone.
A recent headline in the New York Times, “How Rebecca Yarros Packed Dragons, Magic and Steamy Sex into a Blockbuster Fantasy,” sums up the appeal of 2025's most-checked out book.
A recent headline in the New York Times, “How Rebecca Yarros Packed Dragons, Magic and Steamy Sex into a Blockbuster Fantasy,” sums up the appeal.
The central character is Violet Sorrengall, whose weakening health mirrors Yarros’s own. Once mocked for her physical shortcomings, Violet now rides dragons with the best of ‘em.
Library Director Tess Mayer said the success of “Onyx Storm” is noteworthy on several fronts.
“To see a romantic fantasy on top of our list shows how far that genre has come in just the last four or five years,” Mayer said. “Maybe it tells us people are looking to escape a little. Maybe we all want more happy endings.”
She also sees evidence that young adults are reading again.
Pima County Public Library collection development librarian Jessica Pryde, left, and Library Director Tess Mayer with 2025's most-checked out book, "Onyx Storm." “To see a romantic fantasy on top of our list shows how far that genre has come in just the last four or five years,” Mayer said. “Maybe it tells us people are looking to escape a little. Maybe we all want more happy endings.”
“I see studies that say fewer people are reading now, but it looks to me like young people may be reading more. Gen Z and young millennials are driving books like ‘Onyx Storm.’ Young people are the ones reading romantasies.”
And Mayer was struck by how different the print, e-book and audiobook lists were from one another.
“When you look at our print book list and our audiobook list, you see 20 different titles. There isn’t a single book that appears on both. Not only are readers being drawn to certain authors, there’s a certain way they want to enjoy them, too.”
The library’s annual loan lists are compiled each January by its Collection Development team, the buyers who select and order titles many months before their scheduled release. The group is managed by Lorenia Diaz and staffed by selectors Jessica Pryde, Elizabeth Taylor, Michelle Creston and Sara Vega.
Pryde said they study the year-over-year totals looking for trends, movement and changing tastes.
The most notable trend of late has been the emergence of romance and romantasy as powerhouse genres.
“Thanks to BookTok and word of mouth, romance and romantasy just exploded during the pandemic,” Pryde said. “Readership grew something like 300% in two or three years. Authors like Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Mass became superstars almost overnight, and now Yarros is one, too.”
Yarros’s previous book, “Iron Flame,” was No. 2 on the library’s “bestseller list” in 2024.
Local librarians were ready for “Onyx Storm” in 2025. On the day of its release, 50 print books, 100 e-books and a healthy supply of audiobooks all were available, and demand for all three formats has been steady ever since.
The result: “Onyx Storm” became the first romance book ever to win the library’s unofficial “readers choice award.”
Conventional mysteries continued to be a popular pick by library cardholders. Longtime favorite Michael Connelly authored two of the top 10 titles, “The Waiting” and “Nightshade.”
New-age mystery master Frieda McFadden authored three: “The Housemaid,” “The Crash” and “The Tenant.”
Last year’s No. 1 book, “The Women” by Kristin Hannah, showed surprising stamina at No. 2.
Library cardholders checked out some 3 million books, 1.3 million e-books and 1.2 million audiobooks last year.
“When people think of the library, they probably think of bookshelves with printed books, but almost half of all our checkouts are e-books and audiobooks now,” Pryde said. “It’s great that so many people can find their own favorite way of enjoying a good book.'”
And especially great they can all go to the library to find it.
Footnotes
- Stacks Book Club in Oro Valley will host a launch party for Tucson author Victoria Maizes on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 6 p.m. Maizes, the director of integrative medicine at the University of Arizona, is celebrating the release of “Heal Faster” from Simon & Schuster. For more about Tuesday’s program, visit stacksbookclub.com/events.
- Poets Eleanor Wilner and Alicia Ostriker will read from their latest collections Thursday, Jan. 29, at the UA Poetry Center. The event is sponsored by John Hudak in memory of his parents. For additional information, visit poetry.arizona.edu/calendar.
- Organizers of the Tucson Festival of Books are alerting patrons that the University of Arizona will institute a clear bag policy for this year’s festival, March 14-15. Readers hoping to attend author sessions will need to bring books and personal items into the venues in clear plastic bags. To learn more, visit tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.
