The best books of 2025

This list is part of the best books of 2025.

Join 1,210 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Fresh Water for Flowers

Beth Dotson Brown ❤️ loved this book because...

Wow, what a book! The writer chose a unique format in which to tell a deeply emotional and healing story. The writer pays attention to the details of every day life and that adds to the draw of the story. It's long, but it's worth the time.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Valérie Perrin , Hildegarde Serle (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Fresh Water for Flowers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2021
A 2020 INDIES INTRODUCE & INDIE NEXT LIST PICK

A #1 international best-seller, Fresh Water for Flowers is an intimately told story about a woman who defiantly believes in happiness, despite it all.

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Her life is lived to the predictable rhythms of the often funny, always moving confidences that casual mourners, regular visitors, and sundry colleagues share with her. Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of Julien Sole—local police chief—who has come to scatter…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The Center of Everything

Beth Dotson Brown ❤️ loved this book because...

I will definitely read Jamie Harrison again. She does a brilliant job in this novel of weaving together story lines from different time periods. The connections add clarity to the story and the reader's understanding of the characters and their actions. It's worth the read!

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Jamie Harrison ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Center of Everything as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this compelling family drama set against the dangerous beauty of the Yellowstone, Polly is still trying to get her life back on track after a recent accident, not always trusting reality.

For Polly, the town of Livingston, Montana, is a land charmed by natural beauty and a close network of family extending back generations. But a recent head injury has scattered her perception of the present, surfacing events from thirty years ago and half a country away. As Polly's relatives arrive for a family reunion during the Fourth of July holiday, a beloved friend goes missing on the Yellowstone…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Three Guesses

Beth Dotson Brown ❤️ loved this book because...

Three Guesses is a beautifully creative book! I appreciate books that aren't the same old plot and story. This is a unique approach to a story about friendship that captivated me as a reader. Three cheers for Chris McClain Johnson's work.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Chris McClain Johnson ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Three Guesses as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Three strangers, connected only by a mesmerizing painting named Three Guesses, embark on an extraordinary journey of friendship. Compelled by their agreement to communicate only by mail, Sam Brooks of Memphis, Tennessee, Richard Mabry of Phoenix, Arizona, and Pete Wren of New York City reveal surprisingly intimate, personal details in a series of letters over the course of seven years. Then, as each contends with critical turning points in their lives, the unlikely trio breaks their mail-only pact and makes a life-changing decision to finally meet in person at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Humorous and heartbreaking, soulful and…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Rooted in Sunrise

By Beth Dotson Brown ,

Book cover of Rooted in Sunrise

What is my book about?

Rooted in Sunrise isn’t just about surviving a tornado it’s about what it means to wake up to life when everything you know has fallen apart. Ava’s journey is about the quiet courage, the choices that reshape her world, and the heart with which she, her family and friends face every setback. Author Adriana Trigiani called it “a loving coming-of-age story for women in mid-life. Brava!”

Book cover of Fresh Water for Flowers
Book cover of The Center of Everything
Book cover of Three Guesses

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