Goodreads Winners 2025: The Year’s Most Popular Books

A runaway foster kid, eighteen-year-old Louisa has spent her whole life fascinated by a famous painting of a pier with three barely discernable teens sitting on the end. After a chance run-in with the artist just before her death, Louisa inherits the painting from his best friend, Ted. Together, Ted and Louisa set out on a cross-country train journey where Ted tells her the story of one fateful summer where the best friends avoided their chaotic home lives while encouraging the artist to paint something for a competition.

My Thoughts: Fredrik Backman sure does know how to tug at the heartstrings so it’s no surprise he won the award for Best Fiction. My Friends delivers his characteristic blend of heartwarming stories with lovable characters. This endearing tale of friendship shows the teenagers in their complex lives without tying everything into a tidy and unrealistic bow like many books would.

Publication Date: 6 May 2025
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In the 1980s, Joan Goodwin is an unassuming professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University helping her sister to raise her niece. When she sees an ad for the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, Joan finds herself training to be an astronaut with a colorful cast of characters that teach her about the transformative power of love.

My Thoughts: As much as I love Taylor Jenkins Reid, I think Broken Country should have been the Goodreads Winner for Historical Fiction. Atmosphere veers toward the cerebral, concentrating on the characters’ deep thoughts and reflections. Yet, Reid’s extraordinary ability to create fascinating characters draws you into the era and keeps you glued to the pages.

Publication Date: 3 June 2025
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The daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont, Jet Mason has lived a normal, boring life. When she is attacked on Halloween, Jet receives a head injury that doctors say will kill her in the next week. That gives Jet seven days to solve her own murder and she can’t help but look at everyone – her parents, her best friend turned sister-in-law and her ex-boyfriend – in a new light.

My Thoughts: I wasn’t very impressed the 2025 thrillers I read. Maybe because I’ve only read one of among the Goodreads Choice Awards top six thrillers. Last year, I read Holly Jackson’s ya thriller A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder so I’m not surprised that she won the adult category this year. Of all the Goodreads winner in 2026, Not Quite Dead Yet will be the one I will definitely add to my to-read list.

Publication Date: 22 July 2025
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In her 80s, Margaret Ives finally agrees to let an author write her biography about her life as an heiress to one of the most storied and scandalous families in the 20th century. Margaret agrees to fly two authors out for a one-month trial to see which will be her biographer. Eternal optimist Alice knows that this could be her big break. She just has to beat out the grumpy award-winning author Hayden. But Margaret is telling different things to each one of them and with an iron-clad NDA, they can’t collaborate, no matter how much chemistry they feel between them.

My Thoughts: The Goodreads Choice Awards is a popularity contest and big name authors like Emily Henry are much more likely to win even if they shouldn’t. Although Great Big Beautiful Life has some steamy romance scenes, the novel actually felt more like a thoughtful drama than a romance. I thought the “anything but intercourse” relationship was odd. My favorite romance of the year was Layne Fargo’s The Favorites, a five-star remake of Wuthering Heights with Olympic ice skaters.

Publication Date: 22 April 2025
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Rebecca Yarros took the book world by storm with her dragon romantasy book, Fourth Wing. In the third book of the Empyrean series, Violet Sorrengail must venture beyond the failing Aretian wards to recruit allies. Violet needs an army and magic to keep her homeland, Xaden, and the dragons safe. But that means keeping a secret that could risk destroying everything.

My Thoughts: One of the most anticipated books of the year, Onyx Storm was a shoe-in to win the top fantasy spot. To be honest, I didn’t fully live up to its hype for me. Yarros kept the same tone as the previous books with steamy sex scenes and a constant stream of action sequences. Unfortunately the storyline – particularly the island encounters –  was underwhelming and didn’t quite capture the magic of the first two books.

Publication Date: 21 January 2025
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V. E. Schwab writes about immortality, sexuality, and hunger through three different storylines spanning 500 years. In 1532, Maria is tired of being a pawn of men and jumps at an offer from a beautiful stranger to take a different path. In 1827, Charlotte is shipped to London after being caught kissing a girl and takes an invitation from a beautiful widow. In 2019, Alice’s one-night-stand with a beautiful girl turns her into a vampire.

My Thoughts: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a tale of lesbian vampires in a toxic relationship. Vampires not being my topic of choice, I might not be the best person to review Schwab’s latest book. Frankly, Schwab can write gorgeous prose. Except the novel was all vibes and no plot. 

Publication Date: 10 June 2025
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Lily awakes to find herself a contestant on the hit reality tv show. Lily must live in The Compound with nineteen other contestants, doing group and personal challenges to complete for luxuries like lipstick and necessities for the house like a front door. To add a dating element, contestants must awake each morning with a member of the opposite sex or be kicked off. As Lily becomes closer to the others, she must decide how real her relationships to the other contestants are. When the line between needs and wants starts to blur, Lily begins to wonder how far she is willing to go to win.

My Thoughts: The Compound is a fascinating book but I think it’s a major stretch to call it science fiction. Rawle hints a dystopian world beyond the compound but it honestly had no bearing on the plot. With a mix of Big Brother and Love Island, The Compound is a great blend of modern reality tv and a commentary on materialism. While I really enjoyed the book, I was expecting a thriller and what I read felt much more like a contemporary fiction thought-piece.

Publication Date: 24 June 2025
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At Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, pregnant teenage girls are hidden away to have their babies and then give them up for adoption. In 1970, fifteen-year-old Fern arrives and finds common ground with the other wayward girls although their life is strictly controlled by the adults. When the librarian gives Fern a book on witchcraft, suddenly the girls decide to take power into their own hands.

My Thoughts: I am shocked that anyone beat out Stephen King for the best horror novel of the year. Grady Hendrix has been making a name for himself in the horror genre for the last five years so I’m happy to see him get some well-deserved accolades. And no, I have not read any of these books nor will I. Horror is my least favorite genre.

Publication Date: 14 January 2025
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Helena Marino was once a promising necromancer but she is currently a prisoner in a world run by corrupt guild families. All of her Resistance friends and family are dead and Resistance records show that Helena was just a low level healer. But Helena can’t remember the months leading up to her capture and her enemies wonder if she was more than she seems. To break her, they send Helena to one of the powerful necromancers in the world. Can Helena discover his secrets before he discovers her own?

My Thoughts: I almost purchased a copy of this romantasy at the bookstore the other day. I’ve seen it on the bestseller list but before I committed to a massive 1,000 page tome, I decided to read some reviews and they scared me off. Negative reviewers call it a poorly written dark romantasy with a rape and torture themes, all keywords that I avoid. Apparently, Alchemised was previously published as Harry Potter fan fiction about Hermione and Draco before it was stripped of its Harry Potter roots and turned to a trad published novel. 

I voted for The Names, a thoughtful novel about domestic abuse that follows a family through three different alternate timelines.

Publication Date: 23 September 2025
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Rebecca Yarros took the book world by storm with her dragon romantasy book, Fourth Wing. In the third book of the Empyrean series, Violet Sorrengail must venture beyond the failing Aretian wards to recruit allies. Violet needs an army and magic to keep her homeland, Xaden, and the dragons safe. But that means keeping a secret that could risk destroying everything.

My Thoughts: I think the Goodreads Choice Awards should scrap it’s audiobook category. The most popular book of the year wins regardless if it’s the best audiobook of the year. Audiobook awards should be reserved for audiobook subscription services like Audible or Libro.fm.

Publication Date: 21 January 2025
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In a second prequel to the Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins takes you back to the 50th annual Hunger Games. In honor of the Quarter Quell, the gamemakers announce that there will be twice as many tributes this year. In District 12, Haymitch Abernathy finds his name called along with a close friend, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in the District. Even though he’s been set up to fail, Haymitch can’t help wanting to fight until the end.

My Thoughts: I haven’t read any of these ya fantasy books, so I don’t have strong opinions here. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed Collins’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes given my dislike of President Snow so I probably would enjoy reading about Haymitch’s history. I do need to read Lauren Roberts’s Powerless series; my best friend’s teenage daughter is obsessed with it.

Publication Date: 18 March 2025
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Growing up, Dani and Alec were inseparable, sneaking into movies and having epic playdates. Years after moving away, Dani is back in Minnesota and excited to see Alec again. Except teenage Alec is nothing like the nerdy boy she used to know. Alec is the popular hockey star of the town and loves all the attention. When Alec and Dani are forced to pretend their dating, sparks begin to fly between the childhood best friends.

My Thoughts: When I was voting for the Goodreads Choice winners, I realized I have not read any of the young adult fiction category and haven’t even heard of most of these books. I have no thoughts and opinions on this category. Well, except that I am getting too old for young adult fiction.

Publication Date: 30 September 2025
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Once romanticized as the disease of poets, tuberculosis still rages in the world today, mostly in poverty-stricken populations. In 2019, bestselling author John Green struck up a friendship with Henry Reider, a tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone. Since then, Green has become a major advocate for spreading awareness of this curable, preventable disease that still kills over a million people every year.

My Thoughts: Readers 100% got this one right. I only knew John Green from his coming-of-age young adult novels so it was surprising to see him write a bestselling nonfiction book about tuberculosis. Green narrates the audiobook and his fascination with the topic pulls you in and leaves you riveted. Henry’s story humanizes the narrative and helps remind you that tuberculosis is not just ancient history – though the ancient history is captivating when told by as clever of an author as John Green.

Publication Date: 18 March 2025
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Shari Franke is the oldest child of Ruby Franke, a temperamental mother fickle with her love and affection. After her sixth child, Ruby embraced the influencer lifestyle and created the YouTube channel 8Passengers. Growing up with her childhood mined for content, Shari struggled under a mother wanting to use her more than love her. Just as Shari leaves for college, Ruby falls under the thrall of life coach Jodi Hildebrandt and the two go on to commit heinous acts of child abuse all while Shari pleaded with family services to intercede.

My Thoughts: With a packed field, I had no idea who would win best memoir, but I’m not opposed to this choice. One of the first memoirs by a child of an influencer family, The House of My Mother hits on the legal and moral issues about being raised as content. Shari tells her story well (and narrates the audiobook), giving powerful insights into her childhood and the ramifications of her mother’s actions on her family. I understand why she wrote her memoir now and I would be fascinated to see how her feelings and insights about how religion was used against her and her siblings evolve as she gets older.

Publication Date: 7 January 2025
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In 1563, a famine swept through Scotland and the people were looking for someone to blame. During the Renaissance, they based the Witchcraft Act, a way to systematically root out witchcraft. The hosts of the popular Witches of Scotland podcast describe the process of identifying, accusing, trying, and executing women as witches with surprising mirror to today’s world.

My Thoughts: I had not heard of How to Kill a Witch but now I am intrigued. I need to read one of the Goodreads Winners for the 2026 Reading Challenge, and this book might be a strong contender.

Publication Date: 15 May 2025
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What Do You Think About the Goodreads Choice Awards 2025?

Do you agree or disagree with the Goodreads Choice Awards winners? What 2025 new releases were you disappointed didn’t make the cut? As always, let me know in the comments!

More Book Lists:

• The Best Books of 2025
• Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Book List
• Read with Jenna Book Club List
• The Complete GMA Book Club List
• Book of the Month Club 2025 Selections

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