📚 My 5-Star Reads of 2025

This year I seem to have gravitated toward speculative fiction. These are books and short stories that bend reality and question social systems. Whether dystopian, psychological, or quietly surreal, they offered me more than plot: they gave me perspective. Because of their unique stories and characters, these are my five star reads of 2025.

✨ Speculative fiction standouts  

- All Systems Red — M. Wells

- 1984 — G. Orwell  

- The Yellow Wallpaper — C. Gilman  

- I Who Have Never Known Men — J. Harpman  

- We Used to Live Here — M. Kliewer

💫 Unique romance with heart & humor  

- Good Spirits — B. Borison  

- The Fall Risk — A. Jimenez

🎨 Historical fiction that felt like art  

- Girl with a Pearl Earring — T. Chevalier

🚆 Psychological suspense  

- The Girl on the Train — P. Hawkins

If you love speculative fiction and stories that quietly whisper long after you finish reading them, then you may enjoy these too.
 

I hope to finish one more book but overall I'm very pleased with my reading this year.