Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Last year, I documented my favorite reads of the year in an essay, My Top Ten of 2024, and it was difficult narrowing my list of 60 books read down to 10 favorites. This year, I had an equally tough time because I had a great reading year with a total of 70 books, and in that 70 were books written by some of my favorite authors of all time. So, here’s my Top Ten (books of fiction) for 2025, with some honorable mentions at the end!

• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown, 2025). There’s been a lot of hype about this book, and trust me, it is absolutely worth all of it! It will stay with me for a very long time! See my review here!
• Dear Miss Lake by A. J. Pearce (Scribner, 2025). This is book 4 and the final installment in the Emmy Lake Chronicles series. I loved this book so much and I loved the entire series. I am sad to see these characters come to an end. If you need something uplifting and heartwarming, run—don’t walk—to get a copy of this book! See my review here!
• The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman Books, 2025). This is book 5 of the wildly popular Thursday Murder Club. I loved it. See my review here!
• Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman (Harper, 2025). I have loved Elinor Lipman’s books since my very first one back in the late 80s. This one was funny, poignant, and downright charming. See my review here!
• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books, 2025). This is my first TJR book and it is one heck of a wild ride. If you liked Apollo 13 or The Martian, you will love this! See my review here!
• Through an Open Window by Pamela Terry (Penguin Random House, 2025). This is Terry’s 3rd novel and they have gotten stronger with each one. I love the imagery and sensory details in her books! See my review here! 
• The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods (HarperCollins/Harper 360, 2025). I loved Woods’ other book The Lost Bookshop (HarperCollins UK, 2023), so I felt I would love this one too and I did. I mean, small village in France, a bakery, lots of talk about French food and pastries, so much to love! See my review here!
• The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce (The Dial Press/Random House, 2025). Family saga at its best. I haven’t heard much hype about it, but it is really good! See my review here!
• Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood (Poisoned Pen Press, 2025). This is book 4 in the Marlow Murder Club series. The British author is famous for creating the popular series Death in Paradise. I did have a few minor issues with this book, but overall I really enjoyed it. See my review here!
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Henry Holt and Co., 2024). I was late to the party on this one, a whole year after everyone else was already talking about it, and the hype was all true! Propulsive and fresh! See my review here!

Honorable Mentions (all 4.5 to 5 star reads, just didn’t quite make it into my Top Ten for this year)

• This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman (Random House, 2026). Publication date for this book is in February of 2026, and I’m sure we’ll hear quite a bit about it! For me, it read like a collection of short stories with repeating characters, and I did enjoy that. See my review here!
• The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jonasson (St. Martin’s Press, 2025). This was my first piece of Icelandic literature, and I really liked it. Had the ending been different, I probably would have moved it up into my Top Ten list. Still a great book! See my review here!
• My Friends by Fredrik Blackman (Atria Books, 2025). Unpopular opinion here, but I didn’t love this book. The writing was superb, but this book was painful for me to read, but in the end I do think the beautiful writing was worth the pain for me. See my review here!
• The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell (Del Rey/Penguin, 2025). Another wild ride of a book. Equal parts magical realism, historical fiction, time travel, realistic fiction, it’s all there. See my review here!
• The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (St. Martin’s Press, 2022). A very original take on something I already knew a lot about, Agatha Christie and her first marriage. Another wild ride that at times seemed incredulous, but so original I gave it very high marks! See my review here!
• A Happy Catastrophe by Maddie Dawson (Lake Union Publishing, 2020). My first read of 2025 and it stuck with me for some time. Other than the annoying traits of one character, I loved it. See my review here!

What are your top ten favorite reads of 2025? Even though my TBR list stretches from here to the moon, I’m happy to add some more great reads to it!

And, now … drum roll please …

My favorite book of 2025 is the one that is in bold above, The Correspondent, and it is now on my list of favorite books of all time! Well done, Virginia Evans, well done!