Joanna's Best Books of 2025 + Your Favorites

Prepare your TBRs for Recommendations Galore!

Hello, Protagonists!

We are so grateful for your presence in our kind, creative community this year. We hope you have a wonderful winter holiday full of the very best books.

In this post, you’ll find:

📚 Joanna’s Favorite Books of 2025

🤓 Reader Survey Results: Your Favorite Releases this year

Holiday hugs, Joanna and Evelyn

📚 Joanna’s Favorites of 2025

Evelyn stole my favorite book club fiction recommendation for her list. (Hint: It was the most uplifting read of the year, with love folded into each page.) If you’ve already read The Incredible Kindness of Paper, here are some of my other favorites.

My favorite romance: The Extraordinary League of Women Series by Evie Dunmore

I picked up Bringing Down the Duke last New Year’s and promptly lost several nights of sleep. The feminist twists on the historical romance tropes, the complex friendships, and passionate romance had me hooked!

Description: England, 1879. To keep her Oxford scholarship, destitute suffragist Annabelle Archer must recruit the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery to her suffargette cause. While the Duke intends to outmaneuver her to secure his political legacy, an unexpected passion ignites between them that threatens to destroy both his empire and her principles.

My favorite historical fiction: The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis

Bookstagram convinced me to pick up this one. It has a little magic, a lot of history, and some rich mother-daughter dynamics. This one is extra close to my heart because it serves as a comp in my query.

Description: Decades after Soline Roussel abandoned her family’s magical Parisian bridal salon in World War II, grieving gallery owner, Rory Grant, discovers an unworn dress in the rented space that bridges their tragic pasts. As their lives connect through shared loss, Rory realizes she holds the key to correcting a forty-year-old tragedy and restoring Soline’s locked-away hope.

My favorite literary fiction: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

A member of the CIH community helped push this one to the top of my list this month. It’s an expansive literary feast with a sumptuous cast of characters and settings, well deserving of its spot on the shortlist for the Booker. (And I wish it had won!)

Description: Meeting on an overnight train, aspiring novelist Sonia and struggling journalist Sunny bond over their desperate flight from traumatic pasts involving a manipulative lover and family clan violence. As they seek refuge in each other, the pair must navigate modern alienation while reconciling their desires with the crushing weight of class, race, and family history.

My favorite sci-fi (with epic fantasy elements): Red Rising by Pierce Brown

My partner and I downloaded the audio version for a road trip, and then we listened to the whole series before bed over the next month. These books have earned their hype.

Description: After discovering that his life as a lowly miner below Mars is a malicious deception enforced by the elite Golds, Darrow undergoes a dangerous physical transformation to infiltrate the ruling class. Driven by the memory of his lost love, he enters the Institute’s brutal proving ground to become one of the oppressors he despises in order to destroy their society from within.

My favorite non-Fiction: Mind Magic by James R. Doty, MD

The brain never ceases to amaze me. This book helped me clarify my desires and establish some supportive practices to align with my big dreams and well-being.

Description: Neuroscientist Dr. James Doty redefines manifestation as a scientifically grounded practice that utilizes tools like meditation and visualization to reshape the brain and reclaim personal agency. Moving beyond simple material gain, he argues that true manifestation must be rooted in compassion to not only realize individual dreams but also contribute to a kinder, more healed world.

My favorite holiday fiction: Good Spirits by BK Borison

One last one because I can’t resist. I just finished this cozy holiday delight and didn’t want it to end. I’m usually not one for sprayed edges, but just glancing at this book made me happy.

Description: Ghost of Christmas Past, Nolan Callahan, expects a routine haunting but is captivated by his newest assignment, Harriet York, a sweet people-pleaser whose history reveals surprising connections to his own. As they explore her memories and their growing attraction, the pair must race against a Christmas Eve deadline to decide if their future lies in moving on or staying together.

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🤓 Reader Survey Results: Your Favorite New Releases of 2025

We really appreciate how widely our community reads! We separated the new release recommendations by genre so you can find what you’re in the mood for.

🧚 Fantasy, Speculative, Sci-Fi Fiction

• Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (cozy)

• The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith (romantasy)

• Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood (cozy)

• Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz (cozy)

• Watermoon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (fantasy)

• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (metafictional sci-fi!)

• Cat Dragon by Samantha Birch (cozy romantasy)

👻 Horror

• A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

• The Buffalo Hunter’s Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (historical)

🔍 Mystery & Thriller

• Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

• The Dark Maestro by Brendan Slocumb

• Killer Wedding by Joan O’Leary

• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

🏙️ Contemporary & Literary Fiction

• We All Live Here by JoJo Moyes

• The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb

• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

• Flesh by David Szalay (Booker Prize winner)

⏳ Historical Fiction

• Ship of Dreams by Donna Jones Alward

• Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

• The Antidote by Karen Russell

📖 Non-Fiction/Memoir

• Awake by Jen Hatmaker

• Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

You also provided some creative ideas for the book club, like reading the debut and most recent release of an established author to assess their growth over time. Thank you for your recommendations, everyone!

Share another favorite in the comments!

If you didn’t get to complete the survey but still want to share, drop a favorite in the comments section. You might find some fellow fans in the community, too.