9. Heart of the Sun by Mia Sheridan!
When the world is plunged into darkness, who would you turn to?
Amid the sun-drenched orange groves of California, childhood friends Tuck Mattice and Emily Swanson shared a bond that seemed unbreakable—until life ripped them apart.
Thirteen years later, Emily is a rising pop sensation in need of security, and Tuck, a brooding ex-con, is in need of a fresh start. When fate brings them together once again, Emily hires him on as her new bodyguard. They butt heads and bicker, just like the old days—yet neither can deny the heat rekindling between them.
But when a cataclysmic solar flare disrupts the electrical grid, society is suddenly plunged into chaos and darkness. For Emily, the familiar comforts of fame and fortune crumble, but for Tuck, this stark new reality could be the chance he needs to finally prove himself. As they come to terms with all they've lost and the bitterness that's kept them apart, they must find their way back to one another and discover a new place, under the sun.
8. Where Roses Rot Series by Gigi Vale!
Synopsis for book one, Glass Rose
Falling in love with the man she experimented on was never part of the plan.
Dr. Sofia Cruz thought she was exposing corporate corruption. Instead, she unleashed hell.
When the virologist's attempt to reveal illegal human experiments triggers a facility-wide outbreak, she finds herself trapped with test subject 7—the man she helped torture for fourteen months.
He should hate her. She should fear him.
Subject 7 has survived. He's learned to endure pain, isolation, even the experiments that turned him into something barely human. And when the virus breaks containment and the world ends, Dr. Sofia Cruz is the only person he'll move heaven and earth to protect. Even if it means choosing her over his own survival.
Some experiments are too dangerous to survive. Others are too powerful to resist.
7. Tower [Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tales 01] by Claire Kent!
She needs a man to keep her alive in a world full of monsters.
He'll do.
Ever since the world fell apart, I've been like a princess trapped in a tower, looking down at our chaotic new reality from an upstairs window and never allowed to risk the dangers outside. Then my father dies, and there's no one left to keep me safe from selfish, violent men no longer restrained by social boundaries.
I need someone, and the leader of the local gang is my best choice.
Rough and intimidating, he's no prince. But Levi agrees to keep me safe, and I do my best to keep him happy. Maybe I want more than a transactional relationship, but the world after Impact doesn't allow for romantic daydreams.
Life is now a gritty fairy tale without a happily ever after.
6. Protected by Claire Kent!
Two years after the world fell apart, I'm entirely alone, a twenty-four-year-old woman scrounging for food and barely surviving. My only choice left is to hook up with a group of roaming scavengers. They're not good people, but it's safer with them than on my own.
Deck immediately makes himself my silent protector. He never speaks, but he doesn't have to. He keeps me alive, and I try to communicate with him. We eventually learn to trust each other.
The world after Impact is rawer and bleaker than what it used to be, and we've lost most of what made life worth living. But maybe we haven't lost everything.
Maybe love still lurks in the ruins.
5. All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles!
Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need, the final missing piece. And sometimes it comes in the form of a towering, broody sheriff, determined to get in your way at every step.
Ridley Sawyer knows what it’s like to miss someone, to feel like a piece of her vanished—because it happened to her the night her twin sister disappeared.
Now, Ridley channels that loss into hope, traveling the country covering cold cases for her true crime podcast. She might not have found justice for her sister but that doesn’t stop her from finding it for others.
Until Sheriff Colter Brooks gets in her way.
Colt knows what it’s like to have reporters descend on his town in the wake of a tragedy, and he’s not about to let a fiery podcaster stir up trouble. It doesn’t matter that her haunting blue eyes tell him there’s more to Ridley’s story or that he can’t stop imagining what it would be like to touch her.
But when Ridley’s cold case turns hot and she’s thrust into the crosshairs, Colt has no choice but to step in. Suddenly, Ridley’s living at his house, drinking his whiskey, and stealing his dog’s affections. But she’s also proving that she’s so much more than his first impression.
And as they get closer to the truth, the game they’ve been playing might just turn deadly…
4. Irreversible by Jennifer Hartmann & Chelley St Clair!
They say the best kept secrets are hidden in the darkest places.I know that better than anybody…
Because I’m one of them.
I spend my days locked in a black-market nightmare, held captive by a twisted mastermind who considers me his prized possession. My only form of human contact are the victims in the next room, each of whom disappears faster than the last.
Everyone leaves…except me.
Then I hear him—Isaac. Brash, elusive, and haunted, he isn’t anyone’s idea of a hero. Separated by a wall, our faces hidden, his voice cuts through the darkness, becoming my only hope. He’s driven by vengeance, bearing scars as dark as my own. Despite his rough edges, a fragile bond forms between us—a lifeline.
Isaac might be my best chance of escape, but time is slipping away. Breaking free will mean outrunning both our pasts, and in this twisted game, the cost of freedom may be more than we can afford to pay.
Appearances deceive. Choices have consequences.
And some consequences?
They are irreversible.
3. Of Mine Series by Alexis Grace!
Synopsis of book one, Killer of Mine
She’s the daughter of a serial killer… they’re FBI agents…
No one knows Freya is actually the daughter of the Cross-Cut Killer, America’s most notorious serial killer. Living under a false identity as a detective is isolating but at least Freya’s safe. That is, until she falls onto the radar of Special Agent River Park and his team.
River, Oz, Elijah and Jude have been chasing the Cross-Cut Killer for years. They’re the best the FBI has to offer, not to mention unfairly attractive. They know exactly who the killer is but he’s always one step ahead of them. Freya is about to change that.
When Freya’s true identity is uncovered, she’s forced to work with River and his team. All Freya wants is to catch her father, getting involved with not one but four FBI agents would be a very bad idea.
But River and his team aren’t prepared for the spitfire young woman who’s too pretty for her own good. She’s hiding more than scars and a woman with secrets might just be kryptonite to a group of profilers.
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2. The Outsider [Wastelander 02] by E.S. Luck!
The world was on fire, and no one could save me but him.
Newly homeless after being forced to abandon their camp by a group of violent cultists, Claire, John, and Kimmy set off on a long, dangerous journey to the one place that they might find safety: the Valley.
Pursued by the cultists and menaced by raiders and other hazards of the Wasteland, their journey is abruptly cut short when Kimmy is mortally wounded, and the only hope left is also the worst option: a trip back to the ruins of the Cave, the one place where life-saving medicine might still exist. To obtain it, however, they must navigate the compound that the cult now calls home and face the rising threat of its shadowy leader and his twisted obsession with Claire.
As John and Claire traverse a violent, unforgiving post-apocalyptic landscape, the bond between them only deepens, and the fierce passion between them burns brightly. Her desperation for a home and family she can call her own is matched only by John’s determination to protect the woman he loves from a world that seems hellbent on stealing her away from him.
1. We Are Not Blood [Annover Park 01] by Nicole Scarano
A 36-year-old sheriff on his way to a meeting.
A 21-year-old student returning to her senior year of college.
A 6-month-old baby in the backseat of her mother’s car.
Three strangers who should’ve never met.
But when the bridge all three are on collapses in a cataclysmic event, Quinn risks her life to save the trapped Ava. The baby’s mother is dead, but her rescue is too little too late. They both hurtle for death, but before the poisoned river below claims them, Anson finds them and carries the girls to the safety of dry land.
Only nothing is safe anymore. As nature mutates, each disaster more disturbing than the last, Anson feels responsible for Quinn and Ava. He promises to find them somewhere safe before he continues his solo journey south, but as weeks turn to months, the unusual trio faces two questions that will forever change the course of their lives. Is any place truly safe? And is blood the only thing that makes us family?
So there you have it! My top books of 2025! I hope you enjoyed reading some of these books as well! :)
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