It’s my favorite time of the month when I get to select books for my January TBR 2025 and share my reading goals for the month. This month I decided to spice things up and use a TBR to select books from my physical TBR that I need to read. So, I purchased the cutest TBR jar on Etsy and scribbled down all the physical books on my TBR cart as well as a few Kindle books, and drew picks from the jar to help build out my monthly TBR. Let’s jump into the fun!
January Reading Goals
First off I want to share my reading goals for the month as they will determine some of the books that I’m seeking to read this month. When it comes to how many books I want to read this month I decided to set a goal to read fourteen books since this appears to be my average and something I can reasonably accomplish with my work schedule and responsibilities.
When it comes to my general reading goals I’m seeking to:
- Read two Nonfiction books
- Read one Sci-Fi
- Enjoy a Re-read of one of my favorites
- Read a 2025 Release
- Read an Amazon First Reads book
- Read more books from my physical TBR
- Prioritize Library Holds
There are six books that I’ve added to my TBR that align with these goals leaving me with eight books to select from my TBR jar and add to my January TBR.
January TBR 2025
Must Read Books
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Page Count: 517 (Hardcover)
Release Date: May 2, 2023
Acquisition: Home Library
I was supposed to read Fourth Wing last month so I’d be able to catch up on the series in time for the release of the third installment. However, other priorities shifted my December TBR around and I had to put it off for this month. I’m still excited about giving this book a read and experiencing this series for myself. I think I’ll have a silly goofy time and I’m looking forward to it!
Synopsis:
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die
Foxglove by Adalyn Grace
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Page Count: 464 (Paperback)
Release Date: August 22, 2023
Acquisition: Home Library
I started the Belladonna series back in November and fell in love with the characters and storyline of this series. I’m excited to continue forward and see how the events unfold from where we left off with that dramatic cliffhanger.
Synopsis:
A duke has been murdered. The lord of Thorn Grove has been framed. And Fate, the elusive brother of Death, has taken up residence in a sumptuous estate nearby. He’s hellbent on revenge after Death took the life of the woman he loved many years ago… and now he’s determined to have Signa for himself, no matter the cost.
Signa and her cousin Blythe are certain that Fate can save Elijah Hawthorne from prison if they will entertain his presence. But the more time the girls spend with Fate, the more frightening their reality becomes as Signa exhibits dramatic new powers that link her to Fate’s past. With mysteries and danger around every corner, the cousins must decide if they can trust one another as they navigate their futures in high society, unravel the murders that haunt their family, and play Fate’s unexpected games—all with their destinies hanging in the balance.
Dangerous, suspenseful, and seductive, this sequel to Signa and Death’s story is as utterly romantic as it is perfectly deadly.
Good Boundaries and Goodbyes by Lysa Terkeurst
Genre: Nonfiction, Christian, Personal Growth
Page Count: 272 (Hardcover)
Release Date: January 1, 2022
Acquisition: Home Library
I’m glad that I saved this book for the new year because what better time to evolve and learn healthy habits regarding how we enforce boundaries in the various relationships in our lives? Also, this book works to help me reach my goal of two Nonfiction books this month.
Synopsis:
Is it unloving or selfish to set a boundary? Are Christians ever called to walk away from a relationship that’s no longer safe or sustainable? Lysa TerKeurst deeply understands these hard questions in the midst of relational struggles.
But after thousands of hours of counseling intensives and extensive theological research that transformed the way she defined healthy relationships, Lysa is now more committed than ever to loving people well without losing the best of who she is. She wants to help you do the same. In these pages Lysa will help you:
Understand the five factors to remember when implementing healthy boundaries.
Determine the appropriate amount of personal and emotional access someone has to you based on how responsible they’ll be with that access.
Stop being misled and emotionally paralyzed by wrongly interpreted or weaponized scriptures that perpetuate unhealthy dynamics in difficult relationships.
Overcome the frustrating cycle of ineffective boundary-setting with realistic scripts and practical strategies to help you communicate, keep, and implement healthier patterns.
Be equipped to say goodbye without guilt when a relationship has shifted from difficult to destructive and is no longer sustainable.
Receive therapeutic wisdom you can trust directly from Lysa’s Christian counselor Jim Cress, who weighs in throughout the book.
Give Her Credit by Grace L. Williams
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography
Page Count: 202 (Kindle Edition)
Release Date: January 1, 2025
Acquisition: Amazon First Reads
This was an Amazon First Reads book that I was supposed to read last month but didn’t get around to it. I’m determined to read it this month because this story sounds so inspiring.
Synopsis:
In the 1970s, a new wave of feminism was sweeping America. But in the boys’ club of banking and finance, women were still infantilized—no credit without a male cosigner, and their income was dismissed as unreliable. If bankers weren’t going to accommodate women, then women had to take control of their own futures. In 1978 in Denver, Colorado, the opening of the Women’s Bank changed everything.
It was helmed by bank officer B. LaRae Orullian and the brainchild of whip-smart entrepreneur Carol Green, who forged a groundbreaking path with their headstrong colleagues, among Judi Foster, investment research whiz; Edna Mosley, unyielding civil rights advocate with the NAACP; Mary Roebling, renowned financial executive; Betty Freedman, a socialite and fundraiser; and Gail Schoettler, a formidable Denver mover and shaker for social justice. Coming together and facing their own unique road to revolution, they built the most successful female-run bank in the nation. It wasn’t easy.
Give Her Credit follows the challenges, uphill battles, and achievements of some of the enterprising women of Denver who broke boundaries, inspired millions, and afforded opportunities for every marginalized citizen in the country. It’s about time their untold story was told.
A Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Genre: Thriller
Page Count: 429 (Hardcover)
Release Date: January 2, 2018
Acquisition: Home Library
To satisfy my goal of re-reading a book from my previously read collection I’ve chosen this book which was one of the first books that triggered my interest and appreciation of the Thriller genre.
Synopsis:
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-six languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.
It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . .
Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble?and its shocking secrets are laid bare.
What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.
Twisty and powerful, ingenious and moving, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock.
Beartown by Frederik Backman
Genre: Literary Fiction
Page Count: 418 (Hardcover)
Release Date: April 25, 2017
Acquisition: Public Library
As this book has made its rounds in the bookish community it has piqued my interest due to the rave reviews regarding the poignancy, and beauty in which Backman covers the heartwrenching trauma that envelopes this small community. And me being a sucker for multi-layered and dark stories had to add this to my TBR. Plus it’s giving me all the winter vibes perfect for January.
Synopsis:
A dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.
Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.
TBR Jar Picks
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Historical Fiction
Page Count: 470 (Paperback)
Release Date: June 4, 2019
Acquisition: Home Library
I’ve been such a fan of Elizabeth Gilbert since Eat, Pray, Love I’ve enjoyed her work. I’m excited to read this book and read another work by her I’ve never read a novel by her and I’m looking forward to this new reading experience from a favorite author.
Synopsis:
In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves-and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest.
Now ninety-five years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life – and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it.
Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Historical Fiction
Page Count: 389 (Hardcover)
Release Date: June 13, 2017
Acquisition: Home Library
Another author that I’m a huge fan of! I received the special edition of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as a Christmas gift and I’m eager to dive into the Reidverse. I’ve developed a taste for stories about Old Hollywood and the glamour and chaos of the 50s after reading The Seventh Veil of Salome. Can’t wait to experience this gorgeous edition for myself!
Synopsis:
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Page Count: 389 (Hardcover)
Release Date: May 1, 2020
Acquisition: Home Library
Look at this gorgeous cover! I’ve said it before my heart swells with joy seeing Black and brown folks being recognized in Fantasy. Saying I’m eager to read this beautiful book would be an understatement!
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.
But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.
Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.
Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Genre: Classics
Page Count: 438 (Paperback)
Release Date: March 20, 1852
Acquisition: Home Library
I confess I haven’t read the classic that shed a light on the inhumane and barbaric treatment dispensed toward enslaved Black in the southern region of America. And I felt that right now is a better time than any to read this story.
Synopsis:
The narrative drive of Stowe’s classic novel is often overlooked in the heat of the controversies surrounding its anti-slavery sentiments. In fact, it is a compelling adventure story with richly drawn characters and has earned a place in both literary and American history. Stowe’s religious beliefs show up in the novel’s final, overarching theme—the exploration of the nature of Christianity and how Christian theology is fundamentally incompatible with slavery.
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Page Count: 356 (Paperback)
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Acquisition: Home Library
Ya’ll I’ve had this on my TBR numerous times and I never get around to reading it! Hopefully, I can right this egregious wrong this month and finally read this book!
Synopsis:
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.
Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find….
In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times best-selling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Page Count: 367 (Hardcover)
Release Date: June 18, 2024
Acquisition: Home Library
I’m coming to respect Riley Sager and his work he has a unique style and way of writing and it’s nothing if not immersive and intriguing. Not to mention you never know what to expect from him so he always keeps you on your toes. So, while this book wasn’t well received by many of the bookish content creators I follow I’m willing to give this book a shot and see how it works for me.
Synopsis:
The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul de sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.
Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul de sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?
The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed monsters roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate.
The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.
The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer
Genre: Thriller Suspense
Page Count: 521 (Hardcover)
Release Date: November 8, 2016
Acquisition: Home Library
Listen, I’m a Stephanie Meyer fan. If you don’t like her or her work argue with a wall because this here is my girl! I saw this book at Half Price Books and scooped it right on up and I’m curious as to how she’s going to write an espionage thriller-type novel which is the opposite of her previous work but hey I’m here for it.
Synopsis:
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.
Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.
When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.
In this tautly plotted novel, Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she’s one of the world’s bestselling authors.
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Page Count: 480 (Paperback)
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Acquisition: Home Library
I made the mistake of reading Heir before this series and now I need all the backstory to better understand the characters and this world. Hence why, I’m determined to complete this series this year and re-read Heir so I’m all caught up and understand this world so I’m better prepared for the second installment of the Heir duology to release whenever that will be.
Synopsis:
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
That completes my January TBR! What books are you looking forward to reading this month? And what are your reading goals? Till next time friends! Happy reading!!