Oh, 2025. You hurt me in a lot of ways.
It wasn’t a huge reading year for me. I did reach 55 yesterday! That is still pretty freaking awesome.
I feel like some of the podcasts I listen to could legit be marked as books but anyway…
I did not have twelve “5 Star” books this year. I think I had 3, and then I thought about it more and moved 2 more up since after thinking about it writing this up, they were 4.5 stars for me. They were enjoyable and entertaining. Some of them hurt. I cried during a few.
But that did surprise me. Usually I’m flying through books and love so many of them. But I guess I was a bit grumpy this year.
The one thing I’m bummed about is that I did not read a memoir or autobiography! I always try to do one or two each year and this one just passed me by. But I did read 4 “business” or self-help books which I gave 5 stars to as they all taught me something.
Radical Candor, Crucial Conversations, Making of a Manager, and Let Them.
I think Let Them was the most impactful as I really admire Mel Robbins and enjoy her podcasts and way of thinking. But the other three were incredibly useful in both my business and personal life.
But let’s get into my top books that I’ve thought about since I’ve read them!
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025)
Ooohhh, this book hit me hard. I bought it as gifts for 3 people this year. I think a lot of it is because I went in blind. I honestly had no idea what the book was about, other than space. I sort of meandered along this journey and was continually surprised, and then just so in love.
I think this is my favorite of the year because of the unexpectedness of it. I raved about it a few months ago. But she was so freaking smart. I love hearing about NASA, and the cast of characters was so well done. Huge 5 stars.
I do love highlighting in my Kindle ap, which is one of my favorite parts going back and seeing what I highlighted. Ahhhh…
“I’m sorry,” she said. He shook his head. “No, don’t be. I’ll be okay. Give me a little while and I’ll be just fine.”
“I wanted to tell you that it’s okay. I’m good, you don’t need to give me space anymore,” Griff said. “Are you sure?” Joan asked. “I’ll do anything you need.” Griff nodded, appreciatively. “Have you ever been in love?” he asked. Joan could not look at him. “No, I don’t think so.” “Well, it’s like a bad cold: it’s miserable and then, one day, it’s gone.” Joan laughed.
“And I want to know when you knew what was happening between us and I want to tell you when I knew. And I want to hold your hand in a quiet corner and I want to lie in bed and hear your heartbeat through your chest. I want to bring you coffee in bed. And I want to hear you tell me anything you’ve always wanted to tell someone. Because you know that you’ve met someone who desperately wants to listen.”
Why was it that when you let someone that far in, you learned to be okay with all the ways they saw you, even if they weren’t flattering? Why, right now, talking to Vanessa, did Joan feel the most perfect sense of safety?
Joan took Vanessa’s hand. “I don’t think you had any say over whether or not I loved you,” Joan said. “I don’t even think I had any say in it. It happened without me even giving myself permission.”
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025)
Oohhh, ouch. Abby hurts me in the best ways. Reading these quotes makes me remember the book since it’s been awhile.
Long distance relationships are hard and this was a little played out but the attunement, the love, the chemistry. So good. And this was about a family member with dementia which was so heart-breaking in so many ways.
It wasn’t my favorite book of hers but I was really taken on a ride with it. It was a 5 star for me!
“Last night was a core memory. He was filed away in a place that my brain would forever protect.”
“I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would never forget this moment. That this was a memory sticking to a very new and very small snowball. And I liked where it was going.”
“So why was I still thinking about her? Because the facts didn’t change the feelings. I’d been taken by the riptide.”
“That split second of raw reaction when you’re seen and known. Relief, joy, happiness at locking eyes with someone you were looking for or seeing someone you didn’t expect.”
“I think there are two types of people you fall in love with. The ones who are a good fit. Their lifestyle matches yours, you share the same values and beliefs, you find them attractive and you like spending time with them. It’s good. Great even. You can live your whole life with this person and be madly in love and never want anything different… unless you’ve already met the other type of person you fall in love with. The One. The person who was made just for you. And you only ever get the one.”
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (2025)
I read this after seeing SO many people fall in love with it. I read the first in the series last year and I really can’t remember much. But I downloaded it the week before Christmas and flew through it. It WAS so lovely. So much emotion, burn-out, mystery, and exploration of life. Loved being present, loved the Grandma. So good. I rated this 5 stars and really enjoyed both characters SO well. I could see the ending coming but it was well done.
“I haven’t felt this comfortable with someone in a very long time. I haven’t laughed this much since I don’t know when. I can speak my mind without being afraid you’ll judge me. It’s so freeing. So, yes, you’re fun. That’s a gift, Charlie.”
“That’s because deep down, you want someone to see what you need before you have to ask.”
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025)
This was madness. On so many “best of” lists and it was wild, and dark, and crazy. It wandered, it meandered, it was heart-wrenching and a little insane. It was so well-written and haunting. I gave it 4 stars but in my head I was giving it 4.5. I upgraded it to 5 in GoodReds. I’m still thinking about it at the end of the year and my Kindle had SO many highlights. Here were only a few of my favorites. Some of them heart-wrenching and brings tears to my eyes even now.
“In the years we have been together it has become very clear to me that he does not see me at all. I am actually not so bothered by this; what an ordeal it would be, to be known.”
“Is this how you feel after being swept in on a current? Will you change shape and put down roots? Or carry on in search of somewhere better?”
“A prison of dreams. I’ve never spoken of it. Not even to Hank. How telling that seems now. To share a life with someone but to never share the truth of that life, to never express how that life is damaged.”
“I do not want to leave this place, but I would do it for you, I would do it with you, if that is something you might want.”
“And I can understand why he might not, in fact, be alright. Why maybe none of us will be, because we have, all of us humans, decided what to save, and that is ourselves.”
I will him silently to listen to me. To not put them through this. He meets my eyes. “You’re probably right,” he says. “But I think not trying would haunt them more.”
“But here is the nature of life. That we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.”
“I did not realize there could be no preparation for this kind of pain. It is really fucking sad that it should take loss to know the precise quality of love.”
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015)
Wow!
I was incredibly disappointed in that my Kindle lost ALL my downloaded “TBR” books. To be fair, they were at least 3+ years old (going back to 14+ years old) but I had at least 8 “pages” of books (10 BOOKS A PAGE, 80 BOOKS!!) that I was intending to go through. I had gotten that down from 16 a few years back! And the fact that they are all gone haunts me but that’s another story.
This book was in my “started” in GoodReads so I picked it up. It was published in 2015 and after I read it, I realized I read 2 others from her that were also 5 stars.
This was more like a horror novel. Not much romance but oh, was he a grumpy hero. I loved that he learned just as much from her that she did from him.
Fantasy, world-building, wars, parties, mystery. It had it all. I flew through it and could have savored it more but finished it on the 26th of December so I had to add it on here. Not too many quotes but these two were sweet.
“I wanted to shut my eyes and have him put his arms around me. I wanted to rub handprints through his dust.”
“I wanted and didn’t want his help. I wanted to stay angry at him a while longer, but I wanted the connection more; I wanted to touch him, wanted the brilliant crisp bite of his magic in my hands. I kept my head down and kept working.”
Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale (2023)
This was a funny one. My Dad raved about it. YES, my Dad! I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that he reads all my favorite romances and recommends them to me. LOVE.
Time travel and we slowly got the story. And then it kept repeating and repeating. Love what happened and then love the twist of her family. It makes me smile to think of it now. But it had a good message.
4 stars for me but I would read others from this author!
“Time is the invisible thread that weaves our stories together. And sixty seconds can change everything.”
“The full truth is not easy or comfortable; it is often far safer to construct an alternative that keeps everyone happy instead. Especially when it’s the story we’re weaving for ourselves.”“Because the whole truth is overwhelming, but sometimes you have to be brave enough to look it straight in the eye.”
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (2017)
I’m like a reluctant Sally Rooney fan. I hate how she writes with no punctuation and I’m fascinated by the British/Irish stories and the completely bonkers characters. I watched the Joe Alwyn series version on Hulu so finally wanted to read the book this year.
So mad. Just a sad state of affairs. But fascinating. 4.5 stars.
“My discovery that I was in love with Nick, not just infatuated but deeply personally attached to him in a way that would have lasting consequences for my happiness, had prompted me to feel a new kind of jealousy toward Melissa.”
“I was like an empty cup, which Nick had emptied out, and now I had to look at what had spilled out of me: all my delusional beliefs about my own value and my pretensions to being a kind of person I wasn’t.”
“Gradually the waiting began to feel less like waiting and more like this was simply what life was: the distracting tasks undertaken while the thing you are waiting for continues not to happen.”
“You live through certain things before you understand them. You can’t always take the analytical position.”
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce (2024)
It’s insane how many highlights I had. And how many I had to share below. All of which made me hurt.
In reviewing some of my GoodReads friends reviews of this book, I had to laugh. One of them said, here is the playlist of this book:
You’re losing me
Mirrorball
Paper Rings
I love you, I’m sorry
Ever Since New York
Invisible String
And… i TOTALLY agree. This authors first book was SO GOOD and this one was really solid. It wasn’t 5 stars for me, I can’t put into words why, but it definitely made me hurt.
With a huge break-up 5 years ago, forced proximity now, and the journey back was… ahhh.
Looking forward to her next book!
“Sometimes I swear adulthood is staring at your phone and wondering which of your friends has enough time to deal with your latest emotional meltdown, then realizing none of them do.”
“Our eye contact will be long enough to look normal, but not so lengthy that it clicks like a lock, the way it used to.”
“It’s a gift to know someone when you’re in love with them, and a curse when you’re out of it.”
“nearly forgot how hot Eli being ultra-competent is, a misstep on my part because he’s the most competent person I know.”
“I can’t pull away, so you’re the one who has to.”
“A pause as his fingers flex into my back. He inhales, and then stops. “Several other things I’ll keep in the vault.”
“He huffs out a laugh. I love the way his happiness tastes; my favorite emotion, the easiest one.”
“His grin was tender, but since then he’s been vacillating between inhaling like he wants to say something and watching me with a look I can’t decipher.”
“You didn’t trust me enough to ever say it, though,” he says. “And you didn’t trust yourself enough to let it out.”
I just want to know he’s there, and he always is. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I had it back—an Eli to rely on. An Eli who’s present and diligent, who feels like mine in a way. Just not in the way my heart wants.
“But this list shows the best and worst of us, through so much change and turmoil and separate growth. The one thing that hasn’t changed at all is him loving me. And me loving him. It’s our tether, the thing that’s never let us drift too far.”
“It’s a privilege to have someone trust you enough to show you those pieces of themselves, the most vulnerable and tender, the least polished.”
Time is a miracle. It shows you what you had, and sometimes it brings it back to you. Different. Better.
The Summer I Destroyed You by Elizabeth O’Roark (2024)
So angsy. So much bullying. She was an ice queen, grumpy, protective, and then ran into the one person who could break her shell. *romantic sigh* I inhaled it
“Have I not given up on the idea of her? I guess if I had, I wouldn’t still be scrolling through our old texts. I guess I wouldn’t be sitting in my house alone, laughing over the one she sent tonight.”
“You didn’t think I’d want you there?” he asks, pulling me toward him with his hands on my waist. “Then you must not have noticed I can’t stand having you anywhere else.”
Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews (2014)
Sigh. I love this book. I first read it in 2017, then 2019, 2020, 2022, and then again this year. It’s SUCH a comfort read. Had to include it on this list just for the re-read. I went on to read the 2nd in the series but stopped after that. I love this world.
It, sadly, did not make my 12 book compilation for Instagram but…
The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews (2025)
Their new series did! WOW! I inhaled this. They did a weekly series through summer and then published the book and I had to FLY THROUGH all the stuff I already read to get to the ending and I need more. I loved this new world. Everything. The characters.
I’m happy they have a new series coming out in January because I love everything they write.
I never usually highlight their stuff though… it’s just SO engaging.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025)
This was on all the lists this year. All her other books are 5 stars for me. I think I was grumpy this year but I went back and reviewed and I don’t want to move it up. Still 4 stars.
The writing is ALWAYS gorgeous. I did highlight several sections but it feels like she is wandering more over into literary fiction or mystery and I just wasn’t obsessed.
Had some nice highlights though.
“The terror of what happens if you ask for something someone’s not able to give you.”
“What if I want the whole awful truth? What if I’m done living with my version of events, where I’m always the hero, and I want to sit down and see things in black and white for once?”
“She’ll just act different. And I don’t need that. I don’t want her to pretend to think what I do has value. That would feel so much worse to me.”
“Nothing will matter more than who I spent my time with, and I want it to be you. I need it to be you.”
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue (2024)
The story was hilarious because she gets access to all of her colleagues personal emails. So… I know that life very well and the hijinks that ensued was heartfelt, sad, and super funny.
It was a great debut and was not as silly as I thought it would be. 4 stars, edging to 4.5 because I can still remember it well!
“A weight drills into my chest, hollow and heavy. It’s like there are these pockets of sorrow waiting to be uncovered right below the surface. But we see them only sometimes, only by chance. Otherwise, we never know.”
Mystic & Rider by Sharon Shinn (2005)
This was a weird one. It was recommended in a few places (possibly one of the ones from my old TBR file!) and I really enjoyed the world building. I read the 2nd one in the series and then didn’t want to continue because it talked about other people so I didn’t enjoy the entire world, as much as the characters. This wasn’t a 5 star but I enjoyed these quotes.
“She liked the deep stillness of an untenanted night, the pervasive cold that seemed to take corporeal form and lean against her like an affectionate child. She liked the utter blackness of the sky, the stars like spilled sugar across an unswept floor. She liked being alone.”
“You could do me the favor of unenchanting me,” he whispered.
But I feel safe when you are near me and troubled when you are gone, and these are not feelings, I think, that will easily pass. You say I have the power to break you—well, you have changed me, and I did not think I was capable of changing again.
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025)
I’m putting this on the list only to say how horribly disappointed and awful this book was! The series that has taken the world by storm and her 3rd book is just the sloggiest slop of everything. I get that she has a 5 book series in mind and sometimes the middle is SO BORING but ugh.
Why. Why did I reread the first two books to get this? So disappointed.
I may boycott until the last two books are completely finished.
But I do enjoy this author and all her other genres. Plus her social media account! You can’t love everything I guess!
No rules or assumptions for 2026. Hopefully I find more than 5 “five stars”.
We shall see.
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