Technically, it’s all the books, including the best, the worst, and everything in between. Below you’ll find a running tally of the books that I have reviewed this year, updated and reranked after each book I finish throughout the year.
#1 - Dirtbag Queen
by Andy Corren ★★★★★
Sparked by a viral obituary, this unlikeliest of memoirs introduces us to the crazy Corren family and their larger-than-life mother.
#2 - Onyx Storm
by Rebecca Yarros ★★★★★
The most anticipated book of 2025 mostly delivers, as author Yarros continues the Empyrean series and Violet Sorrengail's evolution.
#3 - Dead Money
by Jakob Kerr ★★★★★
Kerr's mature and tightly-plotted debut follows the murder investigation of the founder of a fictitious tech company in San Francisco.
#4 - Foster
by Claire Keegan ★★★★★
A quick 50-page read, the story of a young girl who is delivered by her father to stay with a family in a neighboring town in Ireland.
#5 - Kills Well With Others
by Deanna Raybourn ★★★★☆
Author Raybourn runs it back with everyone's favorite female assassins in their 60s, in a sequel that's just as good as the original.
#6 - Among the Bros
by Max Marshall ★★★★☆
An exposé on a fraternity-led Xanax trafficking ring, focused on Greek life and the pervasiveness of benzodiazepine use at colleges.
#7 - The Warbler
by Sarah Beth Durst ★★★★☆
A woman tries to break a curse which causes the women in her family to transform into a tree forever if they stay in a place too long.
#8 - Summer Romance
by Marie Tierney ★★★☆☆
A 38-year-old nearly-divorced mother of three starts a summer fling with a dashing, slightly younger man. Can it last?
#9 - This Book Will Bury Me
by Ashley Winstead ★★★☆☆
A novel about true-crime aficionados that uses the recent University of Idaho murders as its source material, an ill-conceived choice.
#10 - Deadly Animals
by Marie Tierney ★★★☆☆
Set in 1981, a 14-year-old girl—whose hobbies happen to include studying roadkill—helps police investigate several murders in England.
#11 - The River Is Waiting
by Wally Lamb ★★★☆☆
Exploring addiction, incarceration, and the impact of tragedy on a family, the story follows a father serving a 3-year sentence.
#12 - The Fourth Consort
by Edward Ashton ★★★☆☆
A colonizer from Earth is stuck on an alien planet and must unravel the internal politics of the local species while trying to survive.
#13 - A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Becky Chambers ★★☆☆☆
A menopausal mother narrates her family's week at the beach on Cape Cod—their 20th in a row—while musing on the changes life brings.
#14 - Sandwich
by Catherine Newman ★★☆☆☆
A menopausal mother narrates her family's week at the beach on Cape Cod—their 20th in a row—while musing on the changes life brings.
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