I thought that 2025 would solely be filled with board books. Boy was I wrong. Newborn Willow was just as into Onyx Storm as I was. Don’t worry, I skipped over the spicy parts. Once I figured out that I didn’t actually have to read a newborn the same 10 board books over and over again because they had literally no idea what was happening yet, it really opened up a new world to me. Since then, Willow has gotten chunks of most of the books that I’ve read. Sometimes I’ll read to her as she’s eating her lunch or I’ll read as she’s throwing legos all over the front room. She doesn’t seem to mind it and she doesn’t seem to be into it. I think she just likes listening to my voice so I’ll continue to read to her.
I set my goal very low – 24 books. That’s 2 books per month and I hit 44 by the end of 2025 (with only 10 of those being audiobooks – which very much counts towards your goal and if you do not agree, you’re not enduring a 3+ hour commute and it shows). I read books that I already owned, books I was given, books I bought this year. I read mysteries and fantasies and nonfiction and true crime and everything in between. I read a lot of great books and terrible books and surprising books and disappointing books.
Let’s get into it.
To keep you engaged to the very end, I’ll share which books were the most disappointing of the year:
- Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne – This really hyped me up to be a great cozy fantasy series but the entire world is convinced that you need to have a long, fluffy book in order to make it in the world. This book was overly fluffed (and not even with important backstory, which got lost among the fluff) and the characters weren’t interesting.
- The Witch’s Daughter by Paula Brackston – If you’ve been here a while, you know that my husband loves to buy books for me. This was one of them, so I figured it had to be a great book. It wasn’t. It was messy, had a lot of shitty stereotypes about witches, and was also overly long.
- The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent – Speaking of fluff… This book was such a rough read after loving The Serpent and the Wings of Night. My niece let me borrow this one and I literally rearranged my planned books so that I could read this one next. The ashes must be because our main character became so boring that she literally turned to ashes. It was such a struggle to get myself through this one and I’m honestly shocked I was able to. Nothing happened in so many pages.
Okay, so I see what the problem is. It’s the same problem with movies nowadays (why is everything 3 hours long????). Books do not need to be 300+ pages to be good. In fact, one of the best books I read this year was Later by Stephen King and it was incredibly short (less than 200 pages). Stop putting in so much shit that doesn’t need to be put in. Remember, it’s not the size that matters, it’s what you do with it.
Now, onto my top books of the year:
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel – This book was SO good. I literally could not put it down. The entire premise is insane. How does a man possibly get away with stealing so much from so many different museums all over Europe? It’s a wild ride of “Okay but he gets caught after this, yeah?” only to have him almost never get caught (not to spoil the story but like, obviously he gets caught or we wouldn’t have this book). The author kept me completely engaged until the very end (and I probably would have read much more – I’m still thinking about this book despite reading it in January).
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore – Jacob bought me this one. He’s tickled pink that he chose a book that is now huge because Taylor Swift listened to the audiobook in her documentary. In my opinion, it is so worth the hype. It’s an incredible book. I was obsessed with both storylines and trying to figure out what happened to each child (but also what is going on with that family). I enjoyed seeing through the eyes of so many characters – which normally isn’t my jam but when it’s done well, I love it.
The entire Chronicles of Chaos series by Glen Dahlgren – I’d like to start with saying that these books are technically Young Adult but I feel like they’re very much only “technically” a Young Adult series (a few tweaks and some sex and I’m sure it would have been in the adult section). That doesn’t matter though. I’ve read plenty of Young Adult books as an adult (thank you to my niece who insisted I read so many of those) and most were pretty poorly written. These are not. I haven’t read the final book (that recently came out) but when I was in Santa Rosa with my husband and daughter, this author was there to sign these books. He roped me in with his spiel and I ended up buying the prequel as well as the first 3 books. I am so glad that I did (and have since passed them to my niece and nephew). These books are a breath of fresh air in a world that recycles ideas. The world that the Chronicles of Chaos is in is easy to follow but completely unique. I devoured these and I’m so excited to get my hands on the most recent one. I have heard that Netflix recently picked it up to be a series and I can’t wait.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King – This is a book that has been on my list for a long time. I eventually want to read every Stephen King book and I would really appreciate it if he stopped writing for like, 3 years to maybe give me a chance. This book is the only one that my dad hasn’t read, because he’s not into writing. I’m going to see if I can get him to read this one. Obviously, I enjoy writing or I wouldn’t be here but I argue that this book is not just for the writer, but for everyone who wants to do something. Unfortunately, King does talk about how having a regular old 9-5 can really kill your creativity (you don’t say?) but he really inspired me to try and get this blog back up and running so that I can have some sort of fulfillment in my life.
My honorable mention is Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten which I listened to on audiobook. I have been a fan of the Barefoot Contessa since I was a kid. We watched a lot of the Food Network in my house and she was one of my favorites because she just oozed fun and kindness. Listening to her book was addictive! I couldn’t stop and I’d listen while I did everything – from driving to walking to cleaning to cooking. I was always listening. I even bought her very first cookbook (which is a 10/10) as soon as I was finished.
Looking over this list, there were so many books I wasn’t thrilled about in 2025 but I’m hoping that 2026 is filled with some great ones. On that note, I’ve officially given up GoodReads (for various reasons I might go into someday) and have fully adopted StoryGraph. Come follow me. My username is lauren_kaleo.
Stay tuned – I do hope to continue with my monthly round ups now that I have slightly sorta kinda figured out this whole “mommy” business.
Writes with Wolves 