A Dragon’s Year in Books – 2025 – The Problem with Dragons

I ran out of time to keep up weekly posts on this blog, but I do want to say to my small merry band of subscribers – thank you. Here are my year-end book reviews and recommendations. I have one more post planned for this week. Here’s to a productive 2026!

One of my goals this year was to read books in the genres I write (Fantasy and Romantasy) and to get back into reading more overall. So here are my 2025 book stats and some highlights and lowlights.

I started 44 Books in 2025

I completed 39 Books in 2025 (5 landed in my Did Not Finish pile)

I listened to 7 audiobooks in addition to the 39 I read; most were books that I had already read, with the exceptions of The Scattered Bones by Nicole Scarano (4 stars) and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (1 star).

I did ARC reads and beta reads for some friends as well, but didn’t keep a full tally.

The BEST Book I read in 2025 was Quicksilver by Callie Hart. Quicksilver was enthralling. Book boyfriends don’t get much broodier than Kingfisher. The mysterious and devastatingly handsome Fae warrior with some crazy quicksilver in his eyes is top tier. Carrion Swift, the smuggler from Zilvaren, adds a wonderful blend of humor and tension. Action, Romance, and incredible worldbuilding. Spice Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

The Best Book Honorable Mention goes to Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This is a humorous take on the dark fantasy genre, and I loved it. This reads as a YA/New Adult reading level, and it couldn’t be more different from Quicksilver. The follow-up to this book was Apprentice to the Villain. It was also fantastic. I am in love with this series. Spice Rating: 0.

Wokest Books I read in 2025: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst and A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Spice Ratings 0.

Nightmare Fuel: Anathema by Keri Lake – I wish I had DNF’d this. The worst book I read all year. Spice Rating: 3.

Best Audio Book: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I really felt this gave me a clearer picture of Tamlin and how rigid and rule-oriented he is. Spice Rating 1.5.

Best Audio Book Honorable Mention: Quicksilver by Callie Hart. I listened to this to get ready for Brimstone and Kingfisher; the audio is fantastic.

Worst Audio Book: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I couldn’t believe that people liked this. It’s over 20 hours long. Over 20 hours of a science teacher mansplaining his adventure in space. I couldn’t do it. I DNF’ed it at 60%.

Book with the biggest Ick Factor: Heartless Hunter by Kristin Ciccarelli. I don’t want to spoil this, but yikes, it was really hard to get past the Ick factor here. The romance and action were incredible, but yeah, Ick. Spice Rating: 1.5.

The Book That I Thought I Would Hate but Actually Loved: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. The Hawthorne brothers are intriguing characters that Avery Grambs must learn to navigate. This was good fun, and it kept a nice pace. It gave me Clue and The Westing Game vibes. Spice Rating: 0.

Most Shocking DNF: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I was shocked by this. I expected to love this book. I never really connected with the characters, and I wasn’t a fan of the world-building. This wasn’t for me.