thoughts on books

Category: Best of 2025

  • husband of the year by MA wardell

    Absolutely romantic, heartwarming, an unforgettable blend of sweetness and spice. How many books do you know of that are both 10/10 for sweet AND 10/10 for spice??

    It is the last in the “Teachers in Love” series, and although it can be read as a standalone, do yourself a favor and read them all. In Husband of the Year, we return to the original couple, Marvin and Olin. They are planning their wedding and settling into their family dynamic with Olin’s daughter Ilona, Marvin’s future step-daughter. When Olin’s family of origin goes through a crisis in Chicago, he goes to stay with them to help just a few months before the wedding. How will Marvin and Ilona cope as a pair?

    There are so many wonderful things to talk about here—
    -Minor characters made famous from the rest of the series taking on the community role
    -The evolution of Marvin and Ilona’s relationship (from her kindergarten teacher in book 1 to her stepdad)
    -SARAH BLOCK the ideal and perfect Jewish mom and her Fanny Brice references
    -The found family is STRONG on this one
    -Scenes of Marvin teaching his kindergarten class are incredibly authentic (the author taught early elementary for 15 years)– seriously my favorite scenes in the book
    -Motown fun facts
    -THE EPILOGUE- girl I am still in tears

    I have used this word already a few times, but if I can give you one word for this book, it is authentic. I loved it from beginning to end. Although I am a “closed door” reader and I typically skip/skim all open door scenes, I can tell based on other reviews that the spice is strong and excellent in this one. So see other reviews on that.

    Audiobook review- the same narrator for Marvin from the first book. I liked the frenetic pace he used during Marvin’s “anxiety overthinking” moments and how calm and happy he was when talking or texting with Olin. I also appreciate that Hachette used a black narrator for Olin. Sometimes it was duet in the text messages but other times the Marvin narrator did both parts. But not to the point it was distracting.

    I also bought the finished copy and I LOVE the little cartoon heads at the start of every chapter so YAY on the physical version.

    Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC, and to Hachette Audio, Forever, and author MA Wardell. Book published 11/18/2025

  • the mad wife by meagan church

    Historical fiction with a message. Post-war 50’s suburbia, and Lulu knows her job is to be the perfect wife and mother. Her husband Henry is up for a promotion at the architectural firm. Her son Wesley has just turned 4. And she is pregnant, Henry is thrilled that their family will be complete. When a new family moves in across the street, Lulu takes an instant dislike to Bitsy. She continues to react to the pressures of the life she lives and how she is allowed to express herself. Although she would have preferred to live in the country, although she would have preferred working at a newspaper to staying home, her needs are always dismissed.

    I didn’t read any trigger warnings on this one, and I’m glad, because the plot twists came as pretty surprising and heartbreaking to me. Intensely readable, it is easy to get lost in Lulu’s inner dialogue, even as things are not as they seem. This is a perfect book club book- there is something for everyone. Sure to inspire discussions about how women’s needs were dismissed, and everything became “hysteria” or “housewife’s syndrome.”

    Audiobook review- with a reverential performance, the narrator takes a solemn tone to Lulu’s inner dialogue, which is absolutely pitch perfect for the time period and how we see the world from her point of view. The pacing lends itself well to audio, for me this was a perfect 1.8 speed novel.

    Five stars
    a best historical fiction of 2025

    Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC. Book to be published November 4, 2025.

  • girls dinner by olivie blake

    Girls Dinner is not your typical horror novel, although, yes, this is about a cannibalistic sorority, it doesn’t use a lot of horror language and detail, and you don’t know about these elements at ALL until 60% of the way through. This is why I loved it so much, but my more hard-core horror fans may describe this as “slow”- I will say this is horror-lite for feminists and those interested in culture and sociology. It reads much more like a female centered book club type novel. I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy before reading the blurb. Here I thought I was going to read about dark academia and maybe eating disorders and working mom guilt… then BAM. I was blown away. I wish all of you could have this experience.

    We have multiple Points of view- Nina, a sophomore going through sorority recruitment, and Sloane Hartley. Sloane is a sociologist and professor, she is going back to work after having a baby girl. Her husband is more well respected and into his career as a professor, although Sloane is more talented than he is. He kind of sucks. Not a traditional villain, he just… sucks. You’ll see. She is invited to be the sorority’s academic liasion.

    The character arc is phenomenal- Blake really spends time helping us understand who these characters are, their loyalties and motivations. The audiobook narrators are also great, engaging, and good performances.

    Perhaps my favorite part were the parts of the texts that explore Sloane’s field of sociology, how late stage patriarchy affects millenials and Gen Z women, and how we connect and this relates to achievement. I would never pick up a sociology book- hell- I would never even read a sociology ARTICLE- but the author slyly inserted her best work into a horror-lite fiction novel and I am RIVETED.

    I really loved this one- thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published October 21, 2026.

  • buckeye by patrick ryan

    This is going to be the generational trauma novel of the fall. It is Ohio’s Forrest Gump, without the grandiosity.

    Imagine you are looking at an American history book from around 1920-1976. Then zoom into Ohio, then a town of 6,000 people called Bonhomie. Then zoom further onto two interconnected families. Cal Jenkins was exempt from military service because one leg is longer than the other. He marries local girl Becky Hanover, who soon discovers a special gift. Margaret Anderson was an abandoned infant who grows up in a girls’ orphanage. She is happy to marry Felix Salt, although they barely know each other, and soon he is off to war.

    “Is the future knowable? Will our older selves be anything like our younger selves thought we would be? We can only find out by writing it down and then putting it out of our minds and letting life take its course. The unraveling of time should be mysterious, don’t you think?”

    Sweeping long periods of time, this descriptive book hits on most major historical events and how they may be experienced by small town white America. If it has any faults, it is probably a bit nostalgic, but those moments are always followed by a reality of the time that leaves this reader grateful to have been born later. Several songs are mentioned that keep me moving along with the Jenkins and Salt families. Every storyline is sandwiched within the context of American history.

    In many ways, it is the story of every midwestern town. The story explores patriotism, duty, honor, and what makes a family. Cal’s father Everett often writes letters to the current president expressing his dissatisfaction, these letters make me wonder what my great grandfather would have

    The characters are far from perfect, with the possible exception of Becky, they are flawed and afraid to be who they are meant to be. I think the characters will stay with me for a long time.

    For fans of Long Island Compromise, The Celebrants, Same As it Ever Was, and Blue Sisters.

    I think it is high time to ask if you have noticed that the ones who do the talking in war are never the ones who do the dying?

    Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Book to be published September 2, 2025.

  • dominion by addie citchens

    Complex black southern family drama in the baptist church. The story is about the Winfrey family, Pastor Winfrey not only leads the church but also has a grip on most of the business in the area. To say that their influence has significant local reach is an understatement. Soon we discover that this is too much influence. The narrative focuses mainly around the “first lady” of the church, Priscilla Winfrey, the wife of the pastor. The church has long depended on the free labor of pastor’s wives, and it is clear in this story that she is doing 90% of his job.

    The man is the head of the family but the woman is the neck that holds the head up and turns the neck in any way she needs to.

    Long narratives and so many layers of understanding. You are going to want to read this multiple times and you will pick up on symbolism and the meanings you miss the first time around. The themes are both obvious and subtle, sometimes in the same story. It is a book that could (and probably should) be studied by college students studying books with themes of 20th century patriarchy within black culture.

    Audiobook review- the performance in the audiobook is simply outstanding. I loved all of the narrators, and the internal dialogue really made the characters come alive to me. That said, I want to read slowly, once I read this book, I almost immediately went back to the beginning to read a second time. In order to fully appreciate this book I want to annotate/study the physical copy.

    Themes
    Patriarchy, how powerful men in communities lose moral compass
    Leadership in the black community
    Strong women and how they lie to themselves and each other
    How the late 20th century black protestant communities became perpetuators of internalized racism
    The offshoots of patriarchy- spiritual trauma, purity culture

    Thank you to NetGalley and macMillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published August 19, 2025.

  • lucky day by chuck tingle

    Chuck Tingle makes me question all of my literary preferences; his stories are so absurd and fascinating. Lucky Day is no exception, I think I like all of his books more and more.

    Vera is a professor in Chicago, she is engaged to Annie. She tells her mother she is bisexual and introduces her to Annie, her mother spews a bunch of biphobic nonsense; and in the middle of her diatribe, the weirdest shit ever happens. I don’t even want to give anything away, this is where my reading pace slowed down as my inner dialogue went “wait, what?”

    Vera runs away from her life, and four years later there is a government entity created to determine how and why 8 million people (including Vera’s mother) all died simultaneously. It definitely has Final Destination vibes, and Vera being a statistics professor we learn different odds of all sorts of things. So the perfect setting is a big casino in Las Vegas.

    The book breaks the 4th wall somewhat, and I was hooked from the very beginning. Chuck Tingle is definitely solidified in the Horror genre.

    Audiobook review; Mara Wilson was a great narrator. It was well paced and well acted. This book is easy to follow on audio and Wilson turned in a solid performance.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published August 12, 2025.

  • let them stare by jonathan van ness and julie murphy

    Infinity stars; I loved this— it is a ghost story / non-binary MC / small town Pennsylvania/ YA romcom … and I know not everyone enjoys some of those elements… but ignore those biases because this book is delightful.

    Sully can’t wait to leave Hearst, PA; after high school graduation they have a fun new internship with an influencer in New York City. But just as their new life is about to start, the internship falls through and they are stuck with no job and no car. So what better time to go thrifting? And because karma rewards those without hope, they are rewarded with a super rare, vintage, extremely valuable Butler bag. (Think of a vintage Birkin because I don’t think a Butler bag is a thing)

    Lo and behold the handbag is haunted with the ghost of Rufus,
    a queer diva who has been erased from the history of Hearst- so now it up to Sully to uncover and tell their story.

    I love Julie Murphy- she wrote my favorite in the Meant To Be Series, “If the Shoe Fits” and other romcoms with a plus sized/ thick hottie FMC.

    Queer Eyes’ Jonathan Van Ness first novel- I know them from their hair care only, but I am a fan.

    I laughed a lot at the dialogue between Sully – a modern day 18 year old, and Rufus who asks too many questions. I was really enraptured by the historical love story between Rufus and Robby and finding out as they did what happened in the 1950s. I was absolutely rooting for Sully all the way, a snarky and confident kid, a great friend.

    This is a happy ending with a lot of realism about our current state- and a lot of respect and integration of queer history. We simultaneously have so much to be grateful for and so much to keep fighting for. This book reminds me of a quote from Steel Magnolias “Laughter through tears is the best emotion.”

    Indeed.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC. Book to be published May 20, 2025.

    **a best book of 2025**
    ***a best LGBTQ book of 2025***

  • hero by katie buckley

    It is enraging to be told that you are heartbroken because you are 19, not because he was the love of your life, and then suddenly you are talking to your best friend’s sister, telling her that the reason she is heartbroken is because she is 19.

    What a surprise this short book was! This book is very artistic and high brow, without much punctuation and without naming the characters. It reads like a very very long poem instead of a short novel. The theme is about how women are treated as the side characters in their male partner’s lives. It gives example after example of how culture views the male point of view as the default- like “PacMan” and “Ms PacMan.” Imagine a world where the 80’s arcade games were “PacWoman” and “Mr PacWoman”

    The girl writes a lot in her diary. She writes things like, I will be better at asking for reassurance. I will try to be more trusting and I will try to make sure that I don’t make my emotions his problem.

    If I was trying to actually follow a plot I would be confused, instead I just read each beautifully constructed paragraph one at a time. The blurb talks about how this takes place over 7 days and is about a woman whose boyfriend has just proposed. This doesn’t have a defined beginning-middle-end but is a feminist manifesto and commentary on 21st century patriarchy.

    People who are doing well do not listen to Norah Jones.

    Also the cover is very shiny, so when I look at the book, I see a distorted reflect myself on the cover. Pretty brilliant.

    Catherine Howard is the one I think about the most. She was 16 years old when she married Henry VIII. She was 18 when he killed her. She was a handmaiden to Anne of Cleeves, and her family had placed her at court because an older man was preying on her in her own household. When the man, her music teacher, started pawing at her, she was 12. She was beheaded not for adultery, but for treason; the charge was rooted in the sexual affairs she had before her marriage, including, allegedly, the one with her music teacher.

    Thank you to Gallery marketing for gifting me this book. I loved it, 4.5 stars.

    Isn’t it funny how we go back to draw the lines. To make “you were made for me” feel more true. What is You were made for me But a mistranslation of I own you.

  • king of ashes by sa cosby

    WOW- I am utterly speechless and stunned after reading this incredible crime fiction novel. I am a big fan of SA Cosby books but this is definitely my favorite. In the last few chapters I had to put the book down because I was sobbing, I am wrecked emotionally.

    A retelling of the Godfather, Roman is a rich music executive from Atlanta that has to go home because his father Keith is in the hospital. His sister Nevaeh is keeping the family together as usual, and his brother Dante has gotten himself in seriously hot water again. Their mother went missing 10 years ago, and everyone in town thinks that their father Keith murdered her, because he is the owner of the town Crematorium. Hence the title, King of Ashes.

    The title has a double meaning, not only because of the crematorium, but also Roman may be the head of this family but it is a family in ruins. In trying to help Dante out of trouble, Roman takes what comes at him. A typical SA Cosby hero, Roman is morally gray, smarter than everyone around him, and always appearing to be in control. These characters are so fantastic and they will stay with me a long time. This was fast paced, very gruesome, even by SA Cosby standards, and utterly tragic. The story unfolded like sinking into quicksand.

    Audiobook review- the narrator Adam Lazarre-White has voiced all of the SA Cosby books (and also some sports memoirs I have listened to). I think he is at the absolute pinnacle of narrators. It is wildly difficult to voice as many characters, male and female, and be as engaging as he is.

    This is absolutely the best crime fiction of 2025, and one of the top 10 mystery/thrillers of 2025.

    Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published June 10, 2025.

    Thank you, additionally, to FlatIron Books for the advanced copy. An instant classic for the first book to be published in the Pine and Cedar imprint.

  • the poppy fields by nikki erlick

    A thought provoking, deep story that presents a question and follows several characters through the answer. At it’s core, The Poppy Fields is about grief, and about how everyone experiences grief differently, even when grieving the same person.

    Somewhere off the grid is a treatment facility called The Poppy Fields. It is for those going through a grieving process, mostly those who have lost a loved one. There are also those that now have a disability- a skilled surgeon who can no longer perform surgery, and more than one person who has been betrayed and divorce. But the vast majority are those that go through a screening process only to be put into a deep sleep that lasts a month or two.

    When the sleepers awake, they feel different- usually better- they have lived through and skipped through the gut wrenching part of the grieving process.

    They are not without their detractors- there are people who protest their choice.

    We follow several characters- Sasha, who lost her fiance and was rejected by The Poppy Fields, Ray, a firefighter whose brother chose the treatment after mourning a boy on his shift as an EMT. Also we meet Ada, who is traveling there to find her sister, and her dog PJ. It is great there is a dog in this because it can be heavy and depressing at times, and honestly the book just needs a dog.

    I was fortunate enough to be able to read an E-ARC of this title at the same time as the audiobook. I like to use audio and then go back to the text and scan through to see if there are any important plot points I missed while listening to audio (there always are, no matter how attentive I am to audiobooks!)

    What I liked- this is a deep and moving story, I liked every single one of the characters. I love that with Nikki Erilick’s stories, you learn things as time goes by, there are plot elements revealed every so often and short chapters that will have your pages turning. I loved this, even more than her first novel, The Measure.

    This book is great for book clubs, if your book club is good about being personal and transparent, because at its core, this is about how people grieve differently. Some people want to numb out the grief, others need to sit in it. Some people use unhealthy coping strategies. There is no “one size fits all,” and the treatment center is not portrayed as perfect nor as evil. It is a choice some people make, and that has repercussions in their lives. There is also a “side effect” that affects 25% of the sleepers, which I won’t reveal, but it adds an element to people’s choice to enter The Poppy Fields.

    This book can be heavy at times, and you may not be up for a book about grief, so bear this in mind. But I found the book to be extremely readable, accessible and has extraordinary pacing. It is a road trip that occurs when strangers are brought together by a travel disruption and is a journey for each of them within their cross country journey.

    The Poppy Fields is going to be one of the best Speculative Fiction books of 2025.

    Audiobook review- this book has a lot of characters and also many narrators. I found the performances to be top-notch. On audio it can be difficult to follow so many characters as well as time jumps and interspersed with interview transcripts and magazine article clips. It can be a bit confusing to follow on audio, I would suggest a piece of scratch paper with character names. As mentioned I was able to read along with audio which is a luxury for those with ADHD or other learning challenges. I did enjoy the audio and would highly recommend it.

    Thanks to Netgalley, Harper Audio and William Morrow for the E-ARC and ALC. Book will be published June 17, 2025.