So far, 2025 has delivered the kind of reading year that makes me grateful to be a reader. I’ve fallen for romances, gotten deliciously tangled in mysteries, and savored short stories that left me thinking long after I turned the last page. Even if I narrow the list to books already published—though let me just say, there are some spectacular ones coming later this year—I’ve read ten standouts I’d happily press into anyone’s hands.
What about you? Which books have made you pause, swoon, or stay up too late this year? And have you read any of the ones I’ve loved? Let me know!
Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone.
Promise Me Sunshine understands that the risk of being known, really known, is terrifying, especially when you’ve lost before. But it also shows how electric it can be when someone sees your grief, your chaos, your softness—and chooses you anyway. This novel doesn’t promise healing. It promises connection. And in the face of loss, that might be the most powerful thing we get.
You Give Me That Feeling (Road Kings Book 7) by Julie Kriss
I came into this book unconvinced that Kriss was worth the hype. You Give Me That Feeling changed my mind. It’s smart, well-written, sexy as hell, and plays with pop culture in ways that feel fresh. Could it be better? Sure. Its short length skips over moments I wanted to sink into, and while it’s a very fun book, I kept thinking it could have been even better. But now I believe Kriss has it in her to write something truly spectacular. This one is just very good—and that’s still a gift. For contemporary romance readers, this rock star romance deserves to be at the top of the charts.
Drive Me Wild (Riggs Brothers, #1) by Julie Kriss
A sharp, sexy, and absorbing second-chance romance with a heroine who refuses to dim her light and a hero who wouldn’t want her to. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys smoking hot contemporary romance.
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
The world building was immersive and unique and all the characters interesting and distinct. I thought the prose was gorgeous. But, perhaps most of all, I loved how it didn’t, overall, demonize the Japanese and the Germans. At this point in my life, I find black and white characterizations of people and movements more than useless–I’d argue they’re harmful. I loved that, in The Listeners, Stiefvater seems to be saying that we are all capable of many things–she deftly uses the analogy of the sweetwater–and that to see someone and believe we know their truths and their worth is often, at best, at misapprehension and, at worse, a danger to the larger world.
Parents’ Weekend by Alex Finlay
Finlay writes thrillers that, yes, you can’t put down. This one is great fun and even when it teetered on unbelievability, I didn’t care. This is one of those reads that just being along for the ride is worth it–if you’re looking for a summer read that sucks you in and leaves you utterly content with the time you gave it, I recommend this one highly!
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall.
Hall’s writing is elegant and unhurried, not just in style but in the way she builds lives on the page. She does not bend to the reader’s need for catharsis or closure; instead, she asks us to sit with the choices her characters have made, to reckon with the things they cannot take back. The novel does not grip you by the throat—it settles into your bones. If you are looking for a story that unfolds with patience, depth, and emotional complexity, Broken Country is one worth reading.
Count My Lies by Sophie Stava
Books that make you turn the pages as fast as you can are a gift. But when they sabotage themselves with a ridiculous ending, they land in that purgatory: not quite worth returning, but not the kind you press into your best friend’s hands, insisting they have to read it. If you love a fast, twisty thriller with an unreliable narrator, Count My Lies is worth the ride. Just expect to roll your eyes at the destination.
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Gillian McAllister’s Famous Last Words doesn’t start with a murder, a car chase, or an anonymous text—it starts with a husband who simply isn’t where he’s supposed to be. That’s all it takes for McAllister to unravel a marriage, a career, and a life in real time. This isn’t a thriller that relies on cheap tricks or high body counts to keep you hooked. Instead, it thrives on an insidious kind of tension—the kind that makes you second-guess everything, including your own instincts. At its core, it’s about trust, betrayal, and—somewhat surprisingly—love.
A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker: 1925-2025
I am reading this collection slowly and, whoa, I feel, in the best way, as if I’ve returned to school. The book’s 75 stories–no, there is not one for each year–are arranged in chronological order and, as such, tell the story of the past century. (I’ve made it up to 1982 and am currently working my way through Raymond Carver’s Where I’m Calling From.) The book has very famous stories–The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, Salenger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain, etc…–as well as marvels previously unknown to me. Of the 28 I’ve read, my favorites I’d not read before are A Summer’s Reading by Bernard Malamud, Dawn Powell’s Such a Pretty Day, Nadine Gordimer’s City Lovers, and John Cheever’s The Five-Forty-Eight. I’ve already given the book to four friends–it’s a great conversation generator!
Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson
Tell Me What You Did is a wild read. Each chapter is short and that staccato rhythm reflects the fragmented way uncertainty creeps in and, slowly, undermines the things we’re sure of. This is a dual timeline story—it weaves between Poe’s teenage grief and her adult reckoning—and both parts work. Even the now overdone podcast schtick suits the tale–the transcripts, emails, and production notes add narrative depth rather than gimmick, capturing the gap between Poe’s public persona and private fear.
This is a novel I couldn’t put down. It’s not perfect–the last twist strains credulity, and the pacing tips toward spectacle–but Wilson earns enough trust along the way that I stayed with it and was glad to have done so. Tell Me What You Did is a gripping, thoughtful, rollicking thrill laden ride of a story and I recommend it highly.
A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young
The novel’s strength lies in its dual mystery. The first half focuses on Johnny’s last days: What was he doing in the forest, and why did he hide so much from James? The second half digs into the events surrounding the golden boy’s death, forcing James to confront how she and Johnny were implicated in that long-ago tragedy. Each answer builds on the last, leading to a conclusion that surprised me—clues were there all along, hiding in plain sight.
The resolution, however, is almost too tidy. Both mysteries—the truth behind Johnny’s death and the events of twenty years ago—are explained in full. For a story steeped in ambiguity, the clean ending feels almost too neat, though it’s satisfying. Micah and James remain something of a puzzle—are they together because of shared history, physical chemistry, or the narrative’s need for a romance arc? Either way, their ending will leave romance readers content.
