Once again, I need to do some catching y’all up on my reading! Juggling 2 kids has definitely made it a little bit more difficult to stay on top of this blog, but I have some things in the pipeline 🙂 Stay tuned for a BEST books of 2025 post, as well as some full book recaps here and on YouTube! But first, let’s catch up on the 16 books I read to finish out 2025. I read a lot of short books to try to complete my Goodreads challenge (barely finished!), so if you are looking for some quick novellas, keep reading, or read my post about 18 short and quick books to help you hit your reading goal!
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
I REALLY liked this one. I thought the concept was so interesting, and it has kind of stuck with me for a while! My only complaint is that it felt like the emotion was a bit pared down, and i felt like it needed a little bit more.
4.25/5 stars
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
This is a memoir of someone who used to work at Meta, very closely with the top dogs. Her accounts are very interesting (although not very surprising what she alleges of Mark Zuckerburg) especially what she alleges of other high ups.
4/5 stars
The Tell by Amy Griffin
The Tell is about a woman’s experience undercovering trauma that she had so deeply buried, that she didnt remember it. I remember in nursing school, having a speaker who talked to our class about a similar experience that she went through and it was fascinating and sad. The difference is that Amy uncovered her trauma using psychedelics. I am not an expert in that field, but some people do argue with the validity of using them to recover memories. I am not sure where I land, but I still thought it was interesting.
3.75/5 stars
Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
This is one of those self-help books that you kind of just find yourself going “well yeah, duh” throughout it. I didn’t find it groundbreaking, and truthfully it took me like 8 months to finish.
2/5 stars
If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia
Very cute 90’s rom-com. If you like Hallmark christmas movies, this is basically that in a book.
4/5 stars
The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent
I have a full review and recap for this one coming soon so stay tuned! But short review: I didn’t like and connect with this one as much as the previous book. It was a little hard for me to understand some of it too.
3.25/5 stars
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Thriller/mystery which I enjoy, but this one was tough because I literally hated ALL of the characters. BUT they were all well developed and the setting of this was certainly creepy.
3.75/5 stars
The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez
I loved the concept of this novella, it just seemed too rushed. Would love for this one to be expanded upon!
3.25/5 stars
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Such an interesting novel, but sad. If you NEED resolution in a book, don’t bother with this book. Very apocalyptic, thinker kind of book
4/5 stars
Alchemy & Ashes by Amy Yorke
If you’ve been here for a minute, you know I LOVED this book! Not only do I have a full recap of this book here on the blog and on YouTube, but I also did an interview with the author!
Romantasy, but not overly complicated with details. I thought it was such a fun read!
5/5 stars
Unbound by Peyton Corinne
This one is tough for me to rate. I read this one as an ARC (comes out in April 2026!) and it was presented as a novel. But when you look at it on Goodreads, it is book 3 of an interconnected universe of books. So it technically IS a stand-alone novel, I often felt like I was missing something with the dynamics of the friend-group that were omitted in this book but you would have understood if you read books 1 & 2. So TLDR, I liked it but I have a feeling I would have liked it more if I first read the books connected to it.
3.75/5 stars
The Mistletoe Temptation by Eve Pendle
This felt like a Bridgerton novella. Easy read, but not a wow piece!
3.25/5 stars
Alba Home for Christmas by Leau Macy
Advertised as a rom-com (it was not really funny) and the conclusion was so weird and lame.
1.5/5 stars
One Beautiful Year of Normal by Sandra K. Griffith
I read this one as an ARC from the publisher (it comes out February 24th, 2026!). I loved the setting of it being in Savannah, GA, and the picture it painted in the first half. The second half felt a little rushed of trying dump a bunch of details and solve the mystery, so I enjoyed it a little less. I wish it had weaved more of those details into the first half instead of making them come out of nowhere so quickly at the end.
Overall, I still really enjoyed the setting and it was an interesting book though!
3.5/5 stars
The Situationship by Abby Jimenez
Another short novella (like REALLY short). This one will only make sense if you have read the other connected books in Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez. I’m desperate for this one to be expanded on for the next book– this was TOO SHORT!!
4/5 stars
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