Top 3 Best and Worst Books* of 2025

Hi Everybody!!

Today is the last Monday of the year! You know what that means? It’s the 6th annual year-end countdown of books* I reviewed in 2025!

*This also includes movies.

For those who don’t know. I’ll pick 6 titles for this list – 3 for the best and 3 for the worst! Now, I have only one question for you!

I sure am! Let’s get started with the Best Books of 2025

This year was interesting to say the least. There weren’t as many as 5-star books that I read. After 7 years of reviewing books, I’ve been looking at titles that I come across with a more critical eye. Nevertheless, I had an easy time choosing my top 3 this year because they were all well-written in their own unique ways. Let me show you.

3. Women in Politics Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation by Mary Chung Hayashi

I’m going be very honest. I had a tough 2025 because of the political landscape. I was afraid of what was going to happen because I felt powerless to do something about it. However, this year, I realized could make a difference through education. Part of that shift in thinking was brought on by Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation by Mary Chung Hayashi. The book does a fantastic job with explaining what drives women to get into politics, the realistic barriers, and how gender equality can be achieved in a clear and concise manner and under 200 pages. The best part is Hayashi’s own story of how she became a politician after her sister’s death. She brings it home as to why female representation is important. Even though I never plan on running for political office, this book will definitely inspire others to do that regardless of gender, especially to combat sexism in the political world.

2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

In the past, I’ve put banned books on my best list. If they are that good, I’ll put in on here. The Bluest Eye – the 1970 debut novel by Toni Morrison – is no different. It has been on several banned book lists over the years. Its depictions of racism and sexual assault are hard to get through, but not every novel is meant to comfort readers. Sometimes, they confront a reality that certain people don’t want to see. This novel falls into that category as it tackles society’s obsession with white beauty standards and how it impacts the black community. But, that’s not the main reason why The Bluest Eye is on the list. It’s the way Morrison tells the story of a little black girl who wants blue eyes. The prose is gorgeously dreamlike and devastating with so many quotable lines as my guest Amy Thomasson and I talked about in the Adapt Me Podcast episode on it. Every character also gets a backstory, no matter how big or small. Morrison knew exactly what she was doing when she wrote this ambitious novel. This marked the beginning of an iconic writing career.

1. Guidance from the Universe: Hopeful Messages for Everyday Challenges by Jill Amy Sager

Women in Politics wasn’t the only book to offer me hope this year. Guidance from the Universe: Hopeful Messages for Everyday Challenges by Jill Amy Sager did that in its own way. In this memoir, Sager demonstrates how she achieved enlightenment and self-acceptance through Tarot readings. While I knew very little about Tarot cards prior to reading this book, I learned so much about how it guides people through various challenges. Sager also encourages readers to make it an active read by including a set of questions that assists readers in their own spiritual journey at the end of each chapter. What truly made this a special book to me was how the author was open and honest about her struggles with a physical disability and her mother. I felt that I was being seen. This memoir was so good that I ordered a copy of it for a friend who too was having a tough year because she loves Tarot cards. As of now, this is my favorite self-help book. I’m going to re-read it as much as I can.

Before, we get the worst list, I want to mention that this is similar situation that I encountered in 2024, in which the titles were not bad. They happened to be the weakest of the ones that I looked at this year.

Now that we got that out of the way, it’s now time to get to the Top 3 Worst Books of 2025!

3. Six Days in Detox by Dianne Corbeau

Six Days in Detox by Dianne Corbeau is not a bad memoir. In fact, it has the potential to be great. It’s a harrowing tale about one woman’s relapse and time in a mental institution with some of the most awful people on Earth. The memoir also looks at an addict’s mindset with great empathy. Yet, why is it on the worst list? Well, there are two things that prevent it from being great. The first is that it’s extremely repetitive. Corbeau reiterates certain pieces of information to the point that it got annoying because it was less than 150 pages. In addition, the memoir contains some of the most egregious editing errors I’ve ever seen. One would need to read the book to find those out. If the editor looked over this memoir one or two more times, this wouldn’t be on the worst list.

2. The Pale Flesh of Wood by Elizabeth A. Tucker

The Pale Flesh of Wood by Elizabeth A. Tucker is a fine novel. Its main character and her conflict are interesting, and there are a lot of nice tree-lace metaphors about life. Sadly, my biggest gripe is the framework. The way the novel’s blurb had it made me think it was going to show several family members’ reactions to the father’s unexpected death. It didn’t. It was mainly about daughter Lyla and how she copes. That’s not the main problem I have with it. It tells the story in a chronological order, and it takes a third of the book before the death even occurs. It also loudly hints at it, and I was like, “We know what’s going to happen!”

It would’ve benefited from a different structure whether it being a flashback, or something similar to that in Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. Bringing up that novel makes me more even disappointed in The Pale Flesh of Wood because that scenario was done much better in the former.

1. A Palindrome: A Universal Theme of Life, Growth, Maturity, and Agedness by Robert C. Jones

I’ve read a lot of titles by Robert C. Jones. He writes in a sentimental way similar to what a lot of older writers tend to do when looking back on their lives, and I give him credit for a unique framing device of analyzing his name Bob. However, A Palindrome: A Universal Theme of Life, Growth, Maturity, and Agedness is not one of his best. Compared to his previous memoir A Life Well Bred, A Life Well Led, it’s not as interesting nor cohesive. Moreover, the whole palindrome framework doesn’t get a whole lot of attention. It doesn’t help that it uses some of the same poems from its predecessor. On top of that, there was a section that I was straight up confused about. I didn’t know why it was there to begin with. There are better memoirs than this one.

And that was the Top 3 Best and Worst Books of 2025! I hope all of you enjoyed it. I look forward to having plenty of new reviews for 2026! See you next year!

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