Y’all. 2025 was not the year of the good read. In 2024, I barreled through 177 books, loving the heck out of nearly 30 of them. This year, I moved at a more sedate pace, DNFing a metric ton of books, finishing only 115, and only being truly wowed by 18 of them.
I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t the books. Maybe it was my mood. Because by the end of the year, all my brain could handle was light and fluffy, with a healthy dose of spice. And when I couldn’t focus on reading, I threw myself into my needlework, the creative outlet I didn’t realize I needed.
I also shifted my focus with work. After about 12 years, I finally stepped back as senior contributor at Book Riot and turned more of my attention to my work at Feminist Book Club. We completed our transition to a worked-owned co-op. I leaned into the learning curve of being Chair of the Board of Directors. And after having stepped in as interim Editor-in-Chief, I was asked to be the EIC full stop.
The year has not been kind to independent feminist media, however, and the road has been bumpy. Sometimes, it feels like we’re holding on for dear life. Sometimes, it feels like this work has consumed all my working hours.
Still, I did manage to get some of my own writing done. I received a partial fellowship for the Martha’s Vineyard Summer Writers’ Conference, and spent a glorious week there this past June. I had a piece I wrote thanks to a generative session with my super rad writing critique group published online at the Pine Hills Review. And I barfed out my feelings for a piece that eventually ran on Psyche (if you want to know about what’s been stressing me out beyond work, you have only to look there).
Anyway. None of that is why you’re really here. So read on to see which books grabbed me this year, and how my reading habits slowly shifted from literary and depressing to full-on smut (lol).
1. Soil by Camille T. Dungy. In this gorgeous memoir, Camille T. Dungy’s poet roots really show. In Soil, Dungy and her family decide to transform the yard of her new home into a pollinator garden she refers to as the “prairie project.” The garden, of course, is also a metaphor… for so many things. More than anything, though, it is a stand against the various types of homogeneity that threaten our planet. I loved how this book was in conversation with so much of the other nature writing out there, while also bringing something completely new to the genre.
2. Heartwood by Amity Gaige. This multiple-POV mystery came out just this past April. When a flip-flop hiker on the Appalachian Trail goes missing, people come out in droves to help. But when the search extends for longer than a week, it becomes less likely she’ll ever be found alive. The story is told through the eyes of the game warden tasked with finding her, an armchair detective living in a retirement community miles away, via interviews with other hikers, and in letters written by the hiker herself. I was riveted.
3. Polar Vortex by Denise Dorrance. In this heartbreaking-yet-funny graphic memoir, a woman flies home to help her mother, who has fallen and is admitted to the hospital. It is soon clear to her that her mother—who also has dementia—can no longer live alone at home. The author grapples with next steps, the specter of death lurking at every turn.
4. William by Mason Coile. In this tense, fast-paced horror, a man, his wife, and their two guests end up trapped in a house trapped in the grip of a powerful AI. Such a fun, gripping read, and I almost didn’t read it at all. I only picked it up after reading the egalley for Coile’s forthcoming novella Exiles, a sci-fi horror about a human crew sent to Mars only to find their base in disarray and their robots acting… strangely. I may have to read everything this man writes from now on.
5. Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez. In this fever dream of a gothic horror novel, Ingrid receives an invitation from an old friend—Mayra—who asks her to visit her for a weekend getaway in the Everglades. She impulsively accepts, only to be blindsided by the presence of Mayra’s boyfriend. But she pushes on, and soon they are poking at the old hurts in their old friendship, even as Ingrid pokes her way around the odd house Mayra and her boyfriend are renovating. Time begins to stretch and Ingrid eventually begins to wonder if during her time there, she will end up losing herself entirely.
6. The Unveiling by Quan Barry. After going completely bonkers for We Ride Upon Sticks, I was more than primed to pick up her newest work of literary horror, which finally pubbed in October. It had completely different vibes, but that doesn’t mean I loved it any less. A Black film scout goes on a luxury Antarctic cruise in search of a location for a big-budget movie. She already feels out of place, but when disaster strikes during a kayaking excursion, she is forced to face parts of herself she’d long kept locked away.
7. Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis. I don’t know what it was, exactly, that grabbed me so, but I was absolutely engrossed in this work of autofiction about a middle-aged man with an autoimmune disease who returns to the reservation where he grew up in search of healing.
8. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis. I picked this one up when a Feminist Book Club colleague raved about it during one of our weekly recordings of FBC Weekly, and it ended up being so much fun. This literary satire is about a Ph.D. who publishes a paper on deradicalization and ends up in Iraq, spearheading a rehabilitation program for women drawn in by harmful idealogy. She quickly finds herself in over her head, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting to play savior anyway.
9. Patchwork by Maddie Ballard. Since I’ve gotten into needlework, I’ve been on the hunt for a good memoir built around the craft. Up until now, however, I was unsuccessful. But then I ended up charmed by this brand new memoir, structured around 17 garments the author made during a particularly tumultuous period of her life.e
10. What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher. Kingfisher (the pen name for Ursula Vernon), is one of those authors whose work I will always read, no matter what. Thank the gods she’s so dang prolific. This particular novella is actually the third in the ongoing Sworn Soldiers series, but I think I like it best because it feels like a return to her usual sense of humor and madcap character dynamics, which felt slightly muted in the first two books. In this one (a dark fantasy), our protagonist investigates the disappearance of his friend’s cousin in a mysterious coal mine and ends up finding something strange.
11. The Road to Tender Heartsby Annie Hartnett. This one’s tough to describe succinctly, but here goes: A 63-year-old man in Massachusetts embarks upon a road trip to Arizona to propose to his childhood sweetheart, who he learns has recently become a widow. Joining him on this trip are the two young grandchildren of his estranged brother (who have recently been orphaned), his adult daughter (with whom he has a complicated relationship), and a cat who is apparently really good at predicting death. The book is silly and quirky and doesn’t shy away from tragedy and, at its core, is a heartwarming tale about second chances.
12. Fugutive Telemetryby Martha Wells. I had never read All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells when I first watched the Murderbot series on Apple TV+. I was more interested in the fact that it starred Alexander Skarsgård as the eponymous Murderbot (eye candy alert!). But after enjoying the show, I decided to try the books. I’m now eight books in, with Fugitive Telemetry being my favorite. These books bring all the LOLs, but in a completely different way from the show, primarily thanks to Murderbot’s dry humor.
13. A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernandez. Such a satisfying read. This lyrical memoir is about the author’s coming-of-age in her Cuban-Colombian family, and about growing into her queer identity. It was one of the book swaps I scored through Feminist Book Club, and I’m so glad I picked it.
14. The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry. Christina Henry excels at dark horror, but her latest is my favorite. In this haunted house tale that brings all the retro suburban nostalgia, the protagonist spends her life living beneath the shadow of an evil house that ate her brother and tore the rest of her family apart. The house, in fact, seems unstoppable, but this final girl may be the one who can finally take it down.
15. In Bloom by Liz Allan. This book isn’t out until January, but it’s definitely worth having on your radar. The book description says it best: it’s a story of class differences and coming of age as a group of best friends investigates allegations against their favorite teacher. I loved the mid-’90s vibes, I loved the Greek chorus-style POV, and I very much appreciated its nuanced approach to girlhood and sexual abuse and feeling othered.
16. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. All of this (::gestures wildly at entire ACOTAR universe::) happened because I read Ice Planet Barbarians, the first in a ridiculous erotic sci-fi series that also happens to be inexplicably popular, and then texted my friend and asked her to recommend some good literary smut. She insisted I start reading the series she’s been trying to get me to read for several years. She added the caveat that I might be underwhelmed by the first one (A Court of Thorns and Roses), but that I should at least read through the first 100 pages of the second book before giving up. FINE. Fine. And now here we are and I’m obsessed, along with the rest of bookTok. (This series is a high fantasy romance following a mortal huntress who’s taken into the faerie lands of Prythian after killing a faerie wolf. I just finished the third book the other night and it made me cry.)
17. 200 Monas by Jan Saenz. Okay. This one is going to sound extra wacky, but hear me out. A college senior trying to survive finals week finds a stash of drugs in her late mother’s closet as she’s clearing the house to sell it. And they’re not just any drugs. They’re an ecstasy-like drug called Mona, named as such because they make you moan. With mind-blowing, blackout-inducing orgasms. When two drug dealers show up on her doorstep, she’s informed she has to sell all of them in 48 hours… or she’s kaput. She ends up getting help from another local drug dealer, and what ensues is a madcap, absurdist, erotic, romantic romp. This one’s out in March.
18. Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka. And finally, we have the latest from another of my favorite authors, one whose work is always delightfully odd, and delightfully surprising. This psychological horror starts out as what seems like a haunted house story, with a family moving into an old house, and strange things happening. But then the book begins to explore things like grief and emotional labor and, suddenly, it becomes clear that the people themselves are more haunted than any house could ever be.