Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Best Books I Read in 2025.
I read so many great books this past year! According to StoryGraph, I gave 5-star ratings to 30 books in 2025. It’s too painful to narrow down to just ten… so I’m not! Leaving off books that were re-reads (such as three Tolkien and one Austen!) and a few children’s books, here are 22 of the best books that I read in 2025:
- Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto (review)
- The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage (review)
- My Friends by Fredrik Backman (review)
- Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench (review)
- The Sirens by Emilia Hart (review)
- The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune (review)
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (review)
- The Jackal’s Mistress by Chris Bohjalian (review)
- When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (review)
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (review)
- Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire (review)
- The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (review)
- Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (review)
- Dracula by Bram Stoker (review)
- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (review)
- Overgrowth by Mira Grant (review)
- It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (review)
- One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (review)
- The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley (review)
- The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (review)
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (review)
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (review)
Even at 22, that’s ignoring other books I really loved, but for whatever ever reason gave 4.5 or 4.75 stars on StoryGraph. This topic is a lot harder than I expected!
What were you favorite books of 2025? Do we have any in common?
If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
I have Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto on my list. I need to bump it up to read next or, at the very least, soon!
I really loved it! And highly recommend the audio version. Hope you enjoy it!
I really ought to read The God of the Woods sometime.
It’s good! I assumed for quite a while that it wouldn’t appeal to me — and I ended up loving it.
I also loved Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil!
SO good!
When the Moon Hits Your Eye has a fun cover.
Here is our <a href=”https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/top-ten-tuesday-my-favorite-books-i-read-in-2025/“>Top Ten Tuesday. </a>
And it’s a really fun book!
I need to read Children of Time. I’ve read a couple of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s standalones and really enjoyed them so I think it’s time I have his longer works a chance.
That was my situation too — I’d read several of his novellas, and really had to psych myself to read one of his big books. I’m so glad I did!
that’s a wonderful number of 5 star reads. Happy reading in 2026.
Yes! I was pleasantly surprised to see the total!
Frozen River is so memorable! Happy new reading year! 📚🥂
Happy new year! Frozen River was great, and my book group really enjoyed diving into it together.
Not surprised to see a TJ Klune book make the list, lol.
Haha, nope, not a surprise! (The surprise was the one year when I didn’t actually love his newest book…)
My Friends was the book I thought would be my third 5 stars in August, but just didn’t hit that mark… I also read Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil and One Golden Summer, the latter one really surprised me.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2026/01/06/top-ten-tuesday-2025-favourites/
In a good way, I hope!
I loved The Frozen River and Children of Time, and I’m reading Bury Our Bones right now. I’m happy to see the new TJ Klune on your list as I haven’t read that yet. Happy new year!
Nice to hear about the books we have in common! Happy new year!
So fun to see your list of favorite reads from last year. I loved One Golden Summer, too, all because of your recommendation. 😀
Ah, that’s great to hear! I can’t wait for her new book!
I have The Bones Beneath My Skin and Bury Our Bones waiting. I’m a big fan of both authors, so I know I’ll enjoy them.
I hope you do! I need to read more Schwab books for sure!
Some wonderful books here! Shakespeare/Judi Dench, My Friends, The Nightingale! Loved those!
It makes me happy to look back and realize just how many great books I read last year!
Right?
A lot of books that I loved on this list. I am hoping to get to God of the Woods and Frozen River this year!! 🙂
They’re both so good! I hope you get to them!
Lovely list! We share The Everlasting and Witchcraft For Wayward Girls, and i see a few books I need to read: God of the Woods and Bury Our Bones😁
I think you’ll really enjoy both of those!
Such a great list! We share quite a few favorites, and others I’m looking forward to read soon.
It’s so nice to know that our books tastes align 🙂