books

2025 Reading/Viewing List

The master post where I keep a list of the books I read and the movies and TV shows I watch in the coming year.

For the books & movies, bold formatting = 5 stars; italicized = 4, plain text = 2 or 3 stars (usually 3 unless otherwise specified for the books), and strikethrough = 1 star (rare; it has to be awful, and these days I usually DNF instead). Ratings may shift over time. TV shows are not formatted.

An asterisk in front denotes a reread or rewatch, and for books, [NF] = nonfiction because I like an easy way to designate. Book titles [will eventually] link to my Goodreads reviews, or go to the list of all my 2025 reads on Goodreads.

NOTE: if you want to look around my shelves, be sure you visit my main Goodreads page, otherwise you will only see books read in 2025.

BOOKS
Collapse )

--------------
MOVIES
Collapse )
--------------
TV SHOWS
Collapse )
books

Top Ten 2024 Releases I Was Most Excited About...And Haven't Read Yet

I lied, we're not done thinking about 2024 at all. :P Other posts on this topic can be found HERE @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

At the moment, I have around 3 dozen 2024 releases left on my TBR - after having already read a good 40! - so this is a slightly challenging yet very manageable exercise in trying to determine which ones I was both most hyped about, and most surprised/disappointed I haven't read yet.

  1. The Lightning Circle - Vikki Vansickle: I wanted to read this badly enough to buy it when I couldn't borrow, so I thought I would have read this immediately after doing so. But in my defense, it is kind of hard to get hyped about a summer camp story at the beginning of winter.

  2. Coyote Lost and Found - Dan Gemeinhart: The sequel to a book I gave 5 stars and oldest '24 book on the list, I really thought I would read this ASAP, but it came out in March and I've never been quite Ready to return to this world. I think I'm too scared it won't be 5 stars - I need to get comfortable with the idea that it might be a solid 4-star and that's okay.

  3. The Grandest Game AND Games Untold - Jennifer Lynn Barnes: I'm just gonna bundle these together because honestly, with my level of hype I really did assume I would have read at least ONE of them before the year was out.

  4. Aliferous: A Collection of Fairy Tales, Adventure, Romance & Whims - Alissa J. Zavalianos: Chantel Reads on YouTube shared this in a book haul over the summer, and I have been DYING to get my hands on it ever since because it looks so pretty, and I enjoyed the sample I read online. No libraries bought it and its price has not dropped much, so I think I am going to request it for my birthday.

  5. The Muse of Maiden Lane - Mimi Matthews: in my defense, I wanted to be SUPER in the mood for this one since it's the last of the Belles quartet, and also it only came out in November, so I'm ~saving~ it.

  6. Given Our History - Krystin J. Miller: this one might be too graphic for me, but I'm still SO intrigued by the prospect of a (2nd chance) romance between college professors. Oh! One of my local libraries has it now; they didn't last time I checked. Sweet.

  7. Love & Other Conspiracies - Mallory Marlowe: Speaking of romances, I think this will be really fun! I wasn't reaching for a lot of rom-coms last year, but hopefully that changes soon.

  8. Dad Camp - Evan S. Porter: I'm bummed that the library didn't buy this, not even on Libby!, because this is actually probably the book I MOST want to read off this list, tied w/ Matthews. I love a good father & daughter book.

  9. Pets and the City: Tales of a Manhattan House Call Veterinarian - Amy Attas: Like I said before, I really like vet memoirs. Honestly, when I put it on my winter TBR, I was kind of assuming I'd read it in January.

  10. Slow Dance - Rainbow Rowell: I mean I knew I wasn't going to read it immediately, but I did think maybe by fall, so...starting to feel like this is gonna be one of the ones that sits on my TBR for 5 years while I wait to be ready.

books

Top Ten(ish) New-To-Me Authors Read in 2024

Welcome to the final 2024 reflection post of TTT...other posts on this topic can be found HERE @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

Even though I had a whole extra month to think about this one...I simply could not get this down to a top 10. I have a definite top six (though not in order at all as I do not even have a standout first-place), but after that could not choose four from the tightly bunched pack beneath them. Maybe two -- but not a full top ten.

So instead of going short, I went overboard, because if you saw/remember my survey, I read 141 new-to-me authors, which is twice as many as last year* and a number even greater than the TOTAL amount of books I read in 2023. And that's just a lot of good names that deserve recs.
*That's my excuse for why this basically ended up a double feature, yeah.

Collapse )
books

Top Ten Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025 (!)

(queued post, will be linked)

Hello and welcome to the first TTT of the new year. In the past this has often been a topic I've skipped, buuuut, I'm Fancy New Stevie now who knows entirely too much, even though I had to peek at a few "most anticipated releases" videos on YouTube and this post on Book Birds just to get to 8, with the remainder falling into my lap just a couple of days ago.

*there are some more maybes, but to avoid overwhelming myself, I wanted to stick to books I am genuinely excited enough that if you gave me an ARC I would read it tomorrow. Which makes it rather unfortunate that most of them aren't out until at least April...

Collapse )
books

The BIG Annual Book Survey

Maybe I should add "streamlining the surveys I've done for the past 5 years into one re-numbered, remastered, manageable list" to my 2025 goals...sorry this survey is once again gargantuan. I can only promise it will take less time to read than the...5? hours I spent writing & editing it.

Collapse )


girl

January TBR

Ayyyyyy, we're back! Here's what I think I might read in the month of January. I will be continuing to pack in the books like bonkers before I go back to work and find out if 2024 unlocked a new SuperReader state of being permanently, or if I will come back to earth in 2025.

Collapse )
books

Top Ten Books Read in 2024

It's here, the final TTT of the year! (queued post, will be linked)

And it's a tough one, because I read 224 books this year. I gave 40 of them 5 stars on Goodreads (though some were more like 4.5 rounded up). I have spent two full weeks working on this post in tandem with the still-in-progress end of year reading surveys, agonizing over which ones were truly BEST, and I almost gave up and did even more, but...I THINK I managed to do it.

I feel pretty confident about my top 6, but couldn't pick an actual favorite from those, so those are just in chronological order by read date. I also feel pretty confident about the inclusion of books 7-9. Choosing the last spot from so many equally worthy candidates was crazy tough and I'm still not sure I chose 100% correctly, but we're just going to have to go with it for now.

Collapse )