19 Favorite AUDIOBOOKS of 2025 from the Everyday Reading Community

This post is sponsored by Audible

Last year, I asked what the best audiobooks you listened to in 2024 were (list here in case you missed it!) and they were so popular and enjoyable that I did it again this year!

Many of these I read and loved and some of them were new to me – you better believe I added some of them to my TBR VERY quickly!

And right now, Audible has brought back their 3 month 99 cents a month deal (only available for a few days!) So if you haven’t gotten it yet, now is the time – they have the BEST audiobook selection on the planet and we use Audible every day in our house!

And now, the 19 most popular audiobooks of 2025!

#1 – Correspondence by Virginia Evans
I’m usually not interested in epistolary novels (books written with letters) and after reading this one, my opinion hasn’t changed. But don’t let that stop you from giving it a listen because clearly this one is getting a lot of attention and others are LOVING it! Sybil Van Antwerp, wrote letters every day – to friends, writers, even people who had hurt her – as a way to make sense of life. But when someone from his past contacts him, he is forced to face painful memories and ends up sending the one letter he kept to himself for years.

#2 – Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I’m a HUGE fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid, but surprisingly I haven’t read this new one! It was back in the 1980s during the launch of the space shuttle – sounds interesting and I can see why many of you loved it too!

#3 – The Unselected Journal of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower
If you’ve been here for a while, you know I love this series! I’ve read the entire series twice before it was published on audio and I’m really excited to try the audio version – wait until you hear all the narrators’ voices! And if you have trouble understanding physical books, let me tell you that audiobooks really help.

#4 – Favorites by Layne Fargo
Wow, I love this book! Similar vibrations like Daisy Jones and Six with a little Wuthering Heights. Katerina Shaw and Heath Rocha met when they were young and became very close. The two grew up in dysfunctional families and found a safe haven in each other, eventually working together as ice dancing partners and aiming for an Olympic gold medal. But you better believe there will be a LOT of drama along the way! Told as a VERY enjoyable documentary! There is some language and spice, but I loved this gripping audiobook!

#5 – The Emerald Sea Tree by Brandon Sanderson
This was our audiobook of choice for our family trip and it was a huge hit! I went with the full cast version, which was a great decision – there are so many original voices and music and different sound effects and it just makes for an amazing listen that we absolutely loved from the first few minutes. Tress lives a quiet life until her beloved friend (and… maybe more than just friend?) is taken away on a trip by her father and disaster ensues. Now Tress is ready to leave everything she’s ever known behind on a ship and sail across a mysterious ocean where a single drop of water can spell death for everyone on board.

#6 – Wild Dark Shores by Charlotte McConaghy
I receive so many messages from people throughout the year with mixed reviews both good and bad. But I’m glad to hear that it was a success for most of you! This is the story of a father and his three children who live on a small seed-protecting island off the coast of Australia. The water was rising, meaning they had to leave immediately. But when a mysterious, half-dead woman washes up on the beach, many secrets between the father and the new woman come into play.

#7 – Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Murder Guide by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Vera owns a tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown. There’s nothing he likes more than tea…but after he finds a dead body in his tea shop and steals evidence, he thinks he can use his detective skills to solve the murder. After plying the suspects with tea and home-cooked food, will Vera find out what secret they’re hiding and pin the killer down once and for all?

#8 – My Friend by Fredrik Backman
Another new release I haven’t read yet, this one is super exciting and full of bestseller lists, awards and book clubs! After losing her best friend and aging out of an orphanage, 18-year-old Louisa is left alone – until a random encounter with a famous artist puts her in charge of his most famous painting. He and one of his old friends head to the seaside town where it all began, uncovering the friendship and summer that inspired it all.

#9 – The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
If told by Julia Whelan, I’m 100% hooked! Set during the Great Depression, the film follows Elsa as drought and dust destroy her farm and force her to choose between a chance at a better life and the people she loves. Very emotional and very moving. (Full review here.)

#10 – Carl Dungeon Explorer by Matt Dinniman
This one was completely off my radar! Sci-fi/fantasy isn’t always my choice for audiobooks, but I was surprised by how many of you named this book your best audiobook of 2025. Earth turns into a giant, televised dungeon crawl, where Carl (plus his ex’s very stubborn and now talkative cat) must fight monsters, defeat time, and attract alien audiences to survive, which is perfect if you like video-game vibes and non-stop action.

#11 – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
I can’t tell you how long I waited for this book when it came out. And when I finally finished it, all the lines on hold were worth it. (This is the book that made him a star). In France during World War II, two sisters face terrifying situations that test their relationship, strength, and sense of right and wrong. This is a true story of courage. I listen Nightingale audiobook and it’s done wonderfully. And if you’ve already read it and want more, here are some other titles you might want to try!

#12 – Wedding People by Alison Espach
This was one of my Book of the Month books and I was immediately intrigued. This is the story of a woman who arrives at a luxury hotel as the only occupant who is not there for a wedding party. He quickly hit it off with the bride and they started sharing stories with each other which was a surprise for both of them. This one has a lot of trigger warnings but it works for me.

#13 – The Path to a Tender Heart by Annie Hartnett
A down-on-his-luck lottery winner suddenly becomes the guardian of two orphaned children and embarks on a chaotic journey across America with his grown daughter (and a cat that predicts death) on a trip to visit his high school sweetheart. I’ve heard this one is full of absurd adventures and evokes all sorts of emotions! It’s funny, moving, and also heartbreaking.

#14 – Be Ready When Good Luck Strikes by Ina Garten
I love memoirs read by authors and Ina Garten is so fun to listen to and an amazing storyteller. I managed to get through this on a plane flight and it made the time fly by. I’d love to hear how many of you loved this last year too!

#15 – Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
This best-selling historical fiction provides more insight into the life, marriage, and loss of a child that Shakespeare experienced before writing one of his most famous plays. Hamlet. I have been hearing about this book since it was published and I have been dying to read it!

#17 – The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
Fantasy isn’t usually my genre of choice, but this seemed like something I might be able to pick up. When a mysterious customer leaves Cassie a strange book that can open a door to anywhere in the world, her bookseller’s quiet life is transformed into a whirlwind of travel, secrets, and very real danger.

#18 – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
This book is almost a decade old and is still on best books lists and for good reason. When I read it seven years ago, I consumed 400 pages in three days. This is the story of a teenage girl who moves to Alaska with her mother and her recently released POW father, who fought in Vietnam and is convinced that Alaska will give her the fresh start she needs. For more than a decade of Leni’s life, she had a front-row seat to her father’s inability to deal with the darkness that enveloped Alaska and the darkness he fought within himself. I couldn’t put this one down. Be careful because you want tissues for this one.

#19 – Birth of Evil by Trevor Noah
This original audible sound is a must to add to your list. You may have seen Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, but his life started as a crime spree. He is the son of a multiracial marriage that during apartheid in South Africa was illegal. This smart and honest memoir is the perfect book to add to any book club and is one of those books that everyone mentions when they talk about books that are made 100x better by their audio version (read by the author, of course).

And if you’d like a printable copy of this list that you can take to the library or a screenshot on your phone for easy access, just enter your email address below and it will go straight to your inbox!