My favorite reads of 2025.

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
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Swordheart follows Halla, a 35 12 months outdated widow, as she goes on an sudden journey after inheriting an uncommon sword with an immortal warrior magically trapped inside it.

Will Halla escape her scheming kinfolk and safe the fortune that’s rightfully hers? Will the mysterious man within the sword ever reveal his secret previous? Will they meet a unusual and pleasant forged of characters throughout their journey? You’ll should learn it to seek out out.

It’s a standalone, however the writer has written different books on this world and I intend to learn all of them.

You Ought to Be So Fortunate by Cat Sebastian
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(This one’s for you, my fellow Heated Rivalry followers!)

Set in 1960’s NYC, this lovely queer love story a couple of sardonic reporter falling in love with an expert baseball participant was the perfect romance I learn in 2025.

Mark Bailey isn’t a sports activities reporter, however he’s spiraling after shedding the person he anticipated to spend his life with when his boss assigns him to cowl some baseball video games. Mark finds himself assigned to a day-in-the-life diary function supposed to rehabilitate the picture of the native group’s latest participant, hotshot-in-a-slump Eddie O’Leary.

Grumpy/sunshine with scrumptious craving, this ebook acknowledges the existence of homophobia in a common means, however like all Romance novels, it has a cheerful ending.

The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim
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The God and the Gumiho is a brilliant and enthralling fantasy story impressed by Korean mythology. First in a collection, however works as a standalone.

Kim Hani is a Gumiho (legendary 9 tailed fox demon), however she doesn’t eat souls anymore – she’s a barista now and no one is aware of she was as soon as the Scarlet Fox, essentially the most notorious Gumiho of all time.

Seokga the Fallen, an exiled god attempting to earn his means free from the mortal realm by combating demons with the native police pressure, all the time bickers with Kim when he comes into her espresso store. It’s all very routine till someday when Kim discovers {that a} rash of native murders are being blamed on her alter ego, the Scarlet Fox, and she or he is Seokga’s subsequent goal.

Kim joins the investigation by taking a job because the fallen god’s assistant. Will she be capable to defend her secrets and techniques, keep away from seize, discover the true offender, and resist falling for Seokga’s smolderingly sardonic allure?

The Glimmer Falls collection by Sarah Hawley
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This Modern Romance collection is ready in Glimmer Falls, a metropolis the place magical of us don’t want to cover their powers. There are part-pixie influencers, social climbing witches, magic customers vying for the city mayor place, and a candy, shy werewolf who runs the backyard heart.

The Glimmer Falls collection follows a bunch of mates on this uncommon city as all of them discover love by means of sudden adventures. Anticipate wayward demons trapped by bargains gone awry, immortal assassins captured in plastic, a werewolf rugby group, and extra.

These books are excessive on essentially the most entertaining means. And these are correct Romance books, so count on on-page spice.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
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Bookish Dryadology Professor Emily Wilde plans to maintain her head down and hopefully make tenure at her college again house by doing area analysis on some uncommon faeries…however by some means she finally ends up way more concerned than she supposed.

This ebook was absorbing from the primary sentence however unfurled at a leisurely tempo that invited me to learn slower than normal and take every part in. I completely beloved it and can’t wait to learn the subsequent within the collection.

Extremely really helpful when you like a sensible, no-nonsense heroine who prioritizes her ardour for her vocation above social niceties. This ebook accommodates some romance, however it’s not a Romance – the love story is a really, very small a part of the ebook.

Woman Derring Takes a Lover (The Palace of Rogues #1) by Julie Anne Lengthy
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Woman Derring isn’t too heartbroken when her husband unexpectedly expires, however she is distressed to find that he left her with nothing however a dilapidated constructing on the docks. Whereas searching for solutions from her husband’s solicitor, she bumps into one other girl in an analogous state of affairs who seems to be her late husband’s mistress.

The 2 ladies notice that they each have nowhere else to show, and determine to depend on one another: they pool their meager assets and open a boarding home.

The remainder of this Historic Romance collection follows the assorted residents and company of the boarding home as one couple after one other finds their fortunately ever after.

The Scholomance Collection by Naomi Novik
Bookshop.org | Amazon

A Lethal Schooling (Scholomance #1) is ready in a magical boarding college, however it’s no Hogwarts. College students grasp their powers and defends themselves from mals – evil creatures drawn to magic – or they die. There are not any lecturers and a excessive dying charge.

The principle character, El, is an outsider with no helpful alliances in a world the place your connections are every part. Her affinity for harmful magic makes her highly effective, however she must show that in the precise means in order that she’ll have alternatives after commencement with out making everybody assume she’s evil.

I already know I’ll reread this collection once more, however it is probably not everybody’s cup of tea. It’s darkish and a bit unusual, however it was good for me.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Bookshop.org | Amazon

Mika Moon is an obedient witch: all the time following her guardian’s guidelines to maintain her magic and their group a secret. It’s a lonely life, so she decides to take a danger and begin a TikTok account for making actual potions that she pretends are faux.

When her TikTok catches the eye of an uncommon family searching for somebody to assist three younger witches, she begins to comprehend that every part she thought was settled about her life would possibly truly be due for a change.

I want I might put this ebook in a blender and drink it. It’s so heat and full of affection! Cozy fantasy with a sprinkle of romance.

Godkiller (Fallen Gods #1) by Hannah Kaner
Bookshop.org | Amazon

Godkiller is ready in a kingdom the place gods are outlawed and Godkillers like most important character Kissen make a dwelling looking down and destroying any small gods that pop up or older ones which have been in hiding.

Kissen might solely have one leg however she’s an extremely badass girl with a knack for killing issues which can be almost invulnerable, which is why she’s so stunned when she finds herself becoming a member of forces with a really uncommon little one who has a selected god-related drawback. Quickly they meet a baker/ex-soldier with a royal connection and the three of them be a part of forces on a harmful journey…which spirals right into a a lot larger journey than any of the three might have imagined.

Anticipate gods, kings, betrayals, queer love tales, and wonderful incapacity illustration. When you like good fantasy, put this one in your library maintain listing now and also you’ll thank me later.