In Episode 213, Sarah and Chrissie (@ChrissieWhitley) wrap up the year with the Best Books of 2025 Genre Awards. They reveal their Overall Best Books (Fiction and Nonfiction) and a full breakdown by genre, including: Best Literary Fiction, Best Romance, Best Brain Candy, Best Genre Mash-Up, and more! Plus, they share the winners for these same genres as chosen by the Sarah’s Bookshelves Live Member Community.
This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Announcements
- The 2026 Reading Tracker is out! This year brings upgraded features across the board — including NEW average star rating and 5-star book tracking for every stat on the Dashboard — plus an updated Lite Tracker for those who prefer a streamlined version. Both Trackers are ONLY available to paid Patreon or Substack subscribers ($7/month) and is no longer sold separately. To avoid Apple’s 30% fee, be sure to join directly from the Patreon website (mobile or desktop). Join our Patreon Community (here) OR become a Substack Paid Member (here)!
Highlights
- Podcast reflections from 2025 — including top episodes based on download stats.
- A brief overview of Sarah’s and Chrissie’s 2025 reading years.
- Their favorite books of the year: overall and by genre, including the SBL Member Community’s picks.
2025 Genre Awards [12:39]
Sarah
- The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [12:45]
- The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [16:32]
- The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [20:13]
- One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [23:48]
- The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [28:47]
- August Lane by Regina Black (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:03]
- The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:54]
- Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:36]
- This American Woman by Zarna Garg (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [50:00]
- Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:59]
- The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:44]
- Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:29]
- Next of Kin by Gabrielle Hamilton (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:10]
- The Elements by John Boyne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:03:10]
Chrissie
- Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:42]
- Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:36]
- Marble Hall Murders (Susan Ryeland, 3) by Anthony Horowitz (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:39]
- The Pretender by Jo Harkin (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [25:51]
- What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:28]
- To Clutch a Razor (Curse Bearer, 2) by Veronica Roth (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:39]
- The Love Haters by Katherine Center (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:03]
- These Heathens by Mia McKenzie (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:31]
- The Zorg by Siddarth Kara (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:11]
- Misbehaving at the Crossroads by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [51:09]
- A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:38]
- Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (2025) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [55:11]
- Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:16]
- Future Boy by Michael J. Fox (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:01:23]
- Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:06:07]
SBL Member Community
- The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [15:43]
- The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:02]
- Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:52]
- Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:21]
- The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:28]
- The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:23]
- One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:39]
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:57]
- Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:15]
- Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:17]
- Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:19]
- The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:22]
- Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:24]
- So Far Gone by Jess Walter (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:27]
- This American Woman by Zarna Garg (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:28]
- Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:20]
- Ordinary Time by Annie Jones (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:32]
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:31]
- Among Friends by Hal Ebbott (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:25]
- Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:02:33]
Other Books Mentioned
- Leaving by Roxana Robinson (2024) [13:51]
- Heart the Lover by Lily King (2025) [15:35]
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) [15:58]
- Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) [16:09]
- The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) [16:11]
- Dream State by Eric Puchner (2025) [16:13]
- Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne (2023) [17:45]
- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025) [18:46]
- Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025) [18:56]
- The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham (2025) [19:18]
- Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan (2025) [19:23]
- Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2023) [21:28]
- The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (2025) [23:03]
- The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (2025) [23:07]
- Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (2025) [23:13]
- The Boomerang by Robert Bailey (2025) [23:15]
- We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (2017) [24:09]
- Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin (2022) [26:03]
- What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (2025) [26:55]
- Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025) [27:06]
- The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (2025) [27:12]
- Isola by Allegra Goodman (2025) [28:13]
- Merge by Grace Walker (2025) [31:35]
- The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve (2025) [31:43]
- Sunrise on the Reaping by Susanna Collins (2025) [31:48]
- Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (2025) [31:01]
- The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker (2025) [32:05]
- When Among Crows by Veronica Roth (2024) [33:05]
- Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (2025) [34:23]
- Babel by R. F. Kuang (2022) [34:36]
- Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (2023) [34:37]
- A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (2025) [34:49]
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (2024) [34:54]
- Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) [34:58]
- The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (2025) [35:05]
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (2025) [35:31]
- The Art of Scandal by Regina Black (2023) [36:49]
- The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) [38:54]
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (2025) [40:30]
- Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (2025) [40:37]
- We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (2025) [40:42]
- The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (2025) [41:19]
- Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (2025) [41:30]
- When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (2025) [44:56]
- The Wager by David Grann (2023) [47:34]
- Replaceable You by Mary Roach (2025) [49:04]
- The Gales of November by John U. Bacon (2025) [49:11]
- Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) [51:58]
- All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (2025) [52:08]
- Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) [52:24]
- Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (2025) [52:28]
- One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (2025) [52:49]
- The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024) [53:22]
- Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) [54:21]
- Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo (2025) [54:27]
- Woodworking by Emily St. James (2025) [56:16]
- Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2025) [58:57]
- The Elements by John Boyne (2025) [59:15]
- Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (2025) [59:49]
- My Friends by Fredrik Backman (2025) [59:51]
- The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (2017) [1:05:51]
- James by Percival Everett (2024) [1:08:07]
Top Podcast Episodes
- Ep. 199: Best Books of 2025 (So Far) with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) and Susie (@NovelVisits)
- Ep. 184: Best Books of 2024 Genre Awards with Susie (@NovelVisits)
- Ep. 185: Winter 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
- Ep. 205: Fall 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
- Ep. 192: Spring 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide)
- Ep. 198: Best of Thrillers with Anderson McKean of Page & Palette (@PagePalette)
- Ep. 188: Best of Fantasy with Chrissie (@ChrissieWhitley)
- Ep. 193: Clare Leslie Hall (author of Broken Country)
- Ep. 187: State of the Industry in 2024 with Kathleen Schmidt (@KathMSchmidt), author of the Publishing Confidential Substack
- Ep. 208: Best of Narrative Nonfiction with Elizabeth Barnhill of Fabled Bookshop (@FabledBookshop)
About Chrissie Whitley
Instagram | Goodreads | Substack
Chrissie loves all things related to books, movies, and music. A former marketer on the foreign exchange trading floor with a large bank, before joining Sarah’s Bookshelves as an assistant in September 2021, she was a stay-at-home mom, occasionally taking freelance work with graphic design and copywriting. Between a long stretch with the kiddos at story time, steady visits as a patron, and volunteering, Chrissie has spent a lot of time at libraries.
She is an 8 of the Enneagram typology (at times leaning into her 7 wing), a double Scorpio, and plays around in the ambivert area. So, though it may sound as though she presents her opinions as fact, she actually makes space for many opinions, especially about books, movies, and music — she just does it confidently. (Though she might be less forgiving with movies, but she’s working on it.) Chrissie is a married mom of two and currently lives in Charlotte, NC.
Next Episode
Catherine and I will be back on January 7 with the Winter 2026 Book Preview.
Support the Podcast
- Support on Patreon
When you support the podcast on Patreon or Substack for $7/month, get bonus podcast episodes and other goodies! - Share
If you like the podcast, I’d love for you to share it with your reader friends…in real life and on social media (there’s easy share buttons at the bottom of this post!). - Subscribe
…wherever you listen to podcasts, so new episodes will appear in your feed as soon as they’re released. - Rate and Review
Search for “Sarah’s Bookshelves” in Apple Podcasts…or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Pin this post…
