A running tally of the books that I have reviewed this year, updated and reranked after each book that I finish. Explore the latest reviews and discover hidden gems with insights from BarlinsBooks, your literary companion for top new releases.

★★★★★ An innovative character study in which an aging woman's life story is revealed through the letters she writes and receives from a myriad of people.

★★★★★ A children's book about life's most difficult subject—death—told with compassion, humor and grace at a level on par (or above) any adult literature.

★★★★★ A small town, a love triangle, a murder, and a trial form the foundation of this twisty, emotional novel set in mid-1900s England.

★★★★★ Filled with tragedy, perseverance, and love, the novel focuses on the fictional first women in the NASA space program in the early 1980s.

★★★★★ Goo's sweet time travel tale sees a 17-year-old from 2025 transported back to 1995 to try to help her own mother win homecoming queen.

★★★★★ Edgy, violent, and dark, Cosby's latest sees a successful money manager sucked into working for a sadistic gang in order to save his brother.

★★★★★ Kerr's mature and tightly-plotted debut follows the murder investigation of the founder of a fictitious tech company in San Francisco.

★★★★★ When a woman washes ashore on a remote island, the lone family living there nurses her back to health. But both parties have secrets...

★★★★★ A time-traveling tale that dissects the most famous legend in the land, Harrow once again creates a binge-worthy blend of fantasy and creativity.

★★★★★ Sparked by a viral obituary, this unlikeliest of memoirs introduces us to the crazy Corren family and their larger-than-life mother.

★★★★★ A mother debates what to name her son, and her three choices create three parallel timelines in this mature and solidly composed debut.

★★★★★ A short read that explores the all-encompassing experience of young love and how it is put in perspective upon reflection later in life.

★★★★★ A strong start to a new fantasy series that can also be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel, a roguish young man travels to a distant city to solve the mystery of his father's death.

★★★★★ A worthy continuation of what started with The Silverblood Promise, Book 2 is filled with heists, mini quests, and more of everything you loved in Book 1.

★★★★★ The most anticipated book of 2025 mostly delivers, as author Yarros continues the Empyrean series and Violet Sorrengail's evolution.

★★★☆☆ Focused mostly on the abrupt dissolution of a twenty-six-year marriage, too many random detours leave it feeling scattered and incohesive.

★★★★☆ A portrait of Gen Y from the perspective of a couple who "came of age with the internet" and spend their days seeking happiness, mostly without success.

★★★★★ The intersecting journeys of the author's father, who survived years in WWII concentration camps, and the American soldiers who found him.

★★★★★ Nearly twenty-five years after a home invader destroyed their lives, a couple reunites to provide victim personal statements at his trial.