I hope everyone is having a joyful holiday season.
I read a lot of books this year, but very few I felt compelled to review in detail or at all.
In November I fell into a deep reading slump where nothing I read, I liked. Hopefully, your reading journey was better than mine.
Here are reviews of some of the books I read in the year of our Lord 2025.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I understand why this book is so popular. It has a good, simple message. It’s easy to read. It’s not overly long and the plot is uncomplex. But, this book wasn’t for me. Maybe it’s meant for teenagers with its hopeful and wholesome message. For me, it was like reading inspirational quotes you see on Instagram, except strung together into a story.
The story is cliche and predictable. I found Nora, the main character, boring all of the time and insufferable some of the time. The plot is a modern mishmash of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. Nora is unhappy with her life and attempts suicide. She is brought between the worlds of life and death to a supernatural library where she meets its librarian, Mrs. Elm. Nora goes through various “books” to live out the lives she could have lived — you know, if she hadn’t been lazy and had put in the effort, but the story doesn’t frame Nora this way so she comes off like a sad sack, Mary Sue. This is why I never connected to Nora or felt any sympathy for her. She has natural talent for swimming (she could have been a gold winning Olympic swimmer), genius level talent for music (she could have been a rich, world renowned, mega pop-rock star on par with Coldplay), is uber smart (she could have been a famous glaciologist helping to combat climate change), and many other things.
Nora blames her parents for her failings despite both of them being dead and she’s in her mid-thirties. To me, Nora comes off as someone who is supremely talented & lucky, but as soon as she needs to put in the hard work necessary to become, for example, an Olympic swimmer or a mega rock star, she quits to do something else. Naturally, in the fantasy world of the library, she instantly pops into the life where she’s already at the tip of the iceberg (she’s won gold at the Olympics or she’s singing an encore at her concert in Brazil). With each new life she tries on, she’s unhappy. The story ends exactly how you’d expect a retelling of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol to end. Maybe I’m just jaded. Overall, this is a sweet, whimsical book with an endearing message.
Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh
This is an example of enjoying a novel, while disliking the main character, a lot. Not to the point of hating her, but not liking her over all. I read this in two days and enjoyed certain aspects of it, the descriptions, the side characters, and flow. I was entertained, yet highly annoyed. Dominoes is set in the current day, between 2021 – 2023.
The main character is Layla, a mixed race (white English and black of Jamaican descent), 29-year-old teacher in London who gets engaged to Andy, who is white/Scottish. Andy is sweet, patient, and white. That sums up his entire personality. We never get his POV and the novel suffers for it. Both Layla and Andy have the same last name of McKinnon. Layla’s BFF since primary school is Sera. Sera is black, also works as a teacher in the same school as Layla, has an on-again/off-again boyfriend, and for reasons completely unknown hates Andy and doesn’t want Layla to marry him. This is the extent of Sera’s personality. Like Andy, we never get her perspective and the story needs it. The novel’s premise is a what if scenario: What if you find out that your finance’s ancestors once owned your ancestors as slaves? This would be a wild coincidence and make for an interesting family discussion, but shouldn’t affect wedding plans since no one can change the past and people aren’t responsible for their ancestors’ behavior. For Layla, this is universe shattering news which causes her to act like a histrionic teenager.
Layla seemed immature for a 29-year-old woman, but after learning this information about Andy’s forbearers from an e-mailed documentary sent by Sera, she devolves into an inconsolable, hysterical 13-year old brat. Instead of talking to Andy, her mother, her grandfather, or her non-Sera friends, she obsesses over her husband’s family history. If Andy was racist, he wouldn’t have dated her or asked her to marry him. He’s met her family and is adored by them. Any racist behavior/beliefs would have shown up before now and no problematic things ever does. Nor are his parents & sister racists, because if they were, they would’ve shunned her and/or him and wouldn’t be welcoming Layla into their family with open arms. None the less, Layla has a meltdown. At their weekly Saturday brunch, Sera fuels Layla’s insecurity and childish hysteria, by saying hateful things such as: Layla is marrying her oppressor, she shrinking herself to fit within Andy’s white family, she’s acting white, she’s disrespecting her ancestors, Layla isn’t black enough or black any more. Layla is hurt, but never stands up for herself. Layla becomes an even more sullen, hormonal teenager and pushes Andy away. At no point does she act like an adult and she ventures pretty close to TSTL territory.
The whole time I was hoping Andy would see Layla wasn’t mentally mature enough for junior high school yet alone ready for marriage and dump her obnoxious ass, but that never happened. The story ends in an uncanny valley kind of way for Layla, Andy, and Sera. In a low key, roundabout turn, he apologizes for being white and for his ancestors’ actions and tearfully begs Layla to still marry him. Maybe if the story had given Andy’s and Sera’s POV, the ending would have seemed less strange. Still, I couldn’t put the novel down, despite rooting against the main character in every chapter.
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
For the second time in a row, I read a book where I hated the main character. I don’t mean in a love to hate type of way, but in a rooting for his gruesome death sort of way. Actually, it’s more than that. I hated the entire society this book is set in. I couldn’t picture any of the settings. I didn’t care about the side characters, because they were all (every single one of them) one dimensional and worst of all, boring. I didn’t know anything about this novel when I requested it as a Christmas gift, well except for the reviews. They are legion and effusive. So I thought, it must be good, right?
This 523-page slog stars Tau, a young man in the lowest rung of a caste based fantasy society. He starts off as a generic, downtrodden fantasy lead and turns into a narcissistic, rage and vengeance filled moron. He is unlikeable from start to finish. The castes are broken out into Lessers and Nobles, with hierarchies in each group. Usually, I love navigating these types of societies, but every character is as one note as you can expect. It put me off that Tau’s people, the Omehi or the Chosen as they call themselves, invaded another country, stole the native people’s land by force, regard the people they stole from as Goddess cursed heathens and savages, all the while regarding themselves as pure, innocent victims. The Omehi have superior magic, weapons, Incredible Hulk like super soldiers, dragons, and can strip the souls from their enemies, while the natives (the Xiddeen) don’t. The book is written as if readers are meant to view the two groups as equals because the Xiddeen have a larger population, even though the Omehi use dragons which slaughter Xiddeen by the thousands.
There’s no reason to root for the Omehi in their never-ending war with the Xiddeen. The main plot is Tau’s quest to get revenge on the Nobles he believes murdered his father. Tau being unbearable doesn’t help his likability as he goes about meeting his goals. First of all, Tau’s actions are the sole reason why his father died. At no point does he ever self-reflect. He basically gets his way and becomes a super-murderer through cheating. Tau tricks his first opponent, who was the better fighter, in the tournament to get in as a military trainee. He lost in the final level of the tournament, only to be handed a spot in. Then, to become a better soldier than the others in his unit, Tau uses forbidden magic to train harder in the Underworld. At no point does he care enough about his people or team to show them how he became this super skilled, uber killing machine soldier, which is especially selfish since his people are locked in a 2-centuries long war with the Xiddeen; not even to help his fellow Lessers become equal to Nobles who oppress them. Another thing that put me off this book was the descriptions of Lessers and Nobles. The characters are humans, but the way the Nobles are described, it seems as if the Lessers and Nobles are two completely different species. The good things I can say about this novel was the prose was good & the fight scenes were very well written.
The Queen of Darkness (Book 4) by Eoghan R. Cunningham
This is the fourth book in the Crystalline Dragons Saga. I’ve enjoyed every book thus far even though this one felt like filler. Dusk, Lex, and Tara are fleshed out further as characters as they continue their journey. While this was a fun, easy read, the trio of friends are doing basically the same thing they were doing in the last book. They are on the run from the Circle while also traveling towards another destination. The obstacles they face this time, evil Queen Lobelia & the Circle, were overcome relatively easily. The heart of the story is Lex & Dusk’s relationship which was blown apart at the end of the last book. This is where the novel shines. Both characters get deeper and more loveable with each book. Tara has taken up the comedic role Lex no longer fills because of his relationship drama. The entire plot is gearing up and putting everything and everyone in place for the inevitable showdown between Dusk and the series’ big bad, Tiernan. I’m looking forward to reading the final book in this saga.
A Dance of Fang and Claw (Book Three in The Ranger Archives) by Philip C. Quaintrell
The final book in this trilogy has me trying to come up with new words… Awesome + Magnificent = Awesnificent? Unforgettable + Outstanding = Unforstanding? Whatever! It was so damn good. When I had read the book’s basic plot summary that stated that the main character, Asher, was going to stumble into an ongoing war between Vampires and Werewolves. I had thought, ho hum, too bad, looks like the trilogy will end on a cliche note. I was dead wrong, or undead wrong, maybe (?) given the content. The book deepened my love for Asher, the kingdom of Illian, and the world of the Rangers. Asher as a character is fully fleshed out. He goes from broken lone wolf (book 1), to a complicated, caring, and complex human being in book three. It was an absolute delight to read his journey and to get to know Doran, Pig, Hector, Russell, and Danagarr. If you like action packed fantasy, then read this trilogy. I love this series so much that I’m going to forage ahead with reading the Echoes Saga.
The Four-Way Path: A Guide to Purushartha and India’s Spiritual Traditions for a Life of Happiness, Success, and Purpose by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles
This isn’t the type of book I’d normally read, but it was a gift. As the title suggests, it’s a self-help book that dives into Indian history, spirituality, and mindfulness. It was an easy read. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to people who like self-help books. I’m just not sure what I was supposed to walk away with after finishing it. I wasn’t emotionally or spiritually moved.
What were your favorite books in 2025?
I hope you liked this month’s blog post. The books in my urban fantasy series are available on Amazon. Please let me know your thoughts by liking, commenting, and/or subscribing. Also, you can join my mailing list by clicking here.
stacy benedict 