Hoohoo, friends of the blade.
It’s time. We’re wrapping up the year 2025 and what a year it’s been. To be honest, I am glad it’s over. I’m tired and I hope 2026 will be a better year. In every aspect. But before we look towards the future, let’s look back for a second at the good things 2025 brought: amazing books. And because I read quite a couple of fantastic ones, I’d like to share which ones I liked best each month.
⚔️ = fantasy | 🏛️ = historical | ♥️ = romance | 🏳️🌈 = LGBTQ+ protagonists
January: My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine (My Vampires #2)
⚔️♥️
Amelia Collins is by definition successful. She would even go so far as to say successfully single. But not according to her family, and she’s tired of the constant questions about her nonexistent dating life. When an invitation to yet another family wedding arrives, she decides to get everyone off her back once and for all by finding someone–anyone–to pose as her date.
After a chance encounter with Reginald Cleaves, Amelia decides he’s perfect for her purposes. He’s a bit strange, but that’s fine; it’ll discourage tough questions from her family. (And it certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s very handsome.) For centuries-old vampire Reggie, posing as her plus-one sounds like the ultimate fun. And if it helps his ruse of pretending to be human, so much the better.
As Amelia and Reggie practice their fauxmance, it becomes clear that Reggie is as loyal to her as the day is long, and that Amelia’s first impressions could not have been more wrong. Suddenly, being in a real relationship with Reggie sounds pretty fang-tastic.
This is my favourite in the series. Somehow, second book syndrome is something positive to me. I tend to absolutely love second instalments and My Vampire Plus-One is no different. It’s the perfect mix of weirdly absurd, fun, romantic and soft. Amelia and Reginald are complete opposites, yet they just click somehow and complement each other very well. This book was fun from start to finish and it’s definitely one of those stories that can cheer me up whenever I’m in a bad mood.
February: The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon (The Bone Season #5)
⚔️🏳️🌈
Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade – but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory.
As she makes her way back to the revolution, her journey takes her to Venice, where she learns a dangerous secret – one that could change the face of the war between humans and immortals. Before she can return to London, she must help the Domino Programme unravel the sinister Operation Ventriloquist.
And it soon becomes clear that the one person who could recover her memories – Arcturus Mesarthim – might also hold the key to saving Italy.
The whole series is so dear to me. It’s my favourite of all time and whenever Samantha releases a new book, I know I’m just going to love it. This one was a bit different from the previous books. We had a road trip, the world outside of Scion, Paige and Arcturus finally making it official. I went through all stages of grief during this book, then felt whole again and had happy moments right before my heart was torn out again. I’m not one for quotes but some of these live in my head rent free. I adored The Dark Mirror. This book was written for me and me specifically, I have claimed it. 10/10.
March: Tideborn by Eliza Chan (Drowned World #2)
⚔️🏳️🌈
The people of Tiankawi have been irrevocably changed. Once divided into two factions – humans and the underwater ‘fathomfolk’ – now every citizen is able to breathe underwater. But this new commonality is not enough to heal the scars of years of oppression. Mira, a siren and activist, must uncover a deadly conspiracy while persuading her divided people to band together to rebuild their city after a tsunami. And dragon princess Nami must undertake a daring sea voyage to do the to find a way to convince a Titan not to destroy their city for its crimes.
Where book one’s focus was a lot on politics and society, Tideborn puts the characters into the centre of the story. After initial troubles in Tiankawi, most of the main characters leave the city to try to save it, so there is a lot of room for talking, intrigues and developing characters in close quarters. I really liked that the focus shifted slightly while the original problems of the story are still there and being discussed. I really, really loved how intertwined the paths of the differents characters become and how each is very unique. Tideborn has everything from romance to politics, from action to climate discurse, friendships and discussions of class. The whole series is just. So good. (See my full review for Tideborn here.)
April: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
♥️
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.
This wasn’t the typical Emily Henry book. Whereas the others are lighter, more focused on the romance, Great Big Beautiful Life had a stronger emphasis on family. It is more serious than Henry’s previous books but there is still some of that trademark humor and excellent writing. The way Emily Henry spins this story and shows the reader glimpses into different lives, unfolding the story slowly with small mysteries and big scandals, makes it all seem very real. I don’t know when a book made me cry this hard the last time. I was positively sobbing through the whole couple of chapters, I felt every single emotion available to me while processing the whole book. I laughed with the characters, cried over their pain, felt their joy and their anger and hoped with them for their dreams. Emily Henry can do no wrong in my eyes and GBBL is further proof of that. (read my full review for Great Big Beautiful Life here.)
May: When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
⚔️🏛️♥️🏳️🌈
Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds the eccentric sideshow proprietor who commissioned it. He invites Benny to join the show’s eclectic cast and share in their shocking secret: the tank will cage their newest exhibit, a live merman stolen from the salty banks of the East River.
More than a mythic marvel, Benny soon comes to know the merman Río as a kindred spirit, wise and more compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.
Releasing Río could mean losing his found family, his new home, and his soulmate forever. Yet Benny’s courageous choice may just reveal a love strong enough to free them both.
When the Tides Held the Moon is a whimsical, beautiful tale of love and music as well as pain and hurt, comfort and hope and pursuing your dreams and what’s right despite the obstacles in your way. It’s a story of friendship and found family. I absolutely loved the setting of a closed off Luna Park. It has something eerie and wrong but thanks to the people who live there it also has warmth and belonging. The fantastical elements and the beautiful illustrations just add to the whole atmosphere of the story. (Read my full review of When the Tides Held the Moon here.)
June: Hard Land by Benedict Wells
Missouri, 1985: Um vor den Problemen zu Hause zu fliehen, nimmt der fünfzehnjährige Sam einen Ferienjob in einem alten Kino an. Und einen magischen Sommer lang ist alles auf den Kopf gestellt. Er findet Freunde, verliebt sich und entdeckt die Geheimnisse seiner Heimatstadt. Zum ersten Mal ist er kein unscheinbarer Außenseiter mehr. Bis etwas passiert, das ihn zwingt, erwachsen zu werden. Die Geschichte eines Sommers, den man nie mehr vergisst.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d love this book as much as I did. It’s a coming of age story and features love and friendship, loss and pain, new discoveries, hopes and dreams. The writing is a bit distanced, it’s not flowery or lyrical but it perfectly fits the story and the narrator and captures the atmosphere of the book. Hot summer days, crying in your room, feeling pain but not having the words for everything. It’s a sad but hopeful story that touched me a lot and yes, I cried. Of course I did.
July: Levels of Love by Anabelle Stehl
♥️
Zwei Konkurrenten
Lara vs. Luca.
Unsicher vs. Selbstsicher.
Cosy Game gegen Horror Game.
Sie könnten nicht unterschiedlicher sein und verarbeiten doch beide ihre ganz eigenen Ängste in ihren Spielen.
Ein Wettbewerb
Die GameChanger-Convention ist ihre Chance auf Anerkennung, Sichtbarkeit – und das dringend benötigte Preisgeld.
Unzählige Gefühle
Hinter der Fassade aus Ehrgeiz und Konkurrenz sehnen sich Lara und Luca nach jemandem, der sie auch abseits der Bildschirme versteht. Sie könnten perfekt füreinander sein – doch am Ende kann nur einer gewinnen und seinen Traum verwirklichen …
Levels of Love is the first in a series about gaming and the world around it. I loved the two main characters and how soft they are for each other and treat each other despite being rivals in a competition. This whole book was truly a cozy game in the appearance of a book. It has joy, quiet moments, pain and healing, romance and friendship and characters who pursue their dreams while still staying true to themselves and their morals. I truly enjoyed this book.
August: The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
♥️
Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.
With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.
What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.
As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.
I spy a theme in my favourite monthly books: they made me cry. Because yes, I have been ugly sobbing for a big part of this book. I loved how the characters’ history was worked into the books and how they get through their problems, how they talk to each other and how it is clear from the very start that there are still feelings between them. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful, beautiful and made my heart ache. I really liked the friendship aspect of the book and the journeys both main characters make for themselves but also with and through the wonderful people in their lives. The Ex Vows might be one of my favourite romance books of all time.
September: Zeilenflüstern by Kyra Groh
♥️
Jede Nacht lässt sich Klara von Noel Carter in den Schlaf flüstern. Dabei kennt sie nur seine Stimme. Alles andere versteckt der Hörbuchsprecher hinter einem Pseudonym. Bis ihr erster Job bei der Sweet Lemon Agency Klara in ein Tonstudio führt, in dem ausgerechnet Noel auf sie wartet. Er soll ihre Werbetexte für eine sinnliche neue Kampagne einsprechen – und hasst jedes Wort davon. Denn für den gescheiterten Schauspieler sind die Aufnahmen ein weiterer Beweis dafür, dass er von niemandem ernstgenommen wird. Von niemandem außer Klara, die ihm zeigt, wie viel zwischen den Zeilen steht.
Ah, the book that started my obsession with Kyra Groh’s books. I loved everything about this book. The main characters and their struggles, the Sweet Lemon Agency team and their friendship and how they have become a family. But I also really liked the aspect of the blood related families and how different families can be and how being deaf was woven into it. Zeilenflüstern was a lot of fun to read and giggled and laughed a lot but also felt with the characters and their struggles. This whole series has quickly become on of my favourite romance series and Kyra Groh one of my favourite authors.
October: Breakups and Butterflies by Kyra Groh
♥️
Mara hat alles im Griff – wenn sie nicht gerade den Zwergspitz ihrer Chefin hüten muss und ihr Verlobter Sebastian sich nicht aus heiterem Himmel von ihr trennt und sie aus der Wohnung schmeißt. Plötzlich steht Maras ausgeklügelter Lebensplan kopf, und sie muss sich nicht nur einen Plan B überlegen, sondern auch eine neue Bleibe finden. Fürs Erste fällt ihr da nur das Co-Working-Office ein. Doch dort trifft sie immer wieder auf Marius. Seines Zeichens Filmemacher, wahnsinnig charmant, sieben Jahre jünger, und planlos glücklich. Also definitiv kein Mann für Mara. Bis sie merkt, dass sie ihm nicht nur seinen Joghurt klauen kann, sondern dass manchmal gar kein Plan auch eine Lösung ist …
Yes, yes, another Kyra Groh but as I said, I have a little obsession with her books and I spent the bigger part of September and October reading them. This book was also extremely fun and I absolutely loved the protagonist’s journey. I love how she’s coming to accept herself and her wants and needs and how to stand up for herself. I also really liked that the romance was there and important to the story but the story itself wasn’t necessarily a romance but a woman coming to her senses.
November: I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness by Irene Solà (Original title: Et vaig donar ulls i vas mirar les tenebres)
⚔️🏛️🏳️🌈
Dawn is breaking over the Guilleries, a rugged mountain range in Catalonia frequented by wolf hunters, brigands, deserters, race-car drivers, ghosts, and demons. In a remote farmhouse called Mas Clavell, an impossibly old woman lies on her deathbed. Family and caretakers drift in and out. Meanwhile, all the women who have lived and died in that house are waiting for her to join them. They are preparing to throw her a party.
As day turns to night, four hundred years’ worth of stories unspool, and the house reverberates with raucous laughter, pungent feasts, and piercing cries of pleasure and pain. It all begins with Joana, Mas Clavell’s matriarch, who once longed for a husband―“a full man,” perhaps even “an heir with a patch of land and a roof over his head.” She summoned the devil to fulfill her wish and struck a deal: a man in exchange for her soul. But when, on her wedding day, Joana discovered that her husband was missing a toe (eaten by wolves), she exploited a loophole in her agreement, heedless of what consequences might follow.
While reading this book, I was grossed out and confused for the most part. Nevertheless the story had me in its grip. I probably would have just put this book aside and wouldn’t have thought about it anymore after reading but luckily for this story, it was a bookclub book and the discussion in club made me realize how good the book actually was. Yes, the language is crude, the descriptions gave me the ick, the story isn’t a nice one. But it’s honest and it shows different generations of women living their lives in the same house. It shows their different struggles and the ever changing world that doesn’t seem to change in this story but still has influence on these women. I liked that every woman gets to tell parts of her story and how it all comes together at the end. If you ever pick up this book and think “bruh this is weird, this is disgusting and I want to close my eyes and also look into the darkness”, please push through that. It’s worth it.
December: Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The senior Years #2)
⚔️
Percy Jackson, now a high school senior, needs three recommendation letters from the Greek gods in order to get into New Rome University. He earned his first one by retrieving Ganymede’s chalice. Now the goddess Hecate has offered Percy another “opportunity”—all he has to do is pet sit her mastiff, Hecuba, and her polecat, Gale, over Halloween week while she is away. Piece of cake, right?
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover settle into Hecate’s seemingly endless mansion and start getting acquainted with the fussy, terrifying animals. The trio has been warned not to touch anything, but while Percy and Annabeth are out at school, Grover can’t resist drinking a strawberry-flavored potion in the laboratory. It turns him into a giant frenzied goat, and after he rampages through the house, damaging everything in sight, and passes out, Hecuba and Gale escape. Now the friends have to find Hecate’s pets and somehow restore the house, all before Hecate gets back on Saturday. It’s going to take luck, demigod wiles, and some old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.
I’m so back. Reading this book and also watching the second season of the Percy Jackson show just does something to me. Wrath of the Triple Goddess has the usual fun and humor that are so important to the series. But I also like that we see the characters grow. Especially Annabeth seems to become older and even wiser. I also really liked how Hecate is portrayed. What I also like about the series is that not everything is bad. The world isn’t at stake for once. It’s just Percy trying to do his best to reach soemthing he wants for himself. It’s him and his friends having a good time (sometimes? Maybe?) and hanging out and living their normal demigod lives. I just love this series continuation, and this instalment especially, a lot.
What are some of your favourite 2025 reads? Have you read any from my list or plan to? What’s the last book that made you cry?
Until next time,
