I always wonder whether to put out a post about my favourite books of the year, but this year it feels particularly difficult. I am, as ever, concerned about those authors who feel deflated because their books haven’t reached the right readers yet and so they don’t appear on any lists, but this year my personal life has been such a challenge that instead of reading the 150+ books I usually manage, I’ve only just over read over half that number. This means that my TBR might be hiding an absolute belter that I haven’t even encountered yet.

However, also personally, I have struggled through most of 2025 and I’d like to end it on a positive and celebratory note, and despite my brain going on holiday I was quite pleased with my Goodreads round up!

Regular Linda’s Book Bag visitors know a book of the year for me has to have scored 95+ out of 100 on my gut reaction immediate response as soon as I finish the last page. These are the books that achieved that score in 2025, appearing in the order I read them:

Words to Live By: A Daily Journal by Donna Ashworth

A daily journal of inspiration, comfort and encouragement from the UK’s No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Wild Hope, beautifully designed in four-colour throughout

Start every day with Donna Ashworth by your side in this beautiful, interactive daily journal. With uplifting poems, guiding words, wise insights, perspective shifts and understanding on every page, Donna will accompany you throughout the year to help you embrace life in all its messy wondrousness. 

Donna also encourages you to explore your own words and writing to help you ride each wave this life sends your way, helping you find beauty and wonder on days the world scares you, comfort and patience when sadness is visiting, and courage and hope when you can’t see the light. She also gently steers you back to love yourself, as you are, and to see that, no matter what you experience in this world, you are never alone.

Every day is a journey and it starts with you.

My review is here.

The Twelve by Liz Hyder

It’s supposed to be a treat for Kit, a winter holiday by the coast with her sister Libby and their mum. But when Libby vanishes into thin air, and no one else remembers her, Kit is faced with a new reality – one in which her sister never existed.

Then she meets Story, a local boy who remembers Libby perfectly. Together they embark on a journey beyond their wildest imagination into a world steeped in ancient folklore. Can Kit and Story uncover the secret of the Twelve and rescue Libby before Time runs out?

My review is here.

This Is A Love Story by Jessica Soffer

Abe and Jane have been together for fifty years: as two among the thousands of starry-eyed young lovers in Central Park, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as an artist and a writer whose careers were taking flight. Now, Jane is seriously unwell, and together she and Abe look back on their marriage – on the parts they cherished, and those they didn’t: Abe’s early betrayal; and the trials of raising their son Max, who, now grown, still believes his mother chose art over parenthood.

A homage to New York, to pleasure, loss and love that endures despite or perhaps because of what life throws at us, This Is a Love Story brings these layered voices together in a chorus as complex, radiant and captivating as the city itself.

My review is here.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife as she’s driving home to share some exciting news. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by a cliff edge, the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there . . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible: a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change, but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change, but they do.

My review is here.

Home Bird by Fran Hill

1979. Jackie Chadwick is 17 and living in a supported bedsit. She’s still close to her foster parents and friends with (aka unofficial minder for) Amanda, their irresponsible daughter, but she’s enjoying her independence – until a fire leaves her temporarily homeless. Jackie’s dad, widower and recovering alcoholic Dave, has just been released from prison and sees this as his chance to make amends. He offers her his spare room – but can their relationship survive him going back on the booze and the arrival of his gin-loving lady friend and her errant son? As things go from bad to worse, Jackie has to decide how many chances you give someone who keeps letting you down.

Bittersweet and funny, Home Bird draws on Fran Hill’s own experiences as a teenager in foster care.

My review is here.

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

Yorkshire, 1979

Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.

Because of the murders.

Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv’s mum stopped talking.

Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?

So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t.

But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families – and between each other – than they ever thought possible.

What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

My review is here.

Always You and Me by Dani Atkins

From the bestselling author of Fractured comes a moving, heart-mending and uplifting novel of love, hope and second chances.

Then…

On the eve of her wedding to Adam, Lily’s best friend Josh unexpectedly walked out of her life, and she hasn’t seen him since.

Lily and Adam are blissfully happy, until he falls ill. As she cares for him in his final hours, Adam asks her to make a mysterious promise: to find Josh―and forgive them both.

This winter…

Tracking Josh down isn’t easy, but fate seems determined to bring them together. Cut off in his remote Scottish cabin by a fierce snowstorm, Lily and Josh explore their tangled feelings for each other, stretching back over the decades. But when she discovers the shocking reason behind Adam’s unexpected last wish, she’ll need to trust her heart completely…

Can Lily and Josh choose love―and find forgiveness and lasting happiness together?

My review is here.

Same Time Next Week by Milly Johnson

Welcome to Spring Hill, home to a square of independent shops and cafes, a thriving local community and nearby the newest venture, Ray’s Diner. Here a group of women meet once a week over a cup of something warming.

Amanda is primary carer to her elderly mother and one of the only women in a male-dominated company. Used to being second-best all her life, is this her time to finally break ranks and shine?

Sky works at the repair shop, patching up old teddy bears, and their owners’ hearts. But her heart beats for the one man who is strictly off-limits.

Mel has been a loyal and loving wife to Steve for thirty years. Then when he goes to his old school reunion, life as she knows it will never be the same again.

Erin is trying to get over a traumatic loss where her guilt weighs more than her grief. Can she find the first step to healing lies in sharing an hour with strangers once a week?

Astrid is feeling in need of a change and a challenge. But when a fantastic opportunity presents itself, who is around to convince her she is worthy enough to take the risk?

Can these women find the answers to their worries, acceptance, courage, support here? Join them at the same time next week to find out…

My review is here.

You Killed Me First by John Marrs

Three women. Three smouldering secrets. Who will make it out alive?

It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in – she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?

Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret – and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.

As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?

My review is here.

What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon

Three days to fall in love. Six years to try to forget.

Ellie didn’t expect to fall in love while travelling in Europe. But she also didn’t expect to meet a man like Ash.

Three blistering days in Lisbon is all it takes to form an unforgettable connection – deep enough for them to plan to meet again in Madrid. But Ellie arrives late, and Ash is nowhere to be found.

Six years later, the memory of Ash and their time together still burns deeply in Ellie’s heart. She hopes that her dream job as a gardener on a grand estate in Wales will bring the fresh start she desperately needs.

But when Ash unexpectedly crashes back into her life, Ellie is forced to question if the universe has other plans…

My review is here.

33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen

Charlotte Sauvin has always seen the world differently. At home on 33 Place Brugmann, in the heart of Brussels, her father and her closest friends and neighbours – the Raphaëls from the fourth floor, and Masha from the fifth – have ensured her secret is safe. But when the Nazis invade Belgium, and Masha and the Raphaëls disappear, Charlotte must navigate her new world alone.

Over the border and across the sea, in occupied Paris and battered Blitz London, Masha and the Raphaels are reinventing themselves – as refugees, nurses, soldiers, heroes. Though scattered far and wide, they dream of only one place, one home: 33 Place Brugmann.

But back at Place Brugmann, Charlotte feels impending danger closing in. Who can she trust in this world – where everyone is watching, and everyone is harbouring their own secrets? As the months pass, and the shadow of war darkens, Charlotte and her neighbours must face what – and who – truly matters to them most – and summon the courage to fight for more than just survival.

With soaring imagination and profound intimacy, 33 Place Brugmann is a captivating and devastating celebration of the power of love, courage and art in times of great threat.

My review is here.

The Names by Florence Knapp

Tomorrow – if morning comes, if the storm stops raging – Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she’ll formalise who he will become.

It is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes in this moment will shape the course of their lives.

Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerged. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image – but is there still a chance to break the mold?

Powerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family, and love’s endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.

My review is here.

By Your Side by Ruth Jones

Because second chances come when you least expect them . . .

Linda Standish has been a friend to the friendless for the past thirty-three years, in her role at the council’s Unclaimed Heirs Unit. And now she’s looking forward to the joys of an early retirement.

But before she hangs up her lanyard, Linda takes on one last case – that of Levi Norman – a Welshman who made his home on a remote Scottish island for the five years before he died. Linda must visit Storrich to track down Levi’s remaining relatives . . .

What brought Levi here? And who did he leave behind? Obliged to travel (by hearse!) with her arch nemesis, and helped (and hindered…) by the local residents, Linda searches for clues to a life now lost. And in the process unexpectedly makes new friends, and discovers things about herself she never knew.

Bursting with all the heart and humour that has made Ruth’s name as a screenwriter and author, By Your Side is a joyful celebration of friendship, love and community.

My review is here.

The Secrets of the Harbour House by Liz Fenwick

When Kerensa is sent by her father’s auction house to catalogue a neglected house overlooking the sea in Newlyn, Cornwall, it’s a welcome escape. Once the home of two female artists, Harbour House is a treasure trove, but one painting in particular catches Kerensa’s eye – a hypnotically sensual portrait of a beautiful young woman which dominates the hallway.

Captivated and intrigued, Kerensa finds herself piecing together the enigma of Bathsheba Kernow, a fiercely talented young artist who left St Ives almost a hundred years before, eager to escape a society that wouldn’t understand her, and her sweeping journey from the underbelly of Paris to the heady luxury of Venice, where a chance encounter would change her life for ever, drawing her into the most dangerous and forbidden of love affairs.

For Kerensa, still reeling with a grief of her own and facing an uncertain future in love, Harbour House will have secrets that will change her life too, and in ways she could never have imagined…

My review is here.

River of Stars by Georgina Moore

Jo hasn’t seen Oliver since that magical, life-changing summer when their idyllic island paradise was shattered. Growing up on Walnut Tree Island, they were everything to each other, defying a feud that fractured their families decades before. If first love runs deep, Jo and Oliver’s ran like the river itself, fast and true.

On Walnut Tree Island, love affairs and secrets come and go like the tides. Once the pulse of a flourishing 1960s music scene, it’s where Mary Star fell in love with a young musician about to hit the big time, only to be left with a baby and a broken heart. Mary has made the island a haven for two generations of Star women, raising her daughter and her granddaughter, surrounded by the river, supported by a bohemian, artistic community.

But Oliver’s return to the island after years away throws everyone into a frenzy. The threat of change is coming to paradise. And for Jo, Oliver’s return opens the wounds of a love she thought she had lost for ever…

My review is here.

The Final Vow by M.W. Craven

An invisible killer with a 100% success rate. No one is safe. Not even those closest to Washington Poe . . . 

A shooting at Gretna Green. A bride is murdered on her wedding day, seconds after she slips on her new ring. It’s brutal and bloody but she isn’t the first victim and she won’t be the last. With the body count now at 17, people are terrified, not knowing where the sniper will strike next.

With the nation in a state of panic, the police are at a loss and turn to Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw – the only team who just might be able to track down a serial killer following no discernible pattern and with the whole country as his personal hunting ground. Can Poe and Tilly stop an unstoppable assassin, who never misses his mark and never makes a mistake? Or will he find them before they find him…

My review is here.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

 

 

You have to take life for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.

 In the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world three tiny figures sit at the end of a pier. Most people don’t even notice them. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers seek refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days together. They tell jokes, they share secrets, and they commit small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. Determined to learn how it came to be and to decide what to do with it, Louisa embarks on a cross-country journey.  But the closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes.

 In this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art, Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect.

My review is here.

Joy Chose You by Donna Ashworth

 

Joy Chose You is a beautiful, colour-illustrated collection of Donna’s most-loved poems to bring more joy into our imperfect lives. When we allow joy to wrap her quiet warmth around us we find ourselves opening up to more life, love and light.

With poems such as ‘Joy Comes Back’, ‘Happy’ and ‘Unstoppable’, as well as 20 new poems, including ‘This Little Moment’, ‘Love Wins’ and ‘A Little Weird’, Donna’s wise words help us find hope in the dark, calm amid worry and greater joy in the beauty of living.

My review is here.

To War With Wallace by Barbara Henderson

Scottish Wars of Independence, 1297. Scottish resistance has been crushed, and King Edward, Hammer of the Scots, now rules the North.
Doesn’t he?

At Chester Castle, young apprentice armourer Harry has no idea just how much his life is going to change from the moment he is told to guard an imprisoned Scottish nobleman: the rebel Andrew de Moray. The boy’s momentary carelessness gives the prisoner all he needs: an opportunity to escape. Harry finds himself kidnapped, and on his way to Scotland.

Soon, he is caught up in the Northern Rising with its skirmishes and stealth attacks. But these are nothing to the storm of questions in Harry’s mind: Whose cause is right? Why has his new master joined forces with the outlaw William Wallace? Can his new friend Euphemia be trusted?

As arrows fly and swords clash at the battle of Stirling Bridge, Harry must choose: Whose side is he on?

My review is here.

Before the Leaves Fall by Clare O’Dea

Seeking a new purpose in life, Swiss widower Ruedi signs up to work with Depart, an assisted dying organisation. His role is to spend time with those who have sought out Depart’s services, acting as a guide and companion in their final weeks.

Margrit, his crotchety first client, wants only to get on with things. Marking time in a care home, with poor health weighing down on her, she has decided it’s time to go. Her family are upset by her choice, but she is determined. By the end of the summer, she’ll have left the world behind – and on her own terms.

Yet when she and Ruedi realise their paths have crossed once before, an unexpected bond forms. One that will illuminate both their lives.

My review is here.

****

My Book of the Year 2025

And my favourite of all these, scoring 100/100 for me? My Friends by Fredrik Backman – ironically the first author I ever met in real life when I began blogging. I read My Friends not long after Mum had died and over the period of what would have been her 92nd birthday when we scattered her ashes. My Friends spoke to me completely. It made me laugh and cry – frequently at the same time. 

****

I cannot thank enough the authors, publishers and publicists who have been kind enough to send me books this year. I can only apologise that, with seven deaths of family and friends in 2025, including my Mum, I have been rather neglectful of reading and reviewing. It really has been a case of not waving, but drowning on occasion, but I am grateful for every book sent to me, every event I’ve been invited to and every support from my fellow bloggers in sharing my posts.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2026 for you all.

Linda x