As we turn the calendar to a brand new year, and as 2026 begins, it's time for a little look back at my favorite reads of 2025. Fortunately, last year I found some new (very) beloved favorites and found my belief in reading for the delight of story reiterated time and time again. I also found that books find their way to you when you're meant to read them...one particular book in particular was one that I'd picked up several times before and it just didn't fit with me...but then 2025 came round and it was a perfect fit. I read a dear favorite of mine for the third time! And found that I love it just as much as I did the first time. Nonfiction isn't my usual cup of tea, but I did have a few books jump off my shelf that I thoroughly enjoyed and loved...and still think about. Overall, it was a good reading year. I'm not one to focus heavily on numbers or stats, and I do wish I had read more than I did. But considering the year I had, I'm content with what I did read, and am also thankful that what I did read was utterly delightful.
So, without further ado, here are my TOP 10 favorite books from 2025...in no particular order, except for my top two favorites, which were tied for the golden tier.
Betsy-Tacy
Betsy-Tacy and Tib
by Maud Hart Lovelace
(I'm counting these as one as they're from the same series, and because I'm making the rules here.)
While I had a couple of the Betsy-Tacy books growing up, I don't remember ever reading an entire one. As these stories start out when the girls are quite young (around kindergarten age), I'm very excited to see how the books and characters grow as the stories go on. I love that these books are meant to grow and mature with the reader. These are sweet stories that bring back a simplicity of life and childhood that is too often lost in our modern age...but it doesn't have to be. These are charming and rich in family and home, and I just adore them.
My Phony Valentine
by Courtney Walsh
My very favorite Courtney Walsh book to date...so far. I absolutely loved the characters in this book (Poppy and Dallas forever!), which I admit is quite unusual for me with Walsh's books. I tend to prefer her storytelling style over her characters. This was also the first one in the Hart family trilogy, and I just really loved getting to know the entire family here and there through this story. Yes, it is a romance, but it's also got so much heart and soul and family love and I just love it so much. I've still got the third Hart family novel to read...and I don't want this series to end. I love the Harts!
Mandy
by Julie Andrews Edwards
By far one of the sweetest, most charming, heartwarming, wholesome stories I've ever read. Julie Andrews Edwards (yes! THAT Julie Andrews!) is a phenomenal storyteller, and everything about this story felt magical and enchanting and like everything a little girl's imagination could possibly dream up. And the illustrations are some of my very favorites, as well.
The Last Bookshop in London
by Madeline Martin
My first novel by Madeline Martin, but definitely not my last. Despite being set in wartime London, this book felt hopeful and lovely and beautiful. Martin's writing style was just my cup of tea, and her characters became my friends whilst reading this book. If you're like me and enjoy stories set during and around World War 2, but don't like gore and heavy tones, this is a perfect read, in my humble opinion.
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
by Jeanne Birdsall
Continuing along with the dear Penderwicks family, which is a favorite fictional family of mine, this second book was a true favorite of mine. The four girls and their beloved father make for the sweetest family, and all their adventures and imaginations make for a fun read. Jeanne Birdsall writes in a way that makes it feel like this book was written many, many years ago...with all the old-fashioned charm and loveliness and home and family centeredness that is rare these days. The story, characters, writing and storytelling style...all of it is just my cup of tea.
Devotions
by Mary Oliver
I'm not a huge poetry reader, mostly because I like poetry that I can actually understand. There I said it...ha! I don't like ambiguous or hazy meanings or saying something in the most complicated, fanciful way when it could be said simply...and just as meaningfully. And Mary Oliver is just my kind of poetry writer. I love her emphasis on nature and noticing the small things and of the magic of ordinary, everyday, simple moments. I would absolutely love to find other poetry like hers...and to read more of hers, too! So yes, I do love poetry, when it's my kind of poetry. I must also say that there's something quite magical about starting your day with a Mary Oliver poem or two...or three.
The Magic of Sea Glass
by Jenny Hale
I've read several Jenny Hale books and while I've enjoyed them all, none have stood out like this one. I absolutely, hands down, completely loved this one. The characters, Lauren and Brody (always and forever a fan of these two!), as well as the side characters (especially Mary, the innkeeper), the North Carolina coastal setting, the inn, and the story itself. It was all just perfect in my book. The romance was sweet and gentle, the story was healing and heartwarming, and the mystery and little peeks into the past made for a fun element to the story. Definitely a book that I was so sad to have come to an end...I struggled very badly after this one to find another good read. It was the perfect summer read!
Reclaiming Quiet
by Sarah Clarkson
An absolute gem of a book. The kind of book that felt like it was written by a kindred spirit...the kind of book that makes you realize you're not the only one. A cup of kindness and light...that's how I would simply describe this book. For a girl who has many times been called "the quiet girl" throughout my life, and never in a positive way, my inner world has always been as loud as a roaring lion. This is a book about tending your inner world, of cultivating your inner world in a way that feeds your soul. Sarah Clarkson and I have a good many things in common, and we differ in our opinions on a number of things as well, but most of all, this book felt like she wrote it from a true kindred spirit heart, and I feel like that really shined. I have many quotes and sections that are marked and even written out in my notebook. This is a book that I will certainly return to again and again, even just for a moment to refer to those marked passages. I highly recommend this book, especially for those of us whose inner worlds often feel loud, intrusive, heavy, and overwhelming. This is not a book about that, per say, but for me, that's what I felt and received through reading it. (Next Sunday, I hope to share a post with some of my favorite quotes and excerpts from this gem of a book.)
~ GOLDEN TIER ~
Anne of Green Gables
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
A re-read that felt like the first time. I thought I loved everything "Anne"....the Megan Follows movies, the book, the whole Avonlea world. But I didn't know just how much until I read this book again. I came to this series in my early twenties through the movies first, then I read this book in 2018...but this re-read felt even more magical than the first time. I absolutely adore the world L.M. Montgomery created in these stories, and her characters are sublime. I can't tell you how many times I stopped reading just to underline something because I loved it so much. Her writing is impeccable! I adore Anne and Diana (I do believe I'm more of a Diana myself) and their friendship, the relationship between Anne, Marilla, and Matthew, Anne's sometimes-tense relationship/friendship/enemy-ship with Gilbert, and even Mrs. Lynde grew on me throughout the book. Avonlea is a dear favorite fictional setting, and the descriptions of the changing seasons and nature's beauty made me feel, smell, taste, and see it all in my mind. Oh, yes, I'm for sure an Anne girl!
At Home in Mitford
by Jan Karon
I don't know if I could love a story more than this! I had tried picking up this book a few times in the past, and for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it at those times. I did know, however, that I would love this book once I actually read it...and how right I was! I grew up with the Mitford books around our house and seeing my mom pass around her copies to our neighbor, a friend, and her step-mother. At eight years old, I very much knew about Father Tim and the world of Mitford...and all these years later, I am finally entering that delightful world for myself. I must say that after reading Anne and then Mitford, I was in quite a reading depression. It was very hard to get into another book, as these were just so dear to me. Jan Karon has quickly become a favorite writer of mine, as her way of weaving a story together is other-worldly and so very enchanting. I adored all of her characters, from Father Tim and Cynthia, Hal and Marge, Miss Sadie, Uncle Billy and Miss Rose, Dooley and Barnabas the dog, and all the townspeople. Mitford is just the kind of place I wish existed for real, because if it did, I would just have to visit, and perhaps live there. This is a gentle, sweet, heartwarming, delightful, moving, beautiful story that tells about the lives of ordinary people living their ordinary lives...but it truly shows the beauty and wonder in all that ordinary-ness. Jan Karon has said that she writes "to give readers an extended family and to applaud the extraordinary beauty of ordinary lives", and that right there is why I loved this book, and her writing. It is comforting and healing, inspiring and beautiful, hope-filled and authentic, lifegiving and enchanting. I've heard people say that "nothing happens in these stories"...and that couldn't be further from the truth, in my opinion. To call ordinary living "nothing" is to say that there is no beauty or purpose in our everyday moments and goings-on. It is very much in that "nothing-ness" that our very lives happen and unfold. Jan Karon celebrates that beauty and purpose in such a way that I'm not sure can be matched...here's me excitedly waiting to pick up book two! I can hardly wait! You will, no doubt about it, be seeing me write about these books over and over again...if you haven't read this one yet, boy, what delight you have to look forward to!
As you can see, a good company of books joined me through 2025. I'm hoping and trusting that 2026 will bring about more new-favorites to be discovered, and returning to the series and stories that already captured my heart. I'd be most delighted to know what your most beloved books from last year are...so do share your list with me! And if you love any of the books I shared about here as much as I do, I'd love to hear about those, too!
Happy reading, lovely readers! May your 2026 be filled with magical stories, enchanting characters, beautiful writing, and lots of happy hours reading in your coziest and comfiest corner.