I read some truly wonderful books in 2025, and I want to share them (and my reviews!) with you. When you click on a book below, it will take you to Bookshop.org, so you can support both fabulous authors and independent bookstores.
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Black Water Sister
Zen Cho
Zen Cho has an uncanny gift for place and voice. I loved her Sorcerer to the Crown books and Black Water Sister is as vivid while being completely different. This is a book about the boxes we put ourselves in out of fear. It is tense and never pulls a punch. But it’s also funny and tender. If you are in the mood for a ghost story with a closeted protagonist mixed with organized crime in Malaysia, this is for you.
Sublimation
Isabel J. Kim
Sublimation is one of the most powerful debut novels I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. It began blowing my mind from the first page as it explores self and the way memory and experience shapes us. It’s about diaspora and regret and longing. In this version of our world, when you cross a border you have a chance of instatiating — ie becoming two versions of yourself. One who goes and one who stays. Becoming an Instance is like quantum mechanics in human form. Throughout the book, we get glimpses of the way instances have been woven into the history of the world with excerpts of folk tales, the Odyssey and Genesis. And all of that is before we get to the deeply human POV characters. I started recommending this book before I was finished with it and then Isabel stuck the landing. Holy cow. It’s so good.
The Spellshop
Sarah Beth Durst
I needed a gentle lovely book, and this was exactly what I wanted. It’s in the kind of fantasy world where there are rules of magic, but not Rules that require some sort of plausibility test. Blue skin and hair? Yes. No reason. Just because it’s beautiful. Seahorses that are part fish and part mammal. Absolutely, sign me up. And best of all… a librarian as the main character who just wants to be with her books. There’s a slow burn, gentle romance but what I love best about the story is that the whole point of it is about listening and giving people agency. Also, for such an easy-going book it was shockingly difficult to put down. I mean… HE’S MAKING A BOOKSHELF was really compelling. If you need a break, The Spellshop is the book for you.
Strange Beasts
Susan J. Morris
Imagine the daughter of Mina Harker, the daughter of Dr. Moriarty, teaming up to solve supernatural crime, murder mystery in Paris, beautiful fashions, lesbian romance, and again, Smart murder mystery. Oh, I love one where I can’t tell what is going to go down. It’s so good. Both of the characters are playing to their strengths and then also shoved into situations where their strength is not the right strength.
Undeniable
Jes Honard & Marie Parks
MRK’s Blurb: “a tapestry of emotion that effortlessly weaves together the threads of grief and obsession.”
Book Description: A lifeless body awaiting immortality.
Magic that erodes a sister’s identity.
Enemies bent on retribution.
Bridget has saved her sister, Dahlia, from imprisonment. But their reunion has come with enormous costs. Their friend was murdered in the rescue efforts, and Dahlia herself is no longer fully human.
Together, they seek to grant their friend a second chance at life. But the magic that will save him also paints a target on their backs.
As the sisters race to uncover the key to resurrection, Dahlia’s former captors pursue them-coveting the ancient powers and seeking justice for their own fallen companions.
At the same time, they must also contend with how Dahlia’s immortal life, new abilities, and fracturing personality are changing their relationship forever.
UNDENIABLE is the second book in The Grigori Cycle.
Other Books MRK Has Read This Year:
