Best Fiction Books to read of 2025

INSIDE : Read along with me this year! Check out the Best Fiction Books to Read of 2025 and see my quick reviews of each of them. Mystery, thriller, memoir, historical fiction and a little self help – I love reading a wide variety of books and I’d love hearing which are your favorites!

Best Fiction Books to Read of 2025

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This post will be updated continually throughout 2025.

I have found in recent years that reading has become a beautiful way for me to slow down, relax and enjoy the pleasure of being elsewhere. I read 99 books last year and have really found a few genres that I’m most drawn to – I love books that make me think, make me feel and grow my heart of compassion. And in between those big reads, I need a few light and fluffy books because things can get heavy quickly!

Reading is such a gift, but as a busy mom to two middle schoolers I have dove deeply into audio books as well. I love having a mix of real paper books and also a few books on Libby or Audible to listen to as well.

I also am in two bookclub, which I think is such a fun way to encourage a variety of reading material!

Want to check my favorite books from previous years? 

Best Fiction Books to Read of 2025
If you want to see all my recent books in one place, you can check out my Amazon Book page.

Shop my 2025 fiction reads…

Here are all the books I’ve been reading so far in 2025 and I’d love you to comment below with your favorite reads, too! You will see fiction books shared in order below and then I have a list at the very bottom of this post with all my other genre of reads (self help, religion, memoir, etc…).

Top Fiction Books in 2025

1. Son by Lois Lowry

Son, Fiction book

Gracious, what a wonderful quick read! This book is the 4th in a series – most well known for it’s first book, The Giver. Although this series is geared for middle school/high school, there is SO MUCH to them and I really can’t recommend them enough!

The story starts with a girl they call Water Claire because she washed up on shore and no one knows that she came from a society where feelings, colors and passion don’t exist.

That she had become a “birth mother” at 14 carrying a “product”. The product had then been taken from her, but she was determined to find out more about him – where was he, did he love her and how could she get him back? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible.

Water Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice.

I’m glad someone told me there were more books than simply The Giver because they all have been quick, thought provoking and worth reading.

2. The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

The First Ladies, Fiction book

Am I allowed to have both of my first two books of 2025 be Five Star reviews??! I read this book for my online bookclub and (it was my pick), but I loved it! I found myself pausing the book to Google facts about Eleanor Roosevelt, her husband the 32nd President Franklin Roosevelt and Mrs. Mary Bethune – what a wonderful historical fiction read. It touches on racism, women’s rights and politics – my kind of book.

The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune step by step rises in fame by starting business, opening colleges, hospitals and many many other things for people of color in the 30’s and 40’s.

Eleanor Roosevelt is eager to make her acquaintance and quickly the two become great friends. They begin to collaborate on their shared views of the civil rights movement, as well as justice and equality for all. But as history shows, it wasn’t an easy road for equality (and still isn’t to this day).

Great book, very inspirational and a shame Mary Bethune is not taught in schools around the country – I would have loved learning more about this inspirational women! 4.5 out of 5 The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

3. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot - Fiction Book

I loved this book. I have loved most of Liane Moriarty’s books and this one had such a unique twist to it.

The story follows Alice as she wakes up while laying on the floor of her gym. She’s taken a fall and very quickly realizes she has lost the last 10 years of her memory. I found this book SO interesting as you start to see how much life she has really lost in the last 10 years. She doesn’t remember having her 3 children and swears she’s never even seen them in her life. She desperately wants her husband, Nick to come visit her in the hospital – only to find out they are separated and near a divorce. In her mind she is wildly in love with him.

It’s just so interesting to see how this book plays out and I loved it all.

5 out of 5 What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

4. A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

A History of Wild Places - Fiction Book

What can I say? I’m on a great reading streak! This was a mystery suspense book and I really enjoyed it. It never felt scary or spooky like some thrillers, but still held your attention really well. However you definitely got the sense that something weird was going on in Pastoral.

A man named Travis is hired to locate the famous missing author Maggie St. James. Her mother utters just one word to him, “Pastoral”. He heads off to find this mysterious location and is not seen again for two years.

This book is mostly set in the woods of Northern California on a peaceful commune of sorts. Each person in this community plays a role in helping to sustain everyone, but they must never cross the perimeter and enter into the surrounding forest or they risk getting the rot disease from the trees.

So many secrets. So so good. 5 out of 5 A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

5. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

Lady Tan's Circle of Women - Fiction Book

I am on a GREAT reading streak here! Just finished this book and I loved it. I was equally horrified and fascinated by many of the cultural norms of Chinese women during the time period of this book, namely foot binding as an act of beauty for their future husbands, among many others. I understand that every culture has their own customs and I find them interesting to learn about.

According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family is being raised by her grandparents to know Chinese medicine. She learns the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient. This book highlights the many women in Lady Tan’s life and how they all play a role in her life both good and bad. It was a beautiful and interesting read.

I highly enjoyed it and also loved Lisa See’s other book, The Island of Sea Women. 5 out of 5 Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

6. The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

The Instrumentalist - Fiction Book

I read this book with my local bookclub for the month of January.

Set in 1704, Anna Maria has only known life inside the Pietà, an orphanage for children born of prostitutes. However, most babies born in that situation were drowned in the canal so living in the strict rules with music lessons from an early age this was a better situation than it could be.

Anna Maria is determined to be the best violinist there is and Antonio Vivaldi (her teacher), will teach Anna everything he knows—but he’s not as great as you may think.

It’s a story of the oppressed overcoming destitution and abuse to make music, and whose contributions to some of the most important works of classical music, including “The Four Seasons,” have been overlooked for too long.

This book had a bit of The Queen’s Gambit vibe to it, I thought. Enjoyable read, but does make me feel a little sad about classical music. I think less of Vivaldi now. 3.75 out of 5 The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

7. All Fours by Miranda July

All Fours - Fiction Book

Wow and not in a good way. I heard online about this book and that all women going through midlife should read it. This is only a book to read if you have a VERY OPEN views about sex. It’s the story of a 45 year old women who decides to take a cross country trip to NYC for some time away from her life and family. She’s clearly a thinker and feeling some levels of depression.

30 minutes into her trip she exits the freeway, checks into a random motel and begins a 2 week love affair with a 20 something year old married guy. There were just weird weird scenes with tampons and lots of lesbian sex later on. Maybe I’m a prude, but this just did not feel like a book that every 40 year old women should read. How it was a The Times top ten books of the year I really have no clue. I’ve read a ton of spicy books and this one just felt way to much to me.

2 out of 5, but maybe 1. Not a fan. All Fours by Miranda July

*Reminded me a bit of Death Valley by Melissa Broder and I didn’t especially like that book either. Her book however was much more drug trippy, while All Fours was more sexual crazy. Both I finished and was like what was the point of this book??

8. It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison

It's One of Us - Fiction Book

I love a good psychological thriller and this was a great one.

This one dips heavily into IVF and I can’t give too much away… but it gives the book an interesting twist.

This follows Olivia Bender and her husband Park who desperately have been trying to start a family. When suddenly the police show up at their door saying there has been a suspect found in a recent murder and it’s a child of Park’s… but he doesn’t have any children. Or does he??!

As the murder investigation goes deeper, more terrible truths come to light. Ah, it was a fun read. 4.5 out of 5 for me. Loved it. It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison

9. Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks

Counting Miracles - Fiction Book

Just finished this book. I used to really enjoy Nicholas Sparks books and they are still near to my heart, but I don’t think I love them quite as much as I once did. I ADORE that all of his books are set in North Carolina because that state is my favorite.

Counting Miracles was a fine read. Probably a lot of people would enjoy it. It’s light, easy to consume and overall always ends with a happy ending. This book was based off Job in the Bible, so one of the characters really goes through some major hardships over his lifetime.

It was enjoyable, but I wouldn’t probably shout from the rooftops that anyone needs to read it. 3.75 out of 5. Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks

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Non-Fiction, Memoirs + Self Help books I’ve read in 2025

Best Fiction Books to Read of 2025

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