My Three Favorite Books I Read in 2025
Favorite "new to me" books I read this year.
A sweet, high school-set romance. A small town chock full of fall-themed festivals. Mix in tasty baked goods, authentic character growth, and proclamations of love, and you have all of the essential ingredients for a supremely enjoyable (and cozy!) autumn read. I mean really—what's not to love? We've got corn mazes and pumpkin spice lattes. We've got real emotions. We've got adorable (and clearly smitten, despite what he says) baker boys. If you're down for a sugary sweet YA romcom with impeccable fall vibes and genuine emotions, this one is a must-read!
“I meant I didn’t want you to chase me anymore because I don’t want to be running. I just want to be with you.”
I was ALL IN on this book from the jump! A YA, dual-POV, sweet and funny hockey romance? Where do I sign? Give me a pen, I'm signing, you're signing, we're all signing! First and foremost, I loved these characters. They had real depth, struggled with real issues, and I could feel their very real emotions (jealousy! disappointment! infatuation!) beaming at me from every page. There is just so much goodness here! The characters' solid (for the most part) families. The tension simmering throughout. The fact that our MMC was DOWN BAD for our FMC. I smiled. I cried. I WILL be reading this one again. ILYSM, Lynn Painter!!!
“I wished I didn't know that her lip gloss tasted like cherries.”
Almost no one is doing it like Elizabeth O'Roark. Her ability to spin an original story filled with incredibly detailed and well-fleshed-out characters is unreal, and I just love her romances so much! She also wrote my favorite book of 2023, but unlike the beachy setting of "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," this time we are trekking up a mountain. Literally. We join Kit as she's preparing to hike her way up a guided tour of Mount Kilimanjaro, only to find a familiar face among the other tourists. (A very attractive one, of course). Miller is an essentially perfect man, and his care for Kit throughout gave me all the starry eyes. Well-drawn characters, believable conflict and growth, sharp dialogue... I'm here for all of it. And you will be too—you gotta check this one out!
“I’ve been in love with you for a decade. You really think I wouldn’t wait two more weeks?”
Honorable Mention
Wait For It by Mariana Zapata
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws
My Three Favorite Movies of 2025
3. F1: The Movie
Going into this movie, I knew almost nothing about F1, other than it's very popular, and its drivers are very hot. And while "F1: The Movie" didn't necessarily convince me to be a race-head (F-Oneder?), I DID have a blast watching it. Anchored by an exceedingly charismatic Brad Pitt, who toes the line between cocky and self-deprecating, and propelled forward with gorgeous cinematography and a beautiful score, watching "F1" really feels like witnessing the work of a team of people who just really know what they're doing. Watching Brad Pitt be a Cool Guy (we know he's cool because he wears a lot of denim and runs on the STREET not a TREADMILL) is always fun, plus "F1" gave us that one Javier Bardem gif AND got nominated for Best Picture, so what can I say? It's a win.
2. Americana
After a run of sequels and remakes last summer, it was incredibly refreshing to sit through a movie where I truly had no idea where the story was going! "Americana" was a great theatrical experience, and I really enjoyed following a diverse cast of characters that included a stuttering waitress, a Joan Jett lookalike, and a boy who thinks he's the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. Structured in a series of subtitled vignettes (ie "The Ballad of Lefty and Penny Jo"), "Americana" puts in motion what initially seems like a straightforward crime caper that soon devolves into unpredictable chaos, and the game becomes an attempt to guess who might make it out of all of this alive. It's a solid little gem, and I encourage you to check it out!
1. Rental Family
The gentlest, most empathetic film I saw all year was "Rental Family." Brendan Fraser stars as Phillip, a lonely American trying to make a living as an actor in Japan. He ends up taking a gig as a sort of stand-in in people's lives, whether that's as a video game companion, a last-minute groom, or a surrogate father. The film ends up weaving together a beautiful tapestry of all of these different roles, and we find ourselves joining Phillip as he moves through these people's lives. Fraser is unreal in the role—his empathy and humanity are so clearly evident, it feels like he's making a direct connection not only with all of the other characters, but with each audience member as well. "Rental Family" is sharp, insightful, and tender, and I'm just so happy it exists.
Honorable Mention: Blue Moon, Black Bag, One of Them Days, Presence, Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning, The Naked Gun
My Three Favorite TV Shows of 2025
Favorite shows I started watching this year:
3. Ghosts
Ghosts feels like the little show that could. I've found myself watching it here and there, sprinkled throughout my year, and it's been a sweet and gently funny little bit of escapism. Rose McIver (from a 2016 favorite, "iZombie!") has a near death experience in the first episode, which leads to her ability to see—and communicate with—ghosts. And seeing how she and her husband (the always entertaining Utkarsh Ambudkar) just inherited a very old home they're turning into a bed & breakfast, there are a lot—a lot—of ghosts around for her to not only see, but also befriend. The ghosts themselves are a hilarious, mismatched bunch, but it's the unexpected moments of the ghosts tenderly remembering their lives before... you know... that make this show stand out above other sitcoms.
Stream it on Paramount+
2. North of North
One day I clicked on this show at random, not really knowing much about it. Within one episode I was hooked, all too eager to spend time with the residents of Ice Cove, and especially Siaja, a delightfully earnest and adorable protagonist. Set in the Canadian Arctic, "North of North" offers small-town drama, quirky characters, and will-they-won't-they vibes in spades, and I ate up every freezing, entertaining moment. It's heartfelt, surprising, and a little bonkers—but aren't all the best things?
Stream it on Netflix
1. The Pitt
I didn't start watching "The Pitt" until the entire first season was available. And then what did we do? We watched the entire thing in less than a week. Yes we did. Man. This show. It is brutal and disgusting and sad and scary. But it's also fascinating. And life-affirming. And funny. And absolutely brimming with empathy. Led by the brilliant and compassionate Noah Wyle (y'all, the CARING EYES on this man), the characters of "The Pitt" all feel not only incredibly real and fleshed-out, but also let their competency SHINE. And watching really smart people just be really good at their jobs? That's something kind of rare.
Stream it on HBO Max
Honorable Mention: The Residence, The Four Seasons, Superman & Lois
My Three Favorite Events of 2025
3. Christmas in Arizona
So it's me, my parents, my brother, my sister, my brother-in-law, AND my nieces together at an AWESOME AirBnB in Phoenix. Right before Christmas. With nothing to do but enjoy each other. WHAT MORE COULD A GIRL WANT? Oh, a trip to the theater to see a production of "A Christmas Carol?" A visit to our favorite organ-centric pizza place? Board games and ping pong and charades and fooseball? A heated pool? Check, check, and CHECK to all of the above. It was fun and wonderful and completely unforgettable, but just in case I do ever forget it, I'll just go back to this video and press play:
2. October Galveston Trip
Let's be honest: just about every Galveston trip with the fam is my favorite. So you're not shocked to see this here. But this was an exceedingly fun and restful week away, and somewhere in an alternate universe, I'm still there, Groundhog Day-ing it over and over so I can once again relive block-stacking games at the Tipsy Turtle, sand castle-building at the beach, Taylor Swift dance parties (okay so that was just me and Lucia), ice cream on the Strand, and a memorable visit to Pleasure Pier—minus that last ride that made everyone feel nauseated for the next hour. Enjoy it, alternate universe Val. I wish it was me.
1. Thanksgiving Family Reunion
It feels like a rare thing to not only have 49 extended family members who actually want to hang out with each other, but who also make the effort to actually make that happen. (And it takes a lot of effort! Huge thanks again to everyone who made this happen!) For four days at a retreat center outside of Waco over Thanksgiving, we got to play games and family trivia, eat incredible food, relive family members laugh around a fire, and watch the youngest generation of kiddos (the first cousins once removed?) run around and destroy each other in a (mostly) friendly game of an old family favorite: Dynamite. No time with the Smiths, Ciminellos, Cooks, Michaelises, and Morbys will ever be enough. But this was a good start.
Honorable Mention: Galveston with Ellie, desk refresh 2K25, January Austin trip, time with Mom during my surgery recovery, May cousin campout, nieces in Houston/Galveston in June, Valentine's trip to Phoenix, that one especially good hair day I had on April 16, great time with the Cloud cousins and family friends in February, Ciminellos at family camp, and checking off my summer bucket list!
