I… kind of forgot about my book review this year. I don’t know what to tell you; my brain has been all over the place for the past month and a half. When I remembered (last night as I was going to bed) that I always post my annual book review on Dec. 30th, I easily could have decided it’s too much for my poor, feeble brain to deal with right now and put it off to the new year (or not done one this year at all). But! Reviewing my books for the year has always been a fun and fulfilling practice for me, so I decided to ignore my children and chores today and write this book review instead! I hope you appreciate my sacrifice.

Below are my various Book Awards categories, in which I allow myself to name up to 3 books (generally listed in order of my liking), instead of choosing just 1 favorite. I also included random stats & factoids about my reading this year at the bottom. Please enjoy!

Steph’s 2025 Book Awards

Top 5 favorite books I read this year:

• Legendborn series  (Tracy Deonn)
• All the Sinners Bleed  (S.A. Cosby)
• Atmosphere  (Taylor Jenkins Reid)
• Piranesi  (Susanna Clarke)
• The Rushworth Family Plot  (Claudia Gray)
• Runner up: Buried Deep and Other Stories – especially “Dragons & Decorum”  (Naomi Novik)

Favorite nonfiction book:

• The Fire Next Time  (James Baldwin)
• Awake  (Jen Hatmaker)
• Good Soil  (Jeff Chu)

Favorite romance:

• You Should Be So Lucky  (Cat Sebastian)
• The Wedding People  (Alison Espach)
• The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love  (India Holton)

Most surprising:

• Piranesi  (Susanna Clarke)
• Aftertaste  (Daria Lavelle)
• Clockwork Boys duology  (T. Kingfisher)

Made me laugh the most:

• Twenty-Four Seconds from Now  (Jason Reynolds)
• “Vici” short story from Buried Deep  (Naomi Novik)
• Thursday Murder Club  (Richard Osman)

Most disappointing:

• Carving Shadows Into Gold  (Brigid Kemmerer)
• The Atlas Six  (Olivie Blake)
• Say You’ll Remember Me  (Abby Jimenez)

Most Thought-Provoking:

• I’ve Got Questions  (Erin Hicks Moon)
• Small Things Like These  (Claire Keegan)
• Interior Chinatown  (Charles Yu)

Classic I read this year:

• Rebecca  (Daphne du Maurier)
• The Fire Next Time  (James Baldwin)

Favorite Re-Read:

• Temeraire series  (Naomi Novik)
• Lincoln in the Bardo  (George Saunders)
• Red, White and Royal Blue  (Casey McQuiston)

“Everyone shut up, I’m reading!” award:

• Fourth Wing series  (Rebecca Yarros)

Books I Would’ve Enjoyed Studying In-Depth in a Literature Class:

• The Island of Missing Trees  (Elif Shafak)
• If Beale Street Could Talk  (James Baldwin)
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter  (Stephen Graham Jones)
• Martyr!  (Kaveh Akbar)

Favorite Characters I met this year:

• Kuro – The Fox Wife  (Yangsze Choo)
• Vigga – The Devils  (Joe Abercrombie)
• Ridoc – Fourth Wing  (Rebecca Yarros)
• Bree Matthews – Legendborn  (Tracy Deonn)
• Nick Davis & Selwyn Kane – Legendborn
• Elm Rowan – Two Twisted Crowns  (Rachel Gillig)
• Sheriff Titus Crowne – All the Sinners Bleed  (S.A. Cosby)
• Fig Tree – Island of Missing Trees  (Elif Shafak)

Books Not Yet Mentioned that I’d Recommend:

• The God of the Woods  (Liz Moore)
• The Women  (Kristin Hannah)
• Blood Over Bright Haven  (M.L. Wang)

Book I’m most excited to read in 2026:

• To Ride a Rising Storm  (Moniquill Blackgoose)
• The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield  (Claudia Gray)
• Dead Beat  (Leigh Bardugo)

Random Statistics

Just some miscellaneous and completely arbitrary statistics, to give a little more insight into my reading habits. Hopefully it’s worth a chuckle!

• Total # of books I read this year: 97
• # of books featuring women who aren’t taking your nonsense anymore: 25
• # of rom-coms: 18
• # of books with love triangles I actually found compelling: 13
• # of books I read with my kids: 1.5  (yikes! A drastic drop from last year. I blame my kids, though.)
• # of different magic systems I was introduced to: 20
• # of books that 13-yr-old-me would judge me harshly for reading: at least 30
• # of books I re-read this year: 12
• Finally, the most important statistic… # of books with dragons: 14

As always, feel free to share your favorite books from this year with me in the comments, either here on the blog or on social media!