Favorite Books of 2025
The Raven Scholar, Antonia Hodgson. My big standout new author find this year, with a classic fantasy court drama/murder mystery featuring a truly excellently written cast of characters. Review.
A Drop of Corruption, Robert Jackson Bennett. Second of the Holmes and Watson-style intrigue murder mysteries, with a rare combo of unique fantasy worldbuilding and a classic, plotty mystery. Review.
How to Find a Nameless Fae, AJ Lancaster. bi4bi fantasy romance with a sensible 40 year old protagonist, fairy tale plot, and a love interest with more than a little bit of Howell Jenkins. Review.
I Leave It Up to You, Jinwoo Chong. Leaning a bit towards litfic, about a queer man's complex relationship with his family and their sushi restaurant after waking up from a coma. Review.
Blood on Her Tongue, Johanna van Veen. A properly bloody Gothic novel set in 19th century Netherlands. Excellent atmosphere. Review.
A Brother's Price, Wen Spencer. Genderswapped Regency romance with the sociological SFF worldbuilding to back it up. Review.
The Incandescent, Emily Tesh. Emily Tesh never misses. Slice of life about a jaded teacher at a elitist magical school for teenagers. Review.
The Everlasting, Alix Harrow. Time loop narrative about butch lady knights, fascism, and the meaning of the stories we tell ourselves. Review.
A Far Better Thing, HG Parry. Excellent fairy changeling angst based on A Tale of Two Cities. I love a good tragedy. Review.
Upcoming Releases
The Subtle Art of Folding Space, John Chu. Probably a bit obvious to compare it to Everything Everywhere All At Once. Messy family drama and interdimensional shenanigans. Out April 7th. Review.
The Duke, Anna Cowan. Absolute souffle of a lesbian melodrama and very much in the shape of classic eighties Regencies, except the duke is a woman. Has the intensity and drama I've been missing from some sapphic romances. Out April 28th. Review.
The Poet Empress, Shen Tao. Still thinking about this one. Ruthless, pragmatic fantasy set in a mythical China that takes aim at a lot of dark romance tropes and hits it out of the park every time. Out January 20th. Review.
A Widow's Charm, Caitlyn Paxson. Delightful fantasy romcom about a widow blackmailing a guy into (illegally) necromancying her recently dead husband. Out March 31st. Review is held until spring but here's the Goodreads.
Honorable Mention
One Yellow Eye, Leigh Radford. Story about a woman trying to save her infected husband in the most compassionate take I've ever read about a zombie plague. Excellent medical details also. Review.
Notes from a Regicide, Isaac Fellman. Messy, rambling narrative about a trans man trying to make sense of his trans parents, with a sprawling SF future that only shows around the corners. Review.
What Fury Brings, Tricia Levenseller. The only thing you need to know about this book is that CS Pacat enthusiastically blurbed it. What if HE got kidnapped and dark fantasy romanced, and also the protagonist lady had biceps the size of cantaloupes. Review.
Nicked, MT Anderson. Queer medieval relics heist with a good touch for the historical period. Review.





























