When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift.

I just can’t say enough about this book. One of the best books I have read in a long time, and I truly cannot stop thinking about it. Climate fiction at its absolute best.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang.

I had high expectations for this, and I definitely didn’t dislike it, but I also didn’t love it. It was very middling for me.

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd.

I did not expect to love this one as much as I did. It was such a fabulous murder mystery book! It has a real classic feel to it, with humour and (somehow) a sense of cosiness!

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

This probably surprises nobody, but I am still on the Sweetgrass parade. With Kimmerer’s new book out in 2025, too, it was the perfect time to encourage people to read this one as well.

Robert Jackson Bennett.

I read three books by Robert Jackson Bennett this year, more than any other (non-returning) author! I am loving the Shadow of the Leviathan series, and want to continue the Founders Trilogy too.

And So I Roar by Abi Daré.

I cannot stop thinking about Adunni. The main character of this duology, she’s an incredible young girl, and the topics in this book are truly heart-wrenching when you realise that it is the lived experience of many girls in Africa today.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

What a ride this book was. I listened to the audiobook, and I could not stop playing it! Fun, funny, and very touching at times, it really was a rollercoaster.

Endemic by James Harding-Morris.

I probably won’t re-read the whole book in 2026, but I expect I will be reading parts of it again for my course! I’m studying botany, and there are some really interesting facts and species in here.

The Coral Bones by E.J. Swift.

I already mentioned Adunni, so I’ll talk about Telma here. One of the three PoV characters in this book, her story is filled with rage and hope in equal measure, and I felt that it was one of the most powerful parts of this book.

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar.

This book is like a song. It’s so lyrical and whimsical, it was a joy to read, especially with the illustrations. I have heard the audiobook is even more beautiful so, I definitely want to listen to that sometime.

A Barrister for the Earth by Monica Feria-Tinta.

This one goes under thought-provoking for me. Monica is a barrister who specialises in cases that involve the planet, and reading this gave me so much hope that I didn’t realise I was missing.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

I’d had this on my shelf since the paperback release, and I didn’t read it until August 2025. It was so good. Mysterious and so wonderfully written, it was definitely an experience read.

From: We Will Not Be Saved by Nemonte Nenquimo.

‘”When we die, we become jaguars,” he said. “We will live in the forest, tracking peccary and woolly monkeys. But we are not like any old jaguar. We are spirit jaguars. The souls of our ancestors roam in these woods. They remember everything. They carry sadness, anger, revenge, songs, healing powers. Only some of us can speak with them. The meneras and the meñempos. The mother jaguars and the father jaguars.”‘

A Training School for Elephants by Sophy Roberts.

This shocked me because I had no idea how violent Carter’s expedition into Africa was. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that colonialism was violent, but I never realised the scale of it. Roberts is unflinching in her detail of it too, and it was very sobering reading.

A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena.

I can’t actually say who the OTP is here because it’s a massive spoiler, but the pair were just perfect!

To Have or To Hold by Sophie Pavelle.

This is probably not the intended way of answering this question, but I needed to fit this book in somewhere! It’s about relationships in nature, many of them parasitic and it was SO interesting!

Falling in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain.

Green Rider, my beloved.
This was a fab instalment to the series (book 8), and I really loved the deeper look into Karigan’s thoughts and emotions at everything she has been through thus far.

Lanny by Max Porter.

Two friends who don’t know each other both recommended me this book in 2025, each saying it was their favourite. My friends did not let me down! This book is truly wonderful.

Gorse by Sam K. Horton.

Oh Nancy Bligh. I adore her. She’s strong, determined and just wants to do good for the land and people she protects.

Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe.

This is kind of cheating because it doesn’t come out till 2026, but it’s the best debut I read so…
If you ever dreamed of running a bookshop then this is for you. It’s cute, cosy and so magical.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett.

Bennett is SO good at creating unique worlds. Both series I have read from him this year have had excellent world-building, but Tainted Cup just wins out because of the weird botany.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen.

Cute, cute, cute. I read this while recovering from surgery, and it was just the sweet, humorous yet poignant book I needed.

Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert.

I actually read this for the r/Fantasy Bingo square ‘hidden gem’, and it truly fits that. More people need to read this book! It’s SO wonderfully written, full of mystery and folklore, and has some really important underlying messages.

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami.

This is probably not quite the intended answer for this but this book… It’s dystopian in the scariest way. The surveillance world that this book depicts feels so real, I am sure it is already starting to happen in real life.

Helm by Sarah Hall.

I honestly don’t know what to categorise this book as. It’s got real science, a bit of magic and folklore, some history… and one of the PoV’s is a wind. It was fabulous.

Nature Needs You by Hannah Bourne-Taylor.

This book made me mad at the UK government (as if I wasn’t already, but I digress). It’s so frustrating how they make it SO hard to get important petitions heard, and I am raging at the utter disregard they have for our wildlife and natural landscapes…