How I Rated Books in 2025

 In 2025, I had a very busy year. Between work, beginning a master's degree and general life stuff - I was pretty busy. Yet, I managed to read several fantastic novels in that time. 

Although I did not read as many non-fiction or 5-star reads as I had hoped, I feel I read a varied selection of fiction, non-fiction and some graphic novels too. 

If you would like to see my entire year of reading from 2025 broken down by ratings, you are in for a treat! Please enjoy my colourful graphics, which display my reading stats by star ratings. If you would like a more detailed breakdown of some of my favourites of the year and what I am hoping to read in 2026, you can find those breakdowns in my previous posts. 

Please, read on and see how I rated what I read in 2025. (There might be some controversial ones..)

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Book Vs Film: Seven Dials Mystery Agatha Christie

 

I am sure everyone has been eagerly awaiting the Netflix adaptation of The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie, as I was. I read my very first Christie novel last year with my friend and was shocked by how much I enjoyed it. I then decided I needed to read some more of her fantastic detective novels. 

When I heard that The Seven Dials Mystery was being adapted by Netflix, I decided that will be my next Christie read. I devoured the book in a week. Although at first I felt this story began a little slow, it soon picked up. Secret societies, funny characters and a headstrong female lead hunting out a mystery - what a ride. 

Of course, I had my alerts turned on for the Netflix miniseries, so as soon as it was released, I raced home from work to watch it. 

I was slightly disappointed, but I will explain all in my discussion below as I take you through some of the major differences between the novel and the film. SPOILERS AHEAD

2026 Anticipated Releases

 2026 looks like a fantastic year for book releases. Many of my favourite authors are releasing new titles, there are interesting debut novels being released and some (hopefully) scandalous memoirs too! 

Check out my list below to see what books I am going to be anticipating the release of this year. 

THE TRUTH ABOUT RUBY COOPER BY LIZ NUGENT (Goodreads) 12 March 2026

One of my all-time favourite authors - I can't wait!

Blurb: 

If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.

Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode.

Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston.

Not that Ruby wants to think about the past.

But it can’t stay a secret forever.

Best Books of 2025

 

I haven't posted on this blog in years, although I have definitely been reading a lot... 

One of my resolutions this year is to spend more time getting back into my hobbies and things that I enjoy - hence why I am returning to my blog! I have missed talking about books on here a lot, although I have still been enjoying reading others' posts, TikTok's and Instagram posts. 

So I thought what better time to return than the beginning of a fresh new year, and with a post on my favourite books that I read in 2025. I managed to read over 100 books in 2025, but only a few of them were 5-star favourites. 

My Favourite Books of 2025: 

I think no one will be surprised, as I am sure this is on a lot of people's favourite books of the year lists. 

I am a huge Hunger Games fan and was waiting patiently for this to be released ever since it was announced. 

I absolutely loved this book. Haymitch was such a perfect character from the series to focus a book on, as when we met him in The Hunger Games, he was a very negative, jaded character who then went on a character arc. But I have always wanted to know how he got to be that person. 

This book gave us the perfect insight into Haymitch - his life before the games, during the games and after the games. I loved reading about his interactions with other characters (Maysilee Donner, my absolute favourite!) and seeing a few cameos of familiar characters or familiar names. 

This book had me hooked - I could not stop reading. Honestly, I think there is so much potential for Suzanne Collins to continue building upon this series, whether it is stories of the characters we already know, like Snow and Haymitch or someone we haven't encountered. 

I think if Suzanne Collins writes anything else in this universe, I will 100% read it. Very much looking forward to the movie!

Lisa Jewell is an author I discovered during my break from blogging, and wow, she is a new favourite author of all time!

None Of This Is True focuses on two women whose lives become incredibly intertangled during the recording of a podcast. 

Craziness ensued, and I could not predict anything that happened. Lisa Jewell writes such readable thrillers with crazy characters and unpredictable endings ... I am still reeling over the ending of this one!

Lisa Jewell is definitely an author I will be reading all of their back catalogue in 2026 .. hopefully!

One of the most talked about and covered up books of 2025! Careless People.

From an ex-employee at Facebook/Meta, Sarah Wynn-Williams dives deep into the horrors that were acceptable at the company during the time she worked there. 

I think everyone had some idea that Facebook/Meta is not a "good" company, but I had to pause so many times while reading this book to recover from the shocking details. 

From harvesting people's data without them knowing and repurposing it, using Myanmar as an experiment on controlling people's perspectives, corrupt government backhanders, sexism at work, and so much more. 

This was an unforgettable book that, if you are at all interested in business or peeking behind the horrible Meta curtain, I urge you to pick it up. 

This novel focuses on our main character, Tricia, who is house hunting with her new husband. While going to a viewing, a snowstorm hits and she and her husband are stranded and must stay in the empty house. The house once belonged to a successful Psychiatrist who disappeared 4 years ago. As Tricia moves through the house, she stumbles upon tape recordings of the psychiatrist's meetings with her patients.

Never Lie by Freida McFadden is the best book by her that I have read so far. She is also one of my new auto-read authors. 

This book had my jaw on the floor. Every twist shocked me; the characters were so well written, and the tape recording transcripts broke up the text and added another layer to the story. This is one of her best books, in my opinion, and I will always recommend this one. 

So those are my favourite books I read in 2025. Let me know if you read any of these, or what your favourite books of 2025 were! Hope 2026 is a brilliant year for us all. 

Announcement: Book Bloggers Secret Santa!

Hi everyone! So Christmas is fast approaching and I really enjoy hosting the Book Bloggers Secret Santa every year so I can't wait to do it again!

I really love the book blogging community and feel that this is the perfect way to help make friends with bloggers, increase that sense of community and also fill you with that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you give someone a gift you know they will love! 

Review: Spacehopper by Helen Fisher

 

Publication Date: February 4th 2021

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Source: Copy for review

[ Goodreads ]         [ Book Depository ]

Blurb: 

They say those we love never truly leave us, and I’ve found that to be true. But not in the way you might expect. In fact, none of this is what you’d expect.

I’ve been visiting my mother who died when I was eight.
And I’m talking about flesh and blood, tea-and-biscuits-on-the-table visiting here.

Right now, you probably think I’m going mad.
Let me explain…

Although Faye is happy with her life, the loss of her mother as a child weighs on her mind even more now that she is a mother herself. So she is amazed when, in an extraordinary turn of events, she finds herself back in her childhood home in the 1970s. Faced with the chance to finally seek answers to her questions – but away from her own family – how much is she willing to give up for another moment with her mother?

A huge thank you to the Kaleidoscope tours on Instagram for allowing me to take part in their bookstagram tour for this book. 

First of all, I just want to talk about how striking this cover is. It is so beautiful yet subtle. Showing that sometimes less is definitely more in book cover design. I really love how it ties into the story and how it looks on my shelf. 

One of the things I enjoyed most about this novel has to be its characters. From our main characters Faye who not only gives us an insight into the tired working mother running a family of small children while also maintaining a relationship with her husband, we also get to see so many other wild and vibrant characters. From Faye's husband who is training to become a vicar and dealing with his faith, to Faye's friend Louis who is hilarious and wild. Louis was one of my favourite characters in the novel as he is so much fun, a wonderful friend to Faye and also there to keep her grounded and delve out some truthful advice. 

Louis was also a wonderful character to read about as he gave such deep insight into life as a blind man, and also a gay man. Reading the novel we see so many instances where people intentionally, and unintentionally, belittle or insult Louis as a result of his disability. When in a cafe, the waitress asks Faye what Louis wants instead of addressing him. The second hand rage we feel as Louis deals with these instances also goes to teach the reader how to not interact with blind people and not view them as just their disability. Louis was one of the best characters I've read in a long while and I would adore to read a novel just about him...hint hint Helen Fisher! 

Review: Last One To Die by Cynthia Murphy

 Publication Date: January 7th 2021

Publisher: Scholastic Publishing

Source: Review Copy for Tour

[ Goodreads ]                  [ Book Depository ]

Blurb: 

Young, brunette women are being attacked in the city of London.

16-year-old, Irish-born Niamh has just arrived for the summer, and quickly discovers that the girls being attacked look frighteningly similar to her.

Determined to make it through her Drama Course, Niamh is placed at the Victorian Museum to put her drama skills to the test, and there she meets Tommy: he’s kind, fun, attentive, and really hot! . . . Nonetheless, there's something eerie about the museum.

As the two strands of present-day serial attacker and sinister Victorian history start to collide, Niamh realises that things are not as they seem. Will she be next?

Thank you so much to the publisher and Kaleidoscope tours for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my review. 

This book came to me at the perfect time as I have been loving YA thriller novels lately, especially after devouring some of Karen McManus's book. Last One to Die had me hooked to the underlying suspenseful plot while also having moments of fun, great friendship and drama school antics. 

One thing I really enjoyed about this novel was our main characters passion for acing and drama. Niamh has come from Ireland to London to enroll in a summer course to potentially pursue her dream of acting at the school in the future. I love reading books where the main character has a passion for something, Niamh's passion leapt from the page and made me warm to her. 

The characters in the book were very well written and fun. My favourite character was definitely Niamh's friend Jess. Jess was such a bright and three dimensional character, she immediately welcomed Niamh into her friendship. Their friendship really brought a fun and refreshing break from the murder suspense aspect of the novel.