2025 In Review

plus some recommendations

Dec 29, 2025

Hi all, I know it’s been a while, but the last few months of this year have been moving at breakneck speed. Before we jump full speed into 2026, I thought I’d join the ranks of all the other countless people in your inbox recapping the year in some way or another (so, if you’re reading this one, thank you!)

green leaves — Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

First, Some Things About Me

Personally, this was, and I hope it doesn’t sound dramatic to say, the worst year of my life. There were aspects of it that were alive and chaotic and that I’m grateful for, but at the end of the day, we all get a few truly terrible years, and the year your parent dies is likely going to be one of them. It was for me.

On New Year’s Eve 2024, my dad went to the hospital and never came back. We had only a few days with him, and just over a week after the year turned its page into 2025, he died surrounded by love, music, and people who loved him, myself included. And now the year is about to turn again, another New Year’s Eve on the horizon, the holiday irrevocably changed in my heart, and completing my “first year of grief” feels like such a strange milestone in the sense that I don’t quite believe time exists anymore. It was yesterday, it was a year from now, it’s every day forever.

That loss colored every day of 2025 in the sense that it sucked the color right out of everything. Most things, anyway. My son has been a supernova of light and color in my life, and the only thing that could be better than his toddler giggles or the way he says “Mama” would be if my dad was here to see it. He turned one this year, and every day I love him just a little more than I ever thought a heart could love.

I also moved back to my home state this year. After a decade in a different place, my family made a huge decision (somewhat motivated by grief but not entirely so) to move back to Virginia, and the process involved moving three whole times with a toddler and two dogs in tow. We’re finally somewhat settled now, and while I had moments of doubt (“Are we making the right decision for our family?” “Will we regret this once the dust settles?”) I feel more at peace surrounded by trees and soft breezes. Something about winter feels right here. And my son got to play in his first snowfall!

Writing Updates

Personally, this was the worst year of my life, but as an author, it was the best yet. Largely for reasons I’m unable to share now. Towards the beginning of the year, I finished edits on my novel with my agent (turns out having a creative distraction in the haze of grief is a good thing!) and we went out on submission to editors not long after, which was quite the whirlwind.

The submission process is a different beast for another post, but in the meantime, I followed the age-old advice that we all wish wasn’t true but is: to write the next thing. I had hoped to finish a polished draft of that new project before the end of this year, but sophmore book syndrome is, to put it as concisely as possible, kicking my ass, so it’s taken a little longer than I’d hoped. With any luck, 2026 will be an even more exciting year in book land.

Books I Read And Loved This Year

To finish off, some recommendations! I didn’t read as much or half as widely as I would have liked this year, but I did have a few highlights I wanted to share.

Your Blood My Bones by Kelly Andrew

Amazon.com: Your Blood, My Bones: 9781338885071: Andrew ...

The Crimson Moth Duology by Kristen Ciccarelli
Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer

Warrior Princess Assassin (Braided Fate, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer | Goodreads

Renegades by Marissa Meyer (a reread after getting very into the video game “Dispatch” and craving more superhero content)
The Second Death of Locke by V. L. Bovalino