Another year has gone by, and I’ve added dozens of new titles to my Goodreads list. I read less than I have in previous years, and my “did not finish list” was a lot longer than I’d have liked it to be, but I’m learning to move on when a book is not resonating with me and seek out another book to read in its place.
On the plus side, the indie books I’ve read this year have been superb. Indie authors really killed it this year, and as a result, they make up the majority of this year’s top 10 list. Below you’ll find the top 10 books I read in 2025. Check them out, and let me know what you thought in the comments!
Goosh by Seth McLane
During his last day of summer vacation before the start of seventh grade, Isaac Strawbridge finds out that his mother has cancer. To escape this news, he spends his time shooting baskets at the local park. There, he meets Mr. Brooks, a former pro basketball player who becomes his middle school basketball coach. While his methods feel a bit extreme to the other kids, Isaac welcomes it, and he looks to him as a mentor as he navigates through a difficult time in his life.
Goosh is a well-written teen drama that explores some of the ways in which boys handle personal turmoil. You don’t usually get to see boys dealing with such heavy, emotionally charged situations, and it was refreshing to see it from a guy’s point of view. Isaac is very sad and angry, but he’s also driven by his love of sports, and that drive keeps him from self-destructing.
In my interview with McLane, he explained that the story was inspired by a mix of personal history, a love of sports, and his teaching experiences. In this way, he’s able to pull off an authentic look at preteen life and the curveballs that it can throw at you at that age.
You can read my full review and interview with the author here!
The Promise of Unbroken Straw by Ken Steele
Paul Landrum is a teen boy who lives on his family farm with his father, his older brother, Eli, and his grandfather. The four men are tight knit but also full of heartache. When a tornado takes out their wheat crop, the family thinks that their already struggling farm is finished. But then they strike literal oil, and they find themselves able to move to the big city. Once there, though, a whole new set of problems begin.
The Promise of Unbroken Straw feels like the next installment in the Great American Novel genre. It takes a classic story and makes it feel fresh with its deep dives into its characters’ motivations and the twists and turns that you never see coming.
Steele related in his interview with me that he had the beginning and end of this story plotted out beforehand, and he was able to fill that empty space with rich details, flawed but lovable characters, and a story that keeps you engaged and guessing until the very end. Sometimes, what feels like disaster turns out to be a fortunate turn of events, and what feels like good fortune can turn out to be a disaster.
You can read my full review and interview with the author here!
Saturn’s Favorite Music by Laura Lee
In 1992, Clara Jane starts a new job as a D.J. at the easy listening radio station in Saturn, MI. Though it’s not her dream job, it feels like a step in the right direction.
There, though, she finds herself in over her head as she battles learning the unfamiliar equipment as she goes, putting up with misogyny around every corner, and even dealing with a stalker who suffers from extraterrestrial delusions. Her support through all of this is the morning D.J., Seth, who shows her the ropes, comes to her defense, and makes work a great place to come to each day.
This book was the page turner I was looking for while I recovered from a cholecystectomy. It transported me back to the early 90s and made me wish I knew these characters and worked alongside them, bantering and making sure this small town had some small source of entertainment to keep them going. This book has all of the quirks of a workplace drama, the realistic dialogue between coworkers, and the nostalgia of what it was like to tune into the radio to get your news and share a listening session with others in your hometown.
Incidentally, Lee also worked in radio, making her detailed explanations of how a radio station worked back in the early 90s authentically accurate. She also injected with the passion that she clearly has for this line of work.
You can read my full review and interview with the author here!
North of Tomboy by Julie A. Swanson
Jess Jezowski is a kid growing up in rural Michigan in the early 1970s. A hardcore tomboy, Jess is constantly challenging others who call her a girl. When she receives a doll for Christmas, she chops its hair off, calls it Mickey, and speaks for him. The family finds it funny, but Jess begins to find that Mickey is an outlet to act and speak the way she wants to and to be taken seriously by those whose approval she wants most, particularly her parents.
This book falls right into that category of middle grade novels that I sought out as a kid. It’s a family drama with a lovable female protagonist who fights for the identity she wants.
You don’t have to struggle with gender identity to relate to her struggle. Instead, you just have to go along for the ride and see where it takes the endearing yet very realistically portrayed Jezowski family.
Swanson disclosed in my interview with her that she too grew up a tomboy and used that personal experience to craft this fictional one. Her message shows that we’re all just figuring things out, and all you have to go with in the moment is how you feel, not how others perceive you or what label you have to put on yourself in order for others to understand and love you.
You can read my full review and interview with the author here!
Moon Pies and RC Cola at the Rexall by Kristene Fields
Scooter Finley is an aspiring young filmmaker who lives in Florida with his little sister, Kiki, his mother, and his grandparents. His father left years ago, and he channels his anger over his abandonment into his creative pursuits.
Scooter and Kiki start a landscaping business to earn the money to buy the equipment needed to make an entry into a filmmaking contest that he comes across. Kiki even recruits a friend to help them, and things are going well until the plan goes south, threatening Scooter’s dreams of becoming a filmmaker.
Moon Pies and RC Cola at the Rexall is one of those middle grade novels that resonate with both children and adults. The stakes are physically low but emotionally high. The family members are all distinct, but their bonds are tight. And the story is sophisticated while still being kid-friendly and keeping the perspectives young.
According to my interview with her, Fields is a self-proclaimed cinephile, and her passion for storytelling really shines through in this novel. She really knows how to bring characters and scenarios to life in a way that feels so organic, and she’s able to write classic conflicts in unique and unpredictable ways.
You can read my full review and interview with the author here!
Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry
Ben Van Brunt, the granddaughter of Brom Bones and Katrina Van Tassel, is a brave tomboy who loves playing the woods of Sleepy Hollow and investigating the legends that her grandfather relayed to her. However, one day, she comes across the headless body of a child in the woods, and it sets off a chain of events that bring to light the legend of Ichabod Crane, The Headless Horseman, her own family history, and ultimately, her destiny.
Horseman was an audiobook which I read in late summer to kick off the Halloween season early. It can be very easy to mess up a classic story like this, but I felt like Henry nailed the lore while creating something of her own in the continuation of the famous American legend. I also think that listening to it as an audiobook helped with the tone and atmosphere of the story, particularly because it is dialogue-heavy, which I considered one of its many strengths in getting to know the characters and playing off the mystery elements of the book.
At The Ragtag Hotel by Freya Novak
On a hot day, the animals who are staying at the Ragtag Hotel come running into the elevator and out of the heat one by one. The elevator operator, Dallas Dingo, is quick to welcome them inside at first, but as it grows more and more crowded, he begins to question if the elevator can hold so many animals of different shapes and sizes.
At The Ragtag Hotel is a funny and energetic picture book that plays with classic comedy picture tropes while weaving in facts about different types of animals and vocabulary lessons in various languages. I love how friendly and considerate the characters are and how the conflict feels like something that they all have to work towards together, and they do, with cathartic results.
Novak mentioned in my interview with her that the point of the book was to highlight the variety of languages in the world and expose readers to different cultures. This book does just that without feeling like it’s playing on any stereotypes or shoving any particular message at its readers.
You can read my full review and interview with the author here!
The Mountain of Dempsey Molehill by Julie Stroebel Barichello
In the early 2000s, the Molehill family live in a small town where even painting your house the wrong color can be a crime. To combat this, Mr. Molehill decides to run for mayor and relax some of the rules in the town that discourage individuality. The current mayor, Mayor Pickett, refuses to go down without a fight, though, and the Molehill family rallies together to give Mr. Molehill the best chances of success.
The Mountain of Dempsey Molehill is a funny and inspiring book about underdogs and outcasts who refuse to be anything other than authentic and draw in other individuals in a mini support system. I love the episodic chapters that find the well-intentioned children often making a mess of their father’s reputation rather than helping it, yet they don’t let it discourage them from continuing to be their authentic and well-meaning selves.
Barichello disclosed in my interview with her that she hoped her book would inspire readers to fight for their beliefs and the issues that are important to them. I love that it’s written from Dempsey, the middle child’s, perspective, and the personal issues that befall him while he’s advocating for his father.
You can read my full review and author interview here!
Fahrenheit-182: A Memoir by Mark Hoppus
The bassist for the popular pop-punk band Blink-182 shares his life story, from his early years growing up in the California desert to his recent battle with cancer. Most importantly, he focuses on his music career and shares stories from touring, recording, and the relationships he’s had with his bandmates, both strong and rocky.
Anyone who knew me as a teen knew that I worshiped this band and its music. I collected every magazine article, taped every appearance, and, of course, bought every album up through the early 2000s. I thought I had the story straight, but Hoppus’ book disclosed the behind-the-scenes drama of some important moments in his personal life and career, and the complicated history of this band and the moments that led to some of their highest highs and lowest of lows. There are so many moments that I connected with lines from some of my favorite songs, and it made me revisit these beloved early albums with fresh eyes.
I sped through this audiobook in just a few days. That eagerness to keep returning to the text is how you know that a book is doing its job for the reader. It was fun to revisit this obsessive time in my life and very eye-opening but also profound to get a more serious, in-depth account of some very famous moments in the life of one of the members of this beloved group.
Bishop by Candace Nola
Troy Spencer enlists the help of a tracker named Bishop to help him search for his sister and niece who have gone missing in the Alaskan wilderness. What he doesn’t realize is that Bishop also has extraordinary abilities that will come in handy in fighting off the evil entity that is stalking his family.
This book reintroduced me to the beauty of short books and the way they are able to tell a full story without the fluff. I love the action, the capable characters, and the intensity of the conflict, which is perfect for its dangerous, wintery setting. And while I’m not a big fantasy reader, this is more of a horror story than a fantasy one, and it paired two types of horror characters against each other in a way that was unique but completely fitting.
You can read my full review here!
What were your favorite books that you read this year, old or new? Leave your answers in the comments below!
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