Hey Bookworm friends! Today we’ve had a massive snowstorm in my city, with about 35cm of snow. My poor dog doesn’t know what to do with himself; this morning he fell into the snowbank three times and then tried to run back inside 😭. We got lucky that it’s my husband’s day off so we took advantage and spent the morning in our neighborhood’s board game cafe. It’s our favourite place to hang out, walking distance, and is always open! The first big snow day of the year also seems like a great time to reminisce with my 2025 Superlative Awards & DNFs. Last year I read 93 books total and I will highlight 20 of them with different categories. Lastly, if you’re wondering which books I DNF’d, I have a section at the end with my reasons. Wishing you all a great and safe day, whether snowy or not! 😘
🏆Superlative Awards🏆
Fav 2025 Release
Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey
Most Beautiful Cover
If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia
Best New To Me Author
Marie Brennan
Fav Revisited Author*
Deanna Raybourn
* Author I’ve read before 2025.
Fav Standalone Fantasy
Upon A Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
Best Sequel
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
Best Short Read
A Matter of Execution by Nicholas & Olivia Atwater
Most Disappointing
When The Tides Held The Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Most Entertaining World-Building
Cello’s Gate by Maurice Africh
Best Immersive Reading Experience*
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
*Reading along with the audiobook.
Fav In Translation
Rebis: Born and Reborn by Irene Marchesini with Carlotta Dicataldo, Translated from the Italian by Carla Roncalli Di Montorio,
Most Fruitful Side Quest*
Highland Hearts Holiday Bookshop by Tricia O’Malley
*Fav Book Outside of Comfort Zone
The Spiciest Pepper*
Morning Glory Milking Farm by C. M. Nascosta
*Favourite High-Spice Romance
Goodest Boi*
Bovril, from the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld
*Best Companion Creature
Most Laugh Out Loud
Cryptid Club by Sarah Andersen
Taught Me The Most
The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega with Neil Max Emmanuel
Most Gorgeous Picture Book
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Most Memorable Middle-Grade
The Eyes and the Impossible by David Eggers
Coziest Atmosphere
Costumes for Time Travelers by A. R. Capetta
Most Joyful Re-Read
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
❌DNFs of 2025❌
Here are the books I gave a chance but didn’t finish in 2025. 🔉Please note that for some of these, I may have to go into light spoilers when giving my reason for DNFing. So if you care about that sort of thing, you’ve been warned❗
🎧The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler
I was annoyed and bored. The story was repetitive and the sexism of the era did not make for a fun listen. The MC was also so naive that I found it frustrating to be in her POV.
🎧That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming
It was way too bonkers In an unpleasant way. When the werewolf just decided they were married and she just went along with it , I was done.
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
This one is more me than it. I feel like half of it was just going over my head.
🎧The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson
I was not emotionally invested. One of the characters is so annoying and I didn’t love the audio narration.
📚Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco
I was bored almost right away and I didn’t like the characters. Not for me.
Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan
It just wasn’t doing it for me. And then I read reviews that let me know I was right to DNF.
🎧Phoenix Heart: Season 3 Omnibus by Sarah K. L. Wilson
I can’t stand Mally, and as much as I love other aspects of this story, I’m tired of everything she says and does so I decided it’s not worth continuing.
🎧The House Witch by Delemhach
This book is far too long for what it is. The constant bullying and sexual harassment dampened the coziness of this book and it wasn’t giving what I wanted from it.
The Heart of Grim by Ashen Huston
The prose style was overwrought to the point of being unenjoyable. The sentences were so clunky, it was like a thesaurus threw up on the pages.
Let’s chat in the comments!
Have you read any of these? Or, who were your most read authors of 2025?
Ooh, these superlatives are so fun! Did you come up with them, or is there a tag? Asking for a friend … (I’m so glad you loved the Memoirs of Lady Trent, it’s one of my favorite series of all time!)
Those DNFs all have solid reasons behind them! Being annoyed with characters is real. I recently read a book where the main character was pretty smart, but completely missed a very obvious clue as to the true identity of another character with whom she was close, and then was shocked when that character betrayed her. It really annoyed me.
Thanks so much, Karis! I came up with them, some of them were ones I used last year in my wrap-up video but I wanted to expand this sort of superlatives so I made more this year to highlight more favourites. Ahh I’m so glad the Lady Trent books are some of your favourites, I’ve been buddy reading them and loving them too!
I really appreciate that. I do try to appreciate characters even if they’re not likeable but sometimes I just can’t lol 😂. Ahha oh noo that’s so frustrating, especially if there isn’t an in story reason as to why they would miss that clue. That would bug me as well!
Also, by the way if you want to borrow the superlative categories (and maybe switch it up to make it your own) feel free to do so but please tag me as I’d love to see your answers 🖤!
Ooh, yes, I read Illuminae a while ago, but the books are so fun and creative!
Yes fun and creative is the perfect description, I’m now on the second book of that series and they really lend themselves well for a full experience with the audio and mixed media format!
What a fun list! I love all your categories. I also loved Once Was Willem. And I love Sarah Anderson, but haven’t heard of Cryptid Club. I’ll have to check it out. Enjoy the snow!
Thanks, Tammy! I love that we have Once Was Willem in common! And Cryptid Club was so funny and adorable, I read it before bed one night and had the best time learning about cryptids I’d never heard of before lol!
Cryptid Club is so fun! I really love Sarah Andersen’s work.
Agreed! Yes me too, I read so many of her books in 2025, I think the only one I’m missing is Fangs which I hope to read soon too!:D
Oh this is such a fun way to look back over a year’s reading! 😀
Thanks, Rebecca! I really enjoyed making this post so I think I’ll stick to this categories list again for 2026 too! lol
I DNFd my last Danan book also, which was a huge bummer. It was the werewolf one? I can’t remember the title. A neighborhood board game cafe sounds AMAZING. I want one of those!! Poor pup though. My dogs struggled with our recent snowfall as well. It came up to their chests in some places and they were literally hopping trying to push through the snow. Stay warm! I’ve seen the Milking Farm one a few times but haven’t read a review for it yet. I’ll admit that I’m curious… I hope you had a wonderful week!
Officially following you now. ❤️
Oh no, that is a bummer! Was it Fan Service? I haven’t read any other Danan books but now I don’t think I will, tbh!
The board game cafe is literally my favourite place to go to hang out, I’m so glad we found it haha.
Aw yeah he is not a fan of the cold and I am not either so it’s not like I can blame him 😛 Poor pups, yeah that is a mountain of snow wow! 😲 I hope you’re staying warm too 😀
My quick thoughts on Milking Farm are that it’s super cozy and sweet relationship-wise for something so incredibly spicy. I read it on vacation and had a blast with it so I’d say if you don’t mind erotica, it’s worth a try. If you do mind more explicit stuff then I’d say maybe try something else. Not knowing your preferences, I hope that helps. I hope you have a great week and thank you so much for the follow 🥰 Followed you on Bluesky, IG, and Bloglovin’ even though I haven’t quite figured out how to use Bloglovin lol. Either way looking forward to more chats 🙂
Aww I’m so sorry to hear that Cheeto isn’t a fan of the snow. We very rarely get any here but one time when we did it got followed by frozen rain which turned it into a very chrunchy surface. All of my pets weren’t a fan of that and tbh I’m not surprised as you could hear every step they took. Im glad you managed to get out to the board game cafe still 🥰
Thats some very high praise for Once Was Willem and Upon A Starlit Tide and I’ll definitely have to hurry up & get to them sometime. Its wonderful seeing Marie Brennan highlighted as your best new to you author and Deanna Raybourn featuring as your favourite familiar one. I also love the cover of If It Makes You Happy. With autumn vibes and a collie how could I not 😍 its lovely to hear that Cello’s Gate had such entertaining worldbuilding. And im glad you had a favourite title that was out of your comfort zone too. Companion creatures are the best and I love that you gave them their own category. Im glad rereading Clockwork Princess was such a lovely experience too. I’m really looking forward to rereading the first two Last Hours books soon and finishing off the series. The potential for devastation does have me a little concerned though as Clare’s books do have a tendency to hurt 😬
Im sorry you had a fair few DNFs this year. It sounds like you made the right decision in each case though. The marriage acceptance in one sounds utterly bizarre and if you push through with a book that is irritating you it tends to lead to a negative experience and a slump. There are two I’m hoping I’ll get on better with though 😂
The only crossover we have is our buddy reads and The Clockwork Princess although its been a couple of years since I reread that one. I think my most read author was probably Melissa Marr off the top of my head. And new to me ones were probably Marie Brennan and T. Kingfisher 🤔 but without looking at my 2025 reads list I’m not 100% on that.
ahah oh thank you, yes, his little chihuahua body wasn’t made for this cold! lol Oh yeah freezing rain is the worst, that’s no fun and I’m sure walking on that crunchy snow would kind of hurt their little paws :(.
Yes, I feel like those are the books and authors that I didn’t shut up about for the whole year hehe. I hope you enjoy them if you give them a try.
Yes true, how can you say no to a cover with a Collie? 😛
Thanks I’m glad you like the companion creature category, I’ve made a couple of posts for animal companions I love so it makes sense it gets its own category for end of year favs! 🥰
Yes I’m looking forward to continuing that series and eventually getting to the ones I haven’t read yet! And yeah they do tend to hurt 😅.
I have learned to view dnfs as wins, because they allow me to not get stuck in a rut so I kind of love that I have more DNFs per year now! I’m hoping whichever of my dnfs you try succeed better with you for sure!
Oh yeah Marissa Marr is a safe guess since we read a few of her books and yay for T. Kingfisher and Marie Brennan being some of your new liked authors!
Aww I can imagine 😪 I’m sure he’ll be glad to return to the warmer weather soon. Yes that’s true it probably does. It really can’t be nice going around bare footed in that kind of weather, although from experience when protective boots have had to be worn when they’ve hurt their feet before I know they’d find shoes even worse.
Always wonderful to find authors/books you can rave about like that. I plan to try them all sometime. And I definitely can’t 😂 ooh thats true, I remember those. I think they’re such a good draw to a book and definitely deserve their own category 🥰
Hopefully we’ll both get to a few more Clare books this year then ☺️ Thats a great way of looking ay it. Pushing through with a book that isn’t working for you almost never ends well after all. And there are too many good books to waste your time on the ones you dont like. Thank you 🥰
I look forward to trying more by all three of them this year 😊