Goodbye Yesterday (2025 Book Wrap Up, Favorite Books of The Year & 2026 TBR)

Hello New Year! This year has been…just wow. I mean, this was definetly a year of growth for me. God is so good! Jesus moved a lot this year for me, and while I suppose He has been moving for a while, He really opened my eyes to things in these passed few months. 

Sometimes I forget that Jesus is a book lover. Like, He legit invented the greatest book of all time. Reading the bible this year has been amazing. Reading just the bible in Lent was really good for me, and helped remind me that of all the books I read: the bible the best out of them all. 

Books were a huge part of my year, and while my goal was to read 100 total, I successfully finished 75 books total, which, considering that I didn’t read for the whole month of March and that that is almost triple how many books I read last year…I’m okay with it. Goal for next year is still going to reset for 100!

2025 wrap up  

Rating: 1-10★

Romanov, by Nadine Brandes (January) 8★

Fawkes, by Nadine Brandes (January) 6★

Invitation, by Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt, and Alton Gansky (January) 6★

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen (January) 7★

The Scourge, by Jennifer Nielsen (January) 7★

The Runaway King, by Jennifer Nielsen (January) 6★

The Shadow Throne, by Jennifer Nielsen (January) 5★

The Traitor’s Game, by Jennifer Nielsen (January) 7★

The Great Divorce, by C. S. Lewis (February) 8★

Wishtress, by Nadine Brandes (February) 8★

The Deceiver’s Heart, by Jennifer Nielsen (February) 5★

The Crown’s Game, by Evelyn Skye (February) 4★

A Time To Die, by Nadine Brandes (February) 8★

The Practice Of The Presence Of God, by Brother Lawrence (February) 10★

Bright Valley Of Love, by Edna Hong (March) 5★

Sunrise On The Reaping, by Suzanne Collins (March) 8★

Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott (April) 6★

Watership Down, by Richard Adams (April) 4★

As Sure As The Sea, by Jamie Ogle (May) 10★

Caraval, by Stephanie Garber (May) 7★

The Words We Lost, by Nicole Deese (May) 6★

Loch, by Paul Zinder (May) 2★

Scythe, by Neal Shusterman (May) 9★

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer (May) 6★

Thunderhead, by Neal Shusterman (May) 7★

The Toll, by Neal Shusterman (May) 7★

Utopia, by Thomas More (May) 2★

Sisters Of Sword And Song, by Rebecca Ross (May) 9★

Lovely War, by Julie Berry (May) 8★

Of Love And Treason, by Jamie Ogle (May) 10★

Pursuit Of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges (June) 7★

Bone Criere’s Moon, by Kathryn Purdie (June) 8★

Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis (June) 7★

Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer (June) 9★

Cress, by Marissa Meyer (June) 8★

Winter, by Marissa Meyer (June) 7★

The Naturals, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (June) 6.5★

Bone Crier’s Dawn, by Kathryn Purdie (June) 8★

Gleanings, by Neal Shusterman (June) 4★

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (June) 7★

A Time To Speak, by Nadine Brandes (July) 8★

A Time To Rise, by Nadine Brandes (July) 8★

Heartless, by Marissa Meyer (July) 6★

Nightmare Virus, by Nadine Brandes (July) 4★

House, by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker (July) 7.5★

The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (July) 8★

The Kingdom Of Back, by Marie Lu (July) 3★

Matched, by Allie Condie (July) 8★

The Hawthorne Legacy, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (August) 7★

The Final Gambit, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (August) 8★

Crossed, by Allie Condie (August) 5★

The Brothers Hawthorne, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (September) 7★

The Roads We Follow, by Nicole Deese (September) 8★

The Voice We Find, by Nicole Deese (September) 8★

Games Untold, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (September) 6★

The Grandest Game, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (September) 9★

Before I Called You Mine, by Nicole Deese (September) 6★

All That Really Matters, by Nicole Deese (September) 8★

The Prison Healer, by Lynette Noni (September) 6.5★

Glorious Rivals, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (September) 7★

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (September REREAD) 9★

Love, Canter, Action, by Katie Gilbert (October) 8★

All That It Takes, by Nicole Deese (October) 8.5★

Defy The Night, by Brigid Kemmerer (November) 8★

Killer Instinct, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (November) 5★

Warcross, by Marie Lu (November) 4.5★

Hearts Overboard, by Becky Dean (November) 7★

Beyond Ivy Walls, by Rachel Fordham (November) 8★

Faking Christmas, by Cindy Steel (November) 7★

Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard (December) 4.5★

All In, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (December) 6★

The Letter Tree, by Rachel Fordham (December) 6★

Jingle Bell Jilt, but Mindy Strunk (December) 5★

Cotswold Holiday, by Kasey Stockton (December) 5★

Acting Merry, by Martha Keyes (December) 8★

dnf yet:

The Book Thief, by Mark Zusak

The Same Backward As Forward, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Bad Blood, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 

favorite books of 2025

If you couldn’t tell by the long list above…I read quite a few books. And the amazing thing is that I enjoyed most of them, so I won’t be narrowing it down to just 10 favorites this year, but will be sharing my most favorites from this year, as well my new favorite. 

series  

1. The Grandest Game series, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 
2. The Inheritance Games series, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 
3. The Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer
4. Out Of Time series, by Nadine Brandes
5. Fog Harbor Romance series, by Nicole Deese
6. Bone Grace series, by Kathryn Purdie
7. Arc Of A Scythe, by Neal Shusterman 
8. All That Really Matters duology, by Nicole Deese

standalones 

(not in order)

Of Love And Treason, by Jamie Ogle

As Sure As The Sea, by Jamie Ogle 

Acting Merry, by Martha Keyes

Defy The Night, by Brigid Kemmerer (Not acutaully a standalone, but can be read as one). 

Sisters Of Sword And Song, by Rebecca Ross

Lovely War, by Julie Berry

Beyond Ivy Walls, by Rachel Fordham

Love, Canter, Action, by Katie Gilbert 

new favorite book

Ghaghahgahagh. Of Love And Treason by Jamie Ogle is my all time new favorite book. Everyone would always ask me what my favorite book was before this and i would have to answer that I didn’t have one. When I finished this one…it was a dead giveaway away. 

Are you a book crier? And I am not talking about teary-vision-misty-eyed “book crier”. I am talkin’ about sobbing-I-need-tissues-red-eyed-moments where you don’t know if you-want-to-hug-or-throw-the-book-across-the-room book crier. Well, neither am I—until this book.

With a retelling of the life of St. Valentine, Jamie Ogle made a story that wasn’t just enjoyable, it was personal. There are so many things I related on with that characters, that in and of itself made me want to cry. We all mostly know the history behind Valentine’s day, but this was a spin on it that made it one of my favorite holidays—even if it was fictional. 

Full review is to come! (Still catching up from reviews in May o.o)

2026 tbr

The Book Thief, by Mark Zusak

The Same Backward As Forward, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Four Kingdoms series, by Melanie Cellier

Bad Blood, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Twelve, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Reached, by Allie Condie

Maze Runner, by James Dashner

Love in Lenox series, by Nicole Deese

Jane Eyre, by Brontë 

Tally ho friends!

Finlee