books selected by book clubs I attend in 2025. By my reckoning, this year we read five very good books, two decent ones, three I didn't read, and two with a great premise but no execution. The top three I think everyone should read.
Club Reads 2025 Public
Created by Elise
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Elise says: I don't know how to describe this but if you're trans or Just a Good Ally(TM) please read it, in physical form if you can manage it. A graphic novel that stays with you.
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Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
4 stars
Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in this defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San …
Elise says: Early contender for best of the year. you could criticize it as overly genuine, perhaps even saccharine, but that's what was needed for this story. trust me, if you're in the strike zone for this, it will move you deeply.
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Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
4 stars
Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell
Shesheshen has …
Elise says: This was very disappointing; such an interesting premise, executed... lukewarmly. and readers who expected more were mocked in the text. lame!
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Elise says: I'm sorry but unless it's genuinely earth shattering I just don't get out of my chair for m/m. rest of the club was pretty positive on it though.
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Elise says: Much closer to what Someone You Can Build A Nest In should have been! the yearning. the tension, the passion, all manage to overcome what can sometimes be overly prosaic and staid horror writing.
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To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Nampeshiweisit, #1)
3 stars
The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and …
Elise says: Another surprisingly good YA. Moniquill writes bluntly and well. Very good Alt history too, which I'm discovering I'm a mark for.
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Elise says: The best Peters has written yet. The distance of the historical setting gives some breathing room between the reader and her unrelenting bleakness, which was sorely needed at this point. This actually has me excited to read whatever she puts out next.
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Elise says: Adequate toxic vampire romance. Seemed like the author was working through some things in the text. Also seems like she fell a little too in love with her own poem.
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When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
In Coney Island, true love rises to the surface. With lush illustrations and buoyant prose, Venessa Vida Kelley forges an …
Elise says: see above
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Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame by Neon Yang
2 stars
With an armored, oath-bound hero reminiscent of The Mandalorian and the Asian-inspired epic fantasy of She Who Became the Sun, …
Elise says: Sucked! Don't read.
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Elise says: Tapped out after the first chapter. didn't hear anything better from my friends who finished it.
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Elise says: Not quite the best book of the year, but certainly the book that is the most of this moment. Definitely need to read more of Andrew's work. He has his thumb on the pulse of the trans community's collective anxieties.
