Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for spring 2025

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is about our spring 2025 reading plans. Earlier in the year, I shared a post on my most anticipated new releases for the first half of 2025 — all of which remain books I’m eager to read (or have read already!).

With that in mind, I’m going to try to avoid repeats — so here are 10 additional books I’m looking forward to this spring:

Swept Away by Beth O’Leary
Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick (I really don’t know much about this one, except it seems to be a novel told with illustrations, and his previous books like this were amazing!)
Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman
City of All Seasons by Oliver K. Langmead and Aliya Whiteley
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (an upcoming book group book!)
The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Love Haters by Katherine Center
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner
It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

What books will you be reading this spring? Do we have any in common?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

25Feb2025

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 books I want to buy in 2025

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.

This week’s topic is Top 5 books I want to buy in 2025, with the prompt: Is there a book coming out in 2025 that you absolutely want to buy? Even if you don’t want to read it straight away. Maybe it’s a special edition version. Or maybe a fancy cover! Tell us all about it!!

Easy-peasy! The hardest part of this week’s topic is sticking to just five! I’ve been much better about being selective when it comes to buying physical books, but there are always some — whether by a favorite author or an especially beautiful edition — that I just can’t resist.

My five must-buys for 2025 are:

1: The Sirens by Emilia Hart: I have a hardcover edition of this author’s previous novel, Weyward, and it’s so pretty! The cover for The Sirens looks just as gorgeous. (March)

2: When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi: This author’s books are auto-buys for me, and I love having the hardcovers! I’ve yet to be able to attend one of his book tour events, but I keep hoping it’ll work out eventually, because I’d love to get a signed edition. If not, though, I’ll be buying the book anyway! (March)

3: The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley: I love Susanna Kearsley’s books, and I always want to read her new releases… but once I saw the deluxe paperback edition, I knew I needed a physical copy rather than just the e-book. (March)

4: Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong: This is such a terrific series, and since I already own hardcovers of the previous books, this one will be a must for me as well. (May)

5: The Wicked King by Holly Black: I already own hardcover editions of the Folk of the Air trilogy, and then bought the special black velvet edition of the first book, The Cruel Prince, when it was released in 2023. This year, the 2nd book will get a matching edition, and I have to have it! (October)

What books do you plan to buy in 2025?

18Feb2025

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 books I want to reread in 2025

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.

This week’s topic is Top 5 books I want to reread in 2025, with the prompt: Are you planning to reread some favourites in 2025? Maybe that classic you read back in school. Or maybe there’s a new book coming out in a series, and you want to remind yourself what happened in the last book. Whatever it is, let’s share all of our reread plans!!

I have at least two rereads that I’m firmly committed to, and while there are a bunch that are maybes for me, I’ll share a few that seem most likely.

My five are:

1: Dracula by Bram Stoker: This is my most recent Classics Club spin book, and I’m committed to reading it by April. I originally read this book back in my school days, but that was eons ago!

2: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien: My book group will be reading this book in April, prior to launching into a lengthy group read of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’m excited to read The Hobbit again! I’ve read it several times, most recently with one of my kids, and I’m looking forward to experiencing it all over again.

3: Wolfsong by TJ Klune: It’s no secret that I adored the Green Creek series when I read it recently, and I’ve been wanting to do an audiobook reread. I’m not sure that I’ll get through the whole series right away, but I’d like to at least listen to the first book.

4 & 5: Two October Daye books: Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire: Books 17 and 18 in this phenomenal series — telling the same story from two different perspectives — were released one month apart in 2023. Now, finally, the next book is on the way! Book #19, Silver and Lead, will be released in September 2025. It’s been my habit to reread the previous books before each new release in the series, and especially with two years in between installments, I think it will be absolutely essential this time around!

Read in 2024:

Do you plan to reread any books in 2025?

4Feb2025

Top Ten Tuesday: 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To, with the added question: will you be prioritizing these this year?

This was a surprisingly tough topic. I did a pretty good job in 2024 of reading the books I was most excited about. Of the remaining 2024 releases on my TBR list, I can really only name seven that fit the excited description — the rest are maybe, someday books, but not truly high priorities.

Here are my seven books for this week’s list:

1) Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

Synopsis: Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury—and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver’s conference? And perhaps most pertinently—who is driving the ship?

Priority for 2025? Yes, I do really want to read this one, and I’m on my library’s hold list.

2) The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn

Synopsis: In this magical tale of self-discovery from New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn, a young widow taps into the power that will change the world—if the man’s world she lives in doesn’t destroy her and her newfound friends first.

Priority for 2025? Yes. I’ve enjoyed so many of this author’s books, and bought a Kindle edition as soon as it was released.

3) The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black

Synopsis: An imprisoned prince. A vengeful queen. And a battle that will determine the future of Elfhame... From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the stunning blood-soaked conclusion to the Stolen Heir duology.

Priority for 2025? Sigh. Unlikely. The Stolen Heir didn’t wow me the way the original Elfhame trilogy did, and by the time The Prisoner’s Throne came out, I barely remembered what had happened in The Stolen Heir. I’d need to reread the first book before reading the second, and right now, that’s not something I see happening.

4) My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Synopsis: Perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, New York Times bestselling authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows are back with a fantastical, romantical, and piratical historical fantasy remix that marries the story of The Little Mermaid with the life and times of infamous lady pirate Mary Read.

Priority for 2025: Yes! Or at least, I hope so. I have two other “Mary” books to read first (My Contrary Mary and My Imaginary Mary)… but I love the sound of all three, and definitely want to make an attempt!

5) The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

Synopsis: The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.

Priority for 2025? Maybe. I’m interested, and I have a copy in my Kindle library… but I can’t say that it’s a burning priority at the moment.

6) Annie Bot by Sierra Green

Synopsis: Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the cute outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard. She’s learning, too.

Priority for 2025? This is a big of a cheat, because this is coming up for me as a book group book, so I’ll definitely be reading it!

7) Storybook Ending by Poppy Alexander

Synopsis: From the author of The Littlest Library—a heartwarming novel about a widowed children’s book author who moves into a cottage in the English countryside and finds herself face-to-face with the handsome and brooding blacksmith who lives next door.

Priority for 2025? Yes! I only came across this book late in the year, but the cover drew me in right away, and I’m looking forward to curling up with it when I’m in the mood for a cozy romance.

What 2024 releases do you still hope to read in 2025? Have you read any from my list? If so, which do you recommend?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

12Jan2025

Reading goals: Series to read in 2025

Posted in Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Here we are, approaching the middle of January — and that means it’s time for me to think about my plans for reading series in the coming year.

Each January, I typically identify a few series that I want to prioritize in the coming year. At the moment, I only have one in mind that I know I want to read a lot of, or maybe even read all the way through to the end.

Meanwhile, there are a few series (completed or ongoing) that I’d like to at least start. If I like the first book, maybe I’ll decide to keep going… but in any case, I hope to sample a few series starters and then see how I feel.

My priority series to read in 2025 will be:

Rockton series by Kelley Armstrong: I read the first book late in 2024, and can’t wait to clear my reading obligation pile a bit so I can start bingeing more books in this series.

If I somehow manage to get through the remaining six books, I’ll likely want to start the follow-up series, Haven’s Rock… but that’s a big if, and I’m not going to plan on that right now.

Other series to sample or binge in 2025:

The Mary books (Lady Janies series) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows: I’ve now read the three Jane books, and would like to get to all three of the Mary books in 2025… but so long as I read at least one, I’ll feel pretty good.

Green Rider series by Kristen Britain: I’m planning to read the first book, and if all goes well, I hope to continue. I have high hopes — I’ve heard good things!

A pair of duologies round out my list for now — I’ve been wanting to get to these, and hope that 2025 will be the year when I make it happen.

The Stolen Heir duology by Holly Black: Technically, only one of these would be new to me. I read The Stolen Heir when it was first released, but I’d need to do a re-read before reading The Prisoner’s Throne.

Gilded duology by Marissa Meyer: I own hardcover editions of both books (don’t ask!), but have yet to pick them up. Maybe audio will be the way to go.

The “maybe” books:

And now, all my “maybe” choices — these are all series starters that I’m interested in. Maybe I’ll get to some of these in 2025, and then maybe I’ll want to read more from the same series… or maybe not. In any case, here are the other series starters that I’m considering this year, including several that are holdovers from 2024:

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall
Pines by Blake Crouch
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (because I feel like I absolutely should have read the Valdemar books by now)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (which, yes, has been on my series-to-read list for several years now, but I haven’t given up!)
Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews (one of my holdovers — so if it doesn’t happen in 2025, it’s probably never going to happen)
Never Fall for Your Fiancé (Merriwell Sisters, #1) by Virginia Heath
Virgin River by Robyn Carr (because I’ve watched every season of the Netflix show, and it’s probably time to check out the original story)
Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, #1) by Anne McCaffrey (because how have I made it this far in my reading life without ever trying this series?)

Are you planning to start any new series this year? If you’ve read any of the series on my list for 2025, please let me know what you thought and if you have any recommendations!

7Jan2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025.

Despite good intentions (read more from my shelves! request fewer ARCs!), I find myself with an absolute TON of ARCs and preorders for new books releasing over the next few months. Yes, I’m looking forward to reading them all (that’s why I requested/ordered them!), but it feels like a lot to keep up with, no matter how amazing they’ll all be.

Still — I really am excited about reading these upcoming new releases!

Here are (just some of) the books I can’t wait to read in the first half of 2025:

Listed in order of release date:

The Sirens by Emilia Hart (3/4/2025)
The Tomb of Dragons (Cemeteries of Amalo, #3) by Katherine Addison (3/11/2025)
The Martian Contingency (Lady Astronaut, #4) by Mary Robinette Kowal (3/18/2025)
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (3/25/2025)
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (4/1/2025)
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (4/22/2025)
Overgrowth by Mira Grant (5/6/2025)
Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong (5/20/2025)
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (6/3/2025)
The Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady (6/3/2024)
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (5/22/2025)