2025 Book Reading Challenge: All the Books I’ve Read This Year

At the end of 2024, I realized that I hadn’t read as much as I could have. For the first half of the year I was unemployed looking for a job and unlimited time on my hands. Well, as close to unlimited as I could get. By December when I did get a job and was reflecting back on the year, I read five books. Five books! For someone who loves to read, I really fell into a dark place if reading didn’t cheer me up. So that brings me to now, the middle of 2025, where I share with you all the books I’ve read this year in my book reading challenge. 

I made it a goal to hit 50 books by the end of the year. Why 50 books? It was a large enough number to make this feel like a reading challenge. Surprisingly, I’m halfway to that goal. As I write this, I am 25 books into the challenge. My current read is None of This True by Lisa Jewell; I’m just two chapters in so I don’t have much to say about it other than I’m so curious on the podcasting story. 

Hope this doesn’t deter anyone, but I’m using Goodreads as my main hub. Although, I heard that there are other platforms similar to Goodreads. So if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them! 

What I do enjoy are the challenges on Goodreads. Every few months the platform shares reading challenges that users can hit by reading a book from a curated list. It helps get me familiar with what books are trending and what books I’ve missed out on. Plus, I like the competitiveness with the challenges even if I’m playing against myself. I’ll share what books I read because of these challenges in this book list.

If you are interested in any of these reads, I will be sharing Bookshop.org and Libro.fm links (and some links to a few Kindle reads) so you can check them out in either physical, digital, or audio format. Total transparency, I do receive a commission if you purchase through the link. But in truth, I’m excited to share all the reads I went through with readers like yourselves! 

Check out the book reading challenge below!

Summer in the City by Alex Aster

Have you seen the marketing for this book? Whoever is Alex Aster’s publicist, I’d love to learn from them. With all the photo ops and room filled book tours, Alex Aster looked like she was having the time of her life. Honestly, I grabbed the book on Kindle because there was a sale and I wanted to know what the hype was about. Now I know.

Grab Summer in the City here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Rich Girl Summer by Lily Chu

There isn’t even a physical copy of this book yet. This title is an Audible exclusive, which I do have a hard time parting with. I know what we say about the zon but I love Lily Chu’s books, and with my lack of patience, I couldn’t help but keep my Audible. 

Grab Rich Girl Summer here: Audible

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year and I picked it up to mark off a book challenge from Goodreads. Honestly, I would have picked it up eventually, but the challenge did prompt me to start this over my TBR overflow. Which I’m glad since I got to read this interesting story. 

Grab Happiness Fall here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Simmer Down by Sarah Smith

For Filipino Heritage Month I picked this book up at The Ripped Bodice. I was so excited for the Maui setting, the island life, and Filipino culture. There aren’t many books out there that mention Hawaii living or of Filipino heritage. It was a great mix. Plus, the food, so good! 

Grab Simmer Down here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Talk about cozy! I was completely in awe with the witches and the unconventional family. It was one of the books I kept seeing on ads or as recommendations. I finally picked up the Kindle version after a sale and I was hooked, Sangu Mandanna’s newest book A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping is on my list to read this year.

Grab The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

This book was to fulfill another Goodreads challenge but I also wanted to read it in hopes that I could write about it for a book review on Soapberry Review. Unfortunately, this was not the best book for me to review but I still gave it a shot. 

Grab They Bloom at Night here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

I didn’t realize how many books I read for a Goodreads challenge but this also was on a list for me to check off. This book I had on my shelf since the start of the year. I was interested in the story and I kept passing it whenever I went to the bookstore. Eventually my curiosity won and I bought the book. After reading it, I’m so glad I did.

Grab You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Matchmaker's List by Sonya Lalli

The book I had for years and never read. I can’t say why I never read it, but maybe it was fate that I read it now. The main character is the same age as me so it felt serendipitous to start it now and not when I was younger. My reason for picking it up after all this time, I was in a romance mood and wanted to read a cute romance story. 

Grab The Matchmaker's List here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Call me an Emily Henry superfan because I have all her books and preordered this one the moment the link was available. I’m so glad I did because it was a fun package to get in the mail. There’s so much I can say about this book, but I’ll share a separate post about all the Emily Henry books.

Grab Great Big Beautiful Life here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown

Have you heard of Preoccupied? They share bookish events all throughout the LA area. Recently they branched into the NY area but they started here in California. They are so lovely and when they shared this book as one of their walking book club picks, I was curious. Thank you Preoccupied gals for picking this read because I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery!

Grab Society of Lies here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Trouble With Hating You by Sanji Patel

This was an audiobook listen. For some reason I was in a reading slump at the start of the year and I was scrolling through Audible and found this book. The premise caught my attention and I added it to my library. Reading slump gone! I absolutely loved this book so much I ordered the physical copy on PangoBooks.

Grab The Trouble With Hating You here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

My friend and I walked into Barnes and Noble. How many TBR grabs start with that sentence? Well, we walked in and were talking about books we wanted to read. After strolling the thriller section, we landed on this book. We each got a copy and promised to read it together. Three days later, we finished the entire book. 

Grab The Perfect Marriage here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore

This was my first read of the year. I had just finished The Pumpkin Spice Cafe a day before the New Year and I went into 2025 reading the second book of the series. I love a cozy read that has anything to do with romance. This checked off all the boxes.

Grab The Cinnamon Bun Book Store here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

Funny enough, I started this book a couple weeks ago. You’d think I’d read this after the second book during the winter time, but here I am reading it in 90 degree weather. I started this read because my friend and I were talking about the series and she just started the first book. I told her I’d start this book when she reached that point, and here we are.

Grab The Christmas Tree Farm here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Verity by Colleen Hoover

I have to say, I’m not a Colleen Hoover fan. This book, however, was a wild ride. My mom started a book club this year and one of their monthly picks was this one. I made a deal with my mom that I’d read it too so we can discuss it together. It’s been months and we still talk about how intense that read was. 

Grab Verity here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

I was on a Lucy Foley reading kick. This was the second book I read from her. I enjoyed The Guest List so I decided to read more by her. That’s how I ended up with this read. 

Grab The Hunting Party here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

Like I said, a reading kick. For this book I went in with no expectations and I’m glad I did. Out of all the books, this one is on top of my Lucy Foley list. 

Grab The Midnight Feast here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

After reading The Perfect Divorce I dug into other books by Jeneva Rose. This was another book I would see at the bookstore but never bought until my curiosity won. It was an interesting story with the coolest book cover, so I grabbed it. 

Grab Home Is Where the Bodies Are here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

This was during my romance era of the year. I knocked out a lot of romance reads in a couple months. This book was Kindle Unlimited read before I cancelled my subscription. It was a quick read and the story seemed up my alley. I’d say the premise and the title is what got me to read this book.

Grab Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

I was never a vampire girlie, give me a werewolf any day. When I saw that Isabel Cañas had a book about vampires, I was iffy. Her first book was creepy and I love a haunted story, so I decided to keep the streak going and read her second book. This was when I was trying to branch off from the romance books and enter my creepy, scary books era. 

Grab Vampires of El Norte here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Another book I had on my shelf for the longest time. The book cover is what caught my eye. I remember picking it up without even looking at the summary. Fast forward and, surprise surprise, Goodreads had another challenge and this book was on it. So I saved it from the TBR pile and read it. Needless to say, Grady Hendrix is one of my top authors. 

Grab My Best Friend's Exorcism here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

No surprise here. After My Best Friend's Exorcism I picked up this book. It was a book I would see on the bookshelves and walk past, because again, I’m not a vampire girlie. So when I started this book, I was pleasantly surprised with it.

Grab The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding by Sanji Patel

The reason I was in a romance book era. My favorite movie is My Big Fat Greek Wedding and this book title caught my eye. When I picked it up from the bookstore I started reading right away, which had me spiral into the romance world, I fell madly in love with this story. The characters, the love, the family, I couldn’t get enough! I was so sad to finish the book, and I don’t normally reread books but this will definitely be one I’ll pick up again. 

Grab My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

Last year I read 3 books by Rachel Hawkins. I never got around to reading this book until earlier in the year. I was having trouble sleeping and it was on my Kindle mocking me. So I started reading this book to fall asleep to and a week later my sleep was still bad but I finished the book.

Grab The Heiress here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield

I heard great things about this book and coincidentally I started this read around the time of the 50th anniversary of SNL. After learning that, I had to finish it in time of the reunion. Having that timeframe was a good motivator to keep reading. Since then I’ve been keeping a steady routine of reaching my reading challenge goals. I even wrote a book review on Romantic Comedy here.

Grab Romantic Comedy here: Bookshop.org | Libro.fm

That concludes the list! Wow, thank you for checking out the list of books I’ve been reading this year. I hope to read all the other books that I’ve been piling up. Some of them by authors I adore, but can’t get to because of all the other books I’m excited to read. Does anyone else feel overwhelmed by the amount of books they want to read? It’s more of an overwhelming excitement than stress on my end. I can’t help it, books are life. 

Can’t wait to share with you part II of my book reading challenge where I share the last half of books I read this year. Then we can celebrate 50 books of 2025!

Thank you for joining in! Talk to you later~

psst...look for any of these books right here