25 Candles: An edge-of-your-seat advent-style Christmas thriller

Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
25 Candles by Iris Baxter

Let’s get one thing straight: I did not read this as an advent calendar. I tried. I failed. I am a feral, zero–self-control reading goblin and once I light a candle, I burn the whole damn house down. Metaphorically. Mostly.

And honestly? Worth it.

The tension in this book is chef’s kiss with a nervous twitch. The build-up is slow, deliberate, and cruel in the best way. That quiet kind of fire that doesn’t explode right away but smolders under your skin until you realize—too late—you’re already scorched. I felt it. The heat. The anger. The guilt. The inevitability.

This ended up being my final Christmas read, and I loved almost every word of it. Yes, my inner detective clocked the culprit pretty early (curse of being chronically suspicious of fictional humans), but that didn’t cheapen the story. Not even a little. Because this book isn’t really about the who. It’s about the why. And the consequences.

The message hits hard and doesn’t apologize:
Nothing goes unpunished.
Everyone deserves to be remembered.
And sooner or later, you will have to own your mistakes—whether you’re ready or not.

Some lines straight-up lodged themselves in my brain like emotional shrapnel:

“Bravery can look a lot like self-destruction when no one’s beside you.”
“She was everything I wanted to believe still existed in the world—steady, kind, unbroken.”

Yeah. Those sentences don’t just pass by. They sit down. They stare at you. They ask uncomfortable questions.

So yes—25 Candles is absolutely worth reading. Advent or not. If not this year, then put it on your list for next Christmas. Light one candle at a time if you’re stronger than me. Or don’t. Burn through it. Feel it. Let it linger.

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas—
and maybe a little emotional damage under the tree.