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📚Books I've Read in 2025📚
23
items I've challenged myself to read 38 books this year! Here's what I've completed so far, with my ratings! Ratings key is below!
RATINGS:
⭐: I almost DNF this book & really did not enjoy it.
⭐⭐: There's a lot of issues with this book, but I finished it.
⭐⭐⭐: This is a solid book with maybe some parts I didn't enjoy, but also some good parts.
⭐⭐⭐⭐: This book is really well-written and I found myself enthralled in the story.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: I could not stop thinking about this book after reading it. It's my highest recommendation!
RATINGS:
⭐: I almost DNF this book & really did not enjoy it.
⭐⭐: There's a lot of issues with this book, but I finished it.
⭐⭐⭐: This is a solid book with maybe some parts I didn't enjoy, but also some good parts.
⭐⭐⭐⭐: This book is really well-written and I found myself enthralled in the story.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: I could not stop thinking about this book after reading it. It's my highest recommendation!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Learn how to cultivate your own magical garden, begin your journey with folk herbalism, and awaken to your place in nature through practical skills from an experienced Appalachian forager and witch.
Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies
⭐⭐⭐⭐ This one is about the dark things that we sometimes do for advantage, fame, and power. Multiple POVs and timelines in this one keep things really interesting.
Followers by Megan Angelo
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What would you change if you could travel back in time? And what if you could travel back in time by visiting a small, underground cafe in a Tokyo back alley? This book was fascinating and moving.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A moving collection of prayer, poetry and spiritual guidance. I love Riley's Instagram account @blackliturgies - this is an extension of the account, a deeper body of work, and it's great.
Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human by Cole Arthur Riley
⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fast-paced, thrilling lesbian romance. One's a spy, one's a hacker. But can they put their differences aside when they find themselves on the same job?
If I Told You, I'd Have to Kiss You: A Novel by Mae Marvel
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Short and sweet - but a very good book about abandoned and haunted places in eastern North Carolina. Great storytelling and great photography.
Abandoned or Forgotten: Overlooked Corners of Eastern North Carolina by Ryan Stowinsky
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An absolutely fantastic guide to the weird, the wild, and the wonderful of the Outer Banks - from the well-known attractions to the ghosts and spectral stories. Loved this one!
Did You See That? On The Outer Banks: A GPS Guide to the Out of the Ordinary Attractions on the North Carolina Coast by Joe Sledge
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book is based on the podcast of the same name, and one thing the authors are great at is storytelling. I found myself enthralled by these stories.
Carolina Haints: Ghosts, Folklore, and Mysteries of the Old North State by Dan Sellers & Jeffrey Cochran
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If I could give more than five stars, I would. This is the story of MK Ultra. How it started, and how it was continuously run off the rails. A wild and enthralling read.
Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKULTRA by John Lisle
⭐⭐⭐ A YA read with heavier topics than I was anticipating: a young magical student is competing for a scholarship to get into a magical college. She's groomed by her drama teacher, which leads to drama and an enemies-to-friends (maybe lovers?) arc.
How To Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy
⭐⭐⭐ An irreverent beach-read type of thriller, which feels strange to say but it's literally set in St. Barth's. A woman is tasked by her ex to find out who might be out to get him and several twists and turns ensue.
Sunburned: A Novel by Katherine Wood
⭐⭐⭐⭐ What if you had to play reality TV type games like Big Brother and Survivor? This is a great thriller that explores just that - and the dark things we do for fame, influence and power.
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
⭐⭐⭐ The main character gets a tarot reading that changes her life and shakes up her world - or does it? I have to say as a professional tarot reader I found some of the tropes in this one frustrating, but it was still a fun quick read.
P.S. You're the Worst: A Novel by Chloe Seager
⭐⭐⭐ A set of movie stars from a back-in-the-day horror production gets together for a reunion and remake. But there is someone who wants to make the horror pretty realistic, picking people off one by one. A fun thrilling read.
Smile for the Cameras: A Novel
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book of moving and devastating poetry details what it's like to live as a Palestinian in modern-day Palestine.
Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha
⭐⭐⭐ A group of influencers arrives at a soon-to-be-open resort in the Catskills to create content and hype up the brand. But things begin to go wildly awry, and in the Catskill snow it's clear there's a killer on the loose.
Made You Look by Tanya Grant
⭐⭐⭐ Nora loses her father in a tragic accident, but as she chases the threads of his unraveling life, she finds that things are not as they seem. A great coastal thriller.
The Night We Lost Him: A Novel by Laura Dave
⭐⭐⭐ R.L. Stine decided to use all of his best tropes for this one - he says so in the foreward. Even though they're tropes he's used often, they still have a fun fresh feel in this quick read.
Nightmare on Nightmare Street
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ At times i had to put this one down and walk away because of how devastating it was. Karen Palmer's memoir details love, abuse, and the ways we bend ourselves to meet someone's standards.
She's Under Here: A Memoir by Karen Palmer
⭐⭐⭐⭐ A group of friends heads to their vacation spot, a private Greek isle. But things, of course, are not as they seem. There's betrayal, murder, mystery and mayhem in this one, as well as an unreliable narrator.
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
⭐⭐⭐ A group of ladies vacations in the Maldives to celebrate one of their divorces. They've got a deep friendship on the surface, made stronger by something difficult a couple of them went through a few years ago. One of them survived a murder attemp...
Bad Tourists: A Novel by Caro Carver
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this one is poignant especially if you’ve lost your mother. A woman is released from prison and goes home to find her mother has gone missing, and has to deal with the ghosts of her past, present and future. This was so beautifully written...
Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter: A Novel by Samantha Crewson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this was a chilling, gripping and moving memoir by the late Virginia Giuffre. What she endured at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein was harrowing, and her story is worthy of being witnessed. This is heavy material and will sit with you.
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice