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Everything I read in 2025

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SPOILERS IN DESCRIPTIONS From the biography of a Hampton’s cook to a short fantastical horror. These are all the books I read in 2025. Spoilers in book descriptions.
 
Jen Krava profile picture
I love Ina. I liked learning more about how she got to where she is and some interesting details about how she ran her business. The thing about luck though, is that in order to go after it you need to have the means. The last third-ish of the book h...
Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Wow I have so many thoughts. I absolutely hated the main character. Selfish, didn’t seem to actually even like her husband? Living a little outside of reality. I didn’t relate to everything but some parts are spot on. I didn’t really know if I liked ...
All Fours: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Holy cow this was much more gorey than I was expecting. Definitely fantastical horror. Was it a story about helping others see the truth or was it a love story? Beautifully written, glad I read it on my kindle because I had to look up so many words! ...
The Salt Grows Heavy
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Agatha Christie actually disappeared in real life for 11 days. This book speculates on what might have happened…it’s thrilling, strange and hard to tell what is real and what is mystery. A great book about an even better writer.
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Fast moving book, murder, lust - I left wondering if I could actually believe the main character or not!
The Postman Always Rings Twice
 
Jen Krava profile picture
DNF - I could not finish this. Funny and beat and sort of stream of consciousness, I lost interest.
Trout Fishing In America
 
Jen Krava profile picture
I thought this was going one direction and then it went somewhere else. Great fast read. I enjoy Mackintosh’s writing.
Cursed Bread: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
This was kind of hard to read - lots of really long, descriptive sentences, a lot of male characters I couldn’t keep apart/remember who was who. The story was somewhat interesting but I didn’t see all the connections. Like the Albert guy or like the ...
The Crying of Lot 49
 
Jen Krava profile picture
A bunch of fantasy/mythology/sci fi stories. Quick, fun reads.
Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic & Betrayal
 
Jen Krava profile picture
So boring. lol thinking about it now there’s a lot of parallels in where the human race is heading intellectually but it was still quite boring.
The Time Machine
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Fast read, really interesting concept yet sometimes hard to follow all of the nuance. Beautifully written, invoked a range of emotions. Excited to read the next book.
Vita Nostra: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Super quick story, interesting characters. At one point you could tell where the story was going and the ending was pretty satisfying. I’d love to read a book about Tamar or Tuck though.
Graveyard Shift: A Novella
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Really fast read and very interesting premise. MC can’t relate to the other women’s past lives and. Normalcy. Conversations about not knowing why they are in the cage and reconciling over time that they will never know. What is it to be alone and how...
I Who Have Never Known Men
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Very fast erotic read. Very thin plot; essentially it’s a string of rough sex scenes in the woods. Could use some pretty heavy editing.
Primal: A Dark Retelling of Hansel and Gretel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
This was a really good book! Fast read. The descriptions of the circus and the magic throughout the book made them feel real. The way everything came together in the end was very satisfying. Lovely writing, great storytelling. Interesting characters ...
The Night Circus: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Wow this was an amazing book. Is Louise Erdrich some sort of future seer? I sometimes had a hard time discerning between the fiction of the book and the way the country is shifting right now in 2025. All of this could be very real in such a short amo...
Future Home of the Living God: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
I loved this book. It’s an interesting dive into existentialism, control, and narcissism. There was a part of the book where it really started to get good. Super fast read, great writing.
Piranesi
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Lovely writing, intense and charming at different parts. While it is about language and translations, it is really truly about global colonization and exploitation, and the students who fought for liberation. I dont understand why they couldn’t use ...
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Cute book, was hoping for more smut. I read this because I am burnt out at work and wanted to see how it’s described in the book. Wow could relate to everything that the main character was feeling. It’s hard to explain the feeling of nothingness and ...
The Burnout: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
I read this in one day. Tons of steamy spicy scenes. Story is pretty good, I had a feeling it would end the way it did. I’m about to get the next book.
Cross My Heart: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
This felt really rushed and monotone. Suddenly the main character’s world is only through her lover boy - she doesn’t go to classes anymore, she moved in with him, she works at his friends non profit. I wish the relationship between the two of them w...
Break My Rules: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Like the 2nd book, this felt basic and the main character totally lost her individuality. Like her existence was based on her boyfriend. Lots of sexy scenes but they all started feeling the same and much like the 2nd book, there was a ton of monologi...
Seal My Fate: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Super fast read. Loved the setting and some of the magick behind it. Loved the brooding connection between main character and love interest but it was a little too possessive and almost rapey at times. I don’t know if I bought their connection beyond...
Gothikana
 
Jen Krava profile picture
My first Eve Babitz read. Boring story about a girl from LA getting opportunities through nepotism and then nothing very interesting really happened. I did enjoy Babitz’s writing style and may try another of her books. Zero rage and even less sex.
Sex and Rage: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
This started kind of slow and then really picked up. Gus and Clara were my fave characters. The way the book was written really gave me a sense of who each person was and there were a lot of people. It was interesting to read about life during the be...
Lonesome Dove: A Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
This was a predictable, fast read. A Hallmark movie in a book but lots of smut.
The Christmas Fix
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Super fast read, mostly romance with a little magic - I wish that we had learned more about the cove and grace and what that means for keelin’s powers
Wildes Irisches Herz
 
Jen Krava profile picture
This was not a great book. Could use some editing and some of it felt like it was written by ai. I did not buy the relationship between the two. This really was just about the smut, which was ok.
Forbidden: An Under the Skin Novel
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Super fast read, totally predictable but I went in looking for something quick and entertaining. This did it. I like the writing and will be reading the next book in the series.
My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Another super fast read. I liked the quick wit between the two mc’s and the slight feminist view to some of the conversations and characters. I’ll be reading the third in the series.
Would I Lie to the Duke: Union of the Rakes
 
Jen Krava profile picture
Another super fast read. This was my least fave of the three as far as the couples go. Same formula as the first two books in the series, less depth in the characters. I did like that she wanted her sexual freedom!
Waiting for a Scot Like You: The Union of the Rakes