My 2025 Reads

January started off with finishing a book I started in December, Nine Lives by Peter Swanson. This is the first time I read this author. The premise of the book intrigued me, nine strangers received a list of there name as well well as eight other names that appear to be unconnected. One by one the people on the list begin dying. The story is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s, And Then There Were None, which is also referenced in the book. The story kept me engaged and trying to figure out the whodunnit and how the victims were connected. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

My next read was People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd. This an older book in their catalog. The first book I read by the husband and wife duo was The Club. Their story telling lead me to exploring their catalog and reading several of their books. People Like Her takes a look at the influencer world and what we see online versus reality and what are the consequences of putting your life out there for all to see. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

I followed up with The One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak. I’ve seen this book mentioned by influencers and thought I’d give it a try. It is by an author that I was not familiar with but I am always up to trying new authors. This book centers around a father who has a distant relationship with his daughter who is now getting married to a son of a wealthy family. The father questions the relationship and if his daughter is safe. There are multiple storylines and a quick read, but I gave this book a 3 star rating. It could be that while reading this book a lot was going on with my personal life and I couldn’t get my brain to focus.

I entered in a bit of a reading slump with all that was going on and took a while to get through reading I Found You by Lisa Jewell. I know the slow reading of this book had nothing to do with Lisa Jewell, she is one of my favorite authors – an automatic pre-order author. Diving into some of her older work, I Found You bounces between present day where Alice Lake finds a man sitting on a bench on the beach in a seaside town with no memory on who they are and how they got to that town, a woman trying to find her missing husband of a few weeks, and 20 years prior past following a family who vacations in the seaside town. The story weaves a connection to all of the main characters and what leads up to the man with no memory to sit on the bench. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

Next I went back to an old tried and true author Dan Brown with Inferno. It was good to get back into the world of Dr. Robert Langdon. It’s been a while since I was in this world and it was was good get back into history iced with intrigue and conspiracy theories. Bonus the story is set in Florence, a city I recently visited so it blended my two passions – travel and getting lost in a good story. Robert is once again racing to unwind a mystery of centuries ago and to protect humankind. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

After Dan Brown I went back to another author that I love to read and will pre-order, Sandie Jones with I Would Die for You. This story is another time dual timeline between present day wife and mother leading a normal lift and the 1980’s music scene. This book has it all – mystery, young love, obsession, and family dynamics and drama. This story really kept me engaged and brought me out of my slow reading slump. I gave this book a 5 star rating.

For my next read I switched up genres a bit with The Overnight Guest by Heather Gunenkauf. This is another author that is a first time read. I’m also sensing a theme for my 2025 reads – dual timelines. This is a story of a current day true crime writer who moves into a home where a gruesome murder has taken place 20 years prior and the lives of the victims, lone survivor and suspects leading up to the murders. We also follow a mother and child in an abusive relationship and their attempt to escape. The two lives collide during a winter storm – does the current day events have a link to the past? The story pulled me in wanting to know if there is a connection between the two events. I gave this book a 5 star rating.

Around this time I headed on vacation and jumped into my beach reads. I started with Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. I devoured this book in a couple of days while lounging on a beach. I heard that this book was not your typical Emily Henry book and those who love her were not happy with this book. Personally I don’t understand this. This is another dual timeline story following a writer competing to tell the story of a reclusive American heiress life. This story may not be a straight forward rom-com book, but a bit more mystery, it still had quintessential Emily Henry – laughs and a love story. I gave this book a 5 star rating.

My next vacation read was Saltwater by Kay Hays. I was seeing this book come through in emails that I was receiving regarding what to read and thought I would take a chance on another new to me author. This story follows a family vacationing in Italy where a tragic family death off a cliff took place decades prior. When a member of the current traveling parter goes missing the prior death is looked at again. There is some dual timelines of the family dynamics, investigating the current missing person, and what happened decades prior that lead to the death. There is a bit of a twist at the end. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

My final vacation read (started on the flight home) was The Plus One by S.C. Lalli. This book is described as White Lotus meets the Guest List. I had just watched White Lotus and the Guest List is a book I really enjoyed so that description drew me in. The story follows Shay attending the wedding of the son of a wealthy hotelier and wealthy social media influencer as a plus one to her boyfriend. When a murder takes place at exclusive Cabo resort you find out that everyone may not be who they really say they are and question, who would want to kill the happy couple. The story was fast moving and kept my interest to the end. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

I came back from vacation to a pre-order available – Atomoshpere by Taylor Jenkins Reed. I pre-ordered this book not really knowing what the story was going to be, but TJR is an author I know I enjoy reading. This story brings you back to the 1980’s space program and the first women recruited and allowed to join the program. The story focuses on Joan as the main character, but you meet and become invested in everyone on the team. You see the competitiveness, the family formed, especially when a tragedy strikes the team. This also as the love story and emotions you expect from TJR. I have this good a 5 star rating.

I stuck with the emotional books with The Woman from Kristin Hannah. I have heard about this author and was recommended several of her books by friends, but I was not in a historical fiction mindset until now. This book drew me in quickly and kept me even after I finished the book. I know understand the Kristin Hannah hype. This story follows the life of Frankie looking for meaning in life who follows her deployed brother and enlists to serve in Vietnam as a nurse. You follower Frankie learning what Vietnam is really like and her life afterwards adjusting back to civilian life and women not being recognized as being a veteran. This is another 5 star book for me.

After an emotionally heavy read I switched up to One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware. This story is a twist on all those reality television shows (think Love Island, Survivor, etc.). Scientist Lyla agrees to enter a reality television completion with her boyfriend to find the perfect couple to boost his visibility as he tries to break into the entertainment industry. The competition takes a turn when a storm blows through the remote island and strands the contestants and people begin to die off one by one. The game is changed from finding the perfect couple to who will survive and who is killing the contestants. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

Another pre-order book was next up on the agenda. The Ghostwriter by Julia Clark. A fellow avid reader friend introduced me to The Last Flight and I was hooked on Julia’s books. The Ghostwriter is another dual timeline story following ghostwriter Olivia is recruited to tell the story of author Vincent Taylor’s life and the murders of his siblings in the 1970’s. The twist, Olivia is the daughter of Vincent who did not talk about this period of life and is now being asked to ghostwrite her father’s story. The story of the siblings death has you guessing who did it – Vicent who was always suspected, or someone else. I gave this book a 4.5 star rating.

My next read was Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell. I have mixed feelings about this book. As you can see Lisa Jewell is one of my go to authors, but I couldn’t get into this book. I don’t if the slow start to the book was due to the story/book itself or where I was mentally when I began reading this book. The story is about a young woman grieving the untimely death of her father. A year after her father’s death a man shows up with what he claims is an item of her father’s from years ago. Nick then begins to embed himself in her family, but is he who he says he is? There are multiple points of views in this book and does have some twists. I gave this book a 3.5 star rating.

To get out of my mini reading slump, I decided to try a book I have seen all over social media, These Summer Storms by Sarah McLean. I’m glad I decided to give them book a go. The story revolves around a wealthy family and the aftermath of the death of the patriarch. The estrange daughter is summons to the family’s home in Rhode Island and have to complete tasks in order to obtain their inheritance. There is family dynamics, a love story and felt a bit like a soap opera in the best way possible. This was a fast read for me and was sad when I came to the end. I gave this book a 5 star rating.

I stuck with the Rhode Island locale for my next book, Maison Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore. I don’t know if I didn’t give this book it’s due because I immediately started this after finishing These Summer Storms, but I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. The story follows Nicola spending the summer on Block Island trying a new career after leaving her position as an attorney in New York and her relationship. The characters were unlikeable to me and I couldn’t get enthralled with this book. I gave this book a 3 star rating.

I switched up my next read for a cozy British mystery with Seven Lively Suspects by Katy Watson. This book was a free nook book from Barnes & Noble that I got for myself and my mom. We both happened to finish the books we were reading and decided to read this together and had a mini book club. I haven’t read a cozy mystery book in a while, but it was nice to get back into one. I enjoyed this book, but it is not the first in the series so I did feel like I missed some back story of the characters. This story revolves around three actresses who all played the same character – detective Dalhia Lively. This story revolves around a murder that happened 5 years prior in a small English town where Caro, Rosalid, and Posy happen to be attending a writers convention. The ladies are drawn in to determining if the man convicted was truly the murder. I gave this book a 4 star review.

My next read was a book that I received as part of a Goodreads giveaway. I have entered multiple Goodreads giveaways but this is the first I actually won! I received The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell. This was my third book (coincidence?) from Lisa Jewell this year. The book centers around a man and his large, maybe a bit unorthodox family. He is married to this third wife who died in what appears to be an accident. But was it? Did someone push her? Did she purposely walk in front of the bus? Was she unhappy being apart of a family with a lot of dynamics and a man who may not have been the best father? There is mystery and family dynamics that keep you interested. I gave this book 4 stars.

Megan Miranda is another author that I have read a number of times. I chose to read You Belong Here next. This book is another dual timeline storyline. Current day, Beckett is returning to her hometown and alma mater to take her only child to college. She never wanted to return or have her daughter at this school because 20 years prior a campus tradition turned tragic. The story takes place in current day and 20 years prior and how the tragedy of the past may put her daughter in danger now. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

Another repeat author for my 2025 was Ruth Ware. This year she released a sequel to Woman in Cabin 10 with The Woman in Suite 11. Prior to reading this book the movie version of The Woman in Cabin 10 was released. It was a good “refresher” even though it was not a direct book to screen adaption. It allowed me be reacquaint myself with the main characters. In The Woman in Suite 11 we meet Lo Blacklock 10 years after the events on the Aurora. It was nice to be back with familiar characters that we met in Cabin 10. The sequel has the same fast paced story with intrigue, mystery, murder and plot twists. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

Liz North is another new to me author. I read The Weekend Guest is a story of college friends reuniting in an English coastal town. We journey back to Edinburgh to meet the friends at university and their eccentric neighbor. This is a dual timeline story that is party mystery part thriller. You know the 4 friends are hiding a secret, but you don’t know what the secret is for the majority of the story and you don’t know how the neighbor fits into their story/secret. This book had me guessing and enjoying the slight twist. I gave this book a 4 star rating.

I next jumped into the the Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Corbin co-authored Gone Before Goodbye. This book was a slow start for me. I thought this book would be a fast paced story based on the beginning, but after the first chapter things started to slow down for me. We follow Maggie an army combat doctor vet who is now a disgraced surgeon. We slowly build up to the action and about 40% into the book the story picked up pace. I gave this book a 3 star rating.

I listened to Liz Constantine’s, Everybody is a Liar. A mystery writer with a rocky marriage agrees to couples counseling. It appears that things are improving until a murder in their towns makes their therapist question the husband and his relationship with another one of her patients. The narrators are good and this is a shorter story. It was a quick listen and helped me pass the time.

I also listen to How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. I found this book searching Audible’s sale section. This story had a dual timeline – present day where Annie’s great aunt Frances summons her to Castle Knoll, but when she arrives, Frances is dead. In order to get her inheritance she will need to solve Frances’ death – how do we know this was not natural causes? In the 1960’s Frances’ fortune was read and she was told that her death will be a result of murder. In order to solve Frances’e death Annie will have to learn all she can about Frances’ younger life. We jump back and forth between the 2 decades and learn how the events of the 1960’s may have impacted present day and Frances’ death. I enjoyed the narrator and the story.