Coffee, Book, and Candle's 2025 Year in Books

Your favorite bookish witches are back with our annual reading wrapup! Here we discuss our reading experiences of 2025, as well as our goals for the new year.

2025 WRAP UP

2025 READING GOALS – HOW DID WE STACK UP?

Jordan: I set an easy reading goal for myself last year, knowing I'd continue to be busy in the early stages of starting and running self-employment. My goal was simply to get through more of the unread books on my shelf, and I did manage a couple! Between the books I read for my editing job (and friends' beta reads that I can't spoil just yet), I also managed 3 published books.

Kori: I barely surpassed my goal, reading 51 books. I must admit, this is partly due to the fact that I read many short ones (novellas, graphic novels). I didn't read any Brandon Sanderson books, but I did purchase Mistborn. I finally read The Picture of Dorian Gray and am kicking myself for not picking it up sooner, because there were moments I couldn't put it down!

As for the blog, I did prep and / or draft several posts, but I never got around to finishing them, partly due to how chaotic this year was, and partly because we decided to build a new website, which I can't wait for y'all to see.

BEST (AND WORST) OF 2025

FAVORITE READ(S)

Jordan: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett was my favorite read last year—it was incredibly cozy, the writing style reminded me of some classic 1800s books I love, the protagonist Emily was one of the more relatable characters I've read in awhile, the fae lore was well-researched, and I enjoyed the grumpy/sunshine romance.

There's another book I'd slot into favorites, but it's unpublished so I have to wait. 🤐

Kori: I gave 5 stars to the following: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (a toxic vampire romance), the Murderbot series (sci-fi adventures featuring a snarky bot with newfound free will), Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, theVox Machina Origins series (high fantasy adventure with lots of laughs), and Brigands & Breadknives (a cozy adventure taken amidst the FMC's existential crisis).

NOT OUR CUP OF TEA...OR COFFEE

Jordan: I actually enjoyed everything I picked up last year! Granted, I didn't read much at all, but that's an improvement from the 3 or so books I DNF'd the year prior.

Kori: I only DNF'd two books this year. Bolted to the Bone wasn't bad; I just wasn't feeling it at the time and didn't want to force it. Oathbound was good, but I reached a breaking point with the narration. I fully intend to pick it up again once my library app gets an e-copy, I make it to my local library, or the paperback version is released...whichever comes first.

MOST READ AUTHOR

Jordan: I read one book per author last year, so they all get a slice of that cake. 🍰

Kori: Martha Wells, with 6 novellas and 3 short stories

MIXED FEELINGS

Jordan: The only mixed feelings I have this time are impatience for the books I can't talk about yet to be published. 😂

Kori: I wanted to love Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife, but it didn't quite check all the boxes for me. You can read my review for more information.

As much as I loved Assistant to the Villain, I found the sequel, Apprentice to the Villain, to be a bit lackluster. I'll post a review soon, but for now you can check out my review of book one.

SHORTEST READ

Jordan: I'm going to throw in some research-related reading, because I take for granted how much of my reading throughout the year is informational. I enjoyed several short articles on dark matter from Science Daily.

Kori: Weighing in at a whopping 9 pages: Compulsory, a Murderbot short story

LONGEST READ

Jordan: Children of the Fallen Gods by Carissa Broadbent. It's a chunky book, okay, and I keep getting distracted. 😂

Kori: Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by isthisselfcare, which StoryGraph clocked at 1051 pages. No wonder the trad pub adaptation is broken into installments!

BEST FANTASY / FOLKLORE

Jordan: Encyclopedia of Faeries easily won this spot for me. It was refreshing to read a fae book that showcased its folklore research, and I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

Kori: Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries had some of the best fae lore I've ever read! I hope the rest of the series is as good; I could see it becoming a favorite.

BEST COMIC / GRAPHIC NOVEL

Jordan: I don't have anything to fill this spot, but I loved catching up on the shows Vox Machina and Mighty Nein and plan to nab their comics soon!

Kori: Vox Machina Origins is hilarious, and it got me fully hooked on the Critical Role universe. The new season of A Spell for a Smith also began releasing weekly, which was the perfect way to end the year.

BEST AUDIOBOOK

Jordan: I didn't listen to any audiobooks per se, but I'm over halfway into the Worlds Beyond Number podcast where Brennan Lee Mulligan runs a D&D-inspired live play to tell a story with other members of Dimension 20, and I'm loving it so far. Everyone's acting and storytelling are phenomenal.

Kori: I have two favorites because the performances were just astounding: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil has three incredible narrators, one for each FMC. I listened to the audio while reading the physical copy, and I can't recommend it enough.

And thanks to a friend's recommendation, I've been obsessed with listening to Kevin R. Free as Murderbot! I laughed aloud countless times and was able to push myself to do things I didn't want to for longer periods of time because I didn't want to turn it off.

MOST COMFORTING READ

Jordan: I'm going to give that spot to Encyclopedia of Faeries again (I know, I know, it wasn't a heavy reading year!). This was the perfect book to read while snuggled under the blankets with a cup of tea/coffee and a cozy treat.

Kori: Brigands & Breadknives was a tad less cozy than Baldree's previous installments, but it was still a major comfort—especially in a year that felt like a dumpster fire.

BEST WORLDBUILDING

Jordan: I can't name the book because it's an unreleased novel I had the privilege to beta read, but I'll be sure to sing its praises when the author publishes it. 👀

Kori: This is a tough one, but I think I have to give it to Martha Wells for Murderbot. Each installment is short, but I could visualize and believe everything. I also love how the story opens readers eyes to some of the sad realities of our world.

MOST ATMOSPHERIC / BEST VIBES

Jordan: Another point to Encyclopedia of Faeries, and one to Worlds Beyond Number for all the vividly-described locations and their practical uses of magic woven into the settings.

Kori: Emily Wilde is up there with her wintery, dark faerie vibes, but also One Dark Window! It has the gothic fairytale vibes I love that few books have been able to deliver for me in recent years.

BEST CHARACTER ARC

Jordan: The best character arcs I encountered last year were more so in TV and D&D live plays, so I'll give that to the characters of Vox Machina and Worlds Beyond Number. I'm a huge fan of ensemble casts and groups of friends who go on adventures together.

Kori: Again, I have two:

Fern from Brigands & Breadknives; she learned to be more assertive and follow her passions.

Sec-Unit / Murderbot learns a lot about pesky human emotions over the course of this ongoing series, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

BEST PLOT TWIST

Jordan: Hmm I suppose I didn't read anything all that twisty last year. 🤔 I might have to rectify that going forward.

Kori: V.E. Schwab surprised me a couple times in Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

BEST ROMANCE

Jordan: I didn't read a whole lot of romance last year, but I'm still enjoying Max and Tisaanah's relationship in the second War of Lost Hearts book, and I adored the grumpy/sunshine romance in Encyclopedia of Faeries—I always relate to and love when the grumpy one in the pairing is the female character.

Kori: Bury Our Bones is full of tragedy, and I loved the rivals-to-lovers aspect of Emily Wilde. And if you want to giggle and kick your feet, it doesn't get better than A Spell for a Smith.

FAVORITE TROPE(S)

Jordan: Grumpy/Sunshine (Encyclopedia of Faeries), found family (Worlds Beyond Number and unnamed beta reads), and mundane uses for magic (Worlds Beyond Number).

Kori: Rivals-to-lovers and found family are still at the top of my list.

2026 GOALS

BOOKISH GOALS

Jordan: I think my goals will remain largely the same: make my way through what I already have on my shelves, continue branching out into other forms of digesting stories & information (podcasts, research articles, etc.), keep reading my friends' work, and overall not stress too much if my attention needs to be elsewhere this year.

Kori: I'd like to read 50 books again, but don't want to feel pressured in my reading. Instead, my goal is to read 10 books from my physical TBR—somehow it just keeps growing!

Aside from reading, I want to start spraying / stenciling edges, release more bookish goods on my shop, and ship duplicate copies and books I won't read anytime soon back east in a massive declutter / moving project.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES

Jordan: The beta reads I can't mention. 😂 I shall bully my friends with love until they're out in the world.

Kori: Platform Decay, Matha Wells' newest installment in the Murderbot series, is at the top of my list. Thanks to NetGalley, I got an e-arc and don't have to wait until May to read it! I'm also anxiously awaiting The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clark, V.E. Schwab's Victorious, and Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett.

Innamorata by Ava Reid is on my radar, as well as Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher and The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan. Horn in My Side has piqued my interest; the cover and premise are adorable, but I've been burnt out on romantasy books lately.

BLOG GOALS

Jordan: Continue working on our new blog website! My place is in the shadows and coding, smashing my head against a keyboard at WordPress and begging websites to stop introducing AI into everything. 🫠 I shall feel very accomplished once it's up and running and we can see you guys more regularly. 🫶

Kori: In preparation for the new website (eek!), I plan to build a 4-6 week backlog. I also look forward to getting back on social media; I've missed y'all.

WRITING GOALS

Jordan: To be honest, writing is probably what I'll be doing for the majority of the year when I'm not working or assembling websites. My goal is to have a completed manuscript before winter, so it might be yet another publicly quiet year for me as I withdraw to the shadows to Get Shit Done™️.

Kori: Jordan gifted me Scrivener for the holidays, so my goal this year is to learn the ins and out of the software and finish drafting one short story project. I won't pressure myself with loftier goals; I just want to get back into the habit of writing regularly.

NOTE TO YOU:

Reading is a hobby, and setting goals is meant to be a fun way to try new things or engage with reading in new ways. If your goals feel like a burden or punishment, please reevaluate them or let them fall away. Don't let your love for reading be tainted. Again, it's about having fun, not performing or pumping out a ton of content. 💚