Fortnight of Books 2025: Day 1
I’m excited to do Fortnight of Books again for 2025! Thank you to @idratherdreamofjune for the questions and to @valiantarcher for organizing this each year. (Since I didn’t manage to write or post any book updates in the first two weeks of January, I’m queuing these posts for the second half of January.)
Fortnight of Books: Day 1
Overall - best books read in 2025?
Top 3 - 5 stars -
Secrets of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt - A riveting medieval fantasy adventure about a young knight and his squire who venture into a dark and dangerous forest to uncover the mysterious evils within it and find their friend, a knight who has gone missing. I could not put this book down, and it made me feel a wide range of emotions. I loved the characters and story so much. It’s everything I want in a book, and the genre of non-magical fantasy suits me perfectly. (It’s a sequel to The Letter for the King. This young adult duology was originally written in Dutch and published in the early 1960s, and it’s famous in many languages.)
Urchin and the Rage Tide (Mistmantle Chronicles, Book 5) by M. I. McAllister - Adventure and intrigue, heart and humor, coziness and comfort…and not your average fantasy book with animals, in my opinion. I love the story and characters so dearly. I sobbed over the ending several times over. I still can’t think of it or of a certain character without wanting to cry. I didn’t discover Mistmantle until just a few years ago, but it immediately became one of my favorite book series of all time. I read the series gradually and saved the fifth book to savor for the first time in 2025.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - My first time reading Sense and Sensibility! It was one of the only major Austen novels I lacked. I really, really enjoyed it, especially the characters and platonic relationships. I hadn’t seen the 1995 movie in well over a decade, and I only remembered a few scenes and some basics of the premise and plot. Much of it was new to me, and I read the book relatively unspoiled. This meant that I was surprised by things like Colonel Brandon’s backstory.
Runners-Up - 4.5 stars -
Race Across Alaska by Libby Riddles and Tim Jones - The nonfiction memoir of the first woman to win the Iditarod (the famous dog sled race). It was adventurous, thrilling, and fascinating, a thoroughly enjoyable read, and very well-written.
Rebel Wave: Season 2 by Tor Thibeaux - A futuristic undersea adventure serial, featuring underwater cities and submarines, and most of all, a great cast of characters. A new favorite and one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. After I read the first season of Rebel Wave, I could not wait to read the sequel in paperback, and Season 2 did not disappoint. Each season is 12 episodes, which are available as individual ebooks or in a season collection (ebook or paperback). I’m now hotly anticipating Season 3.
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - An atmospheric, adventurous, dangerous, mysterious, and riveting young adult modern fantasy book, set in a fictional island in the Atlantic ocean. I loved it. I’m so glad I finally got to experience the characters, story, and setting of The Scorpio Races. I’ve long admired the author as a master of the writing craft, but this is the first time I’ve read a book by her. I was very impressed with the tight plotting and pacing, strong character motivations, and vivid writing style. (CONTENT WARNING for frequent innuendo and extreme violence and gore.)
Other Favorites - 4 stars -
Follow the Lonesome Trail edited by Allison Tebo (a multi-author anthology of Western short stories, all by authors that are already favorites of mine; my favorite story was “The Princess of Flat Rock by Elisabeth Grace Foley, which I rated 4.5 stars, and there were two others by Emily Hayse and Rachel Kovaciny that I rated 4.25 stars)
The Realm Beneath edited by Allison Tebo (a multi-author anthology of undersea fantasy short stories; my favorite was “The Song of Arion” by Emily Golus, which I rated 4.5 stars)
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series by Beth Brower (see below) Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (a prose retelling of The Iliad that preserves much of the original language, story, and intensity)
Kill the Dawn by Emily Hayse (a heroic and tragic Viking epic fantasy retelling of Hamlet with themes of light and hope amid darkness and grief)
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Tumblr knows this book. I really wanted to read the book before I saw the movie, because the book suits my favorite style of realistic writing, characters, and story.)
Huntingtower by John Buchan (a vintage mystery/suspense novel featuring a multi-generational cast of motley adventurers, including a middle-aged protagonist that reminds me of Bilbo Baggins)
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (the nonfiction memoir of a Pakistani Muslim girl who was targeted and nearly killed by the Taliban because she spoke out about girls’ education rights)
Best series you discovered in 2025?
Definitely The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. It’s a fictional journal of the entertaining daily adventures of a quirky, witty young woman and her unlikely friends, set in an alternate 1880s London, with a slight hint of magical realism. There are eight Emma M. Lion books (so far), and I read one a month for the first eight months of 2025, with my book club. It was lovely. I got very invested after the first book or two. Book 5 was a particular highlight for me, since I really connected with Emma’s experience healing from past grief. Though these books are humorous, they are also heartwarming and surprisingly profound.
Best reread of the year?
Little Women. I read it for the first time in more than a decade, and it was such a wonderful experience. Little Women has influenced my life and writing greatly, but it had been so long since I read it that I’d forgotten much of it. There were a few scenes I remembered vividly, though (like the ball with Jo and Laurie’s first meeting). The scenes I remembered and the scenes I’d forgotten were all wonderful. I also reread The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The Silver Chair, The Magician’s Nephew, Little House on the Prairie, Understood Betsy, and Ella Enchanted, among others.Another favorite reread experience was Break the Beast by Allison Tebo, an epic fantasy retelling of Beowulf and one of my all-time favorite books (but this was only my second time reading it, since it was published in 2023).
