Best of 2025, Bookish Stuff

2025 BookLights

Jonetta | Blue Mood Café

Welcome to My 2025 BookLights!

I had a great reading year and didn’t want to limit my summary of it to a specific number of books so I’ve arranged them into categories:

  • New to Me Authors I Waited Too Long to Read
  • Debut Authors Who Need to Write More Books
  • Knockout Audio Performances
  • Seriously Series
  • Perfect Series Liftoffs
  • Non Fiction Gems
  • Five Star Beauties

When I reflected on my favorites, they all fit nicely into at least one of these categories.

New to Me Authors I Waited Too Long to Read

I became an instant fan after reading these authors for the first time and am now exploring their backlists.


Noelle Ihli – Ask for Andrea

 

 

 


Karla Sorenson – Lessons in Heartbreak

 

 

 


Caleb Stephens – You’ll Never Know

 

 

 


J. Bengtsson – Cake

 

 

 


Lucy Score – Story of My Life

 

 

 

 

Chad Zunker – Not Our Daughter

 

 

 

 

 

Kaira Rouda – Jill is Not Happy

 

 

 

 

Joe Hart – I Become Her

 

 

 


Tessa Wegert – In the Bones

 

 

 



Sara Goodman Confino – Good Grief

 

 

Ilsa Madden-Mills – My Darling Bride

 

 

 

Debut Authors Who Need to Write More Books

I read quite a few books by first-time authors last year, taking a chance that paid off nicely with these debuts. One already has another release scheduled and another’s has their book in production for adaptation.


Sarah Damoff – The Bright Years

 

 

 


Frances Knapp – The Names

 

 

 


Kristin Koval – Penitence

 

 

 


Amelia Ireland – The Seven O’Clock Club

 

 

 


Sophie Stava – Count My Lies

 

 

 


Kristen L. Berry – We Don’t Talk About Carol

 

 

 


Knockout Audio Performances

My love for audiobook listening is well known and I’ve had another great year. But these were particular standouts in that the storytelling was elevated so much that it defined the books.


The Business Trip – Multicast Narration

 

 

 


Break Me Down – Multicast Narration

 

 

 


A Christmas Carol – Patrick Stewart, Narrator

 

 

 


Hidden Nature – January LaVoy

 

 

 


Beautiful Ugly – Richard Armitage & Tuppence Middleton, Narrators

 

 

 


Let’s Make a Scene – Heather Long & Sam Stafford, Narrators

 

 

 


Scared Sexy Collection  – Nina Ynds,Maxim Reston, Marli Watson, Nicholas Boulton, Vanessa Moyes, Troy Duran, Beth Roeg, Ryan West, Andi Eloise, Sean Crisden & Aure Nash 

 

 

Seriously Series

I am a series reader at heart and these represent the best of my experiences last year.


Little Children – DI Kim Stone series by Angela Marsons

 

 

 


Beyond Her Reach – Bree Taggert series by Melinda Leigh

 

 

 


See How They Hide – Quinn & Costa series by Allison Brennan

 

 

 


Her Mother’s Grave – Detective Josie Quinn series by Lisa Regan

 

 

 


Bonded in Death – In Death series by J. D. Robb

 

 

 


Who Will Remember – Sebastian St. Cyr series by C. S. Harris

 

 

 


A Dead Draw – Tracy Crosswhite series by Robert Dugoni 

 

 

 


The Girls in the Snow – Nikki Hunt series by Stacy Green

 

 

 


Siren Song – Bishop Security series by Debbie Baldwin

 

 

 

 

In a Distant Valley – Dalton, Maine series by Shannon Bowring

 

 

 

 

The Cross – Eddie Flynn series by Steve Cavanagh

 

 

 


The Perfect Divorce – The Perfect series by Jeneva Rose

 

 

Perfect Series Liftoffs

There’s nothing like the start of a new series, especially when you love the first book so much you can’t wait for the next. Here are three that brought the magic.

 

We Are All Guilty Here – North Falls series by Karin Slaughter

 

 

 

 

Nightshade – Catalina series by Michael Connelly

 

 

 

 

Her First Mistake – Noelle Marshall series by Kendra Elliot

 

 

 

Non Fiction Gems

I didn’t get a chance to read much in this category these two exceptional.


The House of My Mother by Shari Franke 

 

 

 


Someday, Now by Tembi Locke by Tembi Locke

 

 

 


5 Star Beauties

These aren’t all of my five-star reads in 2025 but they were true standouts.


What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange

 

 

 


Head Cases by John McMahon

 

 

 


Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen

 

 

 


First-Time Caller by B. K. Borison 

 

 

 


Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

 

 

 


Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

 

 

 


Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

 

 

 


The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens

 

 

 


Michael Without Apology by Catherine Ryan Hyde

 

 

 


I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney

 

 

 


The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens

 

 

 


What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella

 

 

 


The Elements by John Boyne

 

 

 


Forget You Saw Her by Noelle Ihli

 

 

 

 

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

 

 

 


The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

 

 

 


Good Spirits by B. K. Borison

 

 

 


The Widow by John Grisham

 

 

 


The Christmas Stranger by Richard Paul Evans

 

 

 


The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

 

 

 


Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

 

 


Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

 

 

 

 

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

 

 

 


What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown

 

 

 


Guess Again by Charlie Donlea

 

 

 


These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

 

 

 


Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

 

 

 


My Friends by Fredrik Backman

 

 

 


The Killer Question by Janice Hallett

 

 

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Published by Jonetta | Blue Mood Café

26 thoughts on “2025 BookLights”

  9. I really like this format, Jo. The problem is, I will be adding a few more to my TBR shelf. Fortunately I’ve read quite a few of these. You read a lot of new to you authors this year. Glad you had a good reading year.

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