The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)
My favorite books of 2025, halfway through the year.
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Every year, I like to round up my favorite books of the year. I usually do this twice: once at the end of June and once in December.
I’ve taken different approaches over the years. Some years, I’ve included any books I read that year—including backlist. Eventually, I started including only books published that year (or maybe very late in the year before).
Sometimes I’ve done separate lists in June and December, and whittled down my June selections to create an “ultimate” best of the year list in December.
Now, though, I like to start one list in June, and then keep adding to it as I read through the year. This prevents me from having to remove books that don’t feel like favorites as I get further from when I read them (which never felt fair), and it allows me to add new favorites just as my enthusiasm for them is at its peak.
So here is my list of the best books of 2025–so far. I’ll continue to add to this list as I discover more favorites through the year. Please share what you’re loving this year, as well!
Nesting
Author: Roisín O’Donnell
Publish Date: February 18, 2025
Genres: Literary Fiction
One afternoon, Ciara grabs a few things, packs up her young daughters, and takes them away from her husband Ryan. She’s not sure where to go, but home isn’t safe. She lands at a hotel in Dublin that houses women fleeing abusive relationships. From there, she navigates the dizzying maze of finding work and services, managing young kids, and staying strong while her husband alternately begs her to return and further drives her into the ground. Because leaving is one thing, but staying gone proves to be the real challenge.
This was a heart-wrenching and realistic portrayal of the difficulties of leaving abusive relationships, particularly because it focused on the emotional abuse and coercive control that keep people stuck. With children in the mix, the complications and challenges multiply. A testament to the strength of women who walk away with nothing but hope for themselves and their children.
Wild Dark Shore
Author: Charlotte McConaghy
Publish Date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Literary Fiction
On a remote island near Antarctica, Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of the seed bank designed to safeguard the food supply and flora diversity in the event of disaster. But as the climate crisis reaches its peak, even the safeguard isn’t safe, and they are tasked with packing up the seeds for relocation. In the midst of this, a woman washes ashore. Even as Dom and Rowan keep secrets, they are drawn to one another, and as Rowan gets closer to him and the kids, she needs to decide if she can trust them enough to grow something new.
Charlotte McConaghy writes incredible eco-fiction, and her last novel, Once There Were Wolves is one of my favorites. I loved this one just as much. The fictional Shearwater Island lends its voice between the lines, through the ghosts of deceased characters and devastated animal inhabitants (based on the history of the real Macquarie Island, where seals and penguins were hunted to near-extinction), adding a mystical tone to the themes of isolation, grief, and ecological destruction.
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Broken Country
Author: Clare Leslie Hall
Publish Date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction
Years after leaving her first love, Gabriel, behind, Beth is happily married to Frank, working on their farm and an integral part of the English village where they grew up. But when Gabriel returns with his young son in tow, old feelings resurface and tensions rise. Told in multiple timelines, the story is pieced together with glimpses of Beth and Gabriel’s origins, his return to the village, and a present when they are all faced with the consequences of their decisions.
Told with nuance and gorgeous prose, this manages to be a sweeping epic, an atmospheric love story, and a fast-paced mystery that will keep you turning the pages. I cared deeply about what happened to all of the characters, even as I wrestled with who to root for. Many readers are calling this their best book of 2025, and it’s certainly on my list–don’t miss it.
The Three Lives of Cate Kay
Author: Kate Fagan
Publish Date: January 7, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Famed author Cate Cay is an enigma to her fans. She has never revealed her true identity, and as her dystopian series reached new heights, speculation about the author behind the pseudonym increased. The Three Lives of Cate Cay is framed as a tell-all book, finally revealing the author’s identity and why she kept it a secret for so long. She tells her own story, but also offers the perspective of others who shaped it.
From her early years with her best friend Amanda that ended in tragedy, to a controlling relationship with a woman who both helped her hide and launch her career, to a collision with Hollywood that finally forces her to confront her past and her identity, Cate Kay’s story has aptly been compared to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I found this to be a fast-paced and compelling read, with short chapters, strong voices, and complex characters and relationships.
On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters
Author & Narrator: Bonnie Tsui
Publish Date: April 29, 2025
Genres: Nonfiction
On Muscle is an examination of muscle, how we build it, how it builds us (physically, emotionally, and mentally), and its relevance to how we live and age. From weight lifters to sprinters to disabled yogis to double-Dutch jump ropers, Tsui covers a lot of ground, and it’s all riveting science, well-told with fascinating story and memoir.
As a lifelong weight lifter and former swimmer and rower, I felt a kinship with Tsui, who is also all of those things (her previous book, Why We Swim, is on my TBR)—and much of my listening to this book actually happened while lifting weights. Like Tsui, I’ve always found lifting to be about more than the muscle; it is also about the focus and the meditative quality that makes it mentally healing. I love author R.O. Kwan’s reflections on powerlifting and writing, and find it an apt companion to this book. If you have any interest in the body, I highly recommend this book.
The Names
Author: Florence Knapp
Publish Date: May 6, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
When Cora visits the registrar to name her newborn son, her abusive and controlling husband, Gordon, expects her to name the boy after him. But Cora hesitates, and what follows is three alternate versions of life—her son’s and daughter’s, her own, and that of her extended family—different only because of her choice of name.
Told over 35 years, in seven-year time hops, this novel invites us to ponder not just the significance of a name, but of every single decision we make. It’s a fast and compelling read, but also dark, with a number of disturbing scenes of domestic abuse (mind your triggers). Knapp has crafted an unforgettable debut novel that will stay on your mind long after you finish reading it.
Good Dirt
Author: Charmaine Wilkerson
Publish Date: January 28, 2025
Genres: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
When Ebby Freeman was 10 years old, her older brother Baz was killed in a home invasion. She witnessed it all, but the crime was never solved, and as one of the only Black families in the affluent New England neighborhood, the spotlight stayed on the Freemans for years. When Ebby is left at the altar by her high-profile fiancé, she again finds herself the object of speculation. She retreats to France, where she begins examining her past–and her family’s history, long embodied in a piece of pottery that was destroyed on the day Baz died.
Told in alternating timelines, we follow Ebby as she learns more about her family history, and comes to terms with her own past and present. Her research takes us to her enslaved ancestors, who were skilled potters. Often in books told like this, one timeline feels weaker, but both had me riveted, and like in her debut, Black Cake, Wilkerson is masterful at tying them together. A must-read for 2025.
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Love the list!
I’ve bumped these books up my list.
Thanks so much.
These sound great – looking forward to reading the ones I still haven’t read!