Brimming with possibilities, 2025 is in full swing. Everyone hopes to make the most out of this year. For the bookish out there, this means finding a story that will open both their eyes and hearts. After all, a truly good book can be life-changing — and what better way to make this year a great one?
For all of the bookworms out there looking to make 2025 a year to remember, here are five books that will change your life and fill up your heart, in no particular order.
- In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner.
One of the ten Nutmeg Award nominees in 2024, In the Wild Light is a powerful book about how painfully hard life can be at times, and yet how incredible at others.
This book follows 17-year-old Cash Pruitt as he grapples with his difficult childhood, his grandfather’s illness, and his place in the world.
As he struggles to make his way, he finds solace in the company of his best friend, Delaney Doyle (who just so happens to be a genius). Both her and Cash’s lives are uprooted, however, when she makes a revolutionary scientific discovery and secures them two scholarships at the elite Middleford Academy in Connecticut, far away from their small hometown of Sawyer, Tennessee.
Faced with a difficult decision, Cash must decide if he will continue to live safely in the dark or venture out into the wild light.
In the Wild Light is beautifully written and will toy with your emotions in all of the best ways. It will restore your faith in both humanity and yourself. Give it a read — you won’t be disappointed.
2. One Great Lie by Deb Caletti
Written by the Printz Honor-winning Deb Caletti, One Great Lie is an eye-opening book that explores the links between the past, present, and future, as well as how terrible and wonderful the world can be.
When 18-year-old Charlotte Hodges earns a scholarship to a writing workshop in Venice run by Luca Bruni, her favorite writer of all time, she could not be more thrilled. This is her chance to prove herself and perhaps solve a family mystery spanning generations regarding Isabella Di Angelo, a poet who may have written an incredibly famous piece that a man took credit for and Charlotte’s ancestor. Things are not exactly as they seem, however, and Charlotte will have to grapple with her place in a terrible world that seems to be bound by no morals and to play by no rules.
One Great Lie is a coming-of-age book that forces readers to confront the darkness of both the past and the present and provides them with hope for the future.
3. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Nominee for Goodreads Readers’ Favorite Fiction Award in 2023, the Wishing Game is a magical book about second chances, hope, family, and all the wonder the world holds.
Lucy Hart is a 26-year-old teacher’s aide in California, frantically trying to scrape together enough money to adopt Christopher Lamb, a seven-year-old orphan who shares Lucy’s love of reading and the extraordinary. When Lucy’s told that adopting Oliver is nothing but a pipe dream, she’s about to give up until Jack Masterson, famed writer of the Clock Island series, announces that after years, he has now written a new book. Lucy is one of the four lucky people selected to compete for the only copy, which could be worth millions. Whisked away to Jack’s private island, she’s confronted with tricky opponents, the handsome-yet-curmudgeonly illustrator Hugo Reese, and — perhaps worst of all — her difficult past.
One Great Lie tells its readers that no matter how difficult things may become, life can and will get better, as long as you never stop looking for its magic.
4. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
TJ Klune can almost always be counted on to write heartwarming and uplifting stories and, as the runner-up for Goodreads Readers’ Favorite Fantasy Award in 2021 and a top ten fantasy finalist of the Locus Awards in 2022, Under the Whispering Door proves no exception.
In life, Wallace Price was a hardened businessman who showed no mercy and had no time for a life outside of the office. After he dies, however, everything changes. Guided to a strange tea shop by an energetic Reaper named Mei, Wallace soon meets Nelson, a fellow ghost, and — more importantly — his grandson Hugo Freeman, the owner of the teashop and the ferryman tasked with helping Wallace cross over. As Wallace begins to adjust to his new (after)life, he embarks on a journey to learn who he truly is and, with the help of Hugo, how to become a better person than he ever was in life.
Under the Whispering Door shows that it’s never too late to learn to love or to become the person you’ve always wished you could be.
5. Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
Winner of the 2017 Silver Inky Award for YA literature and written by the famous author of Heartstopper, Radio Silence explores the struggles of growing up, finding your way, and learning who you truly are in spite of the labels you have been given.
To the majority of the world, 17-year-old Frances Janvier’s entire personality is school. She studies hard, she gets good grades, she’s the head girl, and soon she’ll attend Cambridge. Nobody knows that behind the scenes she’s Touloser, an artist and a huge fan of the obscure podcast Universe City, just like nobody knows that she was best friends with the infamous Carys Last — the girl who ran away from home when she was only 15. Then she meets Aled Last, Carys’s twin, and a fellow geek-in-hiding. Together they blossom, giving each other a space to be themselves in a way neither of them has been able to be before. Nevertheless, the past is nipping at Frances’ heels and the future is drawing closer at an enormous rate. Frances — and Aled — must find the courage to be who they truly are, unapologetically, or else risk everything they’ve worked so hard to build.
Radio Silence gives readers permission to take control of their lives and embrace what makes them happy, and urges them to help others do the same.
Books have the power to make you feel. They can open your eyes to other people’s lives, or even to your own. All five of these heartwarming books have the power to do all of those things and more. They offer an opportunity to make this year — and even this world — your own.
As Maya Angelou, the famous memoirist and poet, once said: “When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”
