My Fiction Faves, 2025 Edition

As I kick off book club this week [click here for all the details], I want to pause for a moment and talk about why I'm so passionate about reading fiction.

Life can be heavy, and sometimes we all need a little intentional escape. Getting lost in a story (or some form of non-productive play time) gives us a break from our own thoughts & daily realities. Think of it as healthy dissociation: a pause button for your brain and a little gift to yourself.

After I shared my StoryGraph “2025 Year in Books,” my DMs were flooded with questions about my favorite reads. So, here’s the full rundown!

also... If you’re looking for thrillers or mysteries, I’m not your girl—my brain prefers rom com chaos, cozy magic, or a good emotional rollercoaster instead of murder plots. So, with that bias in mind...

Top 5 General Fiction Reads of 2025:

1. Normal People – Sally Rooney

2. This Time Tomorrow – Emma Straub

3. Anxious People – Fredrik Backman

4. The Life Impossible – Matt Haig*

5. The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett

*If you’ve never read Matt Haig, start with Midnight Library—one of my all-time favorites!

If You Love Rom-Coms…

I’ll admit it—I love a guaranteed happy ending, especially after emotionally heavy days. My favorite “new to me” rom-com author this year is Ashley Poston—I read all of her books in 2025, for me a perfect mix of contemporary romance with magical twists. That tangent aside, here are my...

Top 5 Romance/RomCom picks for 2025:

1. Seven Year Slip – Ashley Poston

2. The Paradise Problem – Christina Lauren

3. Great Big Beautiful Life – Emily Henry**

4. Deep End – Ali Hazelwood

5. How to End a Love Story – Yulin Kuang

Honorable Mentions:

• Not In Love / A Problematic Summer Romance (Ali Hazelwood)

• Sounds Like Love & Dead Romantics (Ashley Poston)

• By the Book (Jasmine Guillory)

• Part of Your World / Yours Truly (Abby Jimenez)

• Meet Me in the Margins (Melissa Ferguson)

**Emily Henry Ranking of My Faves in order (if you’re just starting):

1. Funny Story

2. Book Lovers

3. People We Meet on Vacation

4. Beach Read

5. Great Big Beautiful Life

6. Happy Place

A Quick Note on Fantasy

I also love a good fantasy escape! This year I continued into read Brandon Sanderson’s high fantasy Stormlight Archive (yes, 1,000+ pages per book!) and plan to finish the 5th book in 2026. I also adored Legends and Lattes (all three books) by Travis Baldree—perfect cozy fantasy reads.

I also read "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" after SO many friends highlighted it at the end of 2024... and while I enjoyed it, the book didn't live up to the hype for me. I would recommend the book but more as a "pretty good, interesting" 3.5/5 as opposed to feeling somewhat obsessed with it.

So, whether you’re picking up a romance, a sprawling epic, or something totally new, I hope you lean into the books and genres that truly light you up—romance, fantasy, or yes, thrillers if that's your thing! Here’s to those “just one more chapter” nights and getting lost in books that actually feel like a break in 2026!

Also: if you read anything that you found yourself obsessed with in 2025 -- tell me! I want to hear about it!