It's that time of year! I'm usually a bit more prompt, my excuse being I was not in the same location as where I keep my finished books when the first of the year rolled around. I read/listened to a total of 270 books last year. As in previous years, my ratio of five star books to that total remains almost exactly the same at about 5%. Some would say that I am either very picky about giving out accolades, or I don't read very good books, if I can only have that few that were rated highly. My criteria for rating a book 5 stars is that it had to be all consuming (I couldn't wait to get back to it if I put it down) and have no flaws that I could assign it (or if there were slight flaws the rest of the book was so overwhelmingly good that it overrode them). *It also does sometimes bump up the rating if a book made me cry*
All that aside, here are my 14 five star books of 2025.
Now let's break it down to my top 5:
#5 Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid I've been a space junky from the moon landing back in 1969, so a book about a woman in the space program was one I could get on board with. Although this was more of a love story, I still loved the women in STEM aspect and the characters were ones I couldn't forget.
#4 Too Old For This by Samantha Downing This one might be a bit macabre for some (a retired serial killer comes out of retirement), but the way Lottie describes the process of trying to accomplish things at an older age had me cackling with laughter throughout the book!
#3 The Mad Wife by Meagan Church Considering I was born when this book takes place (making my Mom a wife and mother during this time), I found this look at women in that time so sad. The lack of mental health resources is a main theme and so appalling.
#2 My Friends by Fredrik Backman If you've followed my blog for any length of time, this one will come as no surprise. I absolutely adore this man's writing! The only thing keeping this from the top spot was that I wasn't quite as interested in the subject matter as some of his other books. Also, this book has the best last line I've ever read!
#1 The Favorites by Layne Fargo Another one of my interests (other than space) is figure skating. This fictional book, complete with excerpts from made up people in the profession and media, read like an actual biography of this ice dancing couple. With all the drama that went on both on and off the ice throughout their quest for a gold medal, I couldn't devour this one fast enough! Pick this up during the Olympics!
And there you have it, my best of 2025. On to this year............