Each year I share a list of my favorite books hoping to help someone check out a good one to read. I didn’t set a goal for reading this year but finished sixty-three. That doesn’t count the thirteen I started and returned unfinished. It was a hard year for finding great books!
I lean towards mysteries and historical novels. I can’t get through a book with a lot of foul language. I don’t care for romantic novels. So, from my conservative point of view here are my highest rated reads from 2025 in the order in which I read them.
- The River We Remember by William Kent Kruger – I think I’ve rated most of his books very high.
- The Reformatory by Tananarive Due – An excellent, well-written book but so very hard to read due to the cruel historical revelations.
- Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
- Mustard Seed by Laila Ibrahim – I enjoyed the first two books in the series but could not recommend the rest of them
- One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis – trigger warning, the story includes the death of a child; I will definitely read this author’s works again
- Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea – a good mystery with an ending I did not anticipate
- Under the Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee – reminded me of The Help which I loved
- Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah – I did not consider this one of her best books but it told an important part of history
- Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks – a modern-day Job story; I couldn’t stop reading it!
- My Friends by Fredrik Backman – Backman is one of the few authors I will endure foul language to read; as usual, this was a wonderful book
- The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian
- Black Swan of Paris by Karen Robards – excellent
- The Unmissing by Minka Kent – very enjoyable read with a twist I didn’t see coming
- Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto – I almost returned this book without finishing it because it had a rather slow start but I’m glad I stuck with it. I immediately got the second book in the series when I finished and enjoyed it, too.
- Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q Sutanto
- The Widow by John Grisham – I enjoy all of Grisham’s work but I did want more of a resolution at the end of this one.
My favorite series was Sara Driscoll’s K-9 series beginning with Before It’s Too Late. My favorite in the series was No Man’s Land (hard to beat urbex plus a serial killer!). I started her next series of books (NYPD Negotiator Series) after I finished these but did not like it and did not finish the first one. (Sara Driscoll is a pen name)
I usually give a list of least favorite books. There were too many this year! I returned thirteen unfinished! Most were highly rated by different sites but they just weren’t for me.
I hope someone will find this useful and I would cherish your recommendations for future reads!
