Top Ten Tuesday: Discoveries in 2025

 Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is "Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025".  Here are my favorite of the new-to-me authors I found last year.

1. Celeste Baxendell, a no-spice romantic-fantasy author, was a top discovery of last year.   This Rotting Heart (my review) and Ties of Starlight  (my review) were both five star reads for me.  That's all I've read by her so far, but I highly recommend both.

2. Mike Ripley wrote a continuation of Margery Allingham's Campion series.  I first read Mr. Campion's Christmas in December and loved it enough to continue the series this month.  I'll definitely be reading more of his Campion stories.

3. I first enjoyed the Western non-magical fairy tale retellings by Rachel Kovaciny (her site) last year, as well.  So far, I've only read two of her series and one stand alone, but loved them all. 

4. Roseanna M. White writes Christian historical fiction.  I first read The Number of Love in February, and enjoyed two more of her books last year. 

5. I stumbled across Gladys Mitchell last year, too.  She was a Golden Age mystery writer, sadly neglected now, with a morally gray main character, Mrs. Bradley.  If you decide to try these out -- some of which are very good -- you MUST start with the first one, Speedy Death, to appreciate Mrs. Bradley to the fullest.  

6. Dorothy Eden was a popular gothic romantic-thriller writer who wrote a large amount from the 1940s through the 1980s.  I just discovered her last year when I was in the mood for just such novels, and devoured seven of them.  Yes, they are often silly and melodramatic, but I found them a great deal of fun.  Cat's Prey and An Afternoon's Walk were my favorites.