*Drumroll* Announcing My Ten Favourite Fiction Reads from 2025

This was hard! For the first time in years, I have had an absolutely banner year of fiction reading and I give all credit to the blogging community. The number of incredible suggestions coming my way has been transformational to my reading life!

Last year I rounded up my highlights for the year, but it was admittedly much easier to come up with a shortlist because I read fewer books.

After years of stagnating, I read 157 books this year. (With our trip to Europe quickly approaching, I plan to read far fewer books in 2026.)

For interest’s sake, here is my 2024 recap:

• Shortest Book: The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (95 pages)
• Longest Book: Upstairs at the White House by J. B. West (541 pages)
• Average Book Length: 288 pages
• Average Rating: 3.7 stars
• Pages Read: 19,821
• Total Books: 69

And here are the stats for 2025:

• Shortest Book: Chester’s Miracle by M. Jean Pike (100 pages)
• Longest Book: The Holy Bible (1042 pages; two columns and VERY small print)
• Average Book Length: 314 pages
• Average Rating: 3.9 stars
• Pages Read: 49,310
• Total Books: 157

I thought I’d split my favourites into two separate posts, and we’ll start with fiction.

Here’s the thing: I rate based on gut instinct and the books I read back in January aren’t necessarily going to stand out as much as ones I finished in November. #RecencyBias

Are these the best ten books I read in terms of plot and prose? Maybe not. But they’re the ones that stood out to me and have left the most indelible impression.

I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to rank them in order and I decided it was more of a challenge that way.

For anyone who missed my book summaries, here are the graphics from ALL the books I read in 2025!

January. February. March. April. May. June. July. August. September. October. November. December.

Without further ado:

MY TOP TEN FICTION FROM 2025

10 | The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton (read in June)

This was a solid 4-star read until the final few chapters bumped it up to a 5.

This book is layered, and full of emotional payoff. I can appreciate Morton’s slow-burn, dual-timeline style may not be for everyone (and she’s definitely formulaic!), but I was fully immersed. A deeply satisfying read. I liked it more than The Clockmaker’s Daughter (which was also a 5-star read for me).

• Summary. In 1961, sixteen-year-old Laurel watches her mother commit a shocking act of violence. Decades later, as her mother nears death, Laurel begins uncovering the truth behind that moment, leading back to wartime London and a past filled with secrets, sacrifice, and betrayal.
• Content warnings. Murder, wartime violence, brief domestic abuse, occasional profanity.

9 | First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (read in April)

This was such an entertaining read — lots of twists and turns. It’s more cerebral than many thrillers and does a great job of alternate timelines which can be hard to pull off successfully. My only quibble is the level of profanity (more than I’d like but not over the top).

• Summary. Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a close-knit group of friends. The only catch…Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
• Content warnings. Profanity.

8 | The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry (read in February)

A book I struggled to put down with richly developed characters and a heartbreaking story with a redemptive – albeit unexpected – resolution. That resolution wasn’t wholly satisfying to me, but when I closed the final page I knew this will be a book I recommend many times.

• Summary. Two sisters are evacuated from London during the bombings of World War II. Living with strangers in the countryside, Hazel comforts her younger sister – Flora – with stories of a magical realm accessible only to them. She calls the spot Whisperwood and it is a treasured escape from reality they return to again and again. But one day the unthinkable happens: Flora disappears. Days turn into weeks turn into months turn into years. Hazel still struggles with guilt and fear and sadness over Flora’s disappearance, but then a book turns up at her workplace that describes Whisperwood – a fictional place she created and was known only to these two sisters – in detail. Who wrote the book (could it be Flora) and will this turn of events upend Hazel’s life?
• Content warnings. child disappearance, (relatively) non-graphic descriptions of bombing and war-related tragedy.

7 | Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (read in June)

Here is my exact review on Goodreads: Heart-wrenching and gorgeously written. I could not put this book down.

Yup. That sums it up.

• Summary. In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow woman, marries a white fur trader named Abe Farwell and takes the name Mary. As they travel to his post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, she forges friendships and faces betrayal. But when a brutal massacre is carried out by whiskey traders — and Farwell refuses to intervene — Mary takes justice into her own hands. Her actions ripple across cultures and decades.
• Content warnings. Racism, rape, murder, drug and alcohol abuse, some profanity.

6 | The Push by Ashley Audrain (read in November)

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This book PULLED ME IN. Such a compelling, creepy read. Some incredibly strong content warnings, though (see below).

• Summary. Blythe is determined to be a loving, nurturing mother—the complete opposite of her own mother. But from the moment her daughter Violet is born, Blythe feels something is off. Violet is distant, unusual, unsettling… and Blythe can’t shake the feeling that her child might be dangerous. Her husband, Fox, insists she’s imagining it, and his constant dismissal makes Blythe doubt her own instincts (and sanity). Is Violet truly different, or is Blythe projecting her own traumatic past onto her daughter? Everything shifts when their son, Sam, arrives. Blythe finally experiences the warm, effortless bond she’d always hoped for, and even Violet seems gentler with her baby brother. But when tragedy strikes, the entire family shatters, and Blythe is forced to confront the darkest, most terrifying truth about her daughter.
• Content warnings. Child abuse, some strong language, miscarriage, child loss (multiple), minor sexual content, mental illness.

5 | Heartwood by Amity Gaige

4.5 stars rounded down to 4.

I listened to this on audiobook and was really pulled in by the story. There were a few plot points and characters I didn’t love, and the intermittent strong profanity (primarily from one character) was a bit of a distraction, but on the whole this was an incredibly engaging read.

• Summary. Valerie Gillis disappears deep in the Maine woods near the end of the Appalachian Trail. The search is on. Alone and fighting the elements, Valerie writes raw, poetic letters to her mother as she tries to stay alive. On the ground, Beverly, a Maine State Game Warden, leads the hunt to find her. And in Connecticut, 76-year-old Lena, a birdwatcher in a retirement community, unexpectedly turns into an amateur sleuth, spotting clues others miss. Chapters hop between Valerie’s struggle to survive, Beverly’s investigation, and Lena’s detective work. Piece by piece, the truth (and the danger) comes into focus.
• Content warnings. Abduction, mental illness, missing persons, profanity.

4 | Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (read in October)

4.5 stars rounded down to 4.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the multiple perspectives engaging and relatively easy to follow (mostly because there wasn’t a huge cast of characters). A few of the plot lines felt wildly unrealistic, but I read it in a single sitting.

A tiny niggle — I cannot stand the name Dominic Salt.

Bonus points: they live in a lighthouse!

• Summary. Set on Shearwater, a remote island near Antarctica, this story follows Dominic Salt and his three children who are caretakers of the island’s seed bank. Once bustling with scientists, Shearwater is now abandoned except for the Salts, whose lives have become as bleak and isolated as the landscape itself. Everything changes when a mysterious woman (Rowan) washes ashore during a violent storm. As Rowan becomes entangled with the family, tensions rise and people have to decide between protecting secrets and protecting one another. There’s sabotage, loss, and just enough suspense to keep you flipping pages (or, in my case, reading it straight through in one sitting).
• Content warnings. Suicide, sexual assault, occasional strong language.

3 | Go as a River by Shelley Read (read in April)

What a gorgeously written book. I can’t believe this is Read’s first novel. It’s a stunning debut, and a bit of a mashup between The Grapes of Wrath and The Berry Pickers. A huge thank you to Ernie for so heartily recommending this book. I’m adding my voice to the chorus of fans! There are plenty of trigger warnings (see below) but it’s an unforgettable story written in beautiful detail.

• Summary. The snap decision to follow a stranger down the street of her small town in Colorado changes Victoria’s life forever. She falls in love at the wrong time with the wrong person. Eventually losing everything – and everybody – Victoria beats the odds but some wounds may never fully heal. Can past wrongs ever be righted?
• Content warnings. Profanity, systemic racism, drug/alcohol addiction, miscarriage/infant death.

2 | The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (read in October)

This book is everything a book should be. It pulled me in (I listened to the audiobook — a rarity for me — and having the different narrations was stunning), and left me IN PIECES at the end.

It gives you a bit of everything: I laughed out loud, I (almost) cried. There is a lot of heartbreak, but there is also plenty of levity.

As someone who loves to write letters and grew up watching my mother send long handwritten notes to friends and family week after week, this book struck a nerve.

I also appreciated how you see the flaws in the main character, Sybil. She didn’t get everything right. Her actions did have repercussions — some of them incredibly serious.

I rarely listen to audiobooks, but do think this book was greatly enhanced by having different accents/characters. I’m not sure if it would have been a 5-star book for me if I had been reading it in paper format.

(Hands down Theodore was my favourite character!)

• Summary. Sybil Van Antwerp is a woman who writes letters to make sense of her life — to her brother, to her best friend, even to famous authors and university presidents. She writes Joan Didion. She writes her next-door neighbour, Theodore, she writes a customer service representative at an online DNA testing site. She writes to make sense of her strained relationship with her daughter. Through her letters, we see her deepest joys, regrets, and the complicated ways different stories interconnect.
• Content warnings. Some profanity, child loss, mental illness, attempted suicide, infertility.

1 | Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (read in August)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The timeline isn’t linear, but the shifts between perspectives and centuries were handled really well. I especially loved the short, titled chapters — they helped keep things moving and gave it a sense of momentum. The story was layered and compelling, and I appreciated how it explored the intersections of history, memory, and identity.

• Summary. After ten-year-old Ebby Freeman hears a gunshot, she finds her brother Baz dead on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar. The crime is never solved, and the Freemans — one of the only Black families in their wealthy New England town — become the focus of unwanted attention. Years later, after being left at the altar, Ebby runs off to France, but her past tags along.
• Content warnings. Discussions of race, slavery, injustice, and infant loss. Occasional strong language.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

• Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
• Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French (such a great thriller)
• Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (a classic for a reason)
• 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard
• Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery [Engie’s CBBC for the win!]
• Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker [hard to read but brilliantly written]
• Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra [haunting and creepy in the best possible way]
• Northern Spy by Flynn Berry [loved the first book in the series, but felt very Meh about every other book I read by this author]
• These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler [a wonderful little novella]
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman [how had I never read this tiny classic?]
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks
• Isola by Allegra Goodman
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
• What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown
• Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters [This had to make the list, right Engie??]

• What book (or books) most stands out to you from 2025?