Our Favorite Books of 2025

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Written By Emily Henderson

…And Our Most Anticipated Books Coming in 2026

Our 2025 reading wrapped is here! We’ve laid out our top reads of 2025 below and which books we are looking forward to most in 2026.

We also broke down the best books of the year, the worst books of the year, and everything in between in this full reading wrap up episode of our podcast. Whether you are here for reading inspiration, validation for your unpopular opinions, or just to watch us argue about books, this episode has it all.

Our Top Books of 2025

We read a lot of books in 2025, but only a handful earned a spot on our favorites list. From the best books of 2025 we couldn’t stop talking about (I mean, we started an entire podcast so we didn’t have to) to standout reads from our book club, these are the stories that defined our year of reading along with a one sentence elevator pitch.

Olivia

  • Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang: A dark academia, deconstruction book that will make you rethink institutions as a whole.

  • Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross: A tender, whimsical read that gives new perspective on love and loss.

  • The Strength of the Few by James Islington: The sequel to The Will of the Many, a reminder that revolutions aren’t built by one person.

Emily

  • Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins: The latest installment in The Hunger Games saga, you can expect to cry over Haymitch and question every piece of media you’ve ever consumed.

  • Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara: The perfect book for those of you who want to love other people well.

  • The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig: A classic Rachel Gillig fantasy with gothic vibes, and most importantly, talking gargoyles.

Dani

  • I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman: A haunting dystopian that will remind you what it means to have human connection.

  • Kingdom of Ash* by Sarah J. Maas: In Dani’s words, this book breaks the damn scale

  • Katabasis by R. F. Kuang: Academics take a jaunt into hell to find their magician professor.

*If you’ve been following along, you know we completed the Sarah J. Maas universe this year and now have episodes on every single book. We consider SJM in a tier all on her own and only Dani was allowed to list a book as her top read since this was her first time reading. Olivia and Emily have read them an undisclosed amount of times.

Everything the Always Booked Club Read in 2025

Most of the best books we read in 2025 were chosen by our book club. We run on democracy…usually…when picking our book each month. Everyone is able to submit a book for consideration, which typically must fall into a theme we’ve set, then we all vote. Easy! These are our book club picks for 2025 and each of these are great discussion books. Join in on the conversation as we dissect them on the podcast!

Books on Our 2026 TBR

We are feeling particularly good about the 2026 book releases already on our TBR.

If you’re looking for book recommendations or discussion-worthy reads, this list is a great place to start.We’re chomping at the bit to get our hands on these upcoming book releases in 2026. If you’re just as excited to read these, be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or to our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the discussions or laughs.

Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker out May 19, 2026
Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick out May 26, 2026
Deadbeat by Leigh Bardugo out September 2026
The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig out September 2026
ACOTAR 6 by Sarah J. Maas…a girl can dream…

Emily Henderson
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