Reading Lately: September 2025 Book Reviews

Which books are worth the read and which should you skip? Find out what books I’ve been reading lately and whether I recommend them.

If you’ve been around Booklist Queen for a bit, you’ll know that I worked very hard this year to read every book that I already owned so that I would finally have time to borrow books from the library.

I’m happy to say that it worked. I read ten library books this month!

For the most part, my reading choices lately have been directed to finishing my 2025 Reading Challenge. I swear every year I’m scrambling to finish the reading challenge THAT I MAKE every December. Not this year! I checked off ten categories this month. I only have six prompts left to check off and I already have library books for two of those.

I know I always say that the Booklist Queen Reading Challenge is not about checking boxes but let’s be honest, it would like really bad if the creator didn’t finish it.

Last month my reading felt very meh but this month I had some great reads. Scroll down to see my reviews, and, as always, be sure to let me know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments!

Holland St. James believes in magic and fell in love with the Professor’s mysterious course on Local Legends and Urban Myths in Los Angeles. While on a date, Holland comes across a sign for The Watchman who tells her that she will die at midnight on Halloween unless she finds an ancient magical object, the Alchemical Heart. Suddenly Holland is presented with two different men who both claim they were sent by her twin sister to protect her from the other man. As Holland is thrust into a world of magic, she must decide who to trust in this fun adult debut from the author of Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart.

Stephanie Garber stuns with a Old Hollywood makes a deal with the devil fantasy full of rich art deco vibes. Known for her young adult fantasy, Garber’s adult debut keeps things tame with multiple romantic interests but no steam. The quick fun plot evokes a sense of magical wonder while keeping you guessing who Holland can trust while the Professor’s urban legends slowly build the magical story. The only drawback to Alchemy of Secrets was that I had so many unanswered questions, which is one way to ensure readers come back for the sequel.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 7 October 2025
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Following her controversial bestselling novel American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins returns with a tale of a  multigenerational Puerto Rican family. In 1980, Rafaela leaves her home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and moves her young family to Missouri where her husband grew up. Not wanting to be like her socially isolated mother, Ruth gives up her language and habits to blend into life as an American teen. Decades later, Ruth’s daughter Daisy returns to Puerto Rico only to be critically injured in a hurricane. Now three generations of women must come to terms with the choices and secrets that have shaped their family.

Jeanine Cummins delights with an immersive multigenerational story of race, identity, and intergenerational trauma. Speak to Me of Home jumps between Rafaela, Ruth and Daisy’s stories and yet the powerful narrative is easy to follow. Caught between Puerto Rico and the United States, as each woman grapples with her sense of belonging and identity, her trauma and impact how her children handle those same questions. Speak to Me of Home is a powerful read about what makes a home and the never-ending search for belonging.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 13 May 2025
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Once voted “most likely to succeed,” life has not gone as expected for Chloe Fairway. Stuck in a production assistant job, she is now living with her parents again after a breakup. Chloe is particularly dreading her ten-year college reunion where she knows she will run into her former best friend Sean, a successful director and the one who got away. So Chloe turns to a dating service who sets her up with Rob, a handsome charming date who might be too good to be true.

I’m not going to spoil the surprise on this one, but And Then There Was You has a rather silly premise that you don’t see coming from the book description. I think readers will see the novel either as delightful and fun or cheesy and shallow. I fall in the former category. I enjoyed the feel-good romance and really like the love interest. Although the novel wasn’t deep, Cousens does hit on themese of quarter-life crises and second-chance romance. To me, And Then There Was You was a fun quick romance that was perfectly to curl up with on a Friday night.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 18 November 2025
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In the eighth book of the Green Rider series, Karigan G’ladheon should be relaxing after her victory over the Second Empire. But her father has set sail to rescue Laren Mapstone, leaving Karigan to sort out his clan’s struggling business empire. As the kingdom prepares for the Harvest Ball, Karigan is left vulnerable as a ghost from the past tries to destroy Karigan and her role as Westerion’s avatar.

Just to be clear, Falling in a Sea of Stars is not the last book of the series. For some reason, I thought it was and spend the majority of the book trying to figure out why the big elements of the finale were nowhere to be seen. The eighth book of the Green Riders series is a long drawn out sidenote with a lackluster villain that is setting up the series for an epic ending. Britain wraps up a ton of plot points without touching on most of the major ones. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of being back in the Green Rider realm but I think Falling in a Sea of Stars will be one of the most forgettable books of the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from DAW through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 30 September 2025
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Once romanticized as the disease of poets, tuberculosis still rages in the world today, mostly in poverty-stricken populations. In 2019, bestselling author John Green struck up a friendship with Henry Reider, a tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone. Since then, Green has become a major advocate for spreading awareness of this curable, preventable disease that still kills over a million people every year.

Like most people, I only knew John Green from his coming-of-age young adult novels so it was surprising to see him write a bestselling nonfiction book about tuberculosis. Green narrates the audiobook and his fascination with the topic pulls you in and leaves you riveted. Henry’s story humanizes the narrative and helps remind you that tuberculosis is not just ancient history – though the ancient history is captivating when told by as clever of an author as John Green.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 18 March 2025
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Ever since her older sister Kasey went missing seven years ago, Nic’s life has been in a complete free-fall. Similar to the disappearance of Jules O’Connor two weeks earlier, Kasey’s car was found abandoned 100 miles from home with the door left open and Kasey missing. When Jules’s sister shows up with a new lead, Nic must decide how far they are willing to go to find their missing halves.

Want a slow thriller with an unlikeable narrator who is a hot mess? Then The Missing Half is just what you are looking for. I am struggling to review this one because I just feel like the entire book was mediocre. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t really care for it. The short cliff-hanger chapters made it easy to read but the slow plot and boring characters didn’t make it enjoyable to read. I will admit that I loved the ending, which comes out of nowhere, but I didn’t think it was good enough to redeem the rest of the book.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 6 May 2025
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Single and childless, Isabelle Heatherington stands out when she moves into a quiet cul-de-sac in Pleasant Court. But the Pleasant Court mothers have their own secrets. Fran has begun compulsively running and won’t let her husband near their newborn. Ange compulsively controls every aspect of her family’s life. And Essie’s family watches her like a hawk now that she has a new baby after what happened last time. Slowly each of their secrets will intersect in this Australian domestic thriller.

Although technically a domestic thriller, The Family Next Door is more contemporary fiction drama about marriage and motherhood with a backdrop of intrigue. Hepworth makes you feel like something worse is happening in Pleasant Court than actually is. Instead, The Family Next Door is mostly a tale of post-partum depression, marital infidelity and the strain of raising children with a dash of a  soap-opera-style darker secret. 

My Rating:
Publication Date: 6 March 2018
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How far would you be willing to go for someone you love? Koreda has the routine down pat when her little sister calls in a panic. This is the third time Ayoola has killed her boyfriend in “self-defense” and Koreda knows exactly what to do. When Ayoola begins dating Koreda’s boss and long-time love interest, Koreda must decide where her loyalties lie in this darkly comic psychological thriller book.

Oyinkan Braithwaite thrills in her dark tale of how far sisterly love will extend. How much slack do you give your sister who has killed multiple boyfriends claiming domestic abuse? Especially if she shows no remorse. Apparently more slack than I would but sometimes family ties run deep. I’m glad Braithwaite kept the story short; it was the right length to keep you captivated the whole time. My Sister, the Serial Killer is a clever novel that will give your book club plenty to talk about.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 20 November 2018
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College roommates Eli and Victor have the same intelligence and ambition. Obsessed with adrenaline and near-death experiences, they theorize that under the right conditions people can develop extraordinary abilities. Ten years after their experimentation goes horribly, Victor breaks out of prison to get his revenge on Eli who is hunting every superhuman he can find.

Vicious is a morally ambiguous X-Men style story with full of twists and dark themes. Instead of pondering good vs evil, Schwab has you trying to figure out which character’s self-justification of their own actions is worse. If you love antihero stories, you’ll probably adore this dark academia with unlikable main characters. While I though Vicious was well-written and had a unique vibe, it just wasn’t really to my taste and, after just reading Bury My Bones in the Midnight Soil, I am realizing Schwab is probably not the author for me.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 24 September 2013
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In a retelling of the Iliad, Achilles is the epitome of a hero: strong, beautiful and irresistible to all who meet him. On the other hand, Patroclus is an awkward young prince exiled from his homeland. Yet the two form an inseparable bond training together in war and medicine. When Helen of Sparta is kidnapped, all of the heroes of Greece must aid in the siege of Troy. Where Achilles goes, Patroclus follows even as the Fates have plans to test them, demanding a sacrifice.

Madeline Miller breathes life into the story of Achilles, adding personality while staying true to the events of the Iliad. The Song of Achilles is a queer retelling of the myth, which is not modern remake of the classic tale since even Shakespeare eluded to a romance between Achilles and Patroclus. As a character, Achilles was hard to love with his godlike arrogance. However, Miller was brilliant to chose Patroclus as the narrator for he humanized Achilles and made you really feel for a lesser hero caught up in great events.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 20 September 2011
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In the last book of the Child 44 trilogy, Leo Demidov has resigned from the KGB and is forbidden to travel out of the country. When his wife and daughters travel to New York City for a peace tour, they find themselves tragically caught between dueling plans from American and Soviet agents. Years later, a mourning Leo is exiled to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan where he finds himself caught between love and obsession.

I debated whether to finish the Child 44 series since I disliked the second book so much. At first I was hopeful; the beginning had such strong spy thriller vibes with Leo’s wife and daughters in New York. Then the novel fast forwards to a grieving Leo in Afghanistan and I remembered how much I dislike his character. Although the glimpses of the Soviet occupation where interesting, I hated all of Leo’s choices and felt the two stories didn’t connect well. In my opinion, Child 44 is the only book of the series worth reading.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 1 July 2011
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On August 6, 1945, for the first time, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on a city, completely destroying Hiroshima, Japan. War correspondent John Hershey was one of the first Western journalists to witness the ruins of Hiroshima. Commissioned by the New Yorker, Hershey wrote about the events of the day and the memories of the survivors in an article that was reprinted as a Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

John Hersey’s Hiroshima is a straight reporting on the events of the immediate aftermath of the bombing from the perspective of the survivors. Hersey doesn’t discuss the larger political landscape or the morality of the act and instead narrows his focus to firsthand accounts of the devastation the bombing wrought on the city. Although the book was written in the year following the bombing, an updated version contains a section written decades later following each individual and touching on some of the larger ramifications. Hiroshima is a powerful account that doesn’t succumb to exaggeration or overdone prose but gives you a straight-forward look at the horrors of an atomic bombing.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 1946
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I always seem to have multiple books going at once. Here’s a peek at what I’m currently reading.

What’s up next for me? Before I let you go, here are a few of the titles I’m hoping to get through this upcoming month.

Be sure to come back next month to see which ones I read.

Which Books Did You Read in September?

What books did you love this month? Which books can you not wait to read? As always, let me know in the comments!

More Book Lists to Enjoy:

• Reading Lately: August 2025
• September 2025 Book Releases
• Best New Thriller Books
• Booklist Queen’s 2025 Reading Challenge

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