Ep 149: Favorite Reads of 2025

In this episode, I share 8 books that reshaped how I parent, relax, and think about storytelling in 2025.

Books:

Just Do Nothing (for Parents) by Joanna Hardis

The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram

What Happened to Lucy Vale by Lauren Oliver

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Small Victories by Anne Lamott

Moms Like Us by Jordan Roter

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Chapters

• 0:00 Inspiration And Book Roundup Plan
• 3:53 New Author Visibility Template Bundle
• 5:28 Parenting By Doing Less: Joanna Hardis
• 10:11 Political Page‑Turner: Audrey Ingram
• 13:01 Entering The Thriller Era: Lauren Oliver
• 18:26 Behind The Curtain Of Comedy: Sittenfeld
• 22:01 Revisiting A Classic: Anna Karenina

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:24

Hi, everybody, and welcome back. All right, today's gonna be fun. I was admittedly inspired by my friend Noelle Stark, who was a guest on this podcast earlier this year in 2025, and she messaged me yesterday, and she's doing a really fun thing where she is going out to all the podcasts that she was a guest on and asking the podcast. Well, this is my understanding. If I get this wrong, I apologize, Noelle, but asking the podcast host what their five favorite books of the year were and why. And then she's doing a roundup of all of them. And so I thought about that. I thought, what a great idea. And Noelle's book, Love Camera Action, I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed. She said I couldn't put it on the list though, because she just didn't want it to be biased. But it's a really fun rom-com. It's a quick read, meaning it's a fun read. Like it doesn't require a lot of brain cells, which we all want right now. So if you're looking for a great gift for someone for the holidays, might I suggest love camera action. If you like workplace romance and sizzling chemistry and great dialogue, you will absolutely love it. So I thought to myself, well, maybe this week what I'll do is I will come up with my top seven books of the year. And I it's not seven books that came out in 2025, to be clear. It's seven books I read in 2025. And I like weird numbers. So I don't like to go with five or ten, and and frankly, 10 would have taken too long. And I'm trying to keep these episodes a little bit shorter. So I've got the top seven favorite, my top whatever favorite books that I read or books that I really, really enjoyed. Because it's it's hard to narrow the books I read down to seven favorites. I just, I happen to love a lot of books. But these are books that whether they came out in 2025 or not, I read them in 2025 and feel like more people should know about them and might enjoy them as well. Now, before I will launch into that, I do want to just say I have put up a new bundle over on my website. I'll put a link to it in the episode notes. It's a social media and email template bundle. I basically consider this and created it to be the easy button for book visibility. So you will get 175, you'll get over 200 templates. 175 plus of those will be social media templates for posts, reels, and stories where you can share behind-the-scene moments, build connection with your readers, turn your book themes into relatable, scroll-stopping content. And most importantly, stay consistent even on the days when you are fried and feel way too tired to come up with great new social media content. You will also get my highest converting author email templates, which are ready to personalize for inviting a launch team, keeping them engaged, announcing your book release, all doing all these things without feeling that self-promo cringe. So many of us as creatives, we're not great at the marketing. Some authors are and they love it. I find that the majority of us would rather be writing or organizing a drawer of some sort. So every email is written with a conversational tone. These templates have been used by hundreds of authors to help them build loyal, responsive lists. And I even include my launch team member application. So I will put the link to that visibility bundle in the episode notes below. And if that's something that would help you, I encourage you to snag it while it is on sale. All right, let's hop back to top seven books of 2025. The first one, if I had to pick a runaway favorite book for 2025, I think it might be this one. And full disclosure, this is an author with whom I work. She never believes me when I talk about how incredible this book is. And it's incredible because of how much it's helped me. So lots of times when I work as an editor on books, authors understandably are like, is it, is it good? And as I repeat, it's not fair for me to say whether or not a book is good. Beyond the technicalities of structure and flow and grammar, and you know, once you get to that copy and line edit, all I'm really saying when I say beyond the technicalities that a book is good is that I enjoyed it. And so it's not really fair because if it's not for me or if I loved it, it can set the author up falsely one way or another. This book, I'm sure it's not for everyone because no book is, but I love the crap out of this book. And it's Just Do Nothing for Parents by Joanna Hardis. Joanna is a licensed therapist who specializes in anxiety and OCD. We worked on her first book, Just Do Nothing, a paradoxical guide for getting out of your way, a year or two ago. And now her newest book, Just Do Nothing for Parents, and the subtitle is Parent Better by Doing Less, or How to Parent Better by Doing Less. I don't have it in front of me right now. I don't even know how to well summarize how effective this book is and how much of an impact it's made on my life. I have been a parent for 26 years. I am an avid reader of all things, including how the hell to do this parenting thing correctly and how to not screw everybody up. So I feel like I've read, oh my God, probably a hundred, well over a hundred books on parenting. And it's not just parenting because my kids are all older now. They range from 17 to 26. So it's not the day-to-day minutia of like how to get them to go to sleep and not come into your room at three in the morning. I definitely needed that book way back when, but it's more how to deal with the discomfort that we sometimes feel as parents when we thought, oh my gosh, once they turn 18 andor move out, our job is done, and we'll stop feeling so protective and we'll stop feeling so nervous, and we'll stop feeling like we've ill-prepared them and we need to rectify things, all the things. And her perspective is so refreshing. It's science-backed. So it's not just, it's certainly not just her opinion. It's very much based on her experience. Her insights are great. Her analogies are great. Her exercises are great. And frankly, when it comes to exercises, nothing required. Like I didn't have to draw diagrams and I didn't have to create Excel spreadsheets. And I didn't involve actual exercise where I had to physically move my body. So that was like really lovely. But it's it's thoroughly changed the way that I see parenting and my role at this point. And I wish I had found it sooner. I wish she had written it sooner. I couldn't have found it any sooner than she wrote it. I just, if you are a parent who sometimes struggles with feelings of discomfort and you want to fix things for your child, no matter your child's age, you want to protect them at all costs. You're you feel find yourself worrying almost constantly about them and about how you're doing as a parent. I would venture that this book will help you. You will value it as much as I do. So that if if you had to say, what's the number one book? I think that would be it because it's a practice for me. I'm, you know, I'm a little older than 26. And so I've been, I have my habits in place and I'm having to work on this. But it's the thing that I am sticking with and that makes so much sense to me. And I can see it making a difference for everyone around me, not just even in my parenting life, but in my business life and my personal life, the whole thing. So that's a big one. Just do nothing for parents by Joanna Hardis. The second one that, oh God, I loved this book is The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram. Audrey was also on my podcast earlier this year. And funny enough, when I first saw the title of the book, and I've said this before, I thought it was about running like a marathon. And I thought, I'm gonna hate this book because I, I mean, God, I I will not run unless one of my kids is running into traffic. But it's not, it's about, it's political, it's about a campaign. And it was just a fun read. I don't, I think when you're a writer yourself, and I'm working on my first novel, as I've mentioned 672.6 times, you start to realize that easy reading is really hard writing. And that's a quote from somebody, I can't remember whom. I did not make it up, to be clear. The easier a book is to read and not get and get lost in in the best possible way, but not get lost, like what the hell is going on here? The harder it was to write, to edit, to hone, to move things around. And this book was such an easy read. The dialogue, absolutely fantastic. The storyline, absolutely fantastic, the way that she goes back and forth. I mean, it really was fun. It's a great read if you want to go away for the weekend or you just want to lie in your bed and do nothing and tell people you have a headache. And like, I cannot recommend it enough. I'm a huge Audrey Ingram fan at this point. I'll buy and read every single book that the woman writes. Remarkable. I'm so glad to have found her. The next book, and this is another one where this author, I swear to God, I don't, she could write about anything. Lauren Oliver, if you're listening, you can write about anything, and I will buy it after this book. So, what happened to Lucy Vale is the title of the book. This is nowhere near Lauren's first book, people, but it's the one where I found out about Lauren because, again, she came on the podcast. I'm starting to realize that this podcast is really a very selfish venture because I meet these new friends and I find out about these new books. And as you know, at the end of every podcast with a guest, I'll ask them what they're reading right now. And nine times out of 10, I've never heard of the book. I end up buying it and loving it. It's just such a wonderful gift. So Lauren came on the podcast and I was like, is this your first book? And she's like, uh, no. Like she has written a large number of books. It's Thriller. This book is Thriller. And I credit Lauren with ushering me into what I call my thriller era. I have never been a big fan of thriller. It's not that I avoided it, I just never got into it. And then because she was coming on the podcast, I started reading what happened to Lucy Vale, and I thought, oh my God, I think I like Thriller. What Lauren does in this book is crazy. And I mean that in the best possible way. Like we have at least three points of view. One of the points of view is we. So it's a collective group of people. And I'm not giving anything away by saying this. There is a Discord server that she made up and made up the names of the people on here. And you kind of have to pay attention. It's not as easy, and I put air quotes around this because I don't mean easy, like sometimes when people say it's an easy read, I think people interpret that to be that it's trite. That's not what I mean. I just mean I don't have to use as many brain cells. I had to use some brain cells to read what happened to Lucy Vale, because I had to remember, especially when you're, if you, if you've read it or if you, when you read it, when you're reading these lines from the Discord server to figure out like, who is this person? Oh, these are multiple people saying the same thing in a row, et cetera. But it's woven, I never got lost. Like it wasn't like another book that I'm about to bring up where I have, I'm having to write diagrams for who goes with what. You're gonna understand that in a second. Um, so what happened to Lucy Vale? I cannot, it's fabulous. I would read it again. I can see it on the screen. I hope it comes to screen all of these things. Next, Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. Okay, this one is most people have heard about this because it was a pretty big book this year, or maybe it was even in 2024, but I read it in 2025. I about lost my mind. I didn't know what the premise of it was, to be honest. And also, um, Curtis Sittenfeld has not been on my podcast. And if she would like to come on, I would be beyond thrilled. I think I'm gonna reach out to her in 2026. I fell in love with a cover. So I didn't even know what the book was about. I saw the cover. It was also very popular, it was around a lot. And then I got it, and as I started to read it, I realized that what essentially was or is, is sort of a almost a play on Saturday Night Live. So I don't know, this is something I would love to talk to Curtis about. How much of it, like where did she get this information? Because a lot of it is seemingly somewhat insider information about, and a lot of it's just stuff that you could imagine goes on behind the scenes of a Saturday Night Live rehearsal and creating these skits and everything. And in her book, it's not called Saturday Night Live. She has her own name for the show, but it's really well done. And it's it's a very short period of time that is covered in all of these pages, which is also quite difficult to do because the reader, a reader doesn't want to feel like, oh my God, is it still Tuesday? And so, in order to get a short storyline to spread out over 300 and some odd pages, I mean, that's just not easy to do and keep a reader entertained. It wouldn't be easy to keep me entertained, let's put it that way. Um, I loved this book. It was funny. Again, it was it was like a quick read because it didn't require uh a large number of brain cells. And one thing that Curtis Sittenfeld does or certainly did in this book is I can see she has great visual imagery. So the way that she writes scenes, you can really see them playing out as though they're on a screen. And I guess the screen is my brain, but at any rate. So uh romantic comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld. Okay, the next one is the one I need diagrams for. Now, this one definitely did not come out in 2025 or any time even remotely before that, but it's one of my favorite books of all time. And I realized recently, and it's not The Alchemist, which is also one of my favorite books of all time, but I realized recently that I haven't read it recently. I read it first in college. Let's not do the math, but it was a while ago, and I was taking a Russian-lit class. I don't remember why I opted to take that class, but it ended up being one of my favorite classes. And I fell completely in love with this book. And so then I've read it again and again. I've probably read it four times, but it's Anna Karenina. And it daunts me now. Is that a word? I know daunting is a word, but can I say it daunts me? I, well, we're going with it. It daunts me now because the in order to fit the number of words that are in Anna Karenina into a book that is less than 20 pounds, the words have to be quite small. And I am my eyesight is doing what eyesight does as you get a little bit older. And so I feel like I need a magnifying glass at this point to read this book. But I'm reading it slowly. And one of the things I love about reading a book a second, third, fourth, fifth time, which I don't do with very many books, but I do with Anna Karenina, and I also do that with The Alchemist. I learn something or I glean something different every time. And it's kind of like actually like New Girl, the show New Girl or Friends or Shit's Creek. I have seen every episode of all of those shows, no fewer than 20 times. But still, each time I watch it, I'll get something that I miss, whether it's something that's said or something in the scene or whatever. Like I'm the same way with these books. And the thing that's most confusing about Anna Karenina is well, there are a couple things, but obviously the who the hell is who, because their last names are incredibly long and incredibly similar. And there's a lot of, I don't want to say incestuous stuff, but it's like this person's married to this person's sister, who's this person's cousin, and then deceit the descended for I can't. So I do have a little bit of a diagram going in the back of the book so I can keep this straight and not get upset about my assumption that someone is now dating his sister without realizing it because that's not at all what's happening. Um the other thing I love about it is it was just written so long ago. I mean, it was written in the 1800s, that the the way I think I recognize how what I consider masterful the writing is. Like this was back before we had writing classes and we had certainly the internet and et cetera. And so his style of writing is, I just happen to really enjoy it, but that's just me. And I enjoy Anna Karanina a lot more than I enjoyed War and Peace, which I don't know that I have a desire to read again. All right, so I've got two more. Um, one is called Small Victories by Anne Lamotte. I actually have two books by Anne Lamotte that I love, but Small Victories I read this year. There's something about Anne Lamot. Does anybody agree with me on this? She just says things in a way that you're like, finally, someone put that into words. And I I didn't, I don't always even know what it is that I'm looking for someone to put into words. I just, ever since I read, I think I read operating instructions first, and then I read Bird by Bird, and then it's just, you know, everything else. God, I just love her words. The other book of hers that I have, and I it's kind of a funny story, it's it's called On Hope, I believe. It's a green cover. I was in my local Barnes and Noble like, I don't know, five years ago or something, and there were two signed copies. And I swear, you I thought I had won the lottery. I was just so damn excited. I couldn't even, I couldn't stand it. I I can't believe I didn't buy both, but the reason I didn't buy both, I remember clearly, is I wanted to leave one for somebody else who would hopefully be as excited as I was. So I really hope someone found it and was as excited as I was. But I love small victories, and I think we all could use a few of those this year and right now. And my last book that I read in 2025, well, it's not the last one, but it's in fact I'm reading Anna Karenina right now. The last one I'm gonna mention that I read in 2025 that I really, really enjoyed is Moms Like Us by Jordan Roder. So Jordan also came on the podcast. She was so much fun. And I had started reading Moms Like Us. First of all, it's it's the once you've read it, it's the perfect title. The cover is perfect. You know, air quotes around perfect, but it really, really, really, really is. Um, I believe, and and if I she didn't tell me this, so I saw it somewhere. So whatever I'm saying, she's made public, but somebody, she sold the rights to this to somebody. Like it's becoming a movie or a series or something, and I could not be more excited. There's a scene where there's a dumpster, and I said, Jordan, I will, can I be in the dumpster? Like, I just want a cameo, I not a cameo like you have to show my face. I just want to be able to say, when they filmed that scene, I was in the dumpster. I was behind the dumpster. Anything. Like it's it's just her way of weaving this story. And the one of the funniest things, but it's actually not, it's kind of not funny, is that the story really revolves around, I believe it's four women who are LA moms, and they're they'll kind of, it's the stereotypical, they'll do anything to protect their children and be kind of one up the other moms, and et cetera. So this thing's this thing happens and there's a whole situation. And that part I don't want to give anything away, but what I I know is that there was a little bit of an issue because as happens when you write very well about characters, people in your real life sometimes are like, is that me? Like, were you writing about me? And it's often not, oh my God, that character is so amazing and wonderful and cute and funny and gorgeous. Is she me? It's like that person is a psychopath. And also they wear black pants, and I wear black pants. So is that me? Like, were you writing about me? And I think Jordan has spent a considerable amount of time reassuring people that all of her characters are an amalgamation of sorts of all kinds of people she's known and heard about and met for five minutes and read about and seen on the news. Like, nobody is part and part a hundred percent one person. And so that can be tricky as a fiction writer, because sometimes we write these characters and they're inspired by whatever and whomever they're inspired by. And it's like, okay, I this isn't about you, but this book was really, really quite funny. And for her to write these four different characters who are so completely different, it reminded me a little bit, not the storyline, but the characters, and not the characters themselves, but hear me out, Sex in the City, how you've got four characters who are just worlds apart. Like they they somehow manage to be best friends, all of them, but they're incredibly different. Like you've got a really conservative one, you've got a very fashion forward one who's a little more extroverted. You've got to be very clear when you create characters like that who's who. There have to be very clear boundaries around personalities and qualities. And Jordan did this so incredibly well that by about page six, I could see not only each of her main characters, but I could even see the peripheral characters as well. Cause she just does such a good job right out of the gate of like bringing you into the scene, if you will, and each of these characters' lives. So those I will put, I will list all six in the episode notes so that you can go and grab them and put them in stockings or put them on dressers, or you know, if you've got people coming for the holidays, wrap it up and put it on their bed in your guest room and buy it for yourself and put it on your bed in your own room. And again, if you need to feign a headache, I mean you have my permission to do so over these holidays because I really believe that you um will enjoy any or all of these. And now I'm going to go make soup and then get back to Anna Karenina because I'm on chapter 11 and I'm pretty sure we just introduced a new character with just about the same last name as the first four characters. So I have to be fully present, you know, so my diagram is correct. I would love to know too from you what have you read this year that you absolutely loved? Please just comment either on Instagram. I'll make a post about this. You can DM me, you can email me, you can do any number of things. I am here for all of the, oh my gosh, I read this. Have you ever heard of this? Have you read this? Because I probably haven't and I'd probably like to. So reach out and let me know. And I will talk to you again next week.