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 Song of the Wooden Sparrow

Isabel Tutaine ❤️ loved this book because...

I liked the slow burn love between the characters that was implied but not explicit but really strong. I liked that is said a lot of things but wasn't;t didactic.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Isabel Tutaine ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Song of the Wooden Sparrow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

1894 - Devastated by the deaths of her husband and son during an epidemic in Ghana, Dr. Leah Maays returns home to Edith's Bay, Maine. Hoping to continue her medical career, she discovers the community is hostile to female doctors.

Enter Duncan Shay. After years of being ostracized for murdering a man while robbing a bank, he's developed a persona that can freeze a glass of water.

Unaware Duncan is shunned, Leah tends to a gouge on his hand as if he's just another regular fellow, making Duncan realize the walls he's built to keep others out are too weak…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The House in the Cerulean Sea

Isabel Tutaine ❤️ loved this book because...

This is just a fun book with an under lying moral tale that doesn't;t feel didactical. Very nice summer read.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By TJ Klune ,

Why should I read it?

29 authors picked The House in the Cerulean Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The Waste Land

Isabel Tutaine ❤️ loved this book because...

I first read this book i n college, but every year I revisit it and find new layers in it. Love TS Elliot.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Writing 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By T.S. Eliot ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Waste Land as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Waste Land is arguably the most important poem of the twentieth century. First published in the United States by Boni & Liveright in 1922, this landmark reissue of the first edition, now back with its original publisher, includes a new introduction by Paul Muldoon, showcasing the poem's searing power and strange, jarring beauty. With a modernist design that matches the original, this edition allows contemporary readers to experience the poem the way readers would have seen it for the first time.

As Muldoon writes, "It's almost impossible to think of a world in which The Waste Land did not…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

When Mist and Brine Touch

By Isabel Tutaine ,

Book cover of When Mist and Brine Touch

What is my book about?

In 1894, a brutal pirate attack leaves Captain Littledove gravely wounded and his ship adrift with only one survivor - Eliza, a high-society passenger who has never worked a day in her life. Now this unlikely pair must overcome their vast social differences to survive. While Eliza battles rats, hacks apart furniture for firewood, and struggles to keep the cantankerous captain alive, she discovers strengths she never knew she possessed. And as Littledove guides her in keeping their abandoned vessel afloat, he begins to see past her refined manners to recognize a courage that matches his own.

From Isabel Tutaine, acclaimed author of Song of the Wooden Sparrow, comes a sweeping tale of survival and transformation on the high seas. As attraction blooms between a captain who believes he could never be worthy of a lady and a socialite who thinks herself useless to a seafaring man, both must challenge the assumptions that have defined their lives. When Mist and Brine Touch is a masterful exploration of how crisis can shatter social barriers and unlock the potential that lies dormant within us all.

My book recommendation list

Book cover of Song of the Wooden Sparrow
Book cover of The House in the Cerulean Sea
Book cover of The Waste Land

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