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 11/22/63

Christina Dudley ❤️ loved this book because...

Stephen King is such an amazing writer, but if, like me, you don't read horror, your selection is limited. This incredibly inventive, incredibly researched, incredibly compelling book was one I couldn't stop talking about. My book club loved it too! And the ending--I couldn't guess how he was going to land that plane, but he did. Amazing.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Stephen King ,

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked 11/22/63 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major TV series from JJ Abrams and Stephen King, starring James Franco (Hulu US, Fox UK and Europe, Stan Australia, SKY New Zealand).

WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11.22.63, the date that Kennedy was shot - unless . . .

King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, on a fascinating journey back to 1958 - from a world of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The Beacon at Alexandria

Christina Dudley ❤️ loved this book because...

A friend recommended this long-forgotten historical fiction novel, and I loved it. Such fresh historical settings brought to life, with none of the clunkiness and pedantry that can sometimes weigh historical fiction down. An excellent book.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Gillian Bradshaw ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the Fourth Century A.D., independent and determined young Charis is forbidden to become a doctor because she is a woman. Disguising herself as a eunuch she flees Ephesus for Alexandria, then the center of learning. There she apprentices to a Jewish doctor but eventually becomes drawn into Church politics and is forced once again to flee. She serves as an army doctor at a Roman outpost in Thrace until, kidnapped by barbarian Visigoths, she finds her destiny to heal and also to be a woman and a wife.


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington

Christina Dudley ❤️ loved this book because...

I'm a Lincoln fan, and this book actually covered new ground (literally), as he traveled from Illinois to Washington to take up the presidency. In our turbulent political times, it's nice to be reminded the country has survived turbulent, violent political times (though let's hope we don't have another civil war). This was fun to follow with the road atlas and so inspiring!

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Teach
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Ted Widmer ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Lincoln on the Verge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE LINCOLN FORUM BOOK PRIZE

"A Lincoln classic...superb." -The Washington Post

"A book for our time."-Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln on the Verge tells the dramatic story of America's greatest president discovering his own strength to save the Republic.

As a divided nation plunges into the deepest crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for Washington and his inauguration-an inauguration Southerners have vowed to prevent. Lincoln on the Verge charts these pivotal thirteen days of travel, as Lincoln discovers his power, speaks directly to the public, and sees his country up close. Drawing on new research, this…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

The Naturalist

By Christina Dudley ,

Book cover of The Naturalist

What is my book about?

She’s hiding in plain sight. He’s disappointed his parents. Will their love grow into a tangled scandal or a beautiful blossom?
Somerset, England, 1808. Alice Hapgood is obsessed with studying flora and fauna. With upper-class standards taking a dim view of a lady dirtying her hands, the science-minded woman wears boys’ clothing to pursue her passion. And when an assistant position for a handsome member of the Royal Society crops up, she impulsively dons her disguise and risks ruin.

Joseph Tierney has no desire to join the clergy. Going against his family’s wishes to become a researcher of the natural world, he takes on a bright young man to help with his latest assignment. And while the brilliant scientist is frustrated that the locals only see him as a candidate for marriage, he grows closer and closer with his enthusiastic aide.

As the work under her charming mentor unexpectedly sparks her feminine side, Alice longs to open up to him as her true self. But Joseph suddenly finds himself caught in a jealous triangle not of his making that threatens his career, standing, and freedom.

Will this unlikely team’s greatest discovery be happily ever after?

The Naturalist is the engaging first book in The Hapgoods of Bramleigh clean Regency romance series. If you like clever-but-impetuous heroines, dedicated heroes, and humorous romps, you’ll adore Christina Dudley’s delightful tale.

Book cover of 11/22/63
Book cover of The Beacon at Alexandria
Book cover of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington

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