My Favorite Books of 2025

Are you my book twin?

I’m sure your Libby holds are already overflowing with end of the year reading lists, but I couldn’t resist sharing my own favorites. I read 61 books this year, and managed to narrow down this list to 14 that I would enthusiastically and obnoxiously recommend.

If you’re curious whether you’ll jive with these recs, here’s some things you should know:

My favorites of 2025 tended to be of the hopeful, funny, life-affirming variety. I read mostly contemporary fiction, but occasionally enjoy a dip into magical realism or historical fiction. I love an ensemble cast, a sharp sense of humor, and found family stories, and I’m an absolute sucker for an audiobook narrated by anyone with an accent that is not American.

In past years, I have enjoyed hard hitting emotional dramas, but this was not that year. I struggled with and eventually abandoned three weighty novels in this vein, including American Wife, Go As a River, and The Women. (I tried all of these on audio, and will perhaps return to them in print).

If your Storygraph mood graph looks anything like this, we might be reading twins! This was also a reminder to me that there’s a difference between emotional and sad, and I am apparently firmly in the emotional camp.

I have also included a few non-fiction books I enjoyed this year, including one that gave me the fight-the-power motivation I needed to dramatically shift my relationship with social media.

Some of the most-talked-about-books of the year fell a bit flat for me (looking at you, Atmosphere), while I was pleasantly surprised by others. These are not necessarily the best written, but the ones that I most enjoyed—the ones that found me at exactly the right place and right time. I hope you’ll find something that hits you in that sweet spot too!¹

You can also find past reading favorites in the 2024 Great Big Book Wrap Up or see more of what I’m reading on Storygraph.

10 Favorite Fiction Books of 2025

👵🏼 How to Age Disgracefully² and Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting- This was the year I discovered Clare Pooley, and I feel a bit bereft now that I’ve blown through all three of her novels. These hit the sweet spot for me- multi generational friendships, found family, cheeky capers, and a little romance. Her books are hopeful, playful, and exuberant without being purely fluff. The British audio narration is fantastic.

👨🏼‍🍳 Aftertaste- This was unlike anything I’ve ever read, and WOW, I loved it so much. Part ghost story, part romance, part love letter to food and the people who make it, this novel follows Kostya, a Ukrainian-American chef with a supernatural gift: He can taste the most memorable meals of the dead. Driven by his own grief over the loss of his father, Kostya discovers he can recreate these otherworldly “tastes” and bring back the dead for brief reunions with their loved ones. This was tender and moving and mouthwatering and sometimes wickedly funny. I could share pages of highlighted passages that took my breath away, but instead I’ll just strongly encourage you to pick this one up and give it a try.

🍂 Wreck- Unsurprisingly, I adored Catherine Newman’s new book, which was a follow up to last year’s Sandwich. Nothing has made me feel as seen, to an almost embarrassing degree, as these two books. Newman perfectly captures the exquisite highs and unbearable lows of being human—from dealing with the daily horrors and indignities of having a body to that whirlpool of love and anxiety we carry for the people we love. And of course, I LOVE a book where food is a supporting character.

🪄 A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping- An absolute warm hug of a book. I could feel my nervous system regulating every time I opened. This is everything I love in a book: Found family. Healing childhood trauma. A bit of magic. Quirky, well-fleshed out characters who aren’t perfect but who are fiercely loyal to each other, AND a romance. It was soothing and lovely on audio.

💃 Slow Dance- I loved this romance with my whole heart. Rainbow Rowell always gets me, and this time with a second chance romance AND a female lead who’s a mom in her 30s. JUST TAKE ALL MY MONEY AND MY HEART WITH IT, RAINBOW.

This had excellent banter, characters who felt believably flawed, and a time capsule early 2000s Midwest setting. There was definitely a miscommunication trope, but it didn’t drag out for unbearably long. I could probably analyze this and find flaws, but I absolutely don’t want to.

🏡 We All Live Here- Oh, what have we here? A book about a woman in mid-life rediscovering herself in the midst of parenting, shifting career, and grief? Put this in my veins.

🚗 The Road to Tender Hearts- PJ is an affable, well intentioned but inept alcoholic, still grieving the loss of his daughter fifteen years earlier. When his great niece and nephew’s parents both die unexpectedly on the same day, PJ becomes their unlikely caregiver. His first order of business with two grieving kids and a “borrowed” car? A road trip. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything. But somewhere along the way, much is also made right.

I don’t know that I’ve ever read something that manages to toe the line so perfectly between the macabre and the lighthearted. I wanted to live with these characters a long time. The ending was pitch perfect, a distillation of the deep sadness and brazen hopefulness of the book. The audio narration is excellent.

*While I deeply loved this book, it contains A LOT of death. I think there’s a death in almost every chapter, by all different means. I was a bit taken aback by the lighthearted tone of the book paired with some of the very heavy themes, but it ended up working beautifully for me. However, it’s something worth knowing before picking this one up.

👰🏻‍♀️ The Wedding People- This was a great read to pair with The Road to Tender Hearts. Both have dark, despairing beginnings that set the stage for funny, hopeful, life affirming stories. Phoebe’s pure wonder at being alive—the little joys of it, the reconnection to her body and to other humans—was my favorite part. And of course, a wedding setting always leaves plenty of room for drama, comedy, and space to see characters at their best and worst. I felt tender towards all of them and thought the author did a great job making them all nuanced and flawed but lovable.

🚶You are Here- The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that it ended. I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to Michael and Marnie, two people adrift in middle age who stumble their way towards each other over the course of a long, soggy, windy trek across the English countryside. This had a gentle pace that I found soothing, never boring.

🌄 Jane and Dan at the End of the World- Jane and Dan are celebrating their 19th anniversary at a restaurant that’s far too expensive for them when Jane declares she wants a divorce. Moments later, the restaurant is taken over by eco-terrorists and Jane and Dan, along with the rest of the guests, are all taken hostage. They spend the next few hours grappling with their marriage, their identities, and their parenting against the backdrop of some lite terrorism. This was pitch perfect—funny and reflective, somehow relatable despite being so absurd. I loved it.

4 Non-Fiction Favs

The Art of Gathering- An inspiring read about how to gather well. This leaned a little more corporate than I was hoping, but I still found plenty of ideas and wisdom to implement in my personal gatherings.

🧘🏻 Stolen Focus- This book isn’t going to tell you you need more self-discipline or give you a list of habits or boundaries to set around screen time or social media. Instead, it will tell you exactly how intentionally and nefariously corporations have hijacked our attention for profit. It turns out, this was exactly the fuel I needed to reshape my relationship with social media. It’s still a challenge, but I feel like I’m in a much better place than I was a year ago, in no small part because of this book.

❔How to Walk Into a Room- We made some pretty gigantic decisions this year (ummm, we bought a church!), and this book was the perfect companion for walking through that process. Emily P. Freeman is the gentle guide you want as you navigate life’s biggest transitions.

😵‍💫 I’ve Got Questions: The Spiritual Practice of Having It Out with God- I wish I would’ve had this book ten years ago, but even well into my question era, I found this book so helpful and healing. Erin is a wise and funny friend to the questioners, doubters, and anyone disillusioned with faith. She shares a faith in a God who’s sturdy enough for all our doubts, anger, and questions. She is wise without being prescriptive, a rare combination in most Christian literature.

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What was your favorite read of the year! Do you have a hot take about a book you read or DNF’d this year? I’d love for you to share it in the comments so I can also add to my overflowing Libby holds list!

1. As with any reading, trigger warnings apply to some of these books. My favorite place to look at content warnings is Storygraph. Search for any book, scroll to the bottom, and see a full list of potential content warnings, rated from mild to graphic.

2. All the links here are affiliate links to bookshop.org. I’ll always encourage you to support your local book store in person or through Bookshop!