My Top 5 Books of 2025 (So Far!)

Hello, friends! It’s officially June and the time is zipping right along, isn’t it? I feel this more keenly the older I get. I’ve had the pleasure of reading some really good books this year, so I decided to compile a quick list of my favorites so far.

I’m sure this list will change as the year continues, but for now, here are the winners, in order:

#5

“To be a woman is a horror I can little comprehend.”

This is a sapphic retelling of Carmilla. For those who don’t know, Carmilla, written in 1872 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, is considered one of the earliest works of vampire fiction. In it, the titular Carmilla, a female vampire, preys on young women and has a female love interest (er, potential victim). So basically, Kat Dunn managed to make a gay vampire even gayer. And it works. There are some tropes that no one will be surprised by: the men are generally all at least incompetent if not outright terrible. Lenore, our heroine, has her worth tied into her ability to produce heirs and run her husband’s estate. I love the way Carmilla is written; she’s horrifying, yes, but there’s something so seductive about her…. especially when she’s pleading with Lenore to demand better for herself. Needless to say, I was rooting for Lenore to ditch her husband and run off with Carmilla.

If you enjoy audiobooks, definitely try this one out. Perdita Weeks narrates and is fantastic.

#4

“God is the Sun. Clouds are her messengers. Rain is only rain.”

Johannes is a dog who lives in an urban park. Born in the wild, he knows of humans but has never been a pet. Instead, he spends his days running across the park as The Eyes, reporting all he sees to the park elders, a trio of Bison. But Johannes’s world is about to change in ways he could never predict.

Johannes is delightful and cocky in his surety of his superior speed, but it’s so sincere that it makes him loveable. Yes, it has talking animals. Yes, it will remind you of an animated movie for kids. It isn’t for everyone, yet I found it utterly charming.

#3

“Gloria had always found it silly that so much effort went into trying to send humans to space instead of learning how to get along on Earth.”

Robbie Stephens Jr. is sent to The Gracetown School for Boys as punishment for kicking a white landowner’s son. But this reformatory isn’t interesting in reform so much as cruelty. Robbie also has the ability to see ghosts, or “haints”. It’s this ability that will let him see the truth of Gracetown and what’s happened there. His sister, Gloria, is trying desperately to form a plan to save him, but can she do it in time?

This book takes place in the Jim Crow South. I don’t think I need to explain further the types of horror you’ll find in this. It’s not an easy read, and I hesitate to say I enjoyed it. But it’s written in such a wonderful way that I couldn’t put it down. The characters pulsed off the page. The payoff was well worth the heartache.

#2

“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”

In the early 2000s, a diary is found inside a wall. Written in 1912 by a pastor, it unveils a gripping tale of horror, told in a series of interviews with an Indian named Good Stab during his visits to the pastor’s church.

Historical horror has my heart, and this hits so many of my buttons. I blame the fact I grew up reading dusty old gothic tales in my youth. (The library in my middle school didn’t carry Stephen King but had no problem stocking older and arguably more disturbing stuff.) I have a soft spot for dense, old-fashioned writing and diary entries that get more macabre the further you go. Needless to say, I loved this. This is a vampire story, but it isn’t one you’ve read before.

#1

“Oh yeah I’m always scared of stuff. You get to a certain age and they stop calling it scared and start calling it anxiety.”

Jess is a struggling actress, working in a diner to make ends meet. After an especially bad shift, she arrives home to find a terrified boy hiding in the bushes by her apartment. The next thing Jess knows, she and this unnamed boy are on the run from his father, a man with the uncanny ability to …. change. When Jess realizes the boy’s true power, that he can make his fears into reality, is when the nightmare truly begins.

I was pleasantly surprised by The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and I didn’t think it could be topped. Especially not by another 2025 title. Then I read When The Wolf Comes Home and was blown away. This is horror at its absolute best. It’s shocking, sad, and has ridiculous moments that manage to unnerve without veering into stupid territory. Peppered within are truly horrifying moments that made my stomach drop. It reminds me of Stephen King in the 90s, and I mean that as the highest compliment. I loved the characters. I hated them. I rooted for them. I was scared for them.

This book is so good that it reminded me why I love horror. I’m so glad it exists, gleaming like a diamond in the sea of substandard fare. I doubt I will read anything else this year that tops it, but that won’t stop me from picking up another book. And then another.

Sara Myriad