My Top 5 Reads of 2025

Tell us about your favorite reads of the year

 Well, I thought you’d never ask.

Here we are knocking on the door of 2026 and what a year it’s been. The news has been a horror show since January 2025, and sadly, unless my wee prayers are answered, 2026 looks to be much of the same. But through all the ugliness this timeline has spewed there have remained great books, and I for one am thankful for it.

It’s always been my habit to read when I find myself unable to write, and 2025, quite honestly, left me struggling to write more often than I care to think about. It could have been the new job, that turned out to be a far bigger job than I anticipated. It could have been the constant cycle of news that started as bad and somehow morphed into a never-ending cycle of hold my beer. I don’t know, but I am grateful to have had my constant besties right by my side, or rather in my book-bag, purse, or pocket, every step of the way. They did their job, keeping me sane, for the most part. I could probably list at least twelve books, one per month, fairly easily, but I’ll spare you all and stick with my top 5.

Number five was a new author for me, Faye Snowden, A Killing Rain. I picked this book up because I kept hearing it was good read. Turns out that was the understatement of the year. A former homicide detective with a serial killer father, returns home to a small Louisiana town after being fired, only to have her nephew kidnapped by a serial killer. I was hooked from the very first page. The descriptions were so well done, I could feel the humidity in the Louisiana air. I fell in love with the main character, Raven, and hated everyone who came for her. There were no slow parts. I gobbled this book up in less than a week and was so grateful that it is a series. This may have been my first read with this author but you can best believe, she’ll be a staple in my collection from now on.

 Number four was a story by my all-time favorite writer, Stephen King, Life of Chuck. It’s a story that I read in one day and have not been able to get out of my head since. Imagine if your whole life and everything around you were a product of your thoughts and experiences and when you die, it all goes with you. Whoa! Has old SK figured out the meaning of life and offered it up to us in the form of a novella? Maybe. Seems to make as much sense as anything else. It may take me another year to grasp the meaning of this story, or a lifetime. Something tells me I’ll be reading this one a few more times until my own lights go out.

 Number three on my list was Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts. This one had everything I love. An imperfect bad-ass heroine, like really bad-ass. She’s sexy, she’s smart, and takes no crap from anybody. But with so much heart you can’t help but to root for her every step of the way. I love a good whodunit, especially when you’re never really sure who the guilty party is. I won’t tell. But I will say, you have to use all your willpower to stop yourself from peeking at the end. Don’t! You wouldn’t want to ruin this ride. It’s a great mystery, with a great leading character with a group of misfit friends that I look forward to following.

 Number two was another one of those reads that my thoughts return to often, Cheryl Head’s, Time’s Undoing. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great storytelling, especially if you love history. A young reporter from Detroit, MI, decides to go down south to research the murder of her great-grandfather that occurred in 1929, Alabama. This story unfurled slowly, beautifully, like a movie in my head. Each character was so well developed they felt as real as a friend. I cried at their pain and celebrated their triumphs and grinned right along with them at each hint of success. This book had it all, love, loss, joy and pain. With each word I read, I found myself hoping for a different outcome even though I knew it wasn’t possible. The story itself was centered around tragedy, but the telling of it was all about strength, pride, and resilience. Oh, and there was even a little sprinkle of magic. I think we can all use that these days.

My favorite read of the year was an Indie read called What Would Rose Do, by Melissa Hintz. What would you do if the person you loved the most, your twin sister, had a life-threatening medical issue, but no means to seek treatment. Would you let her assume your identity to seek treatment and save her life? Yes? What if she dies leaving you trapped in her life? This is the premise for this story. And what a story it was. So many unexpected twists and turns and so much heart. I found myself laughing one minute and crying the next. Each character, good or bad will leave an imprint on your heart. And you’ll think of them long after you close the book. Maybe I’d still let my twin use my health insurance if it came to that, but boy would I think about it an extra second or two.

 All five of these books are available for purchase. If you’ve not read them, I am happily recommending you add them to your TBR list. Thanks to all the incredible authors, I’ll never finish my TBR list, but I’m happy to keep trying. Bring on 2026!