Reading With Tyler

I have seen a couple of these ‘quartlerly wrap up’ type things cropping up… And I thought it would be fun to look at the books that I have so far read in 2025 and loved – meaning they got rated at least 5 Stars!

So in order, let’s have a look at what has been THAT good so far!

In January we read 6 books that were rated at least 5 Stars, with multiple of these also being awarded 6 Stars and therefore god-tier status! Looking back on this, I can’t say I’m surprised with myself. Blood over Bright Haven was the best surprise for me, because it was a stand alone, dark academia, with similarities to Full Metal Alchemist and I absolutely loved it. The rest, had the expectation from me going into them that they would meet the 5 Star requirements!!

Then February hit… And whilst I read some great books in February not many made the top rating. What the River Knows was one of those that was either going to be a 5 Star read or a DNF for me because I went in with the pretense of ‘The Mummy’ + ‘Indiana Jones’… I set myself up for failure there by putting such high expecations on a book – but Isabel did not disappoint! And of course, Helen Scheuerer pulled through as she always does and wrote a bloody brilliant book 1 to her new spin off! And with Fifty Fifty being a 5 star rating, that’s three books in a row from Steve Cavanagh that are considered to be perfect (for me).

March only added two books to this list, and they were The Rebel Witch and Fifty Fifty. Both phenomanel. Steve Cavanagh truly has started popping off at this point in his series because he hasn’t written a bad book since The Plea! That’s now4 books in a row! The Rebel Witch was a very happy addition to the 5 Star club as it was the perfect round up to an excellent duology!! I’m thrilled that I’m getting introduced to a couple of great duology writers!!

And so far April has also added three more books to my list. I have read a few books this month that I thought would make it to the 5 Star rating, but didn’t… But that’s okay! Not every book is a 5 star, but there were a lot of books that came very close! I’m thrilled that Queen of Shadows, which was not expected to be a 5 Star read, was actually a 6 Star read! It just makes me really happy that I’m finally able to gush and love a series with my partner (as he has already read and loves ToG)!!

There is still plenty of time in April, at the point of writing this, and so there may be so more additions to this list! I’ll revisit at the end of the next quarter and see where we are at!

So far, I have read 45 books and 14 of them are 5 Star reads! It’s been a good quarter!