Here it is! One of my favorite posts to put together every year—my favorite reads of 2025! Like always, I have split this post into three sections: my overall favorite books, favorite books by genre, and superlatives. I stole most of the genres and superlative categories from Sarah’s Bookshelves Live, so any SBL listeners will find many of these categories familiar.
It’s always funny choosing my favorite book of the year because I truly never know what it’s going to be until I’m reviewing my reading spreadsheet and writing down all of my five-star reads. Nine times out of ten, one book will stand out. Sometimes it feels like a literal gut punch in my abdomen when I come across the title on my spreadsheet, or I exclaim (out loud, to no one), “Aww, I loved that book!” It’s that visceral reaction that solidifies it as my favorite read of the year. That happened again this year, as I was so certain what book was going to make it to the top of my list… until I got to the book that I did name my favorite. My reaction was so emotional that I couldn’t choose anything else.
Overall Favorites
Favorite Overall Book
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (2024, audiobook) – It was really a toss-up between this book and The Correspondent as my favorite book of the year, but I just couldn’t get this book out of my head. It’s about three sisters who are grieving the loss of their youngest sister to addiction. It’s a gritty book with wholly unlikable characters, and I didn’t expect this book to touch me as deeply as it did. In fact, for the first half of the novel, I struggled with the novel and wanted to abandon it. But I kept going and my perseverance paid off. It was a spectacular read and it’s one I’d love to reread someday. I think of the line in this novel frequently, “I miss her and I miss her and I miss her … And I wait for the feeling to end because every other feeling has ended, no matter how intense, no matter how hard – but this won’t. There’s no end to the missing.”
Favorite Fiction
The Correspondent (2025, audiobook) – This book was everything it promised it would be. It was delightful and thought-provoking and funny and heartwarming. It lived up to the hype! It’s an epistolary novel about a woman in her 70s who is writing letters (and sometimes emails) to family members, new friends, neighbors, and authors she admires. It made me want to start sending a note to authors after reading a book that touched me!
Favorite Romance
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025, print) – I loved this novel, although I’ve seen a lot more mixed reviews than some of her other recent releases. I just remember getting so caught up in the romance and wondering how the author was going to solve the big issue at the heart of the novel. I also appreciated the way she handled caretaking and the topic of dementia.
Favorite Nonfiction
All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today by Elizabeth Comen, M.D. (2024, audiobook) – I’ve been an evangelist about this book since I read it last January, and it remains my top nonfiction read of 2025. The book is broken down into sections, each referring to a different system of the body. Then, within each section, Dr. Comen talks about how each system works, the history of medical thought, and the issues left unaddressed. It’s eye-opening and thought-provoking.
Favorites by Genre
Favorite Contemporary Fiction
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025, print) – I loved this road trip novel that was darkly comedic and heartwarming. It had some tough themes, but there was a lightness to the story, so it didn’t feel too heavy. Plus, there’s a cat!
Runner-up: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Favorite Literary Fiction
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (2010, print) – This novel is heavy. It is not an easy read, but there’s still something soothing about Anna Quindlen’s writing style that kept me turning the pages, even though the plot made me very sad and emotional.
Favorite Historical Fiction
Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (2023, print) – What a beautiful story of resilience and bravery! Crow Mary was a real woman, a Crow Native woman named Goes First who is married off to a white fur trader in 1872. From there, Mary learns more about the white man’s way of living.
Favorite Contemporary Romance
Back After This by Linda Holmes (2025, e-book) – I couldn’t get enough of this sweet romance, involving a podcast producer who starts a dating experiment for a new podcast series. It’s fun, sexy, smart, and just goddamn delightful.
Runner-up: Wild Love by Elsie Silver
Favorite YA
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (2024, audiobook) – This book completely transported me. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did because I don’t generally love magical realism/fantasy novels. But there was something so captivating about the world Meg created and the found family element.
Runner-up: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
Favorite Mystery/Thriller
Look Closer by David Ellis (2022, audiobook) – This story had me on pins and needles the whole time! There were so many great twists and turns, and it was so wild to be rooting for the bad guys to get away with what they were doing!
Runner-up: The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Favorite Memoir/Essay Collection
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (2024, audiobook) – I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from this book, but what I got was a fascinating story about Kelly Bishop’s life. From her early days as a dancer to her dating escapades to her time on Gilmore Girls. She is warm and funny and open-hearted.
Runner-up: This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg
Superlatives
The Most Disappointing DNF
On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen (2023, audiobook) – One of my friends raved about this book, so I was excited to read it. She was so effusive in her praise! But ugh, I basically hated the author from the beginning and my notes on this DNF say: “privileged white lady complaining about her life, blahhhh.” So yeah.
The Most Disappointing Book I Read
Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly (2023, audiobook) – It’s not often that I give a book 1 star (I would normally DNF any book that I hated that much!), but I kept reading this book for reasons I can’t quite articulate. Maybe because it was so short? Maybe because I like to torture myself? I’m not sure, but it was so boring and the characters were insufferable.
The Book I Was Surprised to Love
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (2021, print) – I didn’t love the first book in The Thursday Murder Club series. There was a lot of setup happening and I felt like the ending was really convoluted. But I started the second book, hoping things would improve, and boy did they. I devoured this book! It was an easy 5 stars and I couldn’t get enough of these characters and the plot!
The Book I Thought I Would Love More Than I Did
11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011, e-book) – Ugh, this book was such a slog. In 2025, I challenged myself to read four books over 500 pages and this is the one I was looking forward to the most. I had heard such great reviews, so I was excited to dive in. It was not what I expected at all and there is no reason it needed to be 900+ pages. Get an editor, SK!
Most Deserving of the Hype
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025, e-book) – I am all aboard the TJR hype train. I was super excited about this one, since it involved NASA and had a queer love story at the heart of the novel. It totally delivered for me, and I found myself tearing up at the end.
Least Deserving of the Hype
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025, print) – I can usually count on Emily Henry, but this book did not work for me. It felt like it was straying a little too closely to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but doing a much terrible job. I thought the romance was lackluster and the story-within-the-story to be pretty boring.
The Book I Loved That Other People Hated
Making Up by Lucy Parker (2018, e-book) – This can be a hard category for me, as I don’t often love books that have low Goodreads ratings. (I won’t typically read a book if it’s less than 3.7 stars!) But Making Up by my fave romance author, Lucy Parker, has a 3.69 average rating, which is just a travesty. I loved this book!
The Book I Hated That Other People Loved
Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones – Oh boy. I haven’t reviewed this book yet because it was one of my final books of 2025, but you guys, I slogged through this short audiobook. I thought I would love it based on the premise, but I needed the author to dig a little deeper and be a little more introspective. I was so bored!
Underrated Gem
The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation by Suzanne Stabile – This is a very niche book, as it’s all about the Enneagram. And, really, it’s for people who already know a lot about the Enneagram and want to dig deeper. I enjoyed this book a lot because I find the Enneagram to be endlessly fascinating, and it even helped to clarify certain parts of my personality that I didn’t realize were linked to my Enneagram number! With only 1,400 ratings on Goodreads, it is definitely the least-reviewed book on my list!
What was your favorite book of 2025? What books do you think were most and least deserving of the hype?
I love the way that you put together this list. Its always fun to see what other people have put on their best of lists, and whoboy a lot of people loved The Correspondent! As you know I also liked Look Closer, thanks for the recommendation, and I also wanted the bad guys to win! Have you seen Lupin on Netflix? It has a similar vibe where you are rooting for the “bad” guy.
I haven’t seen Lupin but I’ve heard good things! I don’t have Netflix anymore, otherwise I’d be all about it.
I’m glad Look Closer was a hit for you! Such a fun thriller.
I loved The Correspondent; I almost always read with my eyes, but listened to this one and it was amazing on audio!
I think my favourite book was Good Dirt. Like you, I went by gut reaction when I was looking back at my list of books. Good Dirt was just the one that left the biggest impression on me.
Hmmm. Over-hyped? I’m not sure. I definitely DNF a lot more books now, so I think sometimes I lose track of which books were hyped that I opted to skip out on!
DNF-ing for the win! I did better at DNF-ing at the first half of the year and slogged through more books that I should have towards the end. I need to be better about that!
I have Good Dirt on my TBR based on your strong recommendation!
I loved The Correspondent, Back After This, Atmosphere, and The Last Flight. I love all of your superlatives categories, and I’m most excited to read Crow Mary and The Lost Story. I was disappointed by Say You’ll Remember Me, but I love most Abby Jimenez books. Also, I don’t know much about enneagram at all–is there a resource you would recommend to learn about it? My friend is obsessed, and I’m curious to learn more.
Ooh yes! The Road Back to You is a great starter book to learn more about the Enneagram and all of the different types. Most people figure out their types using an online test, but I read that book and figured out my type VERY easily. And every test I’ve taken since has given me that same number. Another great book is The Honest Enneagram by Sarajane Case. The Road Back to You has some Christian jargon, so if that’s not your jam, I’d go with The Honest Enneagram!
We do have a lot of agreement this year! The Correspondent (Sybil 4Eva!) and Back After This were real highlights. I also thought Crow Mary was unputdownable. And I listened to the Kelly Bishop memoir (on your rec, I think) and it was SO GOOD. Her life was so interesting. That was one where the audiobook made it so much better – I’m not sure I would have really gotten the full experience if I read it with my own eyeballs.
I DNFed Atmosphere, but I am clearly in the minority on that one. I’d say that was my most overhyped book of the year, although Everything is Tuberculosis was also a disappointment for me.
Yes, audiobook was definitely the way to go for the Kelly Bishop novel! Her voice is so distinctive and she did such a great job with the audiobook.
Hooray for more overlap than usual for us!
I DNF’d Great Big Beautiful Life. I haven’t liked her last couple so maybe I am growing out of her. Or the book/year publishing schedule is impacting that quality. 11/22/63 was very overhyped for me, too.
I loved The Correspondent. It is such a great book that everyone I know has loved! I love that it was a total sleeper hit. I also loved Heart the Lover.
I adore Annie Jones but haven’t gotten around to reading her book yet. I know so much about her life after listening to her podcast for many years and being in her patreon community. I hope to attend one of her reader retreats in the next couple of years. So her books should work for me, but f you don’t know her well, I can see how it wouldn’t necessarily work. It’s a lot about staying put which is not an exciting story to tell.
I used to listen to From the Front Porch, so I have some familiarity of Annie B. Jones. I just wanted her to dig a little deeper. It was a very surface-level book. Oh, well.
I would love for Emily Henry to take a break from publishing a novel in 2026, just to see if that helps with her quality, but also, I know her publisher probably doesn’t want that since her books are still really popular! Gah.
I can never pick a favourite book BUT I do think that The Correspondent was definitely deserving of the hype! I wondered if it would – there was SO much buzz around it. What a great book!
I was so worried I’d be the outlier with The Correspondent, but nope. Such a delightful novel!
Ooh! The Corespondent made my top 5 of the year (I didn’t rank the top 5 in order- they were all so different.) I’m glad Every Last One made your list as well- I LOVED that book and we can talk about it in person (soon!). I did like 11/22/63 more than you did, but I’ll take your criticism on it- you’re not wrong. The Road to Tender Hearts is on my TBR!
Every Last One was definitely a standout – what a heartbreaking book. But so well-written! I need to read more Anna Quindlen, for sure.
Awww, I love reading how doing this post makes you feel! I think I had a similar feeling reading this and seeing titles like Annie-Bot, that I had forgotten about. So many books out there, and only so much place in our brains to remember them LOL. Good thing we track them!
I can’t wait until my copy of The Correspondent comes from the library! Everything I’ve read has been so meh lately. I need something good!
Oh I love these reading roundups. So much inspiration. So many books that get bumped up on my TBR because of such great reviews.
We have a few overlaps but many of the books are still sitting on the TBR.
I do not think I will read Blue Sisters. I am not sure but my gut tells me it’s not a book for me. I might be totally wrong and miss out.
Thank you for these posts – I added many of these when you first wrote about them, but having your runners-up is a huge help for my (overflowing) TBR. Is it even possible for a TBR to get too long? I guess we will find out… 🙂