Staff Top 5s of 2025: Damla, Lília, IrisW, Naomi, and Sophie

Hooray! It’s time for our favorite reads of the year!

We love putting these posts together, so grab a hot beverage of your choice, find a comfy couch or chair or nook to settle into, and be ready to explode your TBR with all these scrumptious personal recommendations. These are the best books we read this year (but not necessarily published this year) and we need to tell everyone how brilliant they were.

This last post gathers the favorites of all the ABC Blogmistresses. We hope you’ve enjoyed all our content this year!

Happy reading!

Damla

Orbital – Samantha Harvey
In Orbital, four astronauts and two cosmonauts orbit the earth 16 times per day inside a tiny little container in the endless vastness of space. And during those 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets, we get to experience and appreciate both our insignificance in the universe and the beauty of the smallest things our Earth and lives have to offer through their eyes. With gorgeous, ethereal writing (and a Booker Prize under its belt), this book immediately became a favorite for me not just for 2025 but in general. Love. Love. Love.

Bury Our Bones In Midnight Soil – V.E. Schwab
I may be a big mood reader but if there is one bookish constant in my life, it is that I will always auto-buy (and consequently devour) any V.E. Schwab book. She has never steered me wrong, and her latest fantasy is no exception. The writing is luscious and decadent; the story is perfectly atmospheric; and we get to dive deep into characters’ minds and motives, as Schwab slowly builds up the intertwined tale of three toxic lesbian vampires over centuries. A darkness-infused delight.

Arcana Academy – Elise Kova
Tarot cards! Gorgeous maps!! Fake engagement trope from enemies to lovers!!!
It has been a while since I came across this kind of fantasy that could completely sweep me away from the first page. I just loved everything about it, but the magic system in particular was really the star of the show. Based on tarot decks, it was very easy to grasp (even if you don’t know much about tarot), but detailed enough to be really interesting and layered. I have been enchanted, and I can’t wait for the second book (coming in 2026)!
(As an extra bonus, we also get a new shadow-daddy on the Romantasy scene, which I feel has become an unwavering pillar of the genre by now)

Out of Print T-shirts
These fantastic t-shirts have become my Achilles heel at the ABC this year. There are so many cute and funny designs, and the quality of the t-shirts are also great. If you have seen me in the store this past year, you have most likely seen me supporting one of these Out Of Print designs (“I’m a sucker for books” with the chubby little bats being my latest favorite). There are just so many good ones to choose from, I already have my eye on the next collection.

(Note: Out of Print t-shirts are available in ABC The Hague and ABC Leidschendam)(if you don’t see your preferred size, and are willing to settle for a long delivery time, contact us and we can order it in for you especially!)

Dice sets
I have never been a dice goblin, and I have a notoriously (and usually hilariously) bad luck with dice rolls. But I imagine rolling a critical failure hurts much less when it is with a gorgeous die. CritStone’s spiky metal set and Grunk’s Dice set (with a dragon eye liquid core, so you are watched – and judged – for each roll) are outrageously cool, and make for perfect gifts and shiny lures for nerdy friends. Game-lovers be warned.

(Note: we have dice sets in all our stores, but usually not on our website. Visit our stores to check out what we have, or else contact us for up-to-date stock information.)

Honorable mentions:
Katabasis – R.F. Kuang
Brigands and Breadknives – Travis Baldree
The Names – Florence Knapp

Lília

This has been a difficult year for me, also in terms of reading. I haven’t had the usual concentration and couldn’t really get into a book as I usually do, but have managed to read a few, re-read many, and listened and listened again to quite a few of my old favorites. They always comfort me and they keep the love of reading alive and well.

Zomromcom – Olivia Dade
Zomromcom is so worth the read! Imagine living in a post-apocalyptic world where you thought your hot neighbor was a git, but he’s actually a vampire with a dry sense of humor. Edie had some traumatic experiences while growing up in a world where a zombie outbreak is a reality, and she chooses to keep fighting and doing good, while Max just tries to ignore it all but can’t ignore Edie. So they get together, romance and adventure follow, all with a lot of humor. Olivia Dade is one of my favorite authors and she never disappoints.

Battle of the Bookstores – Ali Brady
This is a nice cozy romance where the MMC (male main character) is a total cinnamon roll and the FMC (female main character) is a total boss in all she does. With a You’ve Got Mail vibe they are really good friends on social media and enemies in real life, fighting for the right to keep their bookstores running. It’s a delightful book to read, with even a couple of interesting twists.

Wraith Kings, Volume I – Grace Draven (includes Radiance and Eidolon, the first two titles in the Wraith Kings series)
In Radiance the human Ildiko needs to marry a prince of another race and adapt to a completely different culture. Expecting to have an abhorrent time, both Ildiko and Brishem learn that even if their union was made in duty, friendship and affection can create a real bond.
In Eidolon Brishen and Ildiko have found happiness in the Kai stronghold, but it’s short-lived. In order to avoid the abominations threatening to devour the world, they will need to sacrifice everything…

The Inheritance – Ilona Andrews
This is a science fiction/urban fantasy tale of resilience and devotion. Ada finds herself lost in an alien world, without the knowledge to fight. If she wants to go back to her kids, she’ll need to learn fast how to survive and how to use the inheritance the alien being gave her…

Butcher & Blackbird – Brynne Weaver
Butcher & Blackbird is a total Dark RomCom – full of dark situations and hilarious solutions. Both Butcher and Blackbird are beautiful monsters that had to learn to live with their monstrous tendencies and find their own way to each other. I read it listening to the playlist Brynne Weaver put together, and it fits perfectly!

Archangel’s Eternity – Nalini Singh
Last but not least, one of the perks of working in a bookstore is being able to read ARCs (Advance Reader Copies, sent out to stores and reviewers before the books are actually published). One of those titles I read is Archangel’s Eternity by Nalini Singh, which will be coming out in May 2026. It’s a love letter to her Guild Hunter series and a good end for the series.

IrisW

The Incandescent – Emily Tesh
I got my hands on an ARC of this book way back in April, so I got to read the book before it was officially out. Which was great, lucky me, perks of the job and all, but it also meant I had to wait for (what felt like) FOREVER before I could actually talk about it with other people. Anyway, I loved this book! And thankfully so, because even though I’d enjoyed this author’s previous works, she does a bit of a genre flip with every new thing she writes.
I always enjoy an academia / magic school setting, and this one especially because the main character is not some hormonal teenager, but the Director of Magic (although on second thought, definitely a little hormonal). It was great to read a story like this from the perspective of someone who is not only very good at her job, but also genuinely cares about the kids she’s responsible for. The subtle-but-not-so-subtle social commentary really grounded the story in reality, and the romance was a lovely cherry on top.

These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart – Izzy Wasserstein
We know I love a novella, but still, I didn’t really know anything about this book (or this author!) when I picked it up. I ended up reading it on a particularly book-heavy vacation, where I hit an amazing reading flow and absolutely tore through a whole bunch of books. This Sci-Fi technothriller, set in a dystopian near future, was one of them, and I’m so happy it was!
The story is very gritty and very queer, written by a trans author and focused around a marginalized group of people trying to eke out a living in an increasingly bleak world. I was very impressed with this novella, and highly recommend it for anyone who doesn’t mind a bit of a sinister vibe.

Katabasis – R.F. Kuang
Probably one of the most anticipated books of the year, for me and for much of the reading world. As always when I’ve loved an author’s previous works, I was a little nervous that this one wouldn’t live up to the hype. But I actually think this is Kuang’s best book yet, at least from a purely ‘writing skills’ standpoint. She’s really hit her stride, and that’s saying something for someone who’s been writing bestselling books for quite a few years now.
I love an academic setting (as established), and even though large parts of this story take place in Hell, it’s definitely steeped in the academia vibe that R.F. Kuang does so well. I also loved seeing main characters Alice and Peter discover each other’s complexity after they’ve mostly been operating on a whole bunch of assumptions about each other for years.

Murder by Memory – Olivia Waite
Another shot in the dark that paid off! I grabbed this book because – surprise, surprise – it’s a Sci-Fi novella, so even though I was not entirely sure what to expect, I wanted to give it a go. Detective stories usually aren’t my vibe, but there was something about this particular one that was just very appealing.
The setting is a reincarnative (is that a word?) passenger liner, where people can let their consciousness take a break in between lives by safely storing it in the Library. That in itself was enough to grab my attention, because there’s just so many different ways to write generation ships and this is one of the more interesting ones. I don’t want to spoil too much (it’s only a short book, after all), but I enjoyed the compelling characters, and the mystery was just mysterious enough. I’d highly recommend this to Cozy Crime readers who want to dip their to into the Science Fiction genre, or the other way around!

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil – V.E. Schwab
This is the third book on this list that was a highly anticipated new releases by an author I like. What a year! It’s quite a chonky book, but I absolutely devoured it (hehehe) on an overnight ferry ride. The scope is pretty ambitious, spanning several hundred years, but there’s something just so propulsive and engaging about this new take on vampires. The different time periods that parts of the story were set in felt very well-researched and vivid, and the characters were very flawed in a way that does not alienate the reader too much. All in all, a really solid read that I would definitely like to dive into again at some point.

Naomi

Top 5 published books I read:

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy – Brigitte Knightley
I love a good enemies to lovers romance, and this was exquisite! I was giggling and kicking my feet the entire time. Both characters are incredibly witty and the banter had me laughing out loud. The second part of this duology is definitely one of my most anticipated books of 2026.

Let’s Make a Scene – Laura Wood
I normally avoid second chance romances like the plague, but I had faith that Laura Wood could make it work for me, and she did! Told across two timelines, we’re right there with Jack and Cynthie when they fall in love the first time, and when they reconnect 13 years later. This makes the relationship very fleshed out, plus you get twice the amount of pining!

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping – Sangu Mandanna
I kept thinking about this book for a long, long time after I finished reading. It’s a beautiful story with characters that felt so incredibly real. It has heart, humor, and beautiful writing. It’s a story about choosing your family and choosing yourself and choosing to show up every day because you are so loved.

Story of My Life – Lucy Score
This might be the funniest book I have read all year! It’s a wonderfully meta book, an ode to romance readers and romance writers. It features a kooky cast and an excellent heroine who works hard to get back on her feet and fight for what she wants.

Heated Rivalry – Rachel Reid
I have read this book, many many times over the last few years, and in preparation for the TV show I just had to read it again. I’m happy to say that it still holds up as one of my favorite books. It’s a true rivals to lovers romance, taking space over the span of seven years and told through sex scenes, initially. The relationship gradually develops into something else, and you get to read about the most tender romance. I’m even happier to say the the TV show is an excellent adaptation so far!

Sophie

In no particular order:

Five Ways to Forgiveness – Ursula K. Le Guin
THIS WOMAN. Oh my goodness. If you’ve seen my top 5s over the many years I’ve been at ABC, you might know I’m leisurely making my way through Queen Ursula K. Le Guin’s entire catalogue (not to mention her prize’s shortlists), and each time I start a new title I think “well, surely this can’t be as good as the last one” and EACH TIME she proves me wrong. Not only is her writing gorgeous, she also presents difficult topics for thought and discussion with such grace and gentleness.
Five Ways to Forgiveness is made up of 5 interconnected stories set on 2 planets, Werel and Yeowe, populated by the same group of people divided into owners and assets, except that on Yeowe the assets recently staged a successful revolution. Each story digs into themes of revolution, enslavement, power vacuums, feminism, rebuilding, and the generational aftershocks a seismic change has on a people. But written so beautifully you don’t really realize all these powerful themes are all there until you finish a story and it keeps reverberating in your head. I especially loved the third and fourth stories of this collection.

Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall – Anna Funder
Speaking of revolutions, how about the peaceful one that happened in my lifetime: the fall of the Berlin Wall. This wall was a huge specter in my youth; there was just so much unknown about the folks living behind it, and all we in the West ever heard was from the folks that escaped from it, at huge personal risk and sacrifice. Anna Funder, an Australian journalist, was working in Berlin not long after the fall of the Wall, and noticed how little was known about life in East Berlin, and how little the folks in the West seemed to wonder about it. So she set about finding the stories herself. She interviewed regular folks and pop stars, a famous TV presentor, and Stasi agents who listened in on their fellow countrymen. My eyes were opened, not just to the propaganda folks in East Germany were fed (…well, it’s all propaganda, isn’t it, also here in the West…), but also to how bent out of shape the lives of everyone she interviewed still were. Except the pop star, he seemed to do alright, if you think excessive use of alcohol is a measure of alright. I really loved Funder’s writing style as well, which I found a little meandering and sardonic and above all filled with curiosity.

The Unbalancing – R. B. Lemberg
I was lucky enough to stumble into R. B. Lemberg while reading the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlist, and since then I’ve read all their books set in the Birdverse. This is a beautifully queer world, which isn’t to say it’s perfectly inclusive. Some places are great, others, not so much. But the whole of the place is beautifully grounded in an incredible mythology, and the magic system is also awesome (and, again, not inclusive and a burden to many who are gifted with it). Its latest entry, The Yoke of Stars, won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella this year, and I’m so glad Lemberg is getting their flowers (even though the books are hard to get, being independently published and all)!
The Unbalancing is the story of the terrible doom of the islands of Gelle-Geu, where one of the fallen stars of the world sleeps fitfully. It features star-keepers and poets and ghosts, and beautiful writing, and a terribly fitting ending. I was spellbound.

The Tainted Cup – Robert Jackson Bennett
I buddy-read this earlier this year together with Júlia, Jouke, and Juno, and I just loved this strange, dangerous world. Nature there is just bursting, literally. It is lush and invasive and mostly decidedly unfriendly. The magic system is interesting (and heavily nature-based) and dangerous, and some of the phenomena are truly mystifying (what, exactly, are those leviathans, for example?). I also loved the central detective duo, Ana and Dinios. Ana, especially, is eccentric to a fault, but after reading the follow-up, A Drop of Corruption, some of that particular veil gets lifted. I also really loved reading a mystery wrapped up in a fantasy. Oh, and kudos to the UK cover designs!

The Vanished Birds – Simon Jimenez
The incredible debut from the author who wrote my favorite book last year. This is a gorgeous tale about time, relativity, and the deep relationship between a starship’s captain and a mysterious boy. I was so invested in the last few chapters that I read them while walking home; I just couldn’t put the book down! I loved the characters, and the writing style, and the heartbreak, and the power of (not-romantic) love. Simon Jimenez is an author that has redefined Fantasy for me, and to see how capable he is with Science Fiction, too, makes me more than a little eager to read anything else he writes.

Honorable mentions:
The Husbands – Holly Gramazio (fantastic concept brought to a satisfying conclusion)
The Wedding People – Alison Espach (touching and humorous story about finding your way out of a deep depression)
The West Passage – Jared Pechacek (bewildering fantasy set in a Hieronymusch Bosch-like medieval world that I keep thinking back on every so often)(one of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlisted books)(two more left to go to finish the list)
The Guncle – Steven Rowley (pitch perfect summer book, with more depth than you might expect)
The Names – Florence Knapp (beautifully written and constructed novel about a very tough topic)
Bookshops & Bonedust – Travis Baldree (my favorite of the 3 Baldree books, the perfect combination of cozy and adventure)
Out of Print merch (I, too, have succumbed to the literary-inspired T-shirts and onesies and bookmarks, and I’m not sorry!)

Favorite re-reads:
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (10/10, no notes, owned in various editions)
The Crazy Rich Asians trilogy – Kevin Kwan (entirely delightful escapist fantasy to the continent I grew up on)
The entire Monstress series – Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (angry, epic, dark, political intrigue, steeped in mythology and folklore – and such gorgeous art to boot; can’t wait for vol. 10!)

Want more of our favorite reads of 2025? Click here!