💥 The Best and Worst Books of 2025 💥

There are two things that you should know about me before discovering the best and worst books I read in 2025. The first is that I read 47 books (which is my highest annual reading achievement!), and that most of my ratings range from 3 to 4 stars, meaning that it is difficult for me to give both very high and very low ratings. 

So, I'm back with my best and worst books of 2025. I always TRY to be positive, and this is why I'm starting with my two 5-star reads of last year. 

⭐ Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (2009) ⭐

 

We follow two fourteen-year-old students, a boy and a girl, as a friendship sparks between them. What do they have in common? The fact that they are being severely bullied. Can any relationship built in pain and trauma survive and last? 

That was my first time reading Kawakami, but it will definitely NOT be my last. I loved the fact that the author shows two very different but equally realistic ways of trying to deal with and overcome this awful situation, highlighting the importance of the people close to us. We get deep into the minds of our protagonists, and we get to feel their pain and suffering. The author doesn't spoon-feed the reader, and this is why I'll reread this book in the future for sure, as I know that I didn't grasp all the information on my first read. 

⭐ The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid (2022) ⭐

Anders, a young white man, wakes up one day and notices that his skin has turned dark. He not only doesn't recognise himself but also gets both weird looks from strangers in the street and awkward interactions with friends and relatives, things he wasn't used to experiencing as a white person. As we continue to follow Anders's life and his new relationship with his lover, Oona, and his father, we are informed that there are more and more reports of white people turning into people of colour in one night. This leads the remaining white community to become more and more aggressive, afraid of the loss of their white dominance. Despite the chaos and the uncertainty, we see Anders's bond with Oona and his father to deepen and the world to change. 

This was the last book I read in 2025, and there was no better way to end the year. The theme of identity, the question of the connection between appearance and personality, and racism are heavily discussed in this book in a beautiful and careful way, as we meet characters who belong to different levels in the acceptance-extremism scale. 

What moved me and made me love this book is the fact that I saw this story as a grief allegory; I thought that the change of skin colour showed the confusion and the frustration, the sense of losing a part of who you are, when you have to deal with the critical before and after of a loved one passing away. There were many amazing quotes describing this feeling. This interpretation works well with the title of this book. I'm not going to write anything else, because I want everyone to read this book, so I shouldn't spoil it. 

And now, let's move to the worst book of 2025 for me...

👎 To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn (2003) 👎

Eloise Bridgerton is a spinster. She didn't mind, until her best friend married her brother. Now, she longs to find the true love that her parents, her older brothers and her sister have found and have made them so happy. The marriage proposal by letter from Sir Phillip, the widower who had married her distant cousin, intrigued her. They had been exchanging letters for some time, and their chemistry seemed obvious...even though they had never met, they had never seen each other. Eloise decides to flee her family, and go to Sir Phillip's home to meet him, so that she can make up her own mind if he is the one she would actually want to marry. When she gets there, she is shocked to see that Sir Phillip asked for her hand in marriage, not because he was interested in her, but because he was in need of a mother for his three children. Interacting and flirting in person was nothing like their letter-writing. 

My main issue with this book is the male love interest, Sir Phillip. I hated him. The text, Eloise, and Sir Phillip himself try to convince the reader that he is a respectable gentleman with a kind heart. Well, his actions told a totally different story. He showed no love to his children, he was actively avoiding them, even though he himself recognised that he should spend quality time with them. He doesn't take accountability for his mistakes. And he even becomes violent and physically abusive to them, despite the fact that he knows very well how hurtful such behaviours can be. With such a male protagonist, I couldn't feel the romance and root for a happy ending. 

Another thing that irked me and I just have to write about is one specific thing that Eloise did and acted all surprised afterwards. Eloise is described as a very clever woman who is very close to her family. So, how could a woman in that description just flee a ball, without making sure that at least one family member knows where she went? She must have known that she would cause them immense worry when they couldn't find her and they couldn't be certain if she was safe. Not to mention that she could have easily convinced her brothers to let her have some meetings with Sir Phillip in private so that she could decide if she really wanted to marry him or not. 

To cut a long story short, I was angry and not giggling while reading this romance book.

I know that the end of this post is not on a happy note, but these were all my book opinions. You can read and like whatever you want. We are here to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about all books!

Happy New Year and happy reading 💞