Best Books of 2025!

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Happy New Year, fellow readers! I’m so grateful for you taking the time out of your day to visit my blog, and I hope I’ve been able to help you find some good reads. I had a great reading year in 2025. This list is my absolute favourite books I read in 2025. I don’t give star ratings on my reviews anymore, so this list will give you a good idea about my personal reading preferences, and maybe you’ll find some you’d like to read this year.

Books Read: 81
Numbers of Pages: 24,496
DNF (did not finish): 3
Average Rating: 4.1

These five-star reads are in the order that I read them.

Title: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear
Author: Seanan McGuire
Genre: Fantasy
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is an inspiring and emotional gateway fantasy story with a strong female character who is physically disabled. This fast-paced, atmospheric, and suspenseful story is about self-acceptance, found family, and love.

Title: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Author: Douglas Adams
Genre: Science Fiction

Thoughts: The audiobook is narrated by Martin Freeman and he does so many incredible voices! Such a fun story with many deeper themes. Highly recommend!

Title: Unmasking Autism
Author: Dr. Devon Price
Genre: Nonfiction

Both of my kids have been diagnosed with autism and this book was very helpful.

Title: The Truth About Luck
Author: Iain Reid
Genre: Nonfiction
Click here for my review

Thoughts: I had a great time reading The Truth About Luck. This is a funny, charming, touching story that made me wish I had spent more time with my grandparents and has changed the way I interact with the people I love. I want them to know the real me and I want us to share our stories and form a real connection. This quiet, cozy memoir may appear simple, but it carries a life-changing message.

Title: Life the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #3)
Author: Douglas Adams
Genre: Science Fiction

Thoughts: Love it! The audiobook is incredible!

Title: Different Seasons
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Horror, Short Stories/Novellas
Click here for my review

Thoughts: With incredible characters and intriguing plots Different Seasons is my favourite short story collection by King and some of my favourite stories I’ve read.

Title: I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Author: Iain Reid
Genre: Literary Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: With well-developed characters, suspenseful atmosphere and quality writing I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an unforgettable literary novel about loneliness, obsession, identity and memory. Other reviewers loved the audiobook. I highly recommend this book to fans of Mona Awad, Jordan Peele, and A24 movies.

Title: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #4)
Author: Douglas Adams
Genre: Science Fiction

Thoughts: loved the audiobook. laugh out loud!

Title: New Spring (The Wheel of Time #0)
Author: Robert Jordan
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Thoughts: My all-time favourite fantasy series.

Title: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games 0.5)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian
Click here for my review (spoilery)

Thoughts: Sunrise on the Reaping is a bleak and action-packed story about truth, lies, propaganda, war, oppression and rebellion. I think this is the best book in the Hunger Games series.

Title: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (Vera Wong #2)
Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping is a funny and emotional cozy mystery about found family, relationships, loneliness, and lies.

Title: My Friends
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Literary

Thoughts: Beautiful. Sad. Touching.

Title: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
Author: Kylie Lee Baker
Genre: Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a poignant novel about mental health, grief, found-family, and the danger of misinformation. It carries an important message about racism and the Asian hate experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. I came away feeling like I had a better understanding of an experience outside of my own.

Title: Cycle of the Werewolf
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Horror

Thoughts: Great werewolf novella.

Title: Atmosphere
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Historical Fiction
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Atmosphere is one of my all-time favourite reads. These characters! This story! To read about these strong, intelligent women is inspiring. Joan’s journey to find her voice and stand up for herself is uplifting. Atmosphere is a space story about love, resilience, and smart, strong women. It’s about aunts who are awesome second parents. It’s about not being straight in the 80s and working in a place where you have to hide that part of yourself and the toll that takes. I can’t remember when I last read a book this size in one day.

Title: Eat the Ones You Love
Author: Sarah Maria Griffin
Genre: Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Eat The Ones You Love is a queer “Little Shop of Horrors” that is about community, friendship, loyalty, desire, love, and obsession. Highly recommend!

Title: Lucky Day
Author: Chuck Tingle
Genre: Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Although Lucky Day is absurd horror, it does talk about intelligent theoretical ideas such as historical inertia, the Butterfly Effect, the Nudge Effect, chaos and order. This is a fast-paced story about fate, luck, and bisexual eraser. It questions the existence of luck. Can it be measured? How do we find meaning and love in a world that doesn’t make sense?

Title: All Boys Aren’t Blue
Author: George M. Johnson
Genre: Nonfiction

Thoughts: George M. Johnson said it best, “In writing this book I wanted to be as authentic and truthful about my experience as possible. I wanted my story to be told in totality. The good, the bad, and the things I was always afraid to talk about publicly. This meant going to places and discussing some subjects that are always kept away from teens for fear of them being too heavy. But the truth of the matter is, these things happened to me when I was a child, teenager, and young adult. So as heavy as these subjects may be, it’s necessary that they’re not only told but also heard by teens who may have to navigate these same experiences in their own lives. This book will touch on sexual assault, including molestation, loss of virginity, homophobia, racism, and anti-Blackness. These discussions at times may be a bit graphic, but nonetheless, they are experiences that many hearing this will encounter or have already encountered.”

Title: The Serviceberry
Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Genre: Nonfiction

“From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.”

Title: We Love You, Bunny
Author: Mona Awad
Genre: Literary Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: With well-developed characters, incredible world-building, and beautiful writing, We Love You, Bunny is a must-read for all fans of Bunny. It’s about mental health, friendship, creation, destruction, and truth. If you loved Bunny because it was open-ended and every reader walked away with a different experience, then you may not enjoy We Love You, Bunny. If you loved Bunny and you want to know everything about every character (like me), then you will enjoy We Love You, Bunny.

Title: Hemlock & Silver
Author: T. Kingfisher
Genre: Fantasy
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Hemlock & Silver is a mysterious, imaginative, dark, and funny fantasy with incredible characters and featuring a strong, smart woman who tells the story of resilience and sacrifice. Do you sacrifice one person to save a thousand? If you discovered a poison that could kill thousands, would you warn everyone, even though some evil person may use it to kill others? T. Kingfisher has created a mirror-world that I won’t soon forget.

Title: Katabasis
Author: R. F. Kuang
Genre: Fantasy
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Katabasis is a satire about academia and the toll it takes on students. This book is about feeling inadequate, forming relationships with reluctant allies, and learning how to love and trust. It discusses the relationship between memory and identity and questions the meaning of life. If you liked Babel, then I think you’ll like Katabasis, as they have a similar academic vibe.

Title: What Stalks the Deep
Author: T. Kingfisher
Genre: Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: The terror of the pitch-blackness of a coal mine, the quiet sounds, and the danger of gas create a dreadful feeling in What Stalks the Deep. Kingfisher’s background in the arts helps her create visual stories that play like a movie. When will we finally get an adaptation?! The scenes in the mine are ones I won’t soon forget.

Title: Persephone’s Curse
Author: Katrina Leno
Genre: Fantasy
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Persephone’s Curse is an emotional and meaningful story about sisterhood, family, friends, and love. It’s about being there for each other in good times and in bad. It’s about betrayal and forgiveness. I can’t wait to read it again. Such a beautiful book. Highly, highly recommend.

Title: Project Hail Mary
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction

Thoughts: If you had told me at the beginning of the year that Project Hail Mary would be one of your favourite books of the year, I would have laughed. I knew I wanted to read this, but I had no idea how much I would love it. It made me think, it made me laugh, it made me cry. It’s tied for best book of the year for me. I can’t wait to see the adaptation.

Title: Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Author: John Wiswell
Genre: Fantasy
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Someone You Can Build A Nest In is a unique, imaginative, and unforgettable story about monsters, trauma, and love. The beginning will put you right in the thick of it, and it will feel strange and maybe off-putting. But if you stick with it, you’ll find this is a page-turner that is horrific, and funny, and romantic. If you want to read something different, read this.

Title: Legends & Lattes
Author: Travis Baldree
Genre: Fantasy

Thoughts: So glad I finally read this cozy fantasy!

Title: Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (Wayward Children #11)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Genre: Portal Fantasy
Click here for my review

Thoughts: Through Gates of Garnet and Gold is an engaging and emotional story for most ages. This is a character-driven novella with a diverse cast and themes of grief, resilience, hope, acceptance, and friendship. I recommend this to fans of Tress of the Emerald Sea and The Book of Lost Things.

Title: We Used to Live Here
Author: Marcus Kliewer
Genre: Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: We Used To Live Here is an atmospheric horror debut that will leave you questioning reality. I often read horror before bed and have no trouble sleeping. But this book creeped me out, and I chose another book to read.

Title: The Witch of Willow Sound
Author: Vanessa F. Penney
Genre: Mystery, Horror
Click here for my review

Thoughts: The Witch of Willow Sound covers so many genres. You get adrenaline from the thrilling parts, emotion from the horror, intellect from the mystery, and a sense of landscape from the historical aspects. I enjoyed the discussion about some people using their fear of something they don’t understand to excuse abusing and murdering innocent women. Witchcraft is not an evil thing. Please take the time to educate yourself before coming to conclusions. I’m amazed this is a debut novel. Vanessa F. Penney is an incredible writer. I can’t wait to see what she does next.