Description

In Ep. 212, Sarah and Catherine of Gilmore Guide to Books start wrapping up 2025 with the first of the two year-end episodes: Best Books of 2025 Superlatives. In this episode, they share their picks for over 25 superlative categories, including Weirdest 5-Star Read of 2025, The Book That Made Us Furious, Most Underrated Gem, Too Dark Even for Me, and so much more!

This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.

Highlights

Our best books of the year from over 25 categories, including:

• My First 5-Star 2025 Release of the Year
• Weirdest 5-Star Read of 2025
• The Book That Made Us Furious
• Most Underrated Gem
• Most Perplexing Book
• Best Book to Be Made into a Reality Series
• Too Dark Even for Me
• Most Crushingly Depressing Book I Loved
• Best Horror Book in the Victorian-Feminist-Gory Category
• The Crime Novel That Hit Me Hardest Emotionally

2025 Superlatives [7:32]

Sarah

• Penitence by Kristin Koval (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [7:58]
• What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[12:38]
• Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (2025)| Amazon | Bookshop.org [13:22] 
• Maggie; a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:43] 
• The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:25] 
• Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [24:22] 
• The Dinner Party by Viola Van de Sandt (2025)  | Amazon | Bookshop.org[29:25] 
• Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [33:35]
• When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén (US release 2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:37] 
• Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:30]
• What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:53]
• Dream State by Eric Puchner (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:52]
• Heart the Lover by Lily King (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [51:06]
• The Boomerang by Robert Bailey (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:38]
• Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [57:07]

Catherine

• What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[9:58]
• The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[14:37]
• The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [21:31]
• Murderland by Caroline Fraser (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:53]
• Heart, Be At Peace by Donal Ryan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:07]
• The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:13]
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[38:31]
• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [43:12]
• Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:45]
• Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer, 2) by Laini Taylor (2018) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:40]
• Let's Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:39]
• Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [55:31]
• The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:18]

Other Books Mentioned

• Defending Jacob by William Landay (2012) [8:59] 
• All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay (2023) [9:00]
• Pretty Things by Janelle Brown (2020) [10:40] 
• I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid (2016) [30:25] 
• The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (2012) [33:08]
• Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2025) [45:20] 
• The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange (2023) [45:39] 
• Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934) [46:13]
• The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller (2021) [48:34]
• Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler (2013) [48:35]  
• Writers and Lovers by Lily King (2020) [51:32]