Goodreads broadcasts readers’ favorite books of the 12 months in 2025 award | Books | Entertainment | EUROtoday

It’s that point of 12 months once more – award season. With awards season comes celebration and recognition for the books that stood out past the remainder. And the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards are the right place to look in case you are missing inspiration in your subsequent learn, as these awards have been voted on by readers themselves. Here are the winners of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards, listed by class in full beneath.

The ebook’s synopsis states: “Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

“Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside city, a bunch of youngsters discover refuge from their bruising residence lives by spending lengthy summer time days on an deserted pier, telling foolish jokes, sharing secrets and techniques, and committing small acts of riot. These misplaced souls discover in one another a purpose to rise up every morning, a purpose to dream, a purpose to like.

Out of that summer time emerges a transcendent murals, a portray that can unexpectedly be positioned into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to find out how the portray got here to be and to determine what to do with it. The nearer she will get to the portray’s birthplace, the extra nervous she turns into about what she’ll discover. Louisa is proof that blissful endings don’t all the time take the shape we anticipate on this gorgeous testomony to the transformative, timeless energy of friendship and artwork.”

The blurb reads: “Joan Goodwin has been obsessive about the celebrities for so long as she will be able to bear in mind. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content material together with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, till she comes throughout an commercial searching for the primary ladies scientists to hitch NASA’s house shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of many few individuals to go to house.

“Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

“As the brand new astronauts grow to be unlikely mates and put together for his or her first flights, Joan finds a ardour and a love she by no means imagined. In this new gentle, Joan begins to query all the things she thinks she is aware of about her place within the observable universe.

“Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

“Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her greatest: transporting readers to iconic occasions and locations, creating advanced protagonists, and telling a passionate and hovering story concerning the transformative energy of affection—this time among the many stars.”

A summary of the book’s plot reads: “A twisty thriller a few younger girl making an attempt to unravel her personal homicide. In seven days Jet Mason will probably be useless.

“Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

“Until Halloween evening, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.

“She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.

“Jet has by no means considered herself as having enemies. But now she seems to be at everybody in a brand new gentle: her household, her former greatest good friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

“She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

“Jet goes to unravel her personal homicide.”

The plot states: “Two writers compete for the possibility to inform the larger-than-life story of a lady with greater than a few plot twists up her sleeve on this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

“Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

“When Margaret invitations them each for a one-month trial interval, after which she’ll select the one that’ll inform her story, there are three issues holding Alice’s head within the sport.

“One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

“Two: She’s prepared for this job and the possibility to impress her perennially unimpressed household with a Serious Publication

“Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

“But the issue is, Margaret is just giving every of them items of her story. Pieces they’ll’t swap to place collectively due to an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient craving pulsing between them each time they’re in the identical room.

“And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.”

The ebook’s plot states: “After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

“Now Violet should journey past the failing Aretian wards to hunt allies from unfamiliar lands to face with Navarre. The journey will check each little bit of her wit, luck, and power, however she’s going to do something to avoid wasting what she loves—her dragons, her household, her residence, and him.

“Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.”

The blurb reads: “This is a story about hunger. 1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada. A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

“This is a narrative about love. 1827. London. A younger girl lives an idyllic however cloistered life on her household’s property, till a second of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender coronary heart and seemingly inconceivable needs are swept away by an invite from a stupendous widow—however the worth of freedom is larger than she might have imagined.

“This is a story about rage. 2019. Boston. College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

“This is a narrative about life—the way it ends, and the way it begins.”

The plot reads: “Lily—a bored, lovely twentysomething—wakes up on a distant desert compound alongside nineteen different contestants on a preferred actuality TV present. To win, she should outlast her housemates whereas competing in challenges for luxurious rewards, equivalent to champagne and lipstick, and communal requirements to outfit their new residence, like meals, home equipment, and a entrance door.

“The cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?

“Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a serious new voice in fiction and can linger in your thoughts lengthy after the sport ends.”

The plot is as follows: “They name them wayward women. Loose women. Girls who grew up too quick. And they’re despatched to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, the place unwed moms are hidden by their households to have their infants in secret, give them up for adoption, and most essential of all, to neglect any of it ever occurred.

“Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

“Everything the ladies eat, each second of their waking day, and all the things they’re allowed to speak about is strictly managed by adults who declare they know what’s greatest for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who offers her an occult ebook about witchcraft, and energy is within the palms of the ladies for the primary time of their lives. But energy can destroy as simply because it creates, and it’s by no means given freely. There’s all the time a worth to be paid…and it’s normally paid in blood.”

The blurb reads: “What is it you suppose you’re defending in that mind of yours? The battle is over. Holdfast is useless. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s nobody left so that you can save.”

“Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of battle and of her personal thoughts. Her Resistance mates and allies have been brutally murdered, her talents suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

“In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

“According to Resistance information, she was a healer of little significance inside their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable reminiscence lack of the months main as much as her seize, making her enemies surprise: Is she really as insignificant as she seems, or are her misplaced reminiscences hiding some very important piece of the Resistance’s remaining gambit?

“To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.”

The ebook’s plot states: “As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honour of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

“Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is making an attempt to not suppose too onerous about his possibilities. All he cares about is making it by way of the day and being with the lady he loves.

“When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.”

The plot is as follows: “From play dates on the playground to sneaking into movie theatres, Dani and Alec were inseparable as kids. Until Dani moved away. Years later, Dani is back in Minnesota, and exited to reconnect with the nerdy and comforting Alec. But teenage Alec is NOTHING like the boy she remembers. He’s the hockey STAR in a town where hockey players are worshipped as gods – and he loves it.

“When one factor results in one other and Dani and Alec discover themselves thrown collectively and enjoying the position of boyfriend and girlfriend, “complicated” turns into an understatement. In this Minnesota city, hockey could rule, however romance is about to take its place.”

The blurb reads: “Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticised as a illness of poets, at present tuberculosis is seen as a illness of poverty that walks the paths of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

“In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

“In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven by way of with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has formed our world—and the way our decisions will form the way forward for tuberculosis.”

The synopsis states: “From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the stunning true story behind the viral 8 Passengers household vlog and the hidden abuse she suffered by the hands of her mom, and the way, within the face of unimaginable ache, she discovered freedom and therapeutic.

“Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.

“As the household’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic affect of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, collectively they applied an inhumane and cruel disciplinary regime.

“Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.”

“For the primary time, Shari will reveal the disturbing fact behind 8 Passengers and her household’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life teaching program, “ConneXions.” No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer tradition and shares for the primary time her battle for fact and survival within the face of her mom’s cruelty.”

The book’s synopsis states: “Nothing brings individuals collectively like a typical enemy, and witches have been the best enemy of all.

“Scotland, 1563: Crops failed. People starved. And the Devil’s influence was stronger than ever—at least, that’s what everyone believed. If you were a woman living in Scotland during this turbulent time, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch.

“During the chaos of the Reformation, violence in opposition to ladies was codified for the primary time within the Witchcraft Act—a instrument of theocratic management with one chilling to root out witches and rid the land of evil. What adopted was a darkish and misogynistic chapter in historical past that fanned the flames of witch hunts throughout the globe, together with within the United States and past.

“In How to Kill a Witch, Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, hosts of the popular Witches of Scotland podcast, unravel the grim yet absurdly bureaucratic process of identifying, accusing, trying, and executing women as witches. With sharp wit and keen feminist insight, they reveal the inner workings of a patriarchal system designed to weaponize fear and oppress women.

“This charming (and infrequently infuriating) account, which weaves a wealthy tapestry of trial transcripts, witness accounts, and the paperwork that set the authorized grounds for the witch hunts, exposes how this violent interval of historical past mirrors at present’s struggles for justice and equality. How to Kill a Witch is a strong, darkly humorous reminder of the hazards of superstition, bias, and ignorance, and a warning to always remember the previous… whereas elevating the query of whether or not it might ever occur once more.”