Another year spent engaging in my favorite hobby and I am here to share the adventure with you! Reading is something that brings me immense joy and provides a wonderful way to practice mindfulness. It invites me to be present in the moment so that I can understand the plot of the story. Reading is a way for me to be present with myself and with characters I fall in love with at the turn of every page. With that, here is this therapists Top 5 Reads of 2025!
1. Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan
As the top read of this year, Thank You For Listening was an adventure I wish I could embark on over and over again. Now, I will preface this recommendation with the strong invitation to listen to this book over reading it. The reason for this is because the author is a audiobook narrator themself and the audiobook is just a dream. You hear all the different nuances and accents so well and are taken on an adventure from the opening lines. This book is about a women coping with the life that she was given while fighting to create the life she deserves. There is growth, grief and love throughout this book and I was up till 4 AM deep cleaning the house because I could not pause this audiobook for a moment!
2. Your Brain’s Not Broken by Tamara Rosier, PhD
Your Brain’s Not Broken deserves the second top spot in this years lineup because it is the book I cannot stop recommending to both clients and colleagues! This is a short but powerful read that gifts you a number of ways ADHD shapes and challenges a person outside of work and school symptoms. I found this book incredibly easy to read and gives a wonderful introduction of how you or a loved with with ADHD navigate their world. I wish I knew the final tally of people I shared this book with but its a lot and I look forward to more of Rosier’s work in the future. I highly recommend this book if you believe you have ADHD, if you’ve known about your ADHD, or if you work or love someone with ADHD. To be seen is to be known and this books allows ADHD people to be known.
3. Heartless by Elsie Silver
So, for those who know me, I went through a BIG western romance streak back in the summer and I can confidently say this is my favorite of the…I wanna 8 westerns I read this year. Heartless is the second book to Elsie Silver’s Chestnut Springs series. While I have only read the first three books of this series, Heartless is by far the best of the entire series. Now I recommend the entire series, but this one stood out as the best due to the characters. In this book you spend time with Cade and Willa. Cade is a single dad rancher who just wants to raise his son and take care of the family land. When his childcare falls through, he takes on Willa as their summer nanny. Willa needs a job for the summer due to renovations at her job. She finds herself in Chestnut Springs due to her best friend and finds herself in the same house as the grumpy Cade. For a book that is called Heartless, it is full of heart. You will laugh and cheer on the character every step of the way.
4. Triple Sec by TJ Alexander
Triple Sec is about a prickly bartender in New York City navigating dating after her divorce. We watch as these characters are beautifully human and watch them fight for what they want. This book shows vulnerability in such beautiful form and gifts us insight into the challenges of authentic relationships. We also get to watch our main character fight for her dreams and nothing is more fun than that! This book is beautifully inclusive and is an adventure to watch our characters be challenged and grow both in themselves and in their relationships.
5. I’m So Not Over You by Kosovo Jackson
Our last recommendation, but certainly not least, is I’m So Not Over You and delightfully fun second change romance with fake dating! This book is about two exes who are forced back together due to a little lie that keeps getting bigger. This book is funny, uses classic tropes in a whole new way, and again shows love and vulnerability in such beautiful ways. I found this book to be so charming and had me kicking my feet under my sheets.