Since it’s the turn of a new year, I thought it would be fun to look back and review my 2025 reading recap!

I use my own Reading Tracker in Excel that I developed to log all my books throughout the year. It helps me keep track of my star ratings and details about the format, genre, source of the book and more! Plus, I created more than 10 graphs and charts that analyze my reading habits.

I’m sharing a few key statistics from the year as well! Plus, my favorite book from each of my top genres!

 

2025 Reading Recap

 

Total Books Read: 130

While I always like to start off any recap by reminding you that reading any amount of books during the year makes you a reader and it’s NOT a competition, I do still like to keep track of my total books as a benchmark for myself. I need to take my own advice this year because I read 30 less books in 2025 compared to 2024 and I’m trying not to be disappointed about that!

I read a few lengthy books this year that took time to get through, plus spent more time puzzling and working on growing my TikTok Creator account (which I’m extremely proud of)! My accountant brain still hates to see that number decrease though haha!

 

Books Read by Month

2025 started off incredibly strong with a few months where I read 15 books! That number still astonishes me since it means essentially finishing a book every 2 days! I know realistically it’s not a stat I can keep up year round with all my other hobbies, work, and parenting, but it was neat to achieve twice.

Each year, November ends up being my lowest total since we take our annual trip to Disney in November (and very little reading gets done before or during! Also, I feel like a lot of people end up reading more in the summer but those months were just average for me.

 

Books Read By Format

This graph is proving my theory that hardcover is my least favorite format to read. I rarely buy them and books from publishers are typically paperbacks, so it tracks. Hardcovers are so unwieldy and hard to hold; I don’t typically reach for them.

Overall though, the distribution between audiobooks, eBooks, and physical books is almost even! I’m usually reading 1 book from each format at any given time, so this shows I get through them at similar rates.

At least 3/4 of my eBooks and audiobooks come from Libby or Hoopla, so quite a large portion of my reading resources are from libraries! 

 

 

Male vs Female Authors Read

Once again this year, the overwhelming majority of authors I read are women! Although the % did increase from 9% to 11%. The selection changed this year, with a shift primarily to male fantasy authors like Matt Dinnamin (Dungeon Crawler Carl series), Scott Lynch (Lies of Locke Lamora series), and Pierce Brown (Red Rising series).

 

Star Rating Results

Out of the 130 books I read this year, I rated a whopping 46 as 4.5 or 5 stars! I have a tendency to give high star ratings and this continues to prove I haven’t changed. Looking back through the list though, I would still say almost all of them deserved that rating. I picked a lot of authors that I’ve loved in the past and tried to DNF books that I wasn’t into.

I don’t typically have anything below 2 stars on my list since I won’t finish a book that I hate. There were 2 books with 2 star ratings and 3 books with 2.5 star ratings, though! The most shocking one is probably Silver Elite by Dani Francis. This dystopian novel took the book world by storm in 2025 since the author is using a pen name, but I found it incredibly annoying and full of scenes borrowed from other books. 

I also strongly disliked Caught Up, the 2nd dark stalker romance from Navessa Allen. It probably suffered from being compared to Lights Out, which was a 5 star read for me. The couple in the second book had zero emotional connection and I absolutely HATED the ending.

 

My Most Read Author

3 books was the most I read from any single author this year, so I spread out my reading a bit more than prior years. On the list were Lauren Blakely, Scott Lynch, Matt Dinniman, Ana Huang, and Rachel Gillig. Lauren Blakely had a few surprise hits like My Favorite Holidate and Ana Huang’s sports romance series is excellent, starting with The Striker! More about Rachel Gillig below!

 

 

Favorite New Author 

As I mentioned above, Rachel Gillig was one of my most prolific authors and she’s also taking the spot as my favorite new author! Her fantasy duology One Dark Window / Two Twisted Crowns is one of the best series I’ve read. It’s the perfect blend of magic, quests, and romance. Plus, it contains one of the most unique magic systems, based on a deck of cards.

I also loved that using the magic from these different cards comes at a significant cost to the wielder. The price the characters pay, whether physical or mental, is the perfect foil to whichever magical benefit they receive. I’ve also been a huge fan of duologys lately, since the story is wrapped up in a defined amount of time.

 

 

 

Most Read Books By Genre

Without checking my stats first, I absolutely thought that 2025 would be the first year that I had a more even mix between romance, thrillers, and fantasy. I was WRONG. It wasn’t even remotely close!

Romance books made up 50% of everything I read in 2025, with fantasy and thrillers a distant second and third. Oh, and blink and you’ll miss that one nonfiction book : ) I am proud that I took a chance on 10 general fiction stories. That genre actually contained my far and away #1 book of the year, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

 

 

 

Favorite Books By Genre

 

Romance: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

Abby’s books are always a summer staple, and this is one you’re definitely going to want to add to your TBR. I think this may be one of Abby’s best book boyfriends – Xavier, a Greek God-esque veterinarian. However, his first encounter with Samantha is a disaster. She’s being stubborn and he’s rude and abrasive. A few months later, when she brings her kitten back, he apologizes and Samantha agrees to a do-over date. What happens next shocks them both.

They end up on the best (and longest) first date they’ve ever experienced, realizing their connection is something special. But Samantha is leaving the next day…for good. She’s moving to California to help take care of her mother. She begs Xavier to forget everything that happened. He tries, but eventually convinces her to attempt a long distance relationship. They both know they’re meant to be together, but life keeps throwing obstacles in their way.

I’ve heard from other readers who didn’t enjoy this book because it was really tough to read at times – there’s a lot of struggle and circumstances out of their control that keep Xavier and Samantha apart. However, I absolutely adored how much they fought for each other and did everything they could to show up, make an effort, and find solutions as a team!  | Buy From Amazon

 

 

 

Thriller: Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

Camilla wakes up one morning to find her husband gone and a cryptic note in his place. She’s supposed to be dropping her daughter off at daycare for the first time and returning to her job as a literary agent. However, her world is upended when she gets a call about an ongoing hostage situation. As we all would assume, her first thought is that her husband is one of the hostages. But no, he’s the gunman.

Now, his note takes on a whole different meaning and she has to decide what to do next. We as readers are right there alongside her, as she makes impossible choices and faces an unimaginable situation. The novel takes a turn from this initial situation that I wasn’t expecting at all! Slowly over the course of the novel we get glimpses into Luke’s history and eventually piece together the circumstances that led to the hostage situation. 

There were so many aspects of this book that took me by surprise. It isn’t all focused on just that one day, but I really enjoyed the narrative that covers both before and after the incident. Plus, the ending was incredibly satisfying! All around a five star thriller and a unique addition to this genre that will be unlike anything you’ve read. Buy From Amazon

 

 

 

Fantasy: Rose In Chains by Julie Soto

I knew back in August that this was going to be one my favorite books of 2025! This is a darker romantasy novel that was originally a Draco/Hermione fanfic!! Plus, you can still get this gorgeous Deluxe Edition from Amazon!

In Rose in Chains, our main female character is Briony, who’s just survived a horrific war but is facing the end of life as she knew it. Evil has won this time and now Briony and the other survivors are being captured and sold off. She’s been stripped of her magic and her title and was bought by Toven Hearst, who’s part of a family known for their cruelty. Are you seeing where the Malfoy family vibes are coming in??

This has the most delicious slow burn as Toven and Briony start to trust each other and Briony sees how his family isn’t what she expected. I adored both the present day situation and the flashbacks to their memories growing up and going to school together. Toven is the ultimate villain with a soft heart. This is an absolute must read!! | Buy From Amazon

 

 

 

I’d love to hear about your reading year in the comments!