Best Books of 2025 Superlatives with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) | Ep. 212
Update: 2025-12-03
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) <a cl
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