Looking back at 2025 offers an eclectic spread of new, celebrated books. In many cases, the best books of the year speak to the specificity of the reader. We all gravitate towards specific genres, writers, and tropes we know we love, allowing us to disappear into the pages of new novels. Immersion is the true magic trick of reading, transporting us to different eras, worlds, and perspectives as a form of escapism.
Over the course of the year, we were drawn to epic, sweeping romances and stories about unlikely found families facing uncertain circumstances. There were traces of Gothic inspiration, science fiction, tropey romance, and unlikely hauntings. And so, so many books about complicated, messy women and their sloppy desires. Grief via vampires and mid-century lovers.
Here are our favorite books from 2025.
After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian
One of author Cat Sebastian’s most incredible magic tricks is her capacity to bottle the specificity of time and place. It’s not just her characters we love, but the timestamps that give her stories a lived-in weight. After Hours at Dooryard Books continues this trend as we follow the love story between Patrick and Nathaniel, both of whom try to pick up the pieces of their lives after devastating losses that spin their worlds on their axes. There are elements of opposites attract here, but it’s the slow-burning yearning that truly captures us, as the two process their own burgeoning love story while grappling with the community they’ve built and the people they surround themselves with.
Through the music they listen to, the politics they discuss, and the books they cling to as a lifeline for greater Queer existence – get ready for many Walt Whitman references – Sebastian pieces together a world we can sink ourselves into. She understands the necessity of capturing the passage of time, be it through early summer baseball games to the first breath of spring, and the result is a love story that earns its sweeping moments. Because we understand who they are through the minutiae of their day-to-day, making all things slight feel grand and the declarative ones intimate. [Ally Johnson]
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The Bones Beneath My Skin by T.J. Klune
TJ Klune delivers yet another fantastical epic with The Bones Beneath My Skin. Marking the novel’s traditional release after the author was forced to self-publish in 2018, the book is the perfect entry into his work, as it brings together and showcases his most potent themes. Working with a tender heart, empathetic characters, and the fundamental saving power of found families, the book explores the lives of two lonely men, a girl who isn’t quite a girl, and their quest for solace and peace. The book leaves us breathless as the three characters face mysterious government forces, possessive cults, and their own inner demons. The novel finds Klune’s familiar tone and exacting pacing let loose, creating an immersive adventure that will have you spilling your heart and tears into the confines of its pages. [AJ]
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The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is both many things at once – a confession of a tragic Native American vampire’s life story, documented through a frontier priest’s journals, recounted inside a 21st-century dissertation – yet focused enough on its singular stab deep into the bleeding heart of one of America’s greatest shames. A puzzle box of historical horror that unfolds into a truly jaw-dropping climax, the epic novel draws as much influence from real-life massacres of native tribes and the tragedy of the buffalo as it does from body horror movies like The Fly or The Thing. In his story of a Native American who can not die, being the worst dream America has ever had, Stephen Graham Jones has once again thrown down the gauntlet to any challengers for his crown as our modern king of horror fiction. [Quinn Parulis]
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The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K Ancrum
K Ancrum understands the significance of a coming-of-age story and, even more so, the profound effects our friends have on us in our teenage years. Between her novels, she clearly – and rightly – believes that it’s other kids who first notice the signs of something going wrong. That theme is clear in her latest, The Corruption of Hollis Brown, a deliciously off-kilter novel about a teenager who begins to fall in love with the ghost possessing him.
A story about the devastation of being seen clearly for who you are – all of the very worst bits, the softest vulnerabilities, the most tender sparks of rage – Ancrum demonstrates her control of flow and character. As Hollis and Walt grow closer than any two beings can imagine, we, too, grow attached to them, wishing for what seems like an improbably happy ending. [AJ]
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Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
Heather Fawcett has done it again with another charming installment in Emily Wilde’s series. And just like the other two, the whimsy of the worldbuilding and characters makes it easy to get lost entirely in the story. I loved everything about Wendell and Emily’s budding relationship, finally getting a chance to bloom in this book. And the slightly open-ended conclusion means Heather Fawcett will return to this world. [Brianna Robinson]
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Fan Service by Rosie Danan
Fan Service by Rosie Danan was a joy to read. As a young teenager also deeply involved in fandom, I loved reading about Alex’s relationship to the show she grew up writing about and the himbo star lead she encounters in the real world. Alex is the only one who can help washed-up actor Devin with his werewolf problem, and the process of them figuring out his predicament is both hilarious and fun. If you have also imagined what would happen if your favorite TV show actor suddenly became a part of the show they were a part of, you’ll love this book. [BR]
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Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
In Saou Ichikawa’s pitch black “comedy” novella Hunchback, we find ourselves in the shoes/bed of an author named Izawa Shaka as she goes about her days living in a care facility for the disabled. Afflicted with the same congenital myopathic illness as Ichikawa herself, our protagonist spends her days pouring her frustrations with life into writing pornographic stories on the internet. All the while, she ruminates on topics as diverse as absurdist cinema, art vandalism, and academic philosophy, and fantasizes about one of her caretakers. With its scathing indictment of how modern Japan treats its disabled population, a matter-of-fact tone peppered with sarcastic winks, and a deftly agile narrative that packs some hard-to-predict swerves into its short page count, Hunchback is a must-read for any reader looking for a quick, perspective-expanding rollercoaster ride. [QP]
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Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Hungerstone is the feminist retelling of Carmilla that I didn’t know I needed. I didn’t fall in love with Lenore right away, but her growth throughout Hungerstone is beautiful to read. Her relationships with both Carmilla and Henry are complicated and layered, and they serve vital roles within the book. The gothic prose is beautifully written and hooked me right away. Additionally, Kat Dunn makes gothic literature a bit more accessible for those apprehensive about the genre. [Kayla Chu]
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Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig
This book wins the award for the most unique storytelling I’ve encountered all year. Also, I have never been more charmed by an inanimate object/side character as I was with the gargoyle in this book. The gothic worldbuilding, the growing mystery surrounding the missing diviners, and the tension between our heretical knight, Rory, and Sybil, our diviner, make the book a page-turning delight. And I won’t spoil the ending, but there’s a cliffhanger that made me want to read the book from beginning to end all over again. [BR]
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Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Shifter romances, the grumpy sunshine dynamic, and a gruff alpha hero are wrapped in a perfectly bundled fated mates bow in Mate by Ali Hazelwood. These tropes and themes are handled with care in a way readers come to love from Ali Hazelwood, and it didn’t take much to make it a favorite of the year for many readers. Koen’s intense disregard for the draw of his mate is played spectacularly well against his innate protective instincts and the danger Serena keeps finding herself in. If you love a good exasperated man, you’ll love Koen. [BR]
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Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp
2025 was the year of weird girl lit, and Paradise Logic is the perfect example of the genre. Sophie Kemp is a master at weaving an unreliable narrator like Reality Kahn with the general weirdness of what it’s like to live in her world — talking snakes and all. No matter what Reality went through, I wanted to see her reach her goal of being the best girlfriend ever, which says a lot about how well Kemp wrote her. If there’s one weird girl lit book that I’ll reread in the future, it’s definitely this one. [KC]
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Sky Daddy by Kate Folk
What a wild way to debut! Kate Folk creates such a fantastic world in Sky Daddy, a book literally about a woman who’s sexually attracted to planes. Now, before you write off Sky Daddy, you should know it’s much more than just that. Folk is a master at making Linda much more than just her obsession with planes — she’s proud of her work, she’s trying to make friends, and she makes a vision board for her future. It makes you root for her throughout, even the cringe-inducing secondhand-embarrassment moments. Plus, that ending was a 10/10 perfect landing. [KC]
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She’s a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock
Meredith Hambrock, you came for the former theater kid in me with this book. She’s a Lamb! is the perfect example of what delusion can do to a person. Jessamyn St. Germain is clearly unhinged, sociopathic, and meant to be a star. Her descent into madness is impossible to look away from, and I wanted to know what her next move would be before one even finished. It was a wild ride from start to finish. And the fact that this is Hambrock’s debut novel makes it even better. [KC]
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Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
The four stories presented in Stag Dance, Torrey Peters’ follow-up to her tremendously popular debut, Detransition, Baby, are drastically varied in genre and tone. Yet, they tie themselves together by their entertaining, playful takes on the full spectrum of trans identity. One story drops us into a survival story set in a post-apocalypse where humans are no longer able to produce sex hormones. At the same time, another takes place in modern Vegas at a transfeminine festival disrupted by the arrival of an interloper decked out in a silicone full-body female suit, forcing some uncomfortable self-examinations upon the attendees.
The centerpiece of the novel focuses on the titular stag dance, a party set in a 19th-century logging camp in which some of the gruff lumberjacks are encouraged to go dressed as women, and the awakening this event causes in our protagonist sends the camp into a wildly unpredictable disarray. A must-read for fans of both short stories and unique perspectives on gender, Stag Dance is one of the best books of 2025. [QP]
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The Trouble With Anna by Rachel Griffiths
If you love historical romances, Rachel Griffiths’ debut has to be on your TBR list. After her grandfather dies suddenly, Lady Anna finds out she’ll lose everything, including the horse stables she so desperately wants to run, if she doesn’t marry handsome and irritating Lord Julian Ramsey. What follows is Anna’s fight for independence, told by Griffiths with wit and charm. I fell hard for headstrong Anna and Julian’s attempts to woo her, and when you read it, you will, too. [BR]
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We Do Not Part by Han King
There is a certain degree of expectation one can have when picking up a new novel by Han Kang, the first Korean recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature and a renowned champion of self-eviscerating women waging unspoken wars deep within themselves. We Do Not Depart combines this trend with another of Kang’s most common subjects, historic traumas swept under the rug by the passage of time, here seen in the excavation of Korea’s Jeju Uprising.
The novel captures that history in fiction through the story of a young author visiting the island in a snow storm to check on her pet bird who learns the story over the course of her stay. The novel reads like a frozen fever dream. The whiteout conditions and frigid cold of the storm influences the prose, slowly blanketing our protagonist in a hallucinatory journey. We Do Not Part leaves you breathless from the building dread that comes with finally confronting and removing the blinders we place on ourselves to hide from our most painful truths. [QP]
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ZomRomCom by Olivia Dade
This high-stakes dystopian romance about a woman and her vampire neighbor (whose real name is Gaston!) trying to prevent a zombie outbreak was very hot, very fast-paced, and wildly hilarious. Olivia Dade perfectly balances humor with plot-moving action and a dash of sexiness that romance readers will appreciate. Don’t let the zombies scare you–this book is too good to pass up. [BR]
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What are your picks for the best books o 2025? Let us know!
