Leah Remillét:
Hello my balance besties! Welcome to this episode where we are going to be talking about my favorite books that I read in twenty twenty five.

So twenty twenty five was absolutely the year that I followed fun. I read seventy two books, which I’m going to be honest is actually less than I normally read. Usually it’s more one hundred. Um, but I read seventy two books last year, and when I was looking over all the books I read, there is definitely a theme and a pattern, and it’s that I read a lot of fun books.

I wanted to feel happy, and I was very careful about curating a lot of books that would make me smile and giggle and laugh. So I’m going to share those ones. I’m also going to share my favorite business books I read, my favorite relationship books. I have two that if you are wanting to work on your marriage this year, they are so good!

Of course I’m gonna share my just for fun books. Then we’re gonna have three personal development ones that really did develop me. And then my last category, I didn’t really know what to call it, but essentially it’s like the thought-provoking books that give you a new perspective and help you to just sort of see humanity in another way and what’s going on in our world.

With that, let’s go ahead and jump in.

Okay, so these are books that actually shifted something in me. And that could be because they just made me feel good and happy or because they really got me thinking.

Let’s start this with business books. So our first category is business. And I’ve got three books for you.

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Business

The first one is Pig Wrestling by Pete Lindsay and Mark Bowden.
By the way, I’m probably going to butcher the names of these authors. Just gonna put that out there right now, but I will have them all in the show notes so you can go find the links if the way I’m pronouncing it is not pulling it up for you.

Okay, so Pig Wrestling. The theme is that it’s problem-solving and getting a framework and being able to reframe tough situations. It’s a super, super fast read. Like I think listening it was two and a half hours maybe, and it was so good. I loved it. I made my husband listen to it, and then he ended up getting his entire team to listen to it. They did a huge training at like their big annual conference that he hosted all around it.

It’s really good. It’s quick, it’s fast, and it gets you to think. So Pig Wrestling.

Number two: The Goal.
Okay, so this one — the theme is like bottlenecks, systems, and efficiency. Okay. You know, you know of course I’m gonna love that. I’m your balance bestie. Like systems, efficiency — that is just exciting for me.

So The Goal. Okay I don’t know how to pronounce his name, but E I Y A H U Goldratt. Okay, I don’t know. But if you are wanting a little bit of simplification and optimizing, it reads like a story and it was a good one.

The third one — okay, I saved the best for last under the business books category.
I loved this book. It’s called The Third Door by Alex Benign. I am telling you, this one is so good. In fact, I made my seventeen-year-old read it as well. I was like, “Hey buddy, you are reading this book.” It’s so, so good.

So the theme behind this one is unconventional paths. It’s essentially saying there is always a way in to what you want, but sometimes you’re going to need to take, you guessed it, the third door.

So it is inspiring. It is energizing. The storytelling is phenomenal — like you don’t want to stop listening to it. It’s perfect for entrepreneurs. Or I wanted my son to listen to it because I see him going the entrepreneur path, and I wanted him to just see and understand that there are opportunities possible that you can’t even imagine yet.

So, so, so good.

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Relationships

Okay, next let’s talk about my two favorite books for relationships. These are for your marriage.

The first one is The 80/80 Marriage by Nate Klemp and Kailey Klemp.
So, so, so powerful, so good. Essentially it’s unraveling this idea that things need to be fifty-fifty — and why that is actually such a bad strategy. And it’s just, it’s modern. It’s a generous approach to marriage.

And it didn’t make me want to be in an argument when I was done, which I’m not even gonna lie, sometimes that’s what marriage books do. Okay? That’s the truth. It’s the truth. Just sometimes marriage books end up making me mad. This one did not. I really, really liked it.

The other one is called Us and it’s by Terrence Riel.
Now, the theme for this one is relationship health, healing patterns, and deeper connection.

I’m going to be honest. This one — okay, I don’t really know how to explain what happened to me, but in the middle of listening to this book, I had like this breakthrough moment. I was sobbing. Absolutely sobbing. Thank goodness I was in my car alone. But I’m listening to this book and it just hit something. It hit this nerve. It helped me recognize just deep, deep pains from my childhood and how they’re still coming through as an adult that I had never realized.

It was profound. It was absolutely profound for me.

So if you’ve got things in your past that you know you haven’t fully healed from, I am going to absolutely recommend Usby Terrence Riel. So good.

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Just for Fun

Okay, let’s get into the just-for-fun category. Now this is the biggest category I have, because honestly when I look at all the books I read, I was super heavy on fiction — on just books that would make me happy. So these are six of the books that just really made me giggle or giddy or, you know, they were fun.

Number one: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center.
It is witty. It is charming. I freaking love that the bodyguard is the woman. Like, it’s just so good. And it sneaks these little life lessons into this rom-com type energy, which makes me really, really happy because I love me a little life lesson that gets in there. It was just — it’s good.

Number two: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.
This one is by Abbi Waxman. I didn’t know if I was gonna like this one. In all honesty, I was like, I don’t know. But it was cozy. It was like book-lover delight. And it is just comfort in book form. It is fun. I giggled. I laughed. I again felt those little life lessons sneak in. It was so good.

Number three:
This one I actually read because I loved The Bookish Life of Nina Hill so much. I was like, I want another one like that. So I was trying to actually find something in that genre theme. So my next one was The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh.

Okay, I was sure I would not like this. When I started it I was like, “This is not as good as the other one,” and I totally was thinking I might even put this down. I’m so glad I didn’t because I ended up loving it. Like this was one not only did I love, but I had people in my head that I was like, “I want them to read this.”

It was heartwarming. It’s about growth. It was so good. And the very last line in the book — I literally wrote it down. It just made me so happy. And I’m like, yes, yes, and okay, can I just tell you? Can I tell you what the last line is? I don’t think it’s a spoiler.

The last line is:
“Choose to be happy and then get out of your own way.”
I mean, who doesn’t need that reminder, right? Like, we all need it.

Next one: Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love by Zara Hoffman.
So this one — it’s like rom-com meets senior citizen, but like, so cute and healing and hope and just all the good things. It’s lighthearted. It’s got like a little bit of a bingeable feel. And it just feels good when you get to the end.

Okay, the next one is The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brouwer.
I had three different people tell me, “Oh my gosh, you need to read these. You’re going to love them.” It’s a series. Just so you know — it’s a series. Okay. There are eight of them out so far. I’ve heard there’s going to be twenty-four, but I don’t know for sure. But there are eight so far and I’ve read them all.

This is what you need to know: they’re journals. Okay? So this is that style where it’s journal entries. Just know that the very first book is like three hours. It’s essentially the prelude. Okay. Prologue. What am I supposed to be saying? Prologue. That’s the word. Okay. It’s the prologue.

So just know that it’s going to take a little bit to get into. I don’t like when people tell me that. Like, I remember the first time someone was telling me, “No, you’re going to love The Office, you just have to watch like four episodes before you get into it.” I’m like, are you kidding? Who has to get four episodes in to decide they like it?

Okay, I kind of feel like that’s a little bit like this — but not four episodes. It’s not going to take four — or four books — I promise.

But just know that the very first book is really like, it’s just setting everything up. So you’re going to be like, “Okay, that was kind of cute,” and then you’re going to get into book two and you’re like, “Okay, this is getting fun.” And then you get into book three and you’re like laughing out loud and giggling and it’s so fun. And book four — it just gets better.

And I just don’t feel like that happens very often. I feel like usually you start a series really strong and then you get sick of it. Right? And I was getting more and more excited and more amped to read the next one as I was going.

So The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — Beth Brouwer. There are eight of them so far. You are welcome.

The last one in our fun list is The Rosie Project by Graeme… maybe?
I don’t know. Again, I’ll have these all linked in the show notes because I might be saying these very wrong. But The Rosie Project — I laughed so hard. So hard.

Like I wanted a book where I was going to just laugh. That’s what I needed. And this delivered. It was quirky, it was sweet, it was heartfelt. It gave this perspective shift packed into like this charming little love story. It was just — it was good.

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Personal Development

Okay, there’s our fun reads. Now let’s go into personal development.

Now, I’m going to be honest — most years I would say eighty to ninety percent of what I’m reading is business and personal development. And yet this year it was eighty percent fun books — seventy percent maybe — and then the rest were these other categories.

But here are the ones that I really enjoyed within personal development.

The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday.
It’s stoicism and resilience, but it was easy to listen to. It had really, really great thought-provoking ideas. And I would say it’s a reframing tool for stress and obstacles and identity. It was really good. And I feel like it’s one that you could snack on over time if you wanted to.

The next one is Everything Isn’t Terrible by Kathleen Smith.
So I have a lot of people that I love who struggle with anxiety and emotional regulation, and I’m working to understand all of that better.

So if that’s something that you experience or something that someone you love experiences — which now I feel like I just qualified all of us — this one was really good and it was really powerful. And it’s therapist-written and I just felt like it was practical. It was grounded, but without being heavy. And I just really enjoyed it. It really gave me a new perspective.

Okay. The third one is Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes.
So I picked this one up — honestly, I think it came in my feed. Like I saw a little snippet and I was like, okay. And I guess this is the tenth year from when she originally wrote the book, so there’s a new version that has the bonus chapters and new stories.

I didn’t love every single part of it, but I loved a lot of it. I loved a lot of it.

And I felt like this theme of — obviously her making this commitment to say yes for a year — but just the courage that that takes, and then the expansion that it makes inside of us, and just being able to get out of your own way. Who doesn’t need more of that in their life?

It was inspiring. It was funny. I mean, it’s Shonda Rhimes — she owns writing the most popular favorite TV shows that we have. So did she write this hilariously, and is it super fun to listen to? Absolutely. And also deeply human.

So that was a super fun one and super good. And I was inspired.

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Thought-Provoking / New Perspectives

Okay. Our very last category is the thought-provoking, new-perspective category. I don’t know — there’s a better way to say that, but there you go. I’ve got two books inside this one.

Number one is The Comfort Crisis by Michael… I think it’s Easter.
We’ll go with it.

This one I love. Okay, let me just back up a minute. I love books that really help us to think about and understand our kids’ generation, where we are as a people, what is going on, why are we doing the things we do, and how can we help.

So books like The Anxious Generation — just, I really enjoy these kinds of books.

The Comfort Crisis is one of those where I feel like parents need to read this. And essentially it’s talking about how we have got to step into discomfort. More importantly, we need to help our children step into discomfort because that is the only way that you learn and cultivate resilience and meaning and confidence — like true confidence, the kind that sticks, that is connected with grit.

So this was one of my personal favorites. I feel like it ties into my whole giant rucking thing. If you’ve been around for any period of time, you know that last summer was like my summer of ruck and I was like all over with my backpack full of weighted plates rucking everywhere. And that is where that idea came from.

It’s just growth. It’s growth for modern life. And I felt like I really wanted to take this book and apply it to parenting.

So The Comfort Crisis — really, really good.

The second one in this category is Bad Therapy by Abigail Schreier.
This one — it makes you think. Okay, I’m just going to say that. This makes you think. But essentially it’s talking about cultural shifts, mental health conversations, and that there is good therapy and bad therapy and understanding the difference.

And this is something that I have intuitively felt, but I didn’t necessarily know how to verbalize. And so reading this, it brought the words to things that I have been feeling and thinking for years.

It is provocative. It definitely is going to be a conversation starter, and it really will make you challenge assumptions.

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So there you go. Seventy-two books narrowed down to I think sixteen? I think maybe more, but a lot less. Those are the ones that changed me — that I actually would recommend and tell you, yes, these are worth picking up.

By picking up, I mean popping in your earbuds. Because I’ll be honest — I listened to every single one of those. Not one of them was in paper form because that’s how we get things done, right? That’s how we balance everything.

While I’m cleaning the house, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, taking a long drive out in my truck — I’ve got my AirPods in and I’m listening to one of these.

So there you go. There’s my list for you.

If you have read any of these, I would love to hear that. Send me a DM or you can comment inside these episodes. Did you know that? It’s kind of a newer thing, but there’s a little spot where you can leave a comment so you could tell me.

I would love to hear — or you can reply to my emails if you are an LR Insider. So you got an email that was like, “Hey, by the way, here’s the podcast episode,” which you should totally be on my email list — but if you already are, you could reply to that.

So if you’ve read any of these and you’re like, “Yes, I loved it too,” I really want to know. If you’re like, “I hated it,” I also really want to know that. And if based on my list you’re like, “Okay, Leah, I know the next thing you need to read,” I want to know that too. So tell me that.

I hope that you make some time for just some great books this new year, because they really do — they make us feel good about ourselves. That like, “I’ve read books!” And also it expands our perspective. It helps us to grow, helps us to smile, to feel giddy, to get excited, to just enjoy life a little more.

So there you go. I hope you have the most amazing week and that you pick up one of these books today to start reading.

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