December Books + Book Wrap-Up for 2025

 I finished my 2025 reading goals with a few days to spare but not enough time to cram in more books. 40 out of 40 and no overachieving this year! Still thinking on my goal for 2026. I think I might go for 50 simply because I will fill the space I'm given and if I know I have to get 40, I'll stop there or procrastinate it.

Here's what I read in December:

When I Kill You by B.A. Paris (ARC from Netgalley, releases 2/17/26)

I found the main character to be a little frustrating but it was a true mystery so it's worth picking up. 

Once and Again by Rebecca Serle (ARC from Netgalley, releases 3/10/26)

I'm not including my review for this because it contains spoilers. I found some issues with this one. Basically I really liked In Five Years. I didn't read all of Expiration Dates because I didn't like it that much. For this book, the main character bothered me. She had the mentality of a 17 year old; seemed stunted or something. There's twists and turns and I guess it might make sense but I didn't like her. I'm not sure what she exactly did with her life between breaking up with Stone (why?) at 25 and then being 37 or whatever in the story. I didn't love the ending either. Or the husband. Or the mother. The best part was honestly the origin story of the "ticket". Waaaaay too much set up at the beginning and not enough interesting stuff in the middle of the book. I love the idea of this book, but the characters were not sympathetic at all. I gave it 3 stars. 

The Names by Florence Knapp

I would bet money that *Jenna* didn't even read this book. I bet she skimmed a synopsis and it checked the right boxes so she said to put a sticker on it.

Here's where I generally will displease the masses. I read a Goodreads award winner and didn't like it. Here's my basic review:

Here's the problem: it was too much. I really liked the first 3 stories, from the timelines. It was interesting. Then, all the characters had different purposes and personalities depending on the timelines. People were dying and being abused, depending on the timeline. Seven years is also way too much of a jump. I could not keep anything straight in my mind. And the last scene... (spoiler in white: led to a lot of sympathy for an abuser, murderer, and villain that perpetrated the entire plot. It was weird.)

If you want a book that restarts in different ways and follows different paths, I highly recommend The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. SO GOOD. It's not exactly the same format but I was reminded of it while reading reviews.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Another Goodreads winner, another two stars from me.

I didn't write a review on the site but honestly it was just kind of boring. There were four main characters and then maybe three side characters. But the main characters all had issues and none of them are introduced all at once and you don't even see how they fit together, really, until the middle of the book. There's a lot of showing and not telling. No one is really likable. I wasn't rooting for anyone. It switched POVs and years very quickly with no warning. It also flashed backward and forward and I constantly had to recalibrate the narrative in my head because it didn't just move forward. Like, all of a sudden, it's 10 years ago on a ship in the ocean. It was also 150 pages too long. The psychic stuff was, I'll just say it, stupid and so was Becky. This weird plot point introduced a lot of random townspeople who had no purpose in the story and just led to more words in this 464 pager. This could've been an interesting plot if it'd been a lot less wordy and less cagey about giving information to the reader. 

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What was the best book you read in 2025? 

Yesterday I said I probably enjoyed that octopus book the most, which I would not have expected.