I read some absolutely gems in 2025 and I am so happy I finally have to time to sit down and gush about them!
Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. The bloody messes don’t bother her, not when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister being pushed in front of a train.
Before fleeing the scene, the murderer whispered two words: bat eater.
Months pass, the killer is never caught, and Cora can barely keep herself together. She pushes away all feelings, disregards the bite marks that appear on her coffee table, and won’t take her aunt’s advice to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open.
Cora tries to ignore the rising dread in her stomach, even when she and her weird co-workers begin finding bat carcasses at their crime scene clean-ups. But Cora can’t ignore the fact that all their recent clean-ups have been the bodies of East Asian women.
Soon Cora will learn: you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.
I know Kylie Lee Baker as a fantasy author and Bat Eaters and Other Names for Cora Zeng is her horror debut and what a debut it is. I hope she continues to write in the genre (she does have a horror book called Japanese Gothic coming out this year!) because she excels at it and I appreciate her voice. She did not hold back when telling this story and I actually had to pause the audiobook after the first chapter because it was so visceral and emotional. There are scenes that I still can picture in my mind all these months later and I think that is a testament to great writing.
A mother must fight for her daughter’s life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.
Clem gets a call that is every mother’s worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn’t recognize her mother. And she doesn’t answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.
Clem travels the site of her daughter’s accident, determined to find out what happened to her. The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the Orkneys: a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin’s strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse?
C.J. Cooke releases a book every October and they always end up on my “best of the year” list. Though I have somehow ended up a year behind and The Book of Witching is her 2024 release and I still have her 2025 one on my TBR. There is just something about the formula that she uses that works for me. She tends to write witchy books, told in dual timelines, that are inspired by real events. I loved seeing how the two timelines paralleled one another and at the end of the day this is a story about motherhood.
Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller, Fern.
Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!
If only things were so simple…
It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.
A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.
As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when there isn’t a job to get in the way.
I have been seeing some mix opinions on Brigands and Breadknives but I personally loved it! Like many others, Legends and Lattes is the book that got me into cozy fantasy, but it is not my absolutely favourite so I didn’t feel like I was holding the sequel to an impossible standard! I will admit that this is no where near as cozy as book one- there is more action and I would call it an adventure story over a cozy. That said, I loved this cast of characters and the themes that Travis Baldree touched on. I cannot wait to see what he writes next!
From the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, loss, and the lasting impact of first love
You knew I’d write a book about you someday.
Our narrator understands good love stories—their secrets and subtext, their highs and their free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules.
In the fall of her senior year of college, she meets two star students from her 17th-Century Lit class: Sam and Yash. Best friends living off-campus in the elegant house of a professor on sabbatical, the boys invite her into their intoxicating world of academic fervor, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. They nickname her Jordan, and she quickly discovers the pleasures of friendship, love and her own intellectual ambition. Youthful passion is unpredictable though, and she soon finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, choices made will alter these three lives forever.
Decades later, Jordan is living the life she dreamed of, and the vulnerable days of her youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news brings the past crashing into the present, Jordan returns to a world she left behind and is forced to confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self.
Written with the superb wit and emotional sensitivity fans and critics of Lily King have come to adore, Heart the Lover is a deeply moving story that celebrates love, friendship, and the transformative nature of forgiveness. Wise, unforgettable, and with a delightful connective thread to Writers & Lovers, this is King at her very best, affirming her as a masterful chronicler of the human experience and one of the finest novelists at work today.
Of all the books on my list, Heart the Lover is probably the most surprising- it also caught me off guard! There was a time where I read and loved a lot of literary fiction before fantasy and romance took over, and I would like to explore the genre more in 2026. This book was nominated in the fiction category for the Goodreads Choice Awards and I realized for the first time ever that I had not read anything that was nominated. I had this on audio from Libro.fm so started it on a whim and was so moved by it. Read it in an afternoon and was in tears by the end. As a character-driven reader, this was a good reminder why I used to love literary fiction!
Kitana Nightshade is one of the most powerful witches in Valentaera. A fierce defender of witchkind and humanity, she stands as a bastion against the vicious threat of the vampire kingdom, rising to become the deadliest vampire hunter the world has ever known.
That is, until her lover betrays her in cold blood, sealing her away in a magical prison so he can take her power for himself.
For fifty long years, Kitana has dreamed of nothing but vengeance. But when she is finally freed from her magical prison, it is not by a fellow witch, but an enigmatic and dangerous vampire lord. The bargain he offers her is simple—assassinate the vampire king, and in return, he’ll help her take back her coven and enact her revenge.
Normally, Kitana would never ally with a vampire. But the world she left behind fifty years ago has changed. The sun has disappeared, the vampires have conquered the human kingdoms, and the witches are nowhere to be found.
The only person Kitana can truly trust is herself… yet in this new realm shrouded by darkness and abandoned by the gods, that may not be enough. And when a shattering truth is revealed, Kitana must decide what is most important: vengeance, or the price of her heart?
I am part of a witchy book club on booktube and I had The Vampire’s Bargain on my kindle and I kind of chose it for book club without giving it too much thought. I just figured reading about witches and vampires would be fun! It ended up being the best book we read together last year and we were all blown away by it. I think it does some interesting and refreshing things that you don’t often see in romantasy and I cannot wait until we get news about the sequel! This book deserves way more attention!
Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
The River Has Roots is hands down the best audiobook I listened to in 2025! I felt so immersed in a way that is hard to find. I just let the story wash over me and it truly felt like someone was reading me a fairytale. There is something magical about this author’s writing and I cannot wait for the short story collection she has coming out this year!
An enchanting novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches .
Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Aunt Jasmine run an inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests’ shenanigans, tries to keep the talking fox in check, and longs for the magical future she lost.
When she learns about an old spellbook that holds the secret to restoring her power, she turns to Luke Larsen, a gorgeous historian who might just be able to help her unlock the book’s mysteries. Luke, who has his own reasons for staying at the inn, never planned on getting involved in the madcap goings-on around him and certainly had no intention of letting certain grumpy innkeepers past his icy walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he not only agrees to help, but also finds himself thawing .
Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone… and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.
The release date for A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping kept getting pushed back but let me tell you it was well worth the wait! I read a lot of books with found family in 2025 because it is my favourite trope, and this cast of quirky characters stood out from the rest. I do think that the ending will be divisive but I thought it was a bold choice and appreciated it! I will be patiently waiting for whatever she writes next!
New York Times bestselling author Sarah Beth Durst invites you to her new standalone novel nestled on a far-away island brimming with singing flowers, honey cakes, and honeyed love. The hardcover edition features beautiful sprayed edges.
Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium.
This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home.
But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing—causing the death of everything within them—Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again.
This time, though, she isn’t alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island—and have a fresh chance at happiness and love.
Funny, kind, and forgiving, The Enchanted Greenhouse is a story about giving second chances—to others and to yourself.
Much like with C.J. Cooke, if Sarah Beth Durst releases a book, there is a good chance it will end up on this list. This is the third year in a row and I doubt 2026 will be any different. I just click with her writing, the way she writes atmosphere, and her characters. She has become a go-to author for cozy fantasy and I appreciate that while her stories are still lower stakes there is a little bit of conflict and something to hold on to. Also, sentient plants- need I say more!
Three years after their break-up, Kiki’s worked hard to forget her first love. But just as she thinks she’s got her life under control—jumping into the distractions of her romance-by-calendar-invite boyfriend, and plans for her best friend, Aminah’s, wedding—Kiki’s career implodes, the family business teeters on collapse, and Malakai returns. As Malakai takes up his role as best man opposite her maid of honour, suddenly Kiki can think of nothing but their simmering chemistry, what went wrong, and why it is now impossible to act normal around each other.
Juggling a new job, the prospect of her parents’ restaurant being sold, and keeping her best friend from going full bridezilla, dealing with The Ex is the last thing she needs. But somehow the spark between them is only getting hotter—and threatening to ruin everything.
I read a lot of contemporary romance in 2025 and so many of them almost ended up on this list, but Sweet Heat was just in a league of its own. It is the sequel to Honey and Spice and I do think you have to read that one first since it follows the same couple. I thought that was a great way to set up a second chance romance because we saw their foundation in book one so it was easy to root for them here. I was also just routing for the main character outside of the romance and that is always a good feeling!
Halla has unexpectedly inherited the estate of a wealthy uncle. Unfortunately, she is also saddled with money-hungry relatives full of devious plans for how to wrest the inheritance away from her.
While locked in her bedroom, Halla inspects the ancient sword that’s been collecting dust on the wall since before she moved in. Out of desperation, she unsheathes it—and suddenly a man appears. His name is Sarkis, he tells her, and he is an immortal warrior trapped in a prison of enchanted steel.
Sarkis is sworn to protect whoever wields the sword, and for Halla—a most unusual wielder—he finds himself fending off not grand armies and deadly assassins but instead everything from kindly-seeming bandits to roving inquisitors to her own in-laws. But as Halla and Sarkis grow closer, they overlook the biggest threat of all—the sword itself.
Oh look- a T. Kingfisher topped my list! Let’s all pretend we are surprised! I started 2025 with Swordheart and nothing else I read lived up to it- which maybe wasn’t the greatest thing. This is the kind of fantasy romance I love and need more of- it is quirky and a slow burn. It also helps that I just love T. Kingfisher’s sense of humour.
What was the best book you read in 2025?
I still need to read The Enchanted Greenhouse!
It’s so good! And the third book comes out this year!
Forever a million years behind haha