For our favorite reads, we had to choose one favorite read of 2025, but everyone is allowed two bonus picks for books not released this year. However, we typically have a few rulebreakers!
Here are our favorites of the year! We’d also love to hear about your best read of 2025!
Ladies in Hating
Author: Alexandra Vasti
Released: September 23, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Gothic, Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Belvoir's Library #3A pair of Gothic novelists trade rivalry for love in this swoony, steamy, sapphic Regency by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.
Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.
But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.
Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.
Sarah: I got to have Alexandra on the podcast twice this year to talk about the trilogy, and so I’m pretty spoiled. Not in the “I found out the ending” kind of way, but in the “I’ve been indulged with a truly opulent amount of history that makes the trilogy a more sumptuous reading experience” way. Worldbuilding, like comedy, is grounded and enhanced by detail and specificity, and the world of the two characters, the conflicts between and around them, and the charm of the whole series is precise in its elegance. Loved it.
Tara: Okay, I’m cheating a tiny bit because this book was also published this year, but it was another true standout for me. While I was drawn by the premise, with two rival gothic novel writers finding their HEA together, the true magic was in seeing them grow while experiencing traditional elements of gothic fiction.
Listen to Sarah’s podcast episode with the author!
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Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Released: July 8, 2025 by DAW
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Urban Fantasy
Series: Rivers of London #10“This isn’t London. The rules are different up here…”
All Detective Constable Peter Grant wanted was a nice holiday up in Scotland.
He’ll need one once this is over…check.
some.
sort of – but that’s not the only thing in the sky…Sarah: I’ve said before this series is the one exception to some general policies I have about reading: I generally don’t like books about cops, and I don’t like books where characters of color are written by a White person. I have enjoyed many of the books in this series, and I particularly like the audiobooks, so listening to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Shvorne Marks narrate was an extra treat. This book does have a romance of sorts in it – a queer one, too – and some of the plot points reflect current events in an eerie way, but I was so happy while I was listening to it. This book and “What Abigail Did That Summer” are probably my favorites in the series. It’s talking foxes, after all.
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Author: Clare Gilmore
Released: October 28, 2025 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceA swoony second-chance romance where facing the one who broke your heart could be the thing that makes your dream come true.
Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.
In a rare, impulsive move, Paige contacts Liam Bishop after four years of no contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.
Across three months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.
But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever intensifying feelings blur the lines of what’s actually real and what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide what’s more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.
Amanda: This book made me eat so much crow! It took two things in romance I typically avoid: characters who work in music and a second chance romance. There is so much pining and yearning and forced proximity. If you love emotional angst and obstacles, this is amazing. I also think if you like Cara Bastone’s books, this might work well for you, though it’s a little lighter on traumatic themes.
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Author: SUOL
Released: November 8, 2022 by Ize Press
Genre: Manga, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Villains Are Destined to Die #1Playing Daughter of the Duke’s Super Love Project as the easy mode heroine, Ivonne, makes charming the male characters a breeze. But once you switch to hard mode and step into the shoes of Penelope, the misunderstood villain, it’s nearly impossible to even stay alive! So imagine the shock of suddenly waking up in Penelope’s body—you know right away that your life is on the line. With love interests who will kill you if their affection meters drop too low and the inability to speak without choosing from pre-selected dialogue, it quickly becomes clear that Penelope’s chances have been rigged from the start—and this villain might just be destined to die!
Amanda: I started reading this as a webtoon, but I am both impatient and impulsive. With over 150 chapters and one free chapter read a day, I was bereft that I couldn’t marathon this one until my eyeballs fell out of my head. Thankfully, there are eight volumes in paperback format in beautiful full color. The art is gorgeous and the concept is so fun. The only way this could be better is if it were a “why choose” book where she gets to be with everyone.
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Author: Rebecca Romney
Released: February 18, 2025 by Simon & Schuster
Genre: NonfictionFrom rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars, a page-turning literary adventure that introduces readers to the women writers who inspired Jane Austen—and investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.
Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.
But Austen wasn’t a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writers—and clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austen’s work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isn’t a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase “pride and prejudice” came from Frances Burney’s second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austen’s bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadn’t Romney—despite her training—ever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes—women writers who were erased from the Western canon—to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth—and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen’s bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels.
Carrie: This is an amazing nonfiction book about the women who wrote novels in the Georgian period who Jane Austen would have read or at least known of. Entertaining, informative, and changed the way I think about the literary landscape of that time!
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Author: Emma Bull
Released: July 1, 1987 by Ace
Genre: Urban FantasyAcclaimed by critics and readers on its first publication in 1987, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks is one of the novels that has defined modern urban fantasy.
Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But her boyfriend just dumped her, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse. Then, walking home through downtown Minneapolis on a dark night, she finds herself drafted into an invisible war between the faerie folk. Now, more than her own survival is at risk—and her own preferences, musical and personal, are very much beside the point.
By turns tough and lyrical, fabulous and down-to-earth, War for the Oaks is a fantasy novel that’s as much about this world as about the other one. It’s about real love and loyalty, about real music and musicians, about false glamour and true art. It will change the way you hear and see your own daily life.
Carrie: I re-read The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull for about the 1,000th time since I first read it in high school and not only is it just as good as every other time but, if possible, it’s even better. I find new things to delight in it every time.
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Author: Peggy Townsend
Released: November 18, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerA murder in the science lab shatters a woman’s quiet and ordered life when she decides she must solve the crime herself in this entertaining and uplifting mystery.
Plenty of people consider Margaret Finch odd. Six-feet-tall and big-boned, she lives alone in a small cabin in the woods, drives a 20-year-old truck, and schedules her life so precisely you can tell the time and day of the week by the chore she is doing and what she is wearing. But the same attributes that cause her to be labeled eccentric—an obsessive attention to detail and the ability to organize almost anything—make her invaluable in her job as Research Assistant II to a talented and charismatic botanist.
It’s those very same qualities, however, that also turn Margaret into a target after a surprising death shakes the small university where she works. Even as authorities claim the death appears to be from natural causes, Margaret fears it might be something a murder born of jealousy and dark secrets. With the aid of a newly hired and enigmatic night custodian, Margaret finds herself thrust into the role of detective, forcing her to consider that she may not be able to find the killer before the killer finds her.
With a cast of quirky and likeable characters that one won’t soon forget, The Botanist’s Assistant is a delightful story of perseverance and the power in all of us to survive.
Lara: I read some fantastic books this year and there are about three real standouts, but this one is something special. So quiet, so good and so strong. I adored every second with this book.
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Author: Elizabeth Stephens
Released: March 19, 2025
Genre: Historical: European, Novella, RomanceThey call him the bone king.
A massive, beast of a male who worships the gods and is all too willing to provide them their sacrifices. Human sacrifices. He and his warriors have come to visit Winterbren, a poor little village on the outskirts of Wrath and my home.
I’ve never been more grateful to be a thrall, for my low status will ensure that I remain outside of his notice. But when he requests — nay, requires — a willing female to warm his furs for the duration of his stay, his selection falls to me. All I can do is pray to the gods that I survive the night…
And beg the bone king for mercy.
This book contains dark themes, including a Black woman in the position of thrall, graphic depictions of torture, non-con, and discussions of early childhood abuse. A full list of warnings can be found on my website.
Shana’s 2025 pick!
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Author: Kennedy Ryan
Released: March 5, 2024 by Forever
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Skyland #2“Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who’s never met a party she couldn’t host or a charge she couldn’t lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She’s too busy keeping a roof over her daughters’ heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn’t want but can’t seem to resist. She’s lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
After all she’s lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?
For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.” ―Entertainment Weekly
Shana’s bonus pick!
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Author: Olivia Waite
Released: December 11, 2022
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, RomanceLydia Wraxhall is on her best behavior every day of the year—except one: the annual Bickerton Christmas Poultry Show. On that day she brushes her birds, sharpens her tongue, and engages in the closest thing the village knows to war.
Harriet Boyne is a soldier’s widow reeling from the worst years of her life. She and her friends have inherited a manor on the village outskirts, and Harriet is looking forward to a quiet holiday far from the anguish of the battlefield.
But a dispute over a flock of loose chickens — a rare local breed, which Lydia thinks could be champions and Harriet thinks could be delicious — draws Harriet into the competition under Lydia’s grudging guidance. Harriet’s frozen heart is thawed by Lydia’s gentleness, and lonely Lydia blossoms under Harriet’s keen regard. But the day of the poultry show is fast approaching, and everyone’s drawing up battle lines. And in the contest between secret love and public glory, there can only be one winner.
Shana’s bonus pick!
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Author: Clare Ashton
Released: May 1, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Oxford Romance #3Sparks fly between Nicola Albright KC and Geeta Sachdeva, but not the good kind. They’re the sort that leave small fires, devastation, and everyone peeping between their fingers at arrogant lawyer, Nicola, on one side, and everyone’s favourite mum, Geeta, on the other.
Yet when both are divorced and at a new stage in life, they find themselves living within glowering distance of each other, in beautiful Iffley Village, Oxford. Reluctantly they call a truce and try to make friends. It’s tricky though, when there’s more than one reason they’ve circled and snapped for years.
For a start, Geeta’s lawyer daughter, Olivia, idolises the eminent King’s Counsel barrister, to eye rolls from Geeta. And to Nicola’s annoyance, her own daughter, Charlotte, has always turned to perfect mama Geeta for comfort and understanding. Animosity between the two is a given.
Until they force themselves to be nice to each other, that is, and then they’re compelled to question everything…
Tara: I don’t think I knew how much I needed to read a romance with two women in their fifties falling in love. Even better, two women who couldn’t stand each other! While the subject matter wasn’t always easy, this book was so refreshing and it left me with that big dreamy sigh that only comes from the most special stories.
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Hello Bitchery. Happy whatever you celebrate! I haven’t managed to contribute recently (life, the universe and everything) but I have been reading your recommendations and GR tells me I’ve read 159 books so far this year. So here are my five-star books of 2025:
LAURA WOOD – LET’S MAKE A SCENE
F/M contemporary. Swoony and heartfelt. I have floved both of Ms Wood’s adult stories.
S M LAVIOLETTE – HIS VALET (a re-read)
F/M historic, erotic romance. The best of her Victorian Decadence series – ‘his valet’ is a woman masking as a man who yearns for her master and wouldn’t you know, finds a way…
ALI HAZELWOOD – NOT IN LOVE.
F/M contemporary. I’ve read a few of Ms Hazelwood’s books this year and this is the standout.
ALISON COCHRUN – THE CHARM OFFENSIVE
M/M contemporary. Set in the world of reality TV, this story is utterly charming. An absolute winner.
EMMA BARRY – BOLD MOVES
F/M contemporary. A gorgeous second chance story.
SARINA BOWEN – THE LAST GUY ON EARTH
M/M contemporary, hockey. I have read a lot of Sarina Bowen but this stands head and shoulders above the rest for me.
CAT SEBASTIAN – DANIEL CABOT PUTS DOWN ROOTS and YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY.
M/M 20th century historic. All the superlatives. I love her stories – they are the ultimate in gentle comfort reads.
JESSICA JOYCE – A RISK WORTH TAKING and THE EX VOWS
F/M contemporary. Proper grown-up romances. Gorgeous.
ARI BARAN – GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE
M/M contemporary, hockey. Deeply soulful. This author really puts their characters through it. A hard-earned HEA.
Plus, I read an absolute shedload of MARY BALOGH. My favourite historical author by some distance. None less than four stars and many merit five.
Non-romance:
NICK HARKAWAY – TITANIUM NOIR
A clever, beautifully-written (“A wolf in casual knitwear” has stayed with me), dystopian noir. Waiting impatiently for the sequel to come out in paperback.
ANN LECKIE – TRANSLATION STATE
I never know how to describe this book. Every page brings the unexpected but you will root hard for the central characters. Mind-blowingly good.
Plus, a word of thanks for all of the HEATED RIVALRY shenanigans. The (excellent) TV series prompted me to re-read both of RACHEL REID’s source books and I am thoroughly feral for all of it. Thank Dog for unhinged fandoms.
And finally…thank you all for bringing some sanity to the ridiculousness that is 2025. I am ‘slightly’separated from it here in the UK but it’s difficult to detach and I can’t do without my regular Jon Stewart and John Oliver fixes. Plus I follow many US creative people on Bluesky and feel how their worlds are impacted.
We continue the fight and we escape into our stories. Happy reading, all.
A definite theme developed in my favorite books this year: several of them were second-chance/dual-timeline m/m hockey romances.
Favorite books published in 2025:
GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE by Ari Baran: A second-chance romance between two professional hockey players, one recently retired, the other still playing, who broke up a decade ago. A somber book that addresses serious issues—including mental-health struggles and the physical toll of playing professional sports—but so well-written and nuanced that everything feels organic and true rather than bleak.
THE SHOTS YOU TAKE by Rachel Reid: A second-chance romance that is also about facing your past, the choices you made, the consequences of those choices, of expressing true remorse and of seeking forgiveness, of finding your way back to love while still being true to yourself, all in a smoothly-written package that moves seamlessly between present and past.
YOU GIVE ME THAT FEELING by Julie Kriss: Fake relationship done just right as a rom-com queen and a bad-boy rocker team up to change their public images. Brilliantly captures the layers of emotions morphing from “fake” to “real” as genuine love replaces the ersatz version.
THE LAST GUY ON EARTH by Sarina Bowen. The rare dual-timeline book that makes it clear why the MCs (once hockey teammates, now a player & coach) didn’t make it the first time around and how much it’s going to take to keep them together the second time. Top-notch writing, pining, angst, emotional growth, hot sexy-times, and a satisfying & organic HEA.
Favorite books published in a prior year:
THE LOVE OF MY AFTERLIFE by Kristy Greenwood (published in 2024): A woman meets her soulmate in the afterlife. They are returned to Earth and she has ten days to find him again. By turns heart-rendingly sad, laugh-out-loud hilarious, poignantly tender, and thought-provoking, LOVE OF MY AFTERLIFE is also a thoroughly English novel, completely grounded in the attitudes and geography of London; I don’t think you could successfully transpose the story to another milieu.
WE WERE NEVER LOVERS by Sasha Avice (published in 2024): Not only is this brilliantly-written, uber-angsty story one of the best explorations of the amnesia trope I’ve read since N.R. Walker’s Missing Pieces trilogy, but it also squarely addresses issues of racism and homophobia in professional sports (in this case, Australian Football) without being heavy-handed or detracting from the romance.
Slow Dance by rainbow Rowell (so romantic, and it felt very tender and fragile as if I couldn’t quite believe they would get to be together. When he sent her the photo from the ship I swooned)
The wedding people—makes it seem like I read a lot of women’s fic which I do not—but this was unique and thoughtful
Audrey Lane stirs the Pot by Alexis hall—hilarious and lovely and manages to treat a historic storyline and a modern one with impressive balance. I usually love one story and get aggravated with the other one (see Susannah Kearsley, and mostly everyone else too). The rest of the baking series was only okay for me but this one was amazing.
THE FAVORITES! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Several new-to-me authors highlighted this year of reading— it’s challenging to narrow my set of favorites.
Laura Piper Lee’s ZOE BRENNAN, FIRST CRUSH was a new-in-2025 standout, along with her 2024 book HANNAH TATE, BEYOND REPAIR. This 2-book series introduced me to memorable characters whose journeys are described in language that is both lyrical and funny. Another new 5-star read for me was PASSION PROJECT, the debut novel by London Sperry, a story about overcoming grief that is thoughtful, moving, funny at times, and immensely satisfying. And I also must include K.J. Micciche’s 2025 novel THE END OF SUMMER plus her backlist (THE BOOK PROPOSAL, THE GUEST LIST, and STORYBOOK WEDDING). I don’t remember if I learned about Lee’s books here at SBTB but the 2025 books by Sperry and Micciche definitely are much-appreciated recommendations from this wonderful site.
Other authors whose works leaped to the top of my “greatly enjoyed and can’t wait for their next book” list during 2025 included Jessica Joyce (YOU, WITH A VIEW and THE EX-VOWS), Sarah Grunder Ruiz (LUCK & LAST RESORTS, LOVE, LISTS & FANCY SHIPS, and LAST CALL AT THE LOCAL), and Annabel Monaghan (NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT, SUMMER ROMANCE, and SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER). All of these contemporary romances feature well-developed characters and intriguing storytelling that meshes personal dilemmas with growth on the way to satisfying HEAs. Despite serious themes, none of these novels seem problem-focused– these authors mesh lots of humor with the moments of angst. I know that Ruiz and Monaghan were mentioned here, and maybe Joyce also? So thank you, Bitchery, for all the good reads!
So many of these are on my TBR!
Since we seem to be fans of urban fantasy, I think “Gossamer Ace” by Gael Baudino is criminally underrated. Immortal Irish bard in modern-day Denver (well, 70’s, modern when the book was written) forms an all-woman heavy metal Celtic rock band in order to free her lover from the evil Sidhe through the magic of music. Sounds a bit hokey when I describe it but I think it really works.
I am going to do something shocking and not pick the books by KJ Charles OR Martha Wells that came out this year, although they were all great and I loved them. But I think EH Lupton gets the prize this year, even if possibly only because I just reread the series and so it’s fresh in my head. I don’t know that Lazarus, Home from the War (published this year) would work at all as a standalone but the series from the beginning starting with Dionysus in Wisconsin is phenomenal so by all means read them all if you’ve somehow missed them to date.
Everything I want categorically: queer historical paranormal detective romance. And everything I want generally: excellently written, compelling characters, well-executed, delightfully referential, smart, funny, tender, decent – all the things. All of them! The endings are abrupt, which is a feature for me since I loathe the smug epilogue that the genre is riddled with, but especially as readers have not had the luxury of getting used to an epilogue free existence it’s nice to know going in that the pacing is unusual in that regard. And most of the series is now out, which is very reassuring for some of us.
Sorry, what is non-con if not rape?
@FashionablyEvil: It’s the same thing, but I found an interesting reddit thread from a few years ago that some readers feel the distinction between the terms is more of an indicator of tone.
Also, I wonder if using the term non-con is a way to incorporate warnings in the marketing copy without a retailer flagging it. I’m not sure if there are restricted words when uploading a book to a retailer, but I could see “rape” being on some kind of flag list.
Many of my favorite books this year were rereads of books by authors such as Andrea K. Höst, S.K. Dunstall, Anne Cleeland, Mary Balogh, Nathan Lowell, Carla Kelly, Lyn Gala, and Sarina Bowen. I also enjoyed many new to me books by Celia Lake and in the Liaden Universe.
A couple of new books that qualify as favorites are Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop and The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews.
Here are my favorites of 2025. There is a three way tie for best of the year and one from 2024.
Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt
I liked the second book of the Spunes, Oregon series so much that I wrote an enthusiastic Sqee! review for SB-TB. Though I’m not always a huge fan of second chance romance, I loved this one for the thoughtful, mature protagonists, the entertaining road trip, and the layered, emotional, often hilarious storytelling. I thought it would be my fave for sure, but. . . .
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
This fantasy set in a very alt-historical, magical Britain grabbed my attention from page one. Osric and Aurienne have sharp and distinctive voices steeped in such delicious sarcasm. This is another layered story featuring a subversive take on good and evil, and one of the most unlikely yet truest tributes to Pride and Prejudice I’ve ever read.*
The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews
I’ve read this two and a half times since it came out this year. It has an amazing FMC with an equally amazing canine side kick, Easter eggs from other House Andrews series, and some delightful comeuppances. Also, a lot of picnics serving monster tartare.
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (2024)
I saw this on one of Jo Walton’s Reading Lists in Reactor Mag and subsequently picked it up. It was both a chaotic sensual feast and a tender, queer love story–in short, absolutely wonderful.
* I actually really dislike most Austen derivatives.
Here are my Five Star books from 2025, many of which you are all familiar with:
THE AERONAUT’S WINDLASS Jim Butcher — excellent steampunk with battles between wooden ships in the sky.
THE CATCHING KIND – Bria Quinlan — contemporary fake relationship between an actress and a professional baseball player
FOOL ME ONCE — Katee Robert — She doesn’t always work for me, but when she does, it’s a home run.
SPITE CLUB and SONGS TO BREAK UP TO –Julie Kriss
SEXY AS SIN and YOU GIVE ME THAT FELLING– Julie Kriss
MERRY MEASURE — Lily Morton — She is such a good author. So many good books by her!
A FOOLISH FLIRTATION — Alice Coldbreath
AN INCONVENIENT VOW — Alice Coldbreath (everyone should read the Victorial Coldbreath prize fighter books, as well as the made up medieval society books). She is amazing.
FOX — Sasha Avice — really good author – M/M working class in the 1990’s
THE COOK — Sasha Avice
FRAGILE BEINGS and BURDEN’S BONDS and VITAL and DEVOTION’S COVENANT and SANGUINE and GRIM’S DELIGHT — Abigail Kelly — I discovered Abigail Kelly this year and she is now on auto buy for me. Contemporary paranormal, M/F. Check them out!
ONLY ONE BED — Kati Wilde — excellent holiday novella.
HOW TO TAME A WILD ROGUE — Julie Anne Long
A NOBLEMAN’S GUIDE TO SEDUCING A SCOUNDREL and COPPER SCRIPT– K.J. Charles (may K.J. Charles be given only good vibes and treats and hugs and whatever else KJC wants until the end of time so they can keep writing. I swear if I lived near them I’d bring them cookies RIGHT NOW).
THE TAINTED CUP and A DROP OF CORRUPTION — Robert Jackson Bennett — mysteries in an alternate world with Lovecraftian undertones, which I usually hate. I loved these books, though. Really well written, too!
BED ME EARL — Felicity Niven — short king historical romance. Possibly my favorite book of the year. SO GOOD!
TEAR DOWN HEAVEN — Rachel Aaron — Contemporary paranormal. Haven’t been able to get into the second one, but I think it’s a me problem.
WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN — Stephanie Burgis — can’t wait for the second book! This was a bad decisions book club pick.
GUARDED BY THE PHANTOM — Layla Fae — Deadpool falls in love. What more can you say?
WILD SIDE — Elsie Silver — I cannot remember this book, but I gave it five stars. Whelp, guess I’ll have to read it again!
GLOVES OFF — Stephanie Archer — hockey
IN A RUSH — Kate Canterbary — contemporary best friends to lovers M/F
ON CIRCUS LANE — Lily Morton — contemporary M/M
POETRY ON ICE — Jesse H. Reign — hockey
THE TRAITOR’S CURSE — Eliot Grayson — Fantasy M/M — really liked this book. Going to check for others by this author
NOT THAT RIDICULOUS — Isabel Murray — contemporary M/M
Hope you enjoy all of the above as much as I did!