my TOP 10 BEST BOOKS of 2025 RANKED!! 🏆 📚

Friends, it is time for one of our most important videos of the year. It's time to talk about my best books of 2025. Da is here throwing a fit. She's complaining and I don't know, guys. She really likes kissing me. I don't want you to judge her, okay? She just likes it. I don't know what you're moaning about. Do you want to tell them? Tell them what you're moaning. Oh, another one. [Music] I can't complain. >> Actually, I can. Okay, we're going to have more kisses. Just go on the bed. I don't know what she's upset about, but guess what? I am not upset cuz I'm very excited to talk to you about my best books of 2025. Guys, I have to say before we get into this list, you know, I do a strict top 10, okay? And I rank them. I rank my top books. I found this year the hardest I found in a long time. I think I've got some like a huge sle of a top 10 here. I feel like in the previous few years like 24 23 maybe 2022 I wasn't getting as many like entering the megan lore entering the meg with me law books but I feel like this year I have like I'd say particularly my top five six are just really I mean the whole top 10 is actually just so strong like really really amazing books that I cannot wait to tell you to read. So shall we just dive into it? Let's not waste any more time. Let's get into my top 10. We're going to go from number 10 up to number one. Place your bets now for what number one is. I think you might be able to know that one. God, I found ranking this so hard. Okay, number 10. Coming at number 10, we have We Are All Guilty Here by Karen Slaughter. I worry that this may be recency bias a little bit, but I don't think so. I think it's a really outstanding book. In this, we are in a small town where two young girls go missing and we're following Emmy, who is the deputy sergeant as she tries to solve the mystery of of basically who has kidnapped these girls. It's very clear uh very early on that they have been kidnapped. This book is such a mature, intelligent look at that small town murder mystery, right? It's a trope we see done a lot. It's a setting we see done a lot. And I think I was saying in the video, I think often it is done away in books that it's kind of like popcorny books, you know, like your average thriller that's meant to be read quickly and it's a very evocative setting, small town America. But this one I think it this is one of the most intelligent thrillers mysteries that I have read in quite some time. I adored this. This was my first Karen Sortter and now I cannot wait to get into so many. It's heartbreaking. This had a few twists throughout it. Not so much like the ending but twists throughout it that had me gag goop shocked crying. It made me cry multiple times. I think we have such an interesting cast of characters and it's now going to be a series which I'm very excited for. It manages to set you up for a series and set up a lot of intrigue for a series while still being its own contained mystery that has so many layers to it. We have a point about 150 pages in that switches the kind of story that we're telling that I wasn't expecting. And I think that element is also something you don't see done a lot. Like you see basically a straight narrative in these kind of books a lot whereas we had a switch up in this. Oh my god, it was so good. I need to dig my teeth into more Karen Slaughter books. So yes, I'm I would really really recommend this. I thought it was just such an accomplished book. Number nine, guys, you'll be surprised by how low on the list this is, but I think that shows just what an iconic year we have had. I am putting The Impossible Fortune by Rich Osman in at number nine. >> I'm in a complete state of shock. I forgot what I was going to say. >> Usually these books are near the top of my list. This one, I think it's just so hard to follow number four in this series. This is number five in the Thursday Metal Club series where we got these old cast of characters from this retirement village solving meta mysteries. This one begins at uh one of the characters weddings and someone approaches one of the characters and like, "Babe, I need your help. Oh, I'm in the deep I am in the deep I need your help. Please can you help me?" And it just snowballs from there. It's a big story. We've got so many characters now. You know, Richman loves like setting up a minor character in number two and then playing a big part in book number five. You know what I mean? We have a very, very large group of characters now. And I loved this. I had a wonderful time. Did not want to put it down. Had a great time reading it. But I think number four, book number four is one of the most emotionally devastating books you're ever going to read. Simple as. And I think the characters, you don't want them to go through that every book. But I just think when a book in a series has that much emotional gravitas, it means that the next one, if it's kind of lighter, it feels a bit like, oh, okay. You know, the mystery in this one surrounds a lot to do with like Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. And I do think that it was done in a not cringe way. But is that my favorite type of mystery? No. But I mean, it's still outstanding. I still had one of the most wonderful times reading this. Richard Osman writes characters, writes life, writes situations in the best way. He has some of my favorite writing style. It's so simple, but yet so effective. I cannot wait to reread this whole series soon. I think maybe next year I might do an audio book cuz I've never listened to audio books. I might do an audiobook reread of the whole thing. So, wish me luck in doing that. But yes, not as high on the list as it would usually be, but I still loved it. Number eight is my only fantasy this year that I gave five stars. That is The Spell Shop by Sarah Beth Dev. This is the book that ended my fantasy draw, whatever you want to call it, the fantasy fail of the year where I just could not get into fantasy this year. I found it very hard. I couldn't read fantasy. I found fantasy cringe. I wasn't enjoying it. But this is one of the most delightful books I have ever read. So in this we are following this librarian who is like it opens up the bit the book opens up in quite a big way. like the city is burning and her and her sp sentient spider plant have to escape with as many books as they can from the library and they flee to this little island that she grew up on and there's still a cottage there that her family owned and she steals away in there and it's a story of her finding community on this small island a community that she's never really had before and making jam and talking to the sentient spider plant and maybe there's a little bit of romance too. This is one of the only books that I have read since I read any Travis Bowry, you know, Legends and Lattes, Book Shaws and Bone Dust, that I feel does what I want from a cozy fantasy. I love the idea of cozy fantasy, but I read a lot of them and it's just not quite striking the right tone. This has the perfect amount of hope, of whimsy, of this one is more plotty than some like a Travis Bowy. It has a fair amount of plot, but I also love the small moments when I just think back to her like making and selling jam from her cottage window and it makes me so happy. But I really enjoyed the romance and I just loved the community. Really a lot of this book is to do with the importance of community and how we all need community and how community is dwindling in the modern age, you know, which is I think is very very important. So I adored this. I think this is a warm hug of a book. I can't wait to read more in the series. I think Sarah Beth does is a very interesting author. She has a lot of different types of books. Like I said when I read this, I have a YA like horror on my TBR from her that I've had for a couple years. So maybe I need to pick that one up now. But yes, loved, loved, loved, loved, loved. The only fantasy this year that has even sniffed being on this list for me. Then I think this is actually my only like category romance on this list. I mean, there's other books in here that have some element of romance in them to varying degrees. Even my number one you could say has elements of a romance in them, but I wouldn't say it's like a a genre romance. And it is, did I say number six? This is number seven, right? Oh god. Deep end by Ali Hazerwood. Listen, listen. Alli gets me. >> If you get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't. If you know, you know. And if you don't know, like I honestly feel bad for you. Like >> I'm an Ali Hazwood lover. I'm an Ali Hazwood defender till the end of days. This one is two student athletes. One is a swimmer, one is a diver. And they find out that they're basically into the same thing sexually. Actually, his ex-girlfriend, who's her friend, says, "You guys should have sex. Basically, you should just be friends with benefits because you're into the same stuff." And so they do, but obviously they start falling for each other and again they've got like personal trauma and personal baggage going on that makes things difficult. And I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I like I said I've said I'm Phil if I fear I'm repeating myself in this video because these are all books I love that I have spoken about many times. But obviously this book is the most sex heavy out of any Ellie Hazwood in terms of like page space. It takes up a lot of it. There's a lot of exploration of that. I will say if you're someone who reads a lot of kink stuff you'll think this is tame. Even I who don't read that was like for people who are saying they're into some freaky they're not really into some like they're not doing freaky really. But alongside that, I think this is her best written yet in terms of character development and character growth and character writing, right? Honestly, I think she she she puts them all to shame, babe. She puts them all to shame. I just think Alli is growing into like one of the best romance writers. For me the best for me the best romance writer of a generation and I think she can do no wrong. This this was a huge slay. Number six, a book that I think has put I put as like most underrated or like best for everyone kind of book in my book awards video. Number six is the final act of Juliet Willoughby by Ellerie Lloyd. Again, I feel like I've spoken about this book a lot lately. There's a few on here that were in that video that I'm like, "God, stop yapping, Megan. Stop yapping." This is a multi-timeline story. We have the 1930s in Paris where there is Juliet Willoughby who is an artist but she dies in a fire with her much more famous artist lover and he is kind of the one who goes down in history as well known but she was also an artist and some of her art was lost in that fire and there's kind of when you dig deep into like the texts there's information about her but she really has been forgotten to time. Then we're in the 1990s at Cambridge as there's two art history students who kind of find out about her and want to kind of bring her back to public consciousness. And then we are in Dubai in the present day where there is a sale going on of her most famous painting that was thought to be lost in that fire. So it's a bit of a complex story. There is a lot going on in this. There is a lot of layers. There's a lot of topics that we're touching on. And I just think this was so well written. I just think this, again, I think I said this in the book Wars video, so forgive me for repeating myself, but it's a book that's been a lot poured into. Again, I read in that video, there's a whole like bibliography at the back of like text they've consulted on all the different areas, cuz this is a husband and wife writing duo. Yeah. All the different areas that this book encompasses. And I just think this is a book that almost anyone can enjoy. I think it's a great book club pick. I think it's a great book for pretty much any of you watching this. If you enjoy dark academ, if you enjoy history, if you enjoy like ancient history, if you enjoy art, if you enjoy forgotten women, if you enjoy like a kind of country house estate element, there's so many elements to this that I think it could be for almost anyone. And I look back on this and I'm just like more people need to read this book. I think The Club, which uh was a release before this for this author, was like a book of the month pick or something like that. And a lot of people have read it and I don't think it's their best work. And then barely anyone has read this and I think it is severely underrated and I think almost anyone could enjoy it. Number five is another book that I think none of you watching this will have read or very very few of you. If you have read this, let me know that you're one of the few. It is Tell Me What I Am by Uno Manion. Um this is a very emotional book. This is a very heavy-hitting book. This is again I've spoken about this a bit lately in the book awards video but we are following basically a young girl Ruby who is living with her father and paternal grandmother but lives a very isolated life and then we go back in the past and in the present following her aunt her maternal aunt when in the past before Ruby is born and after um trying to get her sister Ruby's mother out of an abusive relationship with Ruby's father and the journey that the whole family takes in that regard and then Ruby's mother eventually going missing and her search for her sister and you know in the present day we follow Ruby grow up from very very young I feel like from her perspective from like five ba basically up until teenagehood and her as a child realizing okay there's something not right with my family setup with the rules that I've had to learn and abide by through how isolated I am but like I can't quite put a word to it she can't call abuse abuse right because it's a insidious form of abuse. Her father doesn't physically abuse her. He doesn't verbally abuse her, but he controls and isolates her. And it's a heartbreaking book. It is so heartbreaking. It is so horrible. It is so like guys, this book is is deeply deeply bone deep sad. It is horrible. But I think it's a real unflinching look at the wide reaching effects of abuse and how abuse can impact an entire family's life forever. Forever. you know the the or you know also in the case of like causing someone harm there is a ripple effect it is not just that one act it is that that has ripple effects out to everyone and I thought it was beautiful I thought it was really beautiful I thought it was so well written I really want to read more from this author cuz this was my first book I picked up completely on a whim yeah I haven't read anything else like this I don't think it's very very unique I would really recommend you pick this up just be warned it doesn't have speech marks I read this mostly via audio, so I feel like that might have impacted my enjoyment a bit, but yeah, it's impeccable. Coming in at number four, another recent read. Here she is. It's not quite dead yet by Holly Jackson. Oh. Oh, she's here. >> Thank god you're here. Where have you been, Where have you bloody been? >> I didn't know how high to put this. I I again, I fear some recency bias here. And this is a book that like other books on this list I'm like how could you not enjoy that? How could you not enjoy that? This book I understand. Okay, if you didn't love this, I understand why it wasn't your jam. So, we are following Jet who gets hit over the head one night after like going to this fair, this autumn fair with her family. She goes back to her house, gets hit over the head, wakes up, she's like, "Oh my god, I'm alive. Oh my god, I'm alive. I lived through it. They tried to kill me, but they ain't killed me, I'm back." Turns out she's going to die in seven days from an aneurysm. there's like a piece of bone like digging into part of her brain that like they can't really remove. It would be very risky. There'd be a high very high chance she'd die uh if they tried an operation, but if they don't, she's going to die anyway in seven days. So, she decides to solve her own murder. She teams up with like a childhood friend of hers as well. And Holly Jackson just back, baby. She's just back. She's back for me. Me and Holly Jackson, we went through some rocky tough years, but I think she is fully back with this. I think this is very well written in terms of pace, in terms of plot, in terms of moving the story forward. I really enjoyed Jet as a main character, but as one of the elements I can understand you hating Jet and finding her insufferable to read. She's got a very very specific type of humor and perspective and you're either going to vibe with that or you're not. It's it's going to be one or the other. There's no in between. I if you watched my Good Reads Choice Awards video, you'll know I sobbed uncontrollably. Sobed uncontrollably reading this book. It really got me. I I loved it. I loved it. And I think Holly Jackson, if you're watching, why do I always Holly Jackson's like the author that I'm always most fearful of seeing. I think it's because I think there's maybe a high chance of having seen my video hating on the show, Good Girls Guide to Murder Show. I just feel like she might have done that. I feel like she might have seen it. So, I'm always like, Holly, if you're out there, but I always hope she's not because obviously I haven't been very kind about her books since as good as Dead, basically. I think this is a really great place for her to sit age category wise. This is like new adult. This is her adult debut. It's a very young adult debut. I I wouldn't say it's YA, though. I would say it's adult, but I think this is a good place for her to sit. And as someone who is again like 25, but feels 16, I resonate with Jet in that regard. I resonate. I think this is a good place for her to sit now in terms of her age category. I would like for this to continue. So, Holly, you're back. I couldn't stop turning the pages. I didn't want to put this down. It was a great read. Loved it. Then guys, my top three. Two are non-fiction. >> Gagatandra. >> I know. Two are non-fiction. That's crazy. What's going on? Number three is Disney High by Ashley Spencer. Oh god. Oh, I love her. Okay. Yeah, Disney High. This is the untold story of the rise and fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire. It's what it says on the tin. Ashley Spencer writing this history of the Disney Channel. And listen, oh, I ate it up. Oh, I ate it up. But like I say this again and again, you if you want to read this, only read it if you grew up with that so Raven, with Lizzie Maguire, with Hannah Montana, with Camp Rock, with High School Musical, like because yeah, I don't think you'll enjoy it if you don't. I mean, there's like a bit of a prologue on like early I say the first two chapters maybe are like kind of the very early stages of Disney Channel before it evolved into kind of Lizzie McGuire, that sort of that kind of era. I found this fascinating. I found the peak behind the curtain fascinating. I found all the tea that I got as a grownup on all the things if I could have known this. These are the things I wanted to know when I was a child. Like I want to know the tea. I want to know the tea. I feel like the High School Musical chapters had some of the best tea. Oh my god. Let me just I turned to a random page. I turned to a random page. This is Bah Musical. The internal dynamics of the cast were another roller coaster. Zach and Vanessa had been dating since their early declaration of love during the film's first rehearsals, but there were occasional breakups and onset fights. He was the sun and moon to her. Lucas aka Ryan said, "Poor girl." Later during the third film, Vanessa asked, I don't know who this man is, Baro Cooini, if she could use his office. He obliged. I hear her dragging Zach into the office, he said. And then I just hear yelling, he added. Do you know how long relationships last at that age? That was a real blessing to hold it together for three for three movies. Oh, I need the tea. I need I need the tea. Also, Ashley and Vanessa were as tight as sisters. Other days they didn't speak. Oh my god. That's history. Oh my god. And also Ashley and Lucas hating each other. Like I need the tea. This is everything I wanted. I think. Sorry, I know I went on a bit of a tangent there, but I loved this. I loved this. I think if this is your era, it is a must readad. Ashley Spencer has researched it so well, has spoken to so many people involved in these shows from actors to directors to producers to like other makeup, hair and makeup people, like everyone. And like I said, I think I mentioned this in the book awards video, you know, I think she does a good job of balancing the light and shade of like the difficulties of being a child star, right? and like did Disney did the Disney Channel do enough to protect them? But also like the the joys of making the these shows and like the importance I think children's media is important. I think children's media is dead. I think like beyond Bluey age, there's suddenly this death. There's no Disney Channel anymore. And I think it's important kids have stuff for kids. I think it's important 9year-olds have stuff for kids rather than just jumping straight into stuff for it made for older people. but there's nothing else for them to watch, you know? And so I think you have to balance like kids want to watch stuff about people a little bit older than them, right? So if you're 10, you want to watch something about a 15year-old basically. And so you have to balance having child actors and all the perils that comes with, but I think children's media is important for society. And I think Ashley Spencer explores that very, very well. So yeah, I loved it. I would actually love to reread this. I feel like I need to reread it. And I need to get all the tea again. Oh god, I'm like I'm standing here reading this all again and I'm like gag, gag, gag, gag. Great, great stuff. Number two on the list is another non-fiction. It's another non-fiction. It is Story of a Murder by Hi Ruben Hold. You guys, you need to read this. You need to read this. Please, please, please. If you read The Five by H Ruben Hold, you need to read this cuz it's just as good. We are following the story of Belle or Corora's murder by her husband. This was a very big case back in like Victorian times. It's a well-known kind of true crime case where he murders her and then him and his mistress tried to flee from England to Canada on a boat with his mistress dressed as his son. But as Harry Rubenhold points out, everything we basically know about what went down or what is in the public consciousness of what went down comes from the trial where Dr. Griffin, her husband, the murderer, got to kind of paint her in a certain light, justify his actions, give his version of the story. And let me tell you, uh uh uh that version of the story is not correct. And Hi Ruben Hold is one of the best like historian writers out there. She puts you in the room with these characters. I feel like I am watching historical reenactment. I can see people's body language. I can see people's facial expressions. And she is just like the amount of research this must take is insane. I want to find there's a part of this that I read out I remember in the vlog. I think this is some of the best writing you've ever seen in non-fiction. Sorry, I'm reading out the non-fiction to you. Anyways, I think it's important what he failed to imagine was the opposite outcome that in removing Belle Elmore, he was destabilizing the lives of many others who in turn would upend his own. He failed to see how all the pieces aligned. that murder is never a single act of destruction, but experienced as a series of interconnected injuries, a spray of shrapnel scattered throughout the lives of all those in close proximity. Hi, pen on fire. And that was like similar to what I was saying about tell me what I am. They both have that feature to them. This is obviously true crime, but I love it. I love her giving Bella a voice. I love her giving all the women who brought that man to justice a voice. It's incredible. It is an incredible piece of work and you will need to read it again, again, again. And then my best book of the year, it's almost a bit boring, right? Because some of those books there are very niche, right? Sor murder, Disney high, tell me what I am. Like I can influence you. Juliet will be like, I want to influence you to read these books. This one you've probably all read and it is a lot of your best book of the year. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reed. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought about it. I tried to think, should it be something else? But it's this. This is set in the 1980s. We're at NASA and we're following some of the first female astronauts that they ever allowed in. And we open at the end, right? We open at the end of the story where Joan, who is our protagonist, is kind of working on the comms. I don't I might not get all the terminology right, okay, for you NASA heads out there. Joan is on the comms and she for a mission that has a lot of her cohort on the on the ship basically and particularly Vanessa and they were roommates. Um they're very very historians note that they were very close friends. It's very mysterious at the start of the book at the end um where their relationship lies where their what is going on because it's written tinged is very particular with her words at the start of this book which I think is very effective and then we go back and we see everyone joining NASA and creating this friendships and his found family and other kinds of relationships and growing together and um the end cruel cruel cruel Taylor what are you doing? It's It's an amazing book. I think it's an amazing book. I would want this to be 800 pages. There are time skips of like a year sometimes or like months, like four months. I'm like, I want to know what they had for dinner every night. I want to know everything they did. I want to know every single movement, every action. I want to know everything. I want to spend time with these characters. I loved it. I loved it. And like for many of you, it's your best book of the year. And I think with good reason. I think she's knocked it out of the park with this one. I really do. I I could not put it down. It's made me want to be into stars and astrology and space. Suddenly, I'm so into space. She also does that great thing that she does, I feel like, in a lot of her books. So, you have a main character and main characters, but there's also other people's lives going on, right, that she has enough little details of this wide, wide cast of characters of other people's lives and other people's tragedies and other people's difficulties that makes the world feel so fleshed out. I loved it. I've given every Jensen read I've ever read five stars. Like, I'm deep deep in to her work and her at this point. I'm deep deep in. So yeah, I mean this isn't the book that I want to make most of you read because there's so many Nisha books on here, but it is my best book of the year. So there we have it, friends. Those are my best books of 2025 ranked. Again, I think like this list incredible, incredible. There's a lot here that I feel like are entering the make with books law as like favorite books of all time. I had a really great time with them. Like I feel like I had very high highs. I had a lot of mids this year, but these highs are truly outstanding. So, thank you so much for watching till the end. Please let me know what your best books of the year have been. I want to see in the comments and tell me why you loved them. Tell me, write an essay. I will read them all. Tell me why you love those books. I would love to know. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you very soon in another video. Bye. [Music]