Before we share info about this month’s book, we want to remind everyone that we’ve kicked off our fundraising efforts for booking hiding in 2026! If you’re interested in supporting these bookish scavenger hunts, please consider making a donation. Will you help us meet our goal before the end of 2025?!?!

We also want to recognize that this month’s “Community Kindness Sponsor” (which helps offset the cost of the extra 15 books we hide after scavenger hunt weekend every month – the “random act of kindness” books!) is our friends at Stacks Book Club!!! We are so grateful to Lizzy and Crispin for their support in creating a bookish community rooted in kindness – and creating a beautiful and welcoming space for readers in NW Tucson (and soon to be Midtown!!!). And if you remember, they were also our inaugural sponsors in January 2025, so they have “bookended” the year (LOL, it’s pretty perfect). So please send some gratitude their way, as they are helping make this month’s book-hiding adventure possible!

Do you know someone who might be interested in partnering with us as a Community Kindness Sponsor in 2026 ($250)? We still have plenty of months available for sponsors in 2026. Please send us an email (tucsontomegnome[at] gmail.com), and we can send you some information 🙂

AND NOW, for what you’ve been waiting for: all about this month’s hidden book!

About the book, from Penguin Random House:

“Certainty Bulrush wants to be useful—to the Guild of Mages that took her in as a novice, to the little brother who depends on her, and to anyone else she can help. Unfortunately, her tepid magic hasn’t proven much use to anyone. When Certainty has the chance to earn her magehood via a seemingly straightforward assignment, she takes it. Nevermind that she’ll have to work with Mage Aurelia, the brilliant, unfairly attractive overachiever who’s managed to alienate everyone around her.

The two must transport minorly magical artifacts somewhere safe: Shpelling, the dullest, least magical village around. There, they must fix up an old warehouse, separate the gossipy teapots from the kind-of-flaming swords, corral an unruly little catdragon who has tagged along, and above all, avoid complications. The Guild’s uneasy relationship with citizens is at a tipping point, and the last thing needed is a magical incident.

Still, as mage and novice come to know Shpelling’s residents—and each other—they realize the Guild’s hoarded magic might do more good being shared. Friendships blossom while Certainty and Aurelia work to make Shpelling the haven it could be. But magic is fickle—add attraction and it might spell trouble.”

About the author, Julie Leong:

“I grew up in a New Jersey suburb as the daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants and lived in Beijing, China as a teenager. In my day job, I’m a corporate cog doing finance, strategy, and all sorts of business-y things. As a writer and reader, I love fantasy full of heart and humor, and stories grounded in characters and their relationships.

I live in San Francisco with my husband Drew, our rescue pup Kaya, and a magical Meyer lemon tree in the backyard that somehow always has ripe lemons. When I’m not writing, I enjoy making unnecessary spreadsheets and flambéing things.”

Why I selected The Keeper of Magical Things for the December 2025 Giveaway:

• This story gently reminds us that we don’t need to be perfect to be worthy of care, connection, or a little bit of magic. It offers a quiet, comforting message for the end of the year.
• At its heart is a tender sapphic love story that unfolds slowly and sweetly, offering warmth without drama and joy without spectacle.
• There is the creation of cat dragons! Need I say more?
• This book celebrates small acts of kindness, careful making, and the magic found in everyday attention – – – values this gnome holds especially close in December.
• This is a cozy fantasy in the truest sense: a book meant to be curled up with under a blanket and read by soft light (perhaps with a warm drink nearby?) 🙂