My Favorite Books of 2025

[0:00]Every year, I read books hoping to find my new favorite. I always do, and it also happens to be my favorite video to post of the year. So, here are my favorite books of 2025. Hi, Reader Pops. Welcome to the video of all videos, in my opinion. The most common reason for making this list is getting me stuck in my seat and not wanting to move until I finish the book, feeling a strong emotion, taking a pen out to underline something, and remembering a scene or a feeling or a way of writing long after reading it. I have 14 favorites this year out of the 63 that I've read so far, but without further ado, let's begin. Starting on a fully unexpected absolute banger, Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley, which by the way, is already confirmed to be an A24 movie starring Austin Butler. If I could have a book and movie adaptation, this is like what I wish I could have. So, Holly is living my dream, although it actually might be more enjoyable to be the consumer of the book and the movie because if you write it, you don't really see how cool it is. This is a literary fiction novel that is kind of a love letter to the 2000s and to music specifically. There's a sub plot of a romance, but it's a very toxic one that is super exciting to read about, and the cover is literally a vinyl. And Percy, the main girl that you're following is talking about music all the time. She knows how to break songs down into the lyrics and the core progressions and all of these things that I've never heard of, and it was so interesting to me. I didn't even know what song she was talking about, and I was so engrossed in it. I think it's really cool to listen to someone talk about anything that they're super fascinated by, even if I know nothing about it. So, she's at Berkeley, and she meets this other student named Joe, who is an actual song writer. Percy's not. She has no actual musical talent, she just has a great ear for it, and she has tons of opinions. And she strikes up this friendship with Joe, where he will write something and present it to her, and then she'll critique it, and he becomes even better for it, and he eventually writes this hit song that she had a lot to do with. And you follow both of them over some years, where they have this very complicated toxic relationship, where they are each other's muses, and it's toxic, because Joe needs her for his music to be better, but they don't work really in a relationship. And I just loved this so much, and something that happens to me when I read books is sometimes my brain will be off at the beginning because I don't understand what I'm walking into, and I don't know if I'm going to like it. And then suddenly something will happen, I'm like, oh, I'm awake now. I'm paying attention to everything you have to say to me. That's what happened with this one, so honestly, the first few chapters, I don't even remember what was going on. But something that's so unique about Percy, the main character, is how openly jealous she was, at least mentally, of musicians and of Joe specifically, and how unafraid she was to express that jealousy. I found it really refreshing, and I just love a literary fiction about complicated characters and kind of showcasing the darker sides of us that no one talks about. I went so far as to caption one of my Instagram photos this year with a line from this book, so I think that says all you need to know. I'm like kind of cringing as I said that, but also this book is so good that I think it's totally valid. The full quote is from Joe, who's talking, and he says, have you ever noticed that talking to most people is boring? Easier than this, but boring? You can go figure out what part of that I put in my Instagram caption, but it was so messy, it was so great. Five stars. You Had Me at Hello by Varia McFarland. If you've watched any of my videos, you will probably have run into me talking about Varia McFarland. She's a Scottish author that I took way too long to find, and she's actually probably the reason I figured out that I like literary fiction with a sub plot of romance. And I think this might be her very first published book. I've read like 11 of hers, and they always make it into this video. But this is a second chance romance between Rachel and Ben, and I found it so interesting actually, because I was writing my own book at the time of reading this, and I saw so many similarities. And I was like, what is it about writing your first book that ends up being a second chance romance? Past and present timeline. It just felt like what I had envisioned, but the Varia McFarland version, which I absolutely love. She is so witty and so funny that it's actually hard to keep up with, and I I'm sure half of the references just fly fully over my head. And like I always say, she has a lot of slang and lingo in her books, so if you're having a hard time understanding what she's saying, just hold on for the ride until you catch up and then once you do it, it'll be so rewarding. There's no spice in this, if I remember correctly, which I hope I am. And it was just such a perfect romance book. And then I read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaughey. I would have never picked up this book on my own, I don't think, because the cover really doesn't tell me enough. But in my Asking Strangers in New York City to recommend me books, I was recommended this one by someone who reads over 200 a year, so I trusted her, and look at that, it's in this video. I think you could categorize this as a mystery thriller, more emphasis on the mystery than the thriller. It's set on an island near Antarctica in this post-apocalyptic world, and you don't really understand what happened, but it's this dad and his kids, and they are protecting a seed bank. Which I also didn't know was a real thing until I read this book. But the conditions of the island are very harsh, and there's kind of a dark history with the penguins that have been killed, and one day the body of a woman washes up to shore. They rescue her, and it turns out that she's alive, but no one comes in or out of this island, so who is she, and why is she here? That is the mystery that will continue to unfold for the rest of the book, and I know exactly where I was when I got to the point where I couldn't move, and I just had to keep reading for like two hours straight. Which that is so impressive, because I'm very uncomfortable when I sit, I feel my back, I feel my neck. I actually have to cut it out of my videos, because I'm always like doing something with my shoulder or with my neck, and I just didn't move, and I read this entire book, and then I cried at the end. It was just such a roller coaster, and it's such a great book to recommend to people. I recommended it to women and to men in my life, and they both liked it. At the core, it's a story about family. I highly recommend. I wish the cover was more intriguing because once you start reading it, you're like, oh, I'm not moving for the rest of the day. The Love Haters by Catherine Center. She writes rom-coms that I just absolutely adore, and this one in particular was so fun off the jump. It was also very complicated off the jump, I don't even know if I could explain it to you. Katie works at this video company that makes documentaries. But she does this project on the side where she'll spend 24 hours with someone and post it on YouTube, but she wants to make one about this guy called Hutch. He's a Coast Guard swimmer in Key West, Florida, and he rescued some famous person's dog and went viral on the internet, so she really wants to do an exclusive piece on him. So she flies to Key West under the impression that she's going to be allowed to do this. She's going to spend time with the Coast Guard, which are these guys who jump out of helicopters into the ocean to rescue people, and she doesn't know how to swim. So that's pretty exciting. There's a subplot in here of body image and how she views herself and how she has a hard time loving herself. I really enjoyed it. I could also see it being something that people really dislike and it kind of triggers things in their real life. I don't know how I could warn you from that, but this is me trying to. I thought it was really refreshing to read though, and it's kind of shocking that I haven't read it in more romance books. Her books are always marked by the dialogue. She has the most dialogue heavy pages, I feel like I've ever read in romances without any dialogue tags. So you can read them super, super fast. And something that I remember from this book, multiple scenes actually, because I loved the setting. But one of them was that she has this cool thing on her eye where like a chunk of it is like a pie piece that's a different color, and her ex is this musician. Something happens with him, and this guy, Hutch, within like the first week of meeting, already knows about her eye, and her ex had never noticed her eyes. And I just I don't know. I just remember that so well where I was like, that is an example of what it's like for someone to notice you and the difference it can feel like being with someone who doesn't notice you, to someone who does. She's so whimsical, she's so positive, but there's also things that are tragic and difficult in her books. I feel like this one has the least tragedy in it. Oh, I forgot. I just now remembered that the third act of this book is absolutely bonkers. I had to stay up way past my bedtime, because it was low key stressing me out so bad. I could have honestly gone without that, but I've got to say, I was on the edge of my seat. Like, I was genuinely stressed out, which how often does that happen in romance books? So, you know what? That's actually impressive. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. I just got so distracted, because one of the blurbs on the back says a rising star writer of literary romance. And it's like, this is her sixth smashing hit. At what point do you stop being a rising star and you're just a star? Because to me, Emily Henry is definitely in the star category. I'm not going to recommend this to you, because me telling you that I like Emily Henry is like telling you that I think the sky is pretty because it's blue. It's just so obvious to me that I actually lack language to describe it to you, other than, and this is going to sound cheesy, but it just makes sense. Her writing is full of heart. Her writing takes mundane things and makes them feel so beautiful, and so romanticized, but also still has the nitty-gritty truth of life. That's all I'm going to say. It's a Love Story by Annabel Monahan. In this one, we're following someone named Jane, who is pitching a movie, and all of her movies keep getting rejected. So she claims that she can get this really famous country star singer to write a song specifically for the movie, because she was in a sitcom as a kid with this guy. You kind of think that that's going to be the guy she falls in love with, but then it gets subverted in this really cool way. And the thing that I felt about this book and that has just stuck with me is when she visits this guy's home, and the house is always full with someone making coffee, kids running around. And I'm going to butcher it, but there's something about love happening over breakfast, and this book perfectly captured what the feeling of falling in love with someone feels like. Which is so impressive. You would think like, oh, yeah, that's what romance books are trying to do, but they're not always. Like, I feel like this did that. I want to reread it because I don't even remember how she did that, but she did it. And I literally knocked off my feet. Something about her writing feels so unhurried and peaceful and not desperate, and most of the time, I prefer desperate writing. Like I feel like that's what deep cuts is like, and Emily Henry. Like there's a desperation to it, which is almost what I mean by having heart, because it just like feels so much, and I feel like this one is just so matter-of-fact logic and truth, but she does her style so well. Cover Story by Vari McFarland. This is an early copy of the book that she came out with this year, so I read her most recent and her first published in the same year, which was super fun. And right after reading this, I said, six stars. I actually finished this on the first day of filming the 50 States in 50 Days series, and I was just in the car laughing out loud by myself. It was so good, and it's also got a very strong subplot of a huge journalistic venture going down where she's basically trying to uncover these secrets that the mayor is keeping, and she ends up fake dating the intern at her company. To get into parties and try to steal an iPad, and do all of these crazy things where you're genuinely on the edge of your seat, like, this is such a bad plan. How is this going to work? And at the same time they're falling in love. And it's just so good, and it's so witty, and it's so funny. It's so swoon worthy. I don't think there's any spice in this, if there is, it's like closed door, which is usually the vibe for Vari McFarland books. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Probably weren't expecting a John Green book in this video. This is the first one I've read since The Fault in Our Stars as a kid, and I was so pleased to discover that I still think he's an amazing author. This story follows Aza, who I think is a high schooler, and she's trying to find this missing billionaire, who was the dad of her childhood crush. And that childhood crush is the subplot of romance in this book, and she goes on this journey with her super spunky friend Daisy. I loved Daisy so much. She was such a memorable side character, which I feel like is a rare thing to say. But Aza and Davis are the quintessential Tumblr philosopher kids, who are like so nerdy and deep, and I ate that up. But this book also very much tackles OCD, and I watched a lot of interviews with John Green where he talks about how difficult writing this book was, because he tried not to say what OCD felt like with metaphors. He tried to write it like it actually was. So, for Aza, she had this cut in her finger, and she would have to reopen it to make sure it was clean, and then she would try to go on with her day, and then in italics, she would have like the other voice in her head that was like, your wound is infected. You have C. diff, you're going to go to the hospital, and you're going to die in four days. You need to reopen the wound, you need to clean the wound. So I think reading that could either be cathartic for you, it could be a learning experience, or it could really trigger you. So, figure out which camp you're in, but I absolutely loved this book. And I still need to watch the movie. Recursion by Blake Crouch. This is a thriller. There is not a single point where you can put it down and feel good until you finish it. Like, it's just a break next speed the entire time. It gets worse and worse and worse and worse, and it just felt like a movie. And it starts off really dark, so I wasn't in the place to read it when I was on the 50 States series, because I was sleeping in a different bed every night, and so this was a little spooky to me. But when I came home and read it, I absolutely loved it. You're following a detective named Barry, and he's trying to understand all of these cases of people having memories of a life that they've never actually lived. And it's driving a lot of people to the brink of unaliving themselves. And then you're also following a scientist named Helena, and they're on different timelines, and you see those timelines converge. I want Ryan to read this so bad. I feel like if you are a guy, or you're trying to recommend a guy in your life a book, they would love this. All year I was so excited to make this video just to give this one book more attention because I don't see anyone talk about it, and I don't know why. The Other Side of Now by Paige Harrison. I randomly found this book on Good Reads in the section that's like, other books you might like. I was doing the 50 States series. I was in L.A., Alaska, and then Hawaii, when I was reading this, and I remember that so vividly. This is a magical realism literary fiction subplot of romance book. Love the genre bending. But basically, the concept is, if you could go back in your life and make a different choice, and see what that life would have been like, would you do it? So this book starts completely different than what it actually is going to be like. So it the buy-in for me took a while, because she starts as this actress in L.A., and all of her friendships are very vain. She has all this work done on her face, and she just feels like her life is becoming very shallow, and she wonders what would happen if she went back in time and went to the acting college or school that she wanted to in Ireland. So it's her 30th birthday in L.A., and she just gets sick of everyone there. She books her flight to Ireland and her dream Airbnb, and she goes, and the second she lands and goes to the local pub, everyone is acting like they know her and like she has a completely separate life there. And she realizes that she is in the timeline of what would have happened if she chose to go to school in Ireland. She looks in the mirror, all of her plastic surgery is gone, and her best friend, who was not alive in the current timeline, is now alive, but they're not on speaking terms. Just from that synopsis alone, is that not the most insane plot you've ever heard? Like, it's so good. It's so fun as she's discovering what's going on, and this had the best, most specific exploration of this feeling and grief where once you experience one person passing away in your life, you become very aware of the limited time that you have with people that you do love. And you can get very stressed out trying to spend every minute enjoying them, every minute enjoying your dog, who you know will die one day, it's so dark, but how part of that enjoyment is forgetting that they will die one day. And that's such a specific thing that I've never seen anyone talk about in a novel at least, and it was so, so, so good. The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter, Shelby Cunningham. If you happen to not know, Elin Hilderbrand wrote 30 or 31 beach reads set on the tiny island of Nantucket, and then she retired from that, and this is the first book she came out with after, written with her daughter. And it's set at this elite boarding school where everyone has a lot of money. But you specifically follow this girl named Charlie, who is a transfer student, and she really doesn't fit in. And in typical Elin Hilderbrand style, you get to see from multiple POVs in close third person, so you get to hear everyone's thoughts in their heads. Which is usually difficult for me. It's not something I like, and it can be difficult to get into at first, but once I was into this one, I spent my entire day reading it, and it was amazing. It was like Gossip Girl. It was just the ultimate fun book. You're reading about rich kids at an academy, and it was everything I could have asked for. There's secrets, there's gossip, there's drama, and her daughter really helped her with all of the Gen Z language, which you think would be cringe, but it was so well done. So I think it was a great collaboration between them, and if my mom was Elin Hilderbrand, I would definitely be trying to write a book with her, and there's a sequel coming next year, which I am so excited for. Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber. This is one of my very few auto buy fantasy authors, and this is actually her first adult fantasy. But the thing I love about them so much is they're set in our world. It's just a more glamorous, magical version of it, and a lot of this one is set in Old Hollywood and California, and it's about the movie industry. And a girl named Holland, which is that not the best name you've ever heard, is taking this class at university called Local Legends. And most people think that what this professor is teaching is just make believe. But Holland believes in magic. She won't admit that to everyone, but she does. And one of the local myths is there's this guy named The Watchman, and he can tell you the exact time that you're going to die. And she goes to him, finds out, she's supposed to die in 24 hours. So she can prevent that if she can find the alchemical heart. Turns out, her and a lot of other people, good and bad, also want that alchemical heart. So she goes on this entire expedition trying to find it so she doesn't die, getting tricked by a bunch of people. You don't know who to trust. It's very crazy, and the backdrop is beautiful and gorgeous, and her writing style is so unique and wonderful. I just see it like a movie in my head, and I highly recommend this, especially if you're not even a fantasy reader. I think you would absolutely love this. These books are very different. The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff. This is a heartbreaking literary fiction story about generational trauma and how none of us can escape it. Very uplifting, you see. This book is so good. I forgot, I forgot a lot of things, and it just all came rushing back to me. Ryan and Lillian Bright get married, and they have a baby named Georgette, but Lillian has had a child before without telling Ryan, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction that he has not told Lillian about. So Georgette is born into this family, and when this story takes a turn halfway through, that is when I was like, okay, this is a five star book. I feel like when a bunch of literary people sit around and talk about voice in writing, like, what's your voice? This has that, whatever that is, it was just so unique, right off the bat, where I was like, oh, I am reading something new. I mean, obviously it's the way that she used words is what gave her her voice, but I can't think of how to describe it. It's like she would write a sentence and then flip it on its head into this beautiful metaphor. I have both pages highlighted, and it just says, now that's a profession of love right there. There's such a good quote, but I don't want it to be a spoiler, so I'm just going to hold off, but it's on page 219 if you ever read it. Wild, very beautiful. This book was also dark and sad and hard to get through, which I know is like really not selling it for some people, but I think it could be very cathartic. Depends on the person, so there's that. Similar, similar vibes actually, Heart the Lover by Lily King. I didn't know that this was following the same character from Writers and Lovers, which was so, what's it called? Not fortuitous. Coincidental in the best way, whatever that phrase is, because I just read Writers and Lovers years after it came out, and then this one had just come out. Actually that makes exact sense because because this one came out, I went to her backlog. Anyways. So I got to read this right after, which was amazing. It was also confusing because the main character goes by a different name, but their backstory was the exact same. And I was like, what are the odds she writes two separate books about people who have a past playing golf? You can't do that. It's so niche, and then I found out, it's the same character, on a different timeline. But you're following this character when she is in college this time, and there are these two boys that she becomes very good friends with, Sam and Yash. She dates Sam. We move on a couple years, she's great friends with Yash. We move on a couple years. You see her now in the present, which is after Writers and Lovers. So you got to read Writers and Lovers first. You don't have to, but it really adds to the story, in my opinion. She's married and has kids, and then Yash comes back into her life, and we follow that. I was reading the end of this book at a coffee shop, and you have no idea how much effort I was putting into not actively crying or making a face. I must have popped blood vessels in my face from doing that because this was so heartbreaking. Writers and Lovers was very popular, and when I read that, I didn't really understand it, other than I was like, this is really great writer, but I don't know about this story. I gave it like three and a half stars, and then this one I read, and I was like, yeah. This is the kind of book you read where you're like, will I ever ascend to this level of authorship? But I think she's in her sixties, so there's hope for me, but like, wow. I read this one like last week, The Running Man by Stephen King. He wrote this in 1983. It's a dystopian world that is set in 2025, and then they also made a new version of the movie with Glen Powell, which was so good, by the way. So if you want to have a good time, read this. It's super fast paced, and then go watch the movie. I literally just posted a video about that, so you can go watch that if you want in depth of this book. Oh my gosh, that's it. I went to go pick up another book, and there was nothing there. I don't know what the through line is in all of these books, but I've got some range. These were my favorite books of 2025. Please let me know your favorite book in the comments down below. My debut novel, Just Friends, comes out March 3rd, in 2026, which is coming up. I'll leave the link to pre-order it, and there's also one local bookstore that you can get signed copies from. There's only a few left, so I'll leave the link for that too, and you can get them personalized. But for now, I'll see you somewhere else in the internet. Bye.