Happy New Year 2026! Welcome to our third annual Armed with A Book Choice Awards 2025, hosted jointly by Kriti and Ariel. Woho! Taking inspiration from our reading experience categories, we bring you our top 6 books for each element of our reading. We intentionally moved away from awarding by genres, because as mood readers we find ourselves reaching for stories that call to us, irrespective of the genre. Our categories are:
- Best Cover
- Best Cast
- Best Emotional Engagement
- Best Immersion
- Best Storytelling & Plot
- Best Thought-Provoking
- Best World Building
Looking at the 200+ books we read in 2025 between the two of us, we each picked our top 3 books in each category and awarded the book we loved the most. Book covers link to Goodreads pages. Reviews are included where available.
Let’s dive in!
Armed with A Book Awards
Best Cover 2025
Even though we know better not to judge a book by its cover, we always have a few favorite covers that stick with us before, during, and even after picking up these books. The cover art not only gives us a glimpse of the story within, but elevates it to a new level.
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
Read review here.
Brighter Than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang
.
To Bargain With Mortals by R.A. Basu
Read review here.
Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
Read review here.
Cattail Lane by Fran Kimmel
Read review here.
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill
Read review here.
Winners:
Best Cast 2025
In these books, we loved the characters the most. Without such a strong cast, we know our enjoyment of these books wouldn’t have been so high.
How to Survive a Fairy Bargain by Laura J. Mayo
Read review here.
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Read review here.
An Unlikely Coven by A.M. Kvita
Read review here.
Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree
.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Read review here.
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
Read review here.
Winners:
Best Emotional Engagement 2025
These are the books that made us laugh, cry, sob, lay on the floor, have an existential crisis, or feel so deeply for the characters that we had a little bit of a hangover but we will never admit it.
Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill
Read review here.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
Read review here.
Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Read review here.
A Curse for the Homesick by Laura Brooke Robson
Read review here.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Read review here.
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
Read review here.
Winners:
Best Immersion 2025
These are the books that we got lost in, so much so that we found it incredibly difficult to put these books down.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Read review here.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Read review here.
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
.
The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield
Read review here.
A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair
.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Read review here.
Winners:
Best Storytelling & Plot 2025
In our storytelling category, we felt that the author’s prose and writing style made the book stand out throughout our reads this year. We found connection with the pages in abstract and wonderful ways that are truly credited to the authors’ skill and craft.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Read review here.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Read review here.
Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel
Read review here.
Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill
Read review here.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Read review here.
The Names by Florence Knapp
.
Winners:
Best Thought-Provoking 2025
These are the books that stuck with us for days, weeks, and months after we finished the last page. They educated us about the world and expanded our horizons.
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Read review here.
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Read review here.
Border and Rule by Harsha Walia
.
Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love by Sarah Blondin
.
Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On by Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs
.
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
.
Winners:
Best World Building 2025
In worldbuilding, we liked to focus on the setting beyond the characters; think geography, history, culture, politics, technology, magic systems (if applicable), and societal norms. In these books, we found well-developed settings that holistically made the whole story shine.
Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree
.
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
.
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei
Read review here.
The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Read review here.
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Read review here.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Read review here.
Winners:
A big round of applause to all our winners. Another round of applause to all the shortlisted books that made 2025 a great year of reading.
Thank you, dear reader, for joining us for another iteration of Armed with A Book Choice Awards.
What were your favorite books from 2025?
We are excited to read with you again in 2026.
Armed with A Book Choice Awards
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