My 2025 Reading Wrap-Up:
Every December, readers everywhere start posting their stats like they’re Goodreads accountants:
“Here’s how many pages I read.”
“Here’s my average rating.”
“Here’s the 47-book stack I totally planned and absolutely did not abandon for whatever shiny thriller crossed my path.”
Meanwhile I’m over here like:
I survived another year with my TBR pile and my sanity mostly intact — and that feels like enough.
So instead of rehashing every book I talked about this year, here’s the real end-of-year wrap-up: the behind-the-scenes chaos of being a Brash & Bookish reader.
📌 1. My Reading Year Did Not Go As Planned… at all.
I started January with goals. A whole list. Organized. Color-coded. Enthusiastic.
By February?
I was mood-reading like a raccoon climbing into someone’s trash can at 2 a.m.
If it looked chaotic, twisty, or slightly unhinged — I read it.
If it looked cozy? I read that too.
Basically, my reading “plan” turned into “vibes only,” and honestly? It worked.
📌 2. I Discovered That I’m a ‘Just One More Chapter’ Liar
I said it many times this year.
But, did not mean it a single time.
“One more chapter” turned into three books, a new emotional wound, and at least one unwashed dish in the sink.
📌 3. I Fully Entered My ‘Psychological Thrillers Are My Second Personality’ Era
Not news, but wow did I commit.
Plot twists? Inject them directly into my soul.
Unreliable narrators? Yes, please.
Female leads who are a little unhinged? My people.
This genre carried me through the year like a caffeinated emotional support animal.
📌 4. Some Books Healed Me, Some Hurt Me, and Some Books Asked Nothing of Me Except My Entire Weekend.
And that’s what I love about reading.
Some stories arrived exactly when I needed them.
Others slapped me across the face with a twist I never saw coming (and maybe still haven’t recovered from).
And some were simply fun little escapisms that kept my brain from spiraling.
All of them mattered.
📌 5. My TBR Pile Is Now a Structural Hazard
It’s not a “pile” anymore.
It’s a tower.
A monument.
A leaning structure that could take me out if a door slams too hard.
Will this stop me from buying more books next year?
Absolutely not.
I am who I am.
📌 6. I Read More for Comfort Than Completion This Year
My biggest shift?
I let myself DNF without guilt.
Chose books that felt good instead of forcing myself into something I “should” read.
And I gifted myself stories that matched my mood instead of my to-do list.
It changed everything.
📌 7. I End This Year Grateful — Truly — For Stories
Books were my escape, my therapy, my laughter, my thrill, and sometimes the only thing that quieted my brain long enough to relax.
I may not remember every plot point from every book I read…
But I remember how they made me feel.
📚 Bonus: Books I Meant to Read… But Life Said “LOL, No”
Look.
Every reader has that stack — the well-intentioned, lovingly purchased, maybe even pre-ordered books that somehow never made it off the nightstand.
Not because we didn’t want to read them.
But because life handed us chaos, distraction, and the occasional Netflix spiral.
So here they are:
The Books That Lived Rent-Free in My Plans but Not in My Hands (Yet):
Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
Nobody’s Girl — I swore this would be my next read at least seven different times. My TBR had other plans.
The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words—until now.
In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody’s Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.
Here, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at nineteen. Giuffre remade her life from scratch and summoned the courage to not only hold her abusers to account but also advocate for other victims. The pages of Nobody’s Girl preserve her voice—and her legacy—forever.
Nobody’s Girl is an astonishing affirmation of Giuffre’s unshakable will—first, to claw her way out of victimhood, and then to shine light on wrongdoing and fight for a safer, fairer world. Equal parts intimate and fierce, it is a remarkable narrative of fortitude in the face of depravity and despair.
(Via Amazon)
Return of the Spider by James Patterson
Return of the Spider— I fully intended to devour this. Instead, life devoured me.
The suspense classic Along Came a Spider introduced an unsurpassed rivalry:
Detective Alex Cross; the “human superhero” (New York Times) versus Gary Soneji; the “most deliciously wicked character since Hannibal Lecter” (Lexington Herald-Leader).
But that wasn’t their first meeting…
Police discover that Soneji kept a murder book, Profiles in Homicidal Genius, detailing his transformation from substitute teacher to hardened serial killer—including clues that imply missteps that Alex Cross may have made a rookie homicide detective.
Now, Alex must retrace the steps of that long-ago investigation and face…the Return of the Spider.
(Via Amazon)
Poems and Prayers by Matthew McConaughey
Poems and Prayers — My soft, reflective era was coming… and then it didn’t.
I’ve always relied on logic to make sense of myself and the world.
A prescriptionist at heart, I’ve always looked to reason to find the rhyme, the practical to get to the mystical, the choreography to find the dance, the proof to get to the truth, and reality to get to the dream.
I’ve been finding that tougher to do lately. It’s more than hard to know what to believe in; it’s hard to believe.
But I don’t want to quit believing, and I don’t want to stop believing in . . . humanity, you, myself, our potential.
I think it’s time for us to flip the script on what’s historically been our means of making sense, and instead open our aperture to enchantment and look to faith, belief, and dreams for our reality.
Let’s sing more than we might make sense, believe in more than the world can conclude, get more impressed with the wow instead of the how, let inspiration interrupt our appointments, dream our way to reality, serve some soul food to our hungry heads, put proof on the shelf for a season, and rhyme our way to reason.
Forget logic, certainty, owning, or making a start-up company of it; let’s go beyond what we can merely imagine, and believe, in the poetry of life.
(Via Amazon)
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
The Body Keeps the Score — My brain said “healing.” My schedule said “absolutely not.”
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity.
Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
“Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society.” —Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies
(Via Amazon)
Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon
Gone Before Goodbye — Still excited for it. Still untouched. Still staring at me like I’m the problem.
An unforgettable suspense novel that combines the storytelling talents of Academy Award-winning actor Reese Witherspoon and internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben, Gone Before Goodbye is the story of a woman trapped in a deadly conspiracy—where uncovering the truth could cost her everything.
Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan…until it wasn’t.
Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.
Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance.
Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself—or she will be the next one who is…
(Via Amazon)
These books aren’t failures.
They’re promises — silently sliding into next year with big main-character energy.
And yes, they are officially on my “next year or I owe myself five dollars” TBR.
(We all need consequences.)
📅 What I’m Taking Into Next Year
• More thrillers
• Definitely More humor
• More unhinged female characters
• More cozy reads to balance the chaos
• More fun
• Less pressure
• More reading simply because I want to
And maybe — just maybe — a smaller TBR.
(Okay, never mind. Let’s not get crazy.)
If you need to grab your copy of any of these books you can get them on Amazon. Or get one for free when you sign up for a free trial from Audible.
🖤 Until next time my bookish besties, keep it brash, keep it bookish and keep true to you!
