Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat.
This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week. As we are a faith-based group the questions refer mainly to Christian fiction or non-fiction.
Today’s question is:
What were your top five (or ten) books for 2025?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Remember to comment today on Tuesday Book Chat to enter the giveaway.
Let’s chat!
This is one question I don’t look forward to. It is so hard to pick just five or 10. So I will be different. I will do a few different categories. For Romantic Suspense I read quite a few but for its uniqueness Mistletoe and Malice by Lori DeJong. Christmas I would say the novella A Christmas to Remember by Penny Zeller. Cozy Mystery, Home Baked Bribery by Gina Holder. Middle school aged book, The Sacred Scales by Bryan Davis. I would also add Gelato at the Villa by Robin Jones Gunn. There were so many other great books I read this year.
Your turn.
I look forward to reading your comments here or at the FB group.
Comment on today’s post to enter the Tuesday Book Chat quarterly e-gift card giveaway sponsored by Narelle Atkins. Two winners per quarter, $10 US or $15 Aussie e-gift cards.
The winners can choose between an Amazon.com or Kobo USD $10 gift card, or an AUD $15 gift card from Amazon Australia, iBooks, Kobo, or Koorong.com.au.
Hi Jenny, This is a hard question! I have 40 plus Fan Girling episodes on books that are all worthy of being in a Top 5 or 10 list. I also loved Mistletoe and Malice and Gelato at the Villa. Penny’s book is on my TBR.
A friend recently asked for my suggestions for a Top 10 romance list, which I’ll share below. I only included full length romance novels (so it doesn’t include Dienece Darling’s excellent debut romance novella – A Heart to Treasure).
I pulled the list from Fan Girling episodes and there are many more romance books I adored that missed the cut. Plus books I loved in other genres.
These Long Shadows by Jennifer Mistmorgan (WW2 historical romance – indie)
Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham (contemporary romance – Thomas Nelson)
Uneasy Street by Becky Wade (contemporary romance – indie)
The Voice We Find by Nicole Deese (contemporary romance – Bethany House)
No Stone Unturned by Jenelle Hovde (regency romance – Tyndale)
Storm Warning by Elizabeth Goddard (romantic suspense – Revell)
Two Seconds Too Late by Dani Pettrey (romantic suspense – Bethany House)
Alaskan Police Protector by Megan Short (romantic suspense – Love Inspired Suspense)
A Winter of Sweet Secrets by Heidi McCahan (contemporary romance – Love Inspired Trade)
Always in My Heart by Iola Goulton (contemporary romance – indie)
*Full disclosure: I critiqued Iola’s book which means I’m biased plus Iola is my editor.
Sounds like a good list. My reply got lost. I have read two of the books.
Some of my top books read this year are re-reads, so if I’m only including new reads …
Fiction (in order read this year):
*Something Borrowed by Rachel Scott McDaniel, Alison Pittman and Susie Finkbeiner.
*Hazel’s Treehouse by Zanni Louise (not a Christian book, but essentially an Australian version of Winnie the Pooh).
*Guilty Until Innocent by Robert Whitlow.
*Sunrise Reef by Irene Hannon.
*Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor by Roseanna M. White.
Non-Fiction:
*Stand: Putting on the full armour of God by Warren Wiersbe.
*Faith and Duty: The John Anderson story by Paul Gallagher.
*Little Book of Big Words by Warren Wiersbe.
*By the Sea: Glimpses of Eternity by Robin Jones Gunn
Thanks for Sharing Beth looks like a good list.
Hello I have read some of great books this year by Darlene L Turner and Kerry Johnson so many I can’t pick just one! Have a Blessed Day!
Hi Sarah, I read my first Kerry Johnson and Darlene L Turner books this year and did enjoy them. Thanks for stopping by.
I did not get to read as much this year due to health reasons, but my top 5 are:
Overboard for the Holiday – Heatherly Bell
No Reason to Trust – Margaret Watson
4th Silence – Adrienne Giordano
Kissing the Texas Ranger – Cari Lynn Webb
The Ex Next Door – Heatherly Bell
Thanks for commenting Will have to check these books out. I struggle with this question as I often love books then I read the next one and I know I missed some great books from the beginning of the year. I hope you will be able to read more next year.
Here are some of favorites I read this year:
-To Love a Beast by Karen Witemeyer
-The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House by Joanna Politano
-The Atlas of Untold Stories by Sara Brunsvold
-A Seaview Christmas by Julie Klassen
-To Save a King by Rachel Hauck
Thanks for commenting, They all look good.
My top five books of this year have been The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House by Joanna Davidson Politano, The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold, Tempest at Annabel’s Lighthouse by Jaime Jo Wright, Specters in a Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright, and I Think I Was Murdered by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker.
Sounds like a good list. I keep hearing about The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold will check it out.