END OF THE YEAR SERIES: My Most Disappointing Reads of 2025

Hello everyone. Welcome to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. In this post, I will be giving a list of my most disappointing reads of 2025. I do not mean to say, however, that these books are bad. Some are very popular and much loved by other readers, and I think that’s awesome. But, for some reason, I could not love these books as much as they did, even though I tried and wanted to. Here is the list.

1. HISTORICAL FICTION AND WWII: The Madonnas of Leningrad

I wanted to like this one, but, ultimately, it proved a disappointment for me. Why? For starters, it was too short and I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, even the protagonist, before the book was over. Second, the way it is written constantly pulled me out of the story. I do not like third person present tense, and when I encounter it in a book, I have a hard time finishing that book and this proved to be the case with this one.

2. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: It’s Getting Hot in Here by Jane Costello

I didn’t like this book because it affirms that certain stereotypes and negative agreements about women over 50 are okay, and they most certainly are not. Also, the female protagonist carries the weight of the entire story. The male protagonist, for his part, is cardboard flat and his relationship with the female protagonist has no spark. There was nothing about this pair that made me root for them and look forward to their happily ever after.

3. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

This book is better than the previous one but not by much. The main couple has chemistry, yes, but the story focuses too much on the death of a secondary character and the aftermath of that demise. Consequently, we barely see the protagonists together (although they do so when they’re in different planes), and it is a little hard to believe that they’re in love at the end. However, I will admit that the ‘grand gesture’ scenes are very romantic. Overall, however, the book was a disappointment.

4. CLASSICS AND AMERICAN LITERATURE: The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

This book is a classic of American literature but I didn’t like it. It explores complex themes of family, race and the decay of the Old South, something that if you’re not familiar with, can make the novel very difficult for readers to grasp; particularly to those, like me, who didn’t grow up in the United States. I much prefer As I Lay Dying by this author.

5. SELF-PUBLISHED AND FANTASY: Becoming A Druid by Mike Mollman

This book was promising but it had minimal world building (just enough to get the story going); if time, however, had been taken to develop that world a lot more, this would’ve been a much better book. Everything that could’ve made this story good was not taken advantage of, like the ghost orchid, and later the ending felt rushed. This could’ve been such a good book, but the writing needed some work.

6. DYSTOPIAN AND CLASSICS: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

This is one of those books that I would recommend reading because society today seeks an existence centered on comfort or pleasure as a goal in life, and this hedonistic existential pursuit in life is exactly what Huxley is criticizing. However, I didn’t like it and I doubt that I’ll ever pick it up again.

7. CLASSICS AND FRENCH LITERATURE: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

This proved to be my biggest disappointment of the year. D’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos are not likeable characters. They’re ultimately vigilantes who perform justice by their own hand. Every crime they commit, which includes murder and rape, is disguised as brave and honorable as long as they do it against the Cardinal or one of his allies. I do not condone this. I know that the story takes place in a different time and place but that doesn’t matter. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Alexandre Dumas but I realize now that he is not an author for me.

8. HISTORICAL FICTION AND MAGICAL REALISM: You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

This book reconstructs the confrontation between Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma not as a tale of conquest and military aggression but as one of mutual incomprehension. The worlds of the Mexica and the Spanish, Álvaro Enrigue says, were so different from one another that the weight of the misunderstandings between them was too heavy and unbridgeable. Thus, such misunderstandings eventually led the Mexica and Spaniards to a military escalation. 

Possibly. And the idea is an interesting one. Unfortunately, I did not like how the author reimagined this encounter in history. I also didn’t like the author’s narrative and writing style.

9. FANTASY AND MYSTERY: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

This book is a character-driven novel with an element of mystery steeped in Chinese folklore and magical realism. In fact, the relationship between the three foxes was one of the best things about this novel but the mystery itself (or the resolution of it at the end) was lackluster and disappointing. I didn’t particularly like the direction the story went at the end and ultimately this book was a disappointment.

That is everything for today. Thank you for stopping by. In my next post, I will talk about the series I completed in 2025. My most surprising reads of 2025 will also be included in this post as I only had two of those this year. See you all next time!