We Break Down Our Book Ratings And Some 2025 Stories That Earned Five Stars

Your reading year tells on you, the genres you chase, the themes you can’t quit, and the books you secretly wish you hadn’t finished. We’re German and Jacqui, and we’re breaking down our 2025 reading highlights with two very different totals (19 books versus 93), plus the unglamorous truth behind ratings, rereads, and regret.

We start by defining our star rating system in a way you can actually use, from rare five-star “masterpieces” to the occasional zero-star disaster. Then we dig into our top picks and why they hit so hard: Nick Cutter’s The Troop for brutal survival horror and teen paranoia, Phil Fracassi’s Boys in the Valley for demonic infection in a 1905 orphanage, and Nathan Hill’s Wellness for a sprawling, satirical look at modern marriage, misinformation, self-optimization, and the emotional inheritance we drag into adulthood.

We also make a case for classics that convert skeptics, especially Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, a giant Western that’s really an epic character-driven story about friendship, loyalty, humor, and heartbreak. And for readers who like literary horror with atmosphere and psychological pressure, Sophie White’s Where I End brings isolation, obligation, identity, and womanhood into a tense, unsettling spiral. We wrap with more rapid-fire book recommendations, plus the books that disappointed us even when we wanted to love them.

If you’re hunting for the best books of 2025, honest book reviews, horror book recommendations, and character-driven literary fiction that sticks, come read with us. Subscribe, share the show with a reader friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show, then tell us what earned your five stars this year.

Books  Discussed in this episode: 

• The Troop - Nick Cutter (2014)
• Wellness - Nathan Hill (2023)
• Boys in the Valley - Phil Fracassi (2023)
• Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry (1985)
• Where I End - Sophie White (2022)

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Transcript

Cold Open And Show Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to this booker book, the conversation of how to kill a former active husband and whose children happy when they try to understand each other's reading choices, class taste, and stay happily married through the month. Together we'll drive in the stories from opposite ends of the bookshelf, laughing, debating, recommending, and occasionally roasting each other's face. Because in this relationship, there's one guarantee. The only thing scarier than his numbers is my TBR shop. This is his book Her Book, hosted by German and Jackie. Sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy the literary chaos.

2025 Reading Totals And Highlights

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Welcome to his book, Her Book. We're your host, German and Jackie. Hey, so last week we introduced ourselves and some of our all-time standout books. And today we're going to be going over a few of our highlights from 2025. Now, in 2025, I read 19 books, which is great for me. On the other hand, Jackie read a modest 93 books.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

But both of us for me. Yeah, for her.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Kind of low. But both of us had a very good year with our books and then some good ratings too.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yeah, 2025 was a really good year of reading for me. Not too many duds. I think my picker was on point, which I can't so much say so far about this year. But that is a story for another day.

unknown 1:32

Yeah.

Rereads And Favorite Book Returns

SPEAKER_01 1:34

So, like German said, I read 93 books. Three of them were rereads. Do you ever reread books?

SPEAKER_03 1:41

I can't say I haven't, but I haven't recently. There's a couple, though, that I do like since I'm doing Clyde Barker right now. I want to reread Cabal and also want to read Last Days by Adam Neville. Yeah, it's probably good. Creepy.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

I don't think I will ever reread Last Days, but I did enjoy it. It was memorable. I tend to reread my favorite books. On occasion, I'll reread books that I really enjoyed in the past, and I'm curious if I still like. I definitely don't always recommend this. Sometimes it's better to have the fond memory rather than disappoint your current self.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Good point.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, this was definitely the case when I reread Love in the Time of Cholera as an adult. But last year I reread East of Eden, which is now and will forever be my favorite book of all time.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

I'll reread that too. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yeah. Steinbeck is my literary boyfriend, my literary help. And I also reread I Who Have Never Known Men, which has had a resurgence of popularity on social media, and I couldn't be happier about that. Everyone should read this book. I could probably do an entire episode on those two books alone. Both of which you also read.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

I did. Yeah. I don't know about rereading I Who Have Never Known Men. That was a tough one.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Well, of my 93 books, 23 were four and five star. I had two zero-star reads. But

Our Star Rating Systems Explained

SPEAKER_01 3:10

that being that said, I think maybe we should explain our rating systems. Our rating systems are slightly different.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Yeah, just a little bit. Yours is more sophisticated, I think. You want to go first?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Uh why don't you take it first?

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Okay, so we both use one to five through five. Mine's a little uh zero.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

I have zero. Oh, you have zero. Okay, I guess I have zero too.

SPEAKER_03 3:30

I should include zero. I just haven't had any zero reads yet. I guess I could have. Yeah. Anyway, five being the best, zero being the worst. I'm a little more loosey-goosey, I guess, liberal on mine, where I'm like, eh, this could be a three and a half, maybe four, or three and a half, maybe three. Where I think you're definitely more this is definitely strong cut, definitive star lines. I think mine land more in the three to four uh area where you're you're definitely a little stricter on yours.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

It could just be that I read a lot of books and kind of know know what I like and don't love. Well, my five-star reads go to, or my five-star reads are like absolute masterpieces. So five stars, a very big deal. It's rare that I have a five-star read. Well, not rare, but it's just it's it's so far above and beyond just a book for me. So like these would be on my all-time favorite list, books that just like live in my skull rent-free, books that I'm always recommending, probably will reread, books I for sure own. Yeah, I am through and through a library girly. So for me to own a book means I want to look at it, I want to touch it, I want to experience it again in whatever way, maybe lend it out uh and reread it.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I guess I I would agree on that. Like five, I have very, very few fives. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I'm sure we own them. So yeah, I guess I'll I'll match with you on that one.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah. Yeah. And then four star is, I mean, a book that I really love. I recommend it. I might buy it. It just didn't give me like out-of-body experience. Three-star, which is like most books, I would say if you love reading, then having books that you just enjoyed during the process of reading it, that would be a three-star to me. It kind of hits all the marks. I just don't like carry the story with me long term. Sometimes I'll look back on a three-star read and think, oh, that book was so fun, but honestly, like, don't ask me to tell you what it was about. It gave me lots of feels, it left a positive impression. But since I read it, it's a lot of the details might be a bit fuzzy over time.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

I agree, because it's the right three stars. I'm like, oh, that was a good book. But then if you asked me, I was like, yeah, I liked it, but I can't remember exactly I may not remember exact things about it.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yeah, like I'm not gonna remember the names of the characters, like the full intricate plot lines. But if I see the title or someone mentions it, I'll perk up and say, Oh, yeah, I loved that. That was really fun. Two stars. I didn't totally enjoy it. I got myself through it. One star would be something that I forced my way through, kind of hate reading. It's important that I do mention one of my many toxic traits is just not being able to DNF a book. I always have to see it through to completion, which that is my own problem. And for that reason, I think I have stronger feelings about books I really don't enjoy because I just powered through them. If I rate a book zero stars, I full stop hated it. I'm not gonna elaborate on that. I really don't want to seem easel evil. I understand it takes a lot to put yourself out there as an author. I don't want to yuck anyone else's yum, but honestly, some books just baffle me. But that's kind of the beauty of subjectivity. It's it's one of the reasons I love not just reading, but talking about the books I've read with others. I love having strong opinions, hearing other people's strong opinions. It's it's definitely helped me figure out the genres or themes I overall don't enjoy and maybe won't choose again. But then also the ones that you know always kind of hit.

unknown 7:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

All right, so I don't know, let's get into the good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

I think it's time. My book first.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, let's go with you first.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

I think we should continue to tradition and uh have you read my synopsis.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Definitely. You want to say what this book is?

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Oh, yes, I'm sorry. My

The Troop And Teen Horror Tropes

SPEAKER_03 7:43

first novel is The Troop by Nick Cutter from 2014.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

All right, here we go. The troop follows the story of five teenage boys and their scoutmaster as they spend a weekend away on the remote Falstaff Island. Their trip becomes a fight for survival after a starving I'm sorry, after a star after a starving infected stranger arrives carrying a bio-engineered parasite. The boys face starvation, gruesome transformations, and paranoia, blending Lord of the Flies with unrelenting horror. Nice good synopsis.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Yeah, it is a good synopsis. Actually, I I can't remember where I borrowed it from. But you, whoever is gonna read this book, if you haven't read it yet, definitely check the content warnings. There's some some stuff in there for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Some gruesome stuff in there.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Uh body horror, amongst others. But I will say, and in this episode, I'm I'm hitting this. Uh one of my favorite tropes, Jackie knows this, is the adolescence, uh, teenagers coming of age through, let's say, trial by horror.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, you mentioned that.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Yeah, and this is definitely definitely hits that.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Anytime I read a book that has anything like that, I always think, okay, German's probably gonna be interested in this one.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

A hundred percent. So that's actually just what drew me to. When I read the synopsis, I was like, okay, I'm gonna like this, and and and I I do like Nick Cutter too, read it reading a few of his books. So I'm really glad I read it. I might have given this one four stars, maybe three and a half, because of some of the content warning stuff that I didn't I didn't like personally. But again, one of my favorite tropes, it definitely features notes of stand by me and it. You know, group of friends thrown into the situation. And the horror part of it, you know, penny-wise, and it. And I'm not gonna say what it is in here, but there's definitely some other kind of horrors, both both the supernatural kind and the human kind.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Human kind, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

One actually there's one character in here who's one of my oh my god, one of my most hated characters ever. I won't say. I I don't know if I get his name. No, I won't say it because it's better if you read about yourself, but it's definitely one of the. No spoilers. No spoilers. But it also features, like I mentioned, some body horror, a la the thing. If anybody's seen that movie, one of my favorites. So look out for that. And the also the Lord of Flies type of isolation, paranoia. In this case, the uh the troop members turning on each other uh or being turned on each other, being tricked, uh manipulated, etc. etc. It is told in third person by the omniscient narrator who knows everything that's going on. But there's also some external pieces, news clips, interviews, journals, uh, and psychologist sessions going on there too. That's cool. Yeah, and uh actually well, I will say one of many of those external pieces, the uh clips, etc., will kind of c give you a clue into what's coming up in the the following chapter that you're gonna read. Uh which I thought was a very uh a very cool thing they did. Again, love this book. I hit all the themes, adolescence, dynamics, bullies, and the bullied, which is uh in some parts of this book a little sad, but how that can and often will transform over time over time from children to grown-ups. And also I don't want to give it away, but just the trust that children have in grown-ups and that how how that can be taken away, whether it's something the adult did or the adult being gone for whatever reason. And I'll call oh yeah, I'll call the uh the seen monster creature versus the unseen monster in the book. I see I want to give it away so badly because there's a specific I won't do it. There's a specific character who's just really a monster. But you'll find out w if and when, hopefully, when you read this book, again, true Nick Cutter, one of my favorites, hits all my sort of favorite things except for a couple of the trigger warnings.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

So would you say that you recommend this book if someone looks at the trigger warnings, kind of cringes, has a visceral reaction to some of those statements. Would you recommend that beyond that they still read it?

SPEAKER_03 12:05

I think so because I you know if they're horror fans. If they're horror fans, yes, I think they should. Uh, especially if they like those tropes that I do. Because and and I've I've been guilty of this before, like voluntarily guilty. I'll skip a chapter if I know it's gonna hit one of my trigger warnings.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Which I cannot do.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

As long as I know I just won't read the book. You know, I know that because I'll you know I'll I'll check, I'll check ahead of time and I'm like, okay, what chapter is it? And is it gonna really do I need to read it? Or can I skip it knowing what happened and then just continue the book on my merry way, at least ignorant of that part? And I can most of the time. So yeah, I think yeah, I would still recommend it for sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

All right.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Sounds like a good one. I I think I might pass up. Yeah, I think you should probably pass the trigger warnings.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

But the characters, again, are so yeah, yeah, there's a couple, you're so lovable. Should we go to your first choice?

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yes, I'm so excited to talk about this book.

Wellness And Modern Marriage Satire

SPEAKER_01 13:05

So my first five-star read, and I'm actually just doing these in order of five stars through the year. So the first one that I hit was Wellness by Nathan Hill. This was published in 2024. Oh, oops, sorry, I misspoke. This was published in 2023. Got it. So, German, take it away.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

Synopsis. All right, wellness, a satirical 600-page novel exploring modern marriage, parenthood, and the quest for self-improvement through Chicago couple, Jack and Elizabeth. Spanning from the 90s art scene to midlife. It tracks their emotional drift and reconnection amidst algorithms, placebo groups, and past traumas. Good.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Very nice. All right. So it's it's kind of funny. This book was not on my TBR list. It wasn't really on my radar at all. I picked it up while just roaming the lit section at the library, which I rarely browse at the library. Typically, I pick up my holds and head out, but it must have been a light week. But that being said, I had zero expectations going into this and was just completely blown away, very pleasantly surprised. There is a lot going on in this book. Uh, on the surface, it's definitely a book about marriage. But underneath that, it's it's very ambitious, I'd say, and kind of a deep curious examination of modern life in middle age. The just, I guess, adulting. And Nathan Hill has a way of describing this in terms that like you just deeply feel. Like you feel, if you're in middle age, I guess, that you you you're seen, I guess I'd say.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

And beyond that, wellness really dives into conspiracy culture, the dawn of misinformation, the concept of self-optimization, current obsessions with health fads. And it just does a really great job examining like emotional inheritance, how childhood trauma inherently impacts the way we kind of react to situations in adulthood. Nathan Hill has a lot to say in this story, and he really just does it beautifully. His dedication to researching the topics he explores is very apparent, and it just kind of makes every turn of the story that much more interesting. Overall, my favorite aspect of this book is the character development. Specifically, as you mentioned in the synopsis, we've got Jack and Elizabeth, the married couple that's at really the forefront here. And he'll just manages to create this very real. I don't know, I guess the characters I'd say are lovable. They're highly flawed people. They mimic, I think, aspects of the reader. Um I think so too, actually. I may or may not have been told that uh people think um Elizabeth is kind of like me. I don't think that's maybe that doesn't say so many great things about me, but again, just really feeling seen as a reader because just he he creates such a vivid reality. All right, so who will love this book? If you like contemporary literature, this is that at its best. Character-driven stories. If you enjoy satire as a means of like modern reflection, definitely give this book a chance. Again, my first five-star read of 2025. I immediately I made you read it.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

I I loved it. I think I gave it five stars too.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Yeah, it was it was great. I expect now when you were talking about it, it made me think of I was like, you know what? I think I want to reread it.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah, yeah. It's a dense, big read. Again, like you mentioned, the synopsis, it's over 600 pages. But uh like most really good long books, they don't feel long. Not at all. I also had my mom read this book, my best friend read this book. All of these individuals have very different, I guess, tastes, and collectively everybody loved it. So yeah. I loved it.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

That was good. Wellness.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yeah, that was wellness. Next up, I think, German, you are getting into your second book.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

My

Boys In The Valley And Demonic Infection

SPEAKER_03 17:34

second book is gonna be Boys in the Valley by Phil Fercasi, 2023. All right, Jackie, you want to read the synopsis? Yes. Great.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

A 1905 set historical horror novel about 30 orphans at a remote Pennsylvania Catholic orphanage who face an ancient demonic evil. When a group of men, one badly wounded, bring a dark infection, the residents, including protagonist Peter Barlow, must battle for survival and their souls in a Lord of the Flies style struggle. Yes. Deja vu. Sound reminiscent of the troop. We know what you like, German. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

And Peter Barlow. I love Peter Barlow, that character. All right, content warning on this one. Please check it before you read because there are there's definitely a few for sure. It wouldn't stop me from reading the book, but there's definitely a few. This is Phil Fracassi, who's become one of my favorite authors recently. I've read a few of his books. This one is not perfect, but definitely one of my favorite horror reads ever, for sure. Maybe my favorite of his.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

It's big.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Yeah, it's up in the air. But again, yeah, uh harking back to my earlier pick of the troop, we're dealing with some youths, youths, male youths, coming of age, adolescent child by horror, a la Lord of the Flies, but I would say this time with a little sent a little dose of The Exorcist for sure. And in this book, the suit there is supernatural horror, but again, there's also human evil in the form of some of the priests. I won't say who, but yeah, some of them aren't aren't very nice. There's also the trope of the or the theme of the child and the adult, one adult being trusted. In this book, specifically, one being trusted, one being feared, what happens when the adults are gone and the kids have to take care of themselves. Also, a similar theme here at Boys and Valley troops is the way the evil actually I really like this, the way the evil arrives. A character basically brings the quote unquote evil into whatever the location is. And the the troop, the the evil, I guess let's say is supernatural, is the virus that's bioengineered. Where in Boys in the Valley it's supernatural, it's a possession or a demonic type thing. But again, very similar, it spreads here on some of the orphans, kind of becomes a bit of a battle. And also the way that the possession or the evil spreads here in in Boys in the Valley is a little bit more random, in a sense, there's no I guess that's one of maybe the flaws of the book in a sense that there's kind of like why are these guys, these kids possess, but these aren't. But it wasn't enough to kind of you know deter me from I s I still love it.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

That would be a good question. I wonder if anyone's interviewed him about that.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

I know, I would. And like I said, it it doesn't it doesn't change the way I feel about the book, but it was kind of like, oh wait, why is why is this over here and this and that over here? It's weird. Um I also love uh the whole trope of I guess of the infection of evil and how it seeps and takes over a group of people, protagonists, antagonists, and then how it just spreads within the uh the uh the group. Uh some of the themes we're dealing with here, religious conflict, the main characters kind of conflicted in himself, uh possibly joining the priesthood, uh, or not his internal strip spiritual uh spiritual belief versus what he sees and what what he experiences, uh like abuse, and also some of the hypocritical rules of how the orphanage is run by the priest there. He also talk about the corruption of youth by possession, but also by religious figures, and some of the by some of the adult figures in this too. And there's also that sort of stand by me thing of the strong bonds and friendships created, uh especially in the coming of age crowd there. One final note I'll say about this book, and I think I turned to Jackie when at right after I read it to tell her, because we were I think I was in bed when I finished it.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Because I remember this. I like the picture.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

I like the picture. It is a little teardrop running down my eye. But I'm sure it was me snorting going. But I definitely cried at the end of this book because I was just, I don't want to give it away, but it was it got me right there. Right there. And I think that might be the either the second or third of his books that I've read that have either made me cry or gotten me to the point of crying.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Cry a lot when I read.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Yeah. And I think Phil Fercasi is just so good, at least in my opinion, building the characters and and making me making you care so much about not just the protagonist, but a few other ones too. So, you know, to the point of they could bring you to tears. But I this might have gone a four or a five out of five. Because I I just love it. Poison of Valley is on up there on the top on my bookshelf.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

I would say that would probably be the definition of a five, if it's one of your all-time favorite horrors.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Yeah, also.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

A lot of books can fit in the five-star category.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

I think again, Quinlan agreed with us there.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

Yeah, thanks, Quinn.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Okay, so the same readers that are gonna want to read The Troop will probably also want to read Boys in the Valley.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Yeah, I think so. If you enjoy one, you'll enjoy the other. A lot of the same themes are tropes, character building, scares in a sense. But yeah, yeah, I think to answer your question, yeah, I think the same reader would enjoy both. I love both, but I Boys in the Valley is definitely above the troop for me.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Nice. Well, I just realized you read my first book. I have not read either of those two books. And you've not read my second five-star read.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

What is it?

Lonesome Dove And Epic Friendship

SPEAKER_01 23:51

My second five-star read of 2025 was Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. That was published in 1985. Let me read the synopsis for us.

SPEAKER_03 24:03

I will do. Alright. A Pulitzer Prize-winning epic Western novel following retired Texas Rangers Augustus Gus McCray and Woodrow Call. Restless in their small Texas town, they undertake a perilous 1,000-page cattle drive to Montana, navigating harsh terrains, outlaws, and personal losses to build a new life in the untamed West.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Very nice. It mentions 1,000-page cattle drive, which kind of might scare some people away from this one. But I have to say, this was another huge surprise for me. I don't even know where to begin. If you are not into cowboys and cattle drives, that's okay. Uh it's really just the backdrop to a story that totally transcends genres. And I'm not the first to say that because I don't think I read. No, I can definitively say I don't I didn't read a Western before I read Lonesome Dove. This is another character-driven story. It might be bold, but I think safe to say that Gus is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. He is right up there with Samuel and Lee from East of Eden. You really can't help but but love him. There's a really fun juxtaposition, too, between Gus and his partner, Carl. Gus is very humorous, he's very philosophical. Carl is kind of rigid, very emotionally controlled. And their friendship alone, I think, is worth the read. The dynamic is just totally brilliant. I'm obsessed with the dialogue in this book. It's really smart, it's really sharp. There are so many like memorable quotes, a good mix of like wit and wisdom. I also love the emotional range. It's really incredible in this book. It's humorous, but there's so much heartbreak. The characters are just so strong, so memorable. I would consider this book to be like a modern American classic. I think that's very safe to say. I think a lot of people would agree with that. All right, so who's gonna love this book? It's obviously like a historical fiction type book. So I would say that would be, you know, the first go. Also, if you are into like sweeping adventures, again, more of the character-driven stories, tales of friendship and loyalty, I would say, because the friendship between Gus and Carl is like center stage in this book. Um, and then again, if you think you don't like Westerns, if you're kind of put off by the idea of a Western, if you're put off by a book that's this long, I'd I would really push you to try because I think you're gonna be just as surprised as I was, truly.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Well, it sounds like I might want to read it.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, I'm surprised I haven't forced you to read this again. It kind of sent me into a tailspin with some of his other novels as well, which some of those would be honorable mentions, but in all honesty, uh what I've read, Lonesome Dove still really stands out as the the epic to beat. All right.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

Lonesome Dove. I gotta add it to my want to read. And you had another five-star read this year, right? I did. Or last year.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

I did. I know you had two books to review. I really wanted to review my third five-star read because it's definitely worth talking about. Fine. What is it? It

Where I End And Psychological Dread

SPEAKER_01 27:43

was Where I End by Sophie White. This was published in 2022. You want to read the synopsis? Sure.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Okay. All right. So Where I End is a literary horror horror novel set on an isolated Irish island following 20-year-old Elin, who cares for her mute decaying mother. The story focuses on Elin's obsession with a visiting artist, Rachel, and her baby, leading to a dark visceral climax involving family secrets and superstitions.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Okay, okay, so I know this book is classified as horror, but it is more on a psychological level. It's kind of the horror of obligation and love curdling into resentment. It poses questions like what happens inside a person when memory, identity, and longing kind of start to blur? It's a again, one of those more like intellectual horror books, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Surprise, surprise, at the center of the story is a deeply compelling main character. She is navigating both an external situation and a rich, very like unsettling internal world. And what the author does such a great job with is putting the reader directly inside that consciousness. One of the novel's strong themes is self-definition. How much of who we are is shaped by the past, how much can be rewritten. There's a lot of time spent asking difficult questions about autonomy and agency. There's this strong sense of reckoning with both the body, memory, choices that shape a life. At this point, just kind of as I'm thinking about the story, I will note that you should check the trigger warnings for this one. It examines womanhood and expectations. What are women expected to give? How much suffering is framed as love. The atmosphere of this book is also just awesome. The setting feels very isolated and suffocating, and that kind of oppressive energy really adds so much to the story itself. Jeez. I know. I can't believe you haven't read this one yet.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

I was about to say, I can't believe you didn't recommend it to me. It's a horror novel, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yeah. Well, yes. I feel like I probably did recommend this one to you. We do have a copy of it. Okay. Um, my mom read it recently. My mom loved it, so she does not read horror. So that kind of helps with like who should read this book. Obviously, it's it's kind of classified as folk horror, which I definitely get. Character-driven, if you like atmospheric novels, kind of unsettling character dynamics, stories that explore identity, inner conflict. But you do not have to be a horror fan. Again, I would not say that horror is one of my genres, and this book is so much more than that classification. Gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

I was still gonna read it.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

No, yeah, you I think you'd love it. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 30:48

All right. Well, those were our standouts from 2025, five stars, etc. Yeah. My three five-star reads. My two. But we had we both had other high-rated picks from last year, too, from 2025. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yeah. I I mean

More Standouts And Quick Recommendations

SPEAKER_01 31:05

so many. I could do an entire show just with all of my four, four and a half, four and three-quarter star books, but a couple that I did want to specifically showcase. Yes. Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy. This is a story about a woman grappling with motherhood. We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin. This is a story about sisters. If you're not familiar with Emily Austin, please look her up. She wrote another book called Interesting Facts About Space. She wrote a book called Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead. And they're all amazing. If you like weird girl stories, please check out Emily Austin. Um, and also Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. This was a nonfiction book. Utterly fascinating. All right, what about you, German?

SPEAKER_03 31:50

All right. I had a bunch too. I will make a note from the two I picked here: The Troop and Boys in the Valley. One of the both fantastic and I love them both five stars, but I also picked them because they had the commonology of, yeah, that's not a word, is it? The commonality of uh coming of age, which I love. But a few other notables for me was Frankenstein, which I just read for the first time last year, Mary Shelley.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

I've read that book. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Couldn't believe it took me that long. Child Alone with Strangers, another Phil Fricassi book, which was amazing. And the title kind of tells you a bit about it. Loved it. He also has a new one coming up this year, which I can't wait to read. And May Fly by CJ Lead, which is a recommendation by you, and it was kind of a serial killer-ish. I don't want to get too into it.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Yeah, I would say this is it's been described as like um American psycho, but with a female lead. It was a really fun one, but very much horror. Yeah, very much horror.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

And she also has a new novel coming out this year, too, which I can't wait to read.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

So some other standouts. I don't

Reading Disappointments And Why They Missed

SPEAKER_01 32:57

want to like you know bring it down now, but were there any disappointments that you had this year?

SPEAKER_03 33:05

Oh boy, I did. I didn't. You know that I just noticed I'd given both these books a two-star rating, and I didn't realize that I that they were by the same author until I looked it up for this episode. And that author is Agustina Basterica, and the books are Tender is the Flesh and the Unworthy.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

I have a thing or two to say about Tender is the Flesh. I'm I'm I'm not gonna get nasty at the time.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

Okay, I'm just gonna say a little thing, and this is nothing personal, obviously. Just my you know, my taste. Both dystopian novels, Tender is the flesh is kind of yeah, just well, I thought it was, but it's just really not for me. The idea was good when I, you know, when I read the synopsis, but I found it kind of quite literal.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Big punch in the face.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

And when I described this book, I said I don't read books to want to then jump off a building. And that's just how I felt when I finished this book. It was I almost I think we almost got into a fight over it because you you m made me read this book because I think you just didn't want to sit with the discomfort of it, and you wanted someone else to sit in that misery.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

So yeah, yeah, I would say it was just, and even for me, not for me, it was just a little too graphic and violent, but just for the sake of being violent and graphic, and it was blunt, it wasn't nuanced. I will say in the end, I think that was one of the reasons I wanted to read it. The ending caught me off guard. Maybe it shouldn't have. Maybe I misread some of the main characters, but it did. My other one, her other novel that I gave a two-star to was The Unworthy. And what I will say is that it just it felt like it was just starting to take off, and it was actually coming to an end when I was happening. They would like there's a lot of repetition of the main character's day, and it made the book, which is short, feel kind of slow. And in this case, other you know, opposite of Tenders of the Flesh, the end didn't surprise me at all. Oh it kind of just disappointed me. Interesting. But one thing I will say for her, her is both those books are bestsellers, best sellers. So obviously, some readers love her work, but maybe it's just not for me.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Another great thing, again, about the subjectivity of of books and us all being able to have our own opinion. All right, well, I I did have two disappointments. My disappointments were really based on loving other works by the author and like being super excited about these, and then just feeling like they fell kind of flat. So the first was Ketabasis by R. F. Kwang. I love, love, loved Babel or Babel. I don't know, people pronounce it different ways. My best friend read it as an audiobook, and he said it was no, he said it was Babel, and I was calling it Babel.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

I don't know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

I'm sure you know that book if you're listening to this. I loved that book and I just wasn't a fan of Ketabasis. And the other was Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. This was V. Schwab, I love, love, love her, The Invisible Life of Addie Lavrux, Vicious, Vengeful. All those books were, I just ate them up. So I guess I just had a higher expectation of this one. And again, it just didn't live up to her other works. That's all. I'll always read whatever these two authors come out with. I'm gonna read. It was just those two I had been waiting for and just wasn't wowed. Can't all be winners. Exactly, exactly.

Follow Us And Next Episode Tease

SPEAKER_03 36:36

All right, well, that note we should wrap it up. Yeah, yeah. All right, gang. Don't forget to follow the show and connect with us on Instagram at podcast underscore his book, her book.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Yes, we want to know if you've read these books, what you think of these books, if you recommend any books. We're always open to recommendations.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

If you agree, if you disagree.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Yep, yeah, yeah. We want all the discourse. Um that being said, what are you reading right now, German?

SPEAKER_03 37:02

So, right now I am reading Angel Down by Daniel Krauss and really loving it so far. Nice. You?

SPEAKER_01 37:10

I am reading Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, and I am not loving it. And I will just leave it at that. Um, let's see. Well, let's talk a little bit about what the next episode is going to be.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

All right, next episode is gonna be some of our favorite examples of tropes we enjoy. So I hit that a little bit this week, but we'll deal with it next week. Mine is gonna be haunted house horror.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

And mine is going to be time travel. Love me a time travel trope.

SPEAKER_03 37:43

All right, that's the next episode. And I hope you join us for our next episode. And until then, thank you for listening to his book, her book.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Hopefully they become your books. Bye.