I read 32 books over the course of 2025. That’s a little low for me. However, when I look at my Kindle, I see half a dozen books that I read at least 50% or more of and just never finished. Usually it was because the main character moved from being interesting to being too stupid to live. (TSTL)

I’m not going to go through all the books I read. A lot of the books were continuing books in a series (for example, Beware of Chicken five came out in December). Here are a few books that I’d recommend.

I figured I’d start with nonfiction and then move onto fiction.

“The Stress Prescription” by Dr. Elissa Epel. https://amzn.to/4qzegPS

This book changed my life. I was suffering from chronic stress. Following the steps listed in this book I’ve been able to successfully lower my baseline stress level. I’ve blogged about it a couple of times. Is the claim on the cover misleading, that this will only take seven days? Absolutely. These aren’t one-and-done habits. These are daily habits. I’m not great at maintenance. However, I’ll do these things because the stress was killing me. And I want to live a really long time and write all the things. 

“The Artisan Author” by Johnny B. Truant https://amzn.to/4jwimWU

This book wasn’t as life-changing for me as the first book. It was much more affirming, instead. I do things a certain way when it comes to writing and publishing. It was really nice to learn that not only do other people do things that way, it’s all linked under a set of behaviors that Johnny labeled as artisan. It isn’t a set of rules, but rather, guidelines for you to build your own path. Got rid of a lot of the FOMO for me. If you’re feeling on edge and possibly heading toward burnout when it comes to publishing, I’d recommend this book strongly.

And now, for the fiction!

“The Tainted Cup” by Robert Jackson Bennett https://amzn.to/3YQ0j4i

I *loved* this book. Loved, loved, loved this book. It’s a fantasy mystery, as well as a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The structure of the novel is a mystery novel, not a fantasy novel. A crime occurs, and the characters are looking for clues, being misled by red herrings, occasionally jolted onto the right path by a brilliant deduction from the main Holmsian character. It really is lovely and the language is lush. I would also recommend book two in this series “A Drop of Corruption.” PLUS I just learned today while getting the link above that the third book will come out in August. Already pre-ordered it, even though it’s trad pub and expensive.

“The Hands of the Emperor” by Victoria Goddard. https://www.victoriagoddard.ca

This was another book that I just ate up with a spoon. I actually would put the book down and walk away, because while I was dying to read the next chapter, I also didn’t want the book to be over too quickly. I found myself re-reading chapters as I was reading, just to prolong the deliciousness. Imagine a character from something like Polynesia interacting with people from Rome. She has many books in this series, and sells them all on her site, so go there and get everything she’s ever written. I’ve certainly bought a ton of follow on books from her.

“Godkiller” by Hannah Kaner https://amzn.to/3YFLphb

I originally had some issues with this book. One of the characters (who was not a POV character) appeared to be TSTL. However, there was enough cool magic to pull me along and keep me interested. There is a twist at the end. I’ve read far too many books that have not successfully pulled off this sort of twist. This author did it really well, and the TSTL character was redeemed in my eyes. So I would recommend this book because the author really stuck the landing. I’m looking forward to getting the next two books out of the library over the course of the year because they’re all stupid trad pub expensive.

“The Cautious Traveler’s Guide to the Wastelands” by Sarah Brooks https://amzn.to/49xKRjr

This is kind of the “extra” book on my recommendations. I liked this book. A lot. I loved the world building and how the characters came together. I really like how the author solved the book problem at the end. Thought that was marvelous. Technically, the book ended with the correct POV, that is, the POV character who started the book. However, for this reader, that meant that the character who changed the most was merely observed, and I felt as though I didn’t get enough from her POV. I kept waiting for one more chapter from that other character’s POV, and was a little disappointed to find that her story was merely reported on. Still, the language is lovely and I’d recommend this book. Again, I got it from the library instead of paying trad pub prices.