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 The Clockmaker's Daughter

Debra Bruno ❤️ loved this book because...

A multi-dimensional, multi-narrative historical novel, it kept me enthralled to the very last page.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Kate Morton ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Clockmaker's Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A truly hypnotic tale that is bound to please both fans and newcomers, The Clockmaker's Daughter is another wonderful read from one of Australia's most beloved authors.' - Booktopia

'Morton explores the tangled history of people and place in her outstanding, bittersweet sixth novel.' - US Publisher's Weekly

'The Clockmaker's Daughter is an ambitious, complex, compelling historical mystery with a fabulous cast of characters. This is Kate Morton at her very best.' - Kristin Hannah, bestselling author of The Nightingale

In the depths of a nineteenth-century winter, a little girl is abandoned in the narrow streets of London. Adopted by…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The Frozen River

Debra Bruno ❤️ loved this book because...

Set in 18th century Maine, the book fully convinced me I was there too, and since it was based on the true story of a midwife, I found it even more compelling.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Ariel Lawhon ,

Why should I read it?

43 authors picked The Frozen River as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • GMA BOOK CLUB PICK • AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

"Fans of Outlander’s Claire Fraser will enjoy Lawhon’s Martha, who is brave and outspoken when it comes to protecting the innocent. . . impressive."—The Washington Post

"Once again, Lawhon works storytelling magic with a real-life heroine." —People Magazine

Maine, 1789: When…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The 272

Debra Bruno ❤️ loved this book because...

This story had been told only in pieces, but after reporter Rachel Swarns collected the details, the entire ugly history of how the Jesuits sold their enslaved to pay for their university was revealed.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Rachel L. Swarns ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The 272 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“An absolutely essential addition to the history of the Catholic Church, whose involvement in New World slavery sustained the Church and, thereby, helped to entrench enslavement in American society.”—Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello and On Juneteenth

New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews

In 1838, a group of America's most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family

By Debra Bruno ,

Book cover of A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family

What is my book about?

The story of the author's discovery about her enslaving family and the friendship she developed with a descendant of those her family enslaved.

Book cover of The Clockmaker's Daughter
Book cover of The Frozen River
Book cover of The 272

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