As the new year rings in, here are a variety of titles that made appearances on 2025’s “Best Books” lists.
“Raising Hare”
“Raising Hare” is an endearing and inspiring memoir about a woman whose extraordinary bond with a baby hare transforms her life in unexpected ways. Included on the best-books-of-the-year lists from The New York Times, The Economist, and ELLE magazine, this quietly powerful book explores the wonder of connecting with nature.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Chloe Dalton steps away from her busy London career as a political adviser and speechwriter to live in the English countryside. There, she discovers an abandoned newborn hare. As she cares for the creature, she embarks on a journey that deepens her understanding of the natural world — researching plants and herbs, area history, and animal behaviors.
Living alongside the leveret, Dalton is captivated by its “dignity, the sense of well-being and calm it spread, and the simplicity of its life.” Tending to the hare awakens her sense of wonder, teaches her patience, and with each encounter, she discovers how to respect its rightful place in the world. “Raising Hare” is a beautifully observed, philosophical testimony to the pleasure and power of natural surroundings and wild companionship.
“King of Ashes”
While a grisly crime thriller is a departure for me, my curiosity was piqued when this book landed on several of this year’s best-of lists including: The New York Times, President Obama’s Favorites Reads, and the Indie Next List, which is based on recommendations from independent booksellers.
Beneath the page-turning noir of S.A. Cosby’s “King of Ashes” lies a Shakespearean family drama. When a suspicious car “accident” puts his father in a coma, Roman Carruthers, a successful Atlanta investment banker, is compelled to return to his Southern hometown to help his family. There, he finds the place he fled is now an impoverished town overrun by violent gangs led by psychotic brothers. His embittered sister runs the family’s crematory alone, while his tender younger brother, floundering with addiction, owes a debt to dangerous local criminals.
A beleaguered antihero, Roman is devoted, shrewd, and pragmatic, yet still tormented by the disappearance of his mother 20 years earlier. As pressures mount, his efforts to protect his family spiral into escalating violence, intensified criminal entanglements, and deepening moral ambiguity. The novel burns from a simmer to full blaze, as Crosby’s story compels the question “Does the end justify the means?”
“Wild Dark Shore”
Charlotte McConaghy’s “Wild Dark Shore” is Amazon Editors’ No. 1 pick of the year (so far), and talk of a film or TV adaptation is already underway.
It’s the story of an isolated family living on an island off the coast of Antarctica. Dominic Salt and his three children are protecting a seed bank facing an imminent flood from a warming planet that promised to destroy all. Facing rising waters, the community of scientists and researchers have already gone. As the family awaits evacuation, a mysterious, nearly drowned woman washes ashore whose secret could threaten their mission and their lives.
Suffering from past tragedies, each is wounded in their own way. But as they nurse the woman back to health, they develop a mutual need and healing love for each other. When a devastating truth and betrayal is discovered, the family is forced to consider what they are willing to sacrifice to protect what and who they love.
“The Dream Hotel”
“The Dream Hotel,” by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Laila Lalami, recalls the chilling premise of Jessamine Chan’s “The School for Good Mothers” (2022), in which a mother is sentenced to a draconian state institution after making a single mistake on an overwhelming day. In a similarly alarming setup, “The Dream Hotel” follows Sara Hussein, who after a prolonged airport delay, lashes out at an officer. Her temper gets her flagged by the “Risk Assessment Administration” as a high risk for violence and sent to a retention center for an indefinite stay.
In this terrifying version of the future, a government-run AI monitors behaviors, invades thoughts and dreams, and uses predictive algorithms to identify those deemed likely to commit crimes. Sara, along with a diverse group of women, is detained in a facility that renders them powerless — where they are constantly surveilled and subjected to abusive prison-like conditions.
Lalami’s novel was featured on multiple “best-of” lists for 2025, including the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. But be warned: her nightmarish scenario makes for a stressful and unrelenting read. Her imagined future America serves as a stark warning — when the promise of technology comes at the cost of privacy and freedom, it can risk turning us into a version of ourselves that no longer reflects who we really are.
“Heart the Lover”
Lily King’s latest novel lands squarely on my list of favorite books this year (as well as on The New Yorker’s top books of 2025). Best known for her award-winning “Writers & Lovers” and “Euphoria,” King once again turns her keen eye to the complexities of the human heart in “Heart the Lover.”
Her literary fiction centers on complicated romantic entanglements. “Euphoria” was a historical novel inspired by anthropologist Margaret Mead’s real-life love triangle, while “Writers & Lovers,” loosely mirroring the author’s own experiences, follows a young writer in the aftermath of her mother’s death, and her relationships with two very different men. In “Heart the Lover,” the narrator, nicknamed Jordan, is caught between two college roommates: her boyfriend, Sam, and his best friend, Yash.
King’s intelligent and tender portrayal of Jordan’s feelings
and choices gives the novel its thought-provoking quiet depth. Told in three parts, the story fast-forwards decades, and ends with a deeply moving revelation and an unexpected connection to her previous work. (No spoilers here!) The publisher, however, hasn’t billed this as a companion novel, it stands entirely on its own – a masterful portrayal of love and loss. “Heart the Lover” truly has heart.
