Looking back at 2025, it occurs to me that I leaned into familiar and favorite authors, books with elements of magic and hope, and quite a bit of romance. Reading represented comfort in a year filled with a great deal of change.

These reviews are limited to fiction since that is what I read most often. The books are each full-length works as opposed to novellas, short stories, or plays. All but one were published in 2025, with the other an enduring contemporary classic. They were all first-time reads for me in 2025. It’s no surprise, though, that each of the authors is one by whom I have read multiple works and consider a favorite.

Number 5: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (2013, Historical Fiction)

I’ve enjoyed a couple of this author’s later works, particularly The River We Remember (2023) and This Tender Land (2019). This selection is a beautifully told story from the point of view of Frank, a middle aged man looking back to the summer of 1961, when he was 13 and witnessed death for the first time. Frank’s growing realization that life is full of sorrow and complicated emotions is revealed against a backdrop of realistic small town ordinary life. Themes of faith, hope, love, secrets, truth, and forgiveness are addressed truthfully yet sensitively.

I appreciate how Krueger blends historical literary fiction and a touch of mystery with powerful coming-of-age narratives, and I look forward to exploring more of his backlist as well as any upcoming novels.

Number 4: The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry (2025, Historical Fiction)

What an absolutely gorgeous gem of a book, inspired by a real-life literary mystery. Children’s author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham vanished and was presumed dead at the age of 25, leaving behind her husband and eight-year-old daughter Clara. Twenty-five years later, Clara is raising her own daughter and living with her father in South Carolina when she receives a strange and exciting phone call from London. Clara learns that her mother has left her papers and a cryptic message which might unravel the mystery behind her disappearance. Clara and Wynnie (her daughter) travel to London and the Lake District, where they discover more mysteries, more unanticipated answers, and most of all, love and forgiveness. The descriptive setting and layers of storytelling all hit the mark for me.

Henry is another auto-read author for me–I absolutely loved The Secret Book of Flora Lea (2024) and Once Upon a Wardrobe (2021)

Number 3: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (2025, Fantasy)

I have read and enjoyed everything this writer has published for an adult audience, especially The Starling House (2023) and The Once and Future Witches (2020).

Harrow has a gift for creating realistic, immersive fairy tales exploring deep and enduring questions about human nature–in this case, What must one sacrifice for enduring love? and What does it mean to be a hero? The Everlasting is a slowly unfolding, multi-layered tale about struggling scholar Owen Mallory, who devotes his life to uncovering the authentic story behind the legendary knight Una Everlasting. The two are entangled in an endless loop of repeating history over and over again as they serve the whims of a power-hungry queen. It is up to them to break the cycle. I love how the author infuses her wholly original tale with familiar elements of the Arthurian legends and sets the novel in a very realistic yet clearly fictional world similar to our own. The ending was completely unexpected and absolutely satisfying.

Number 2: The Incredible Kindness of Paper by Evelyn Skye (2025, Magical Romance)

Evelyn Skye is another favorite contemporary author of mine! I enjoy following her on social media and hearing about her life as a writer.

I keep describing this book about second-chance love as a warm hug–and it is absolutely that. Chloe (rainbows and sunshine personified) loses her job as a high school guidance couselor due to budget cuts. Rather than wallow in self-pity, she resolves to spread sunshine to strangers in the form of yellow origami roses containing inspirational messages. Oliver, a guarded and grumpy financial data analyst, is struggling with finding any joy in his daily life. The reader learns early on that Chloe and Oliver had been childhood best friends, just becoming in love, from ages 6 to 16, when Oliver and his family disappeared without a trace. Against a charming NYC backdrop the two are reunited through a series of serendipitous events and a touch of magic.

If you want more by Evelyn Skye, I highly recommend The Hundred Loves of Juliet (2023)

Number 1: My Friends by Fredrik Backman (2025, Contemporary Fiction)

I am currently two short works away from reading every work written by this author. Yes, he’s THAT GOOD. Honestly, if you haven’t read A Man Called Ove (2012) or The Beartown trilogy (2016, 2017, 2022) by now, do it!

Shifting among several perspectives, My Friends is the tragicomic story of “the artist” and his band of childhood friends. The artist’s best friend relates the story bit by bit, layer by layer, to Louisa, a young homeless aspiring artist, when the two are united by chance and circumstance.

This novel pierced me deeply with its raw emotions and unapologetic honesty about the trauma experienced by each of the main characters. What kept me going was Backman’s gift of finding light in the darkness, humor in the tragedy healing in the brokenness. Both charmingly simple and amazingly philosophical, I believe that this is Backman’s best work to date.