As the weather is warming up in South Texas I’m preparing my Spring TBR 2025 and selecting the books I’m most excited to read this season. I’m prioritizing books from my physical TBR as well as the books I’ve selected for my 25 books for 2025 and A to Z reading challenges. Let’s yap about the books I’m hoping to make time for this spring!
Spring TBR 2025
Nonfiction
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
I feel self-help books get a bad rap. Maybe it’s because I’m obsessed with self-reflection, introspection, and personal growth. Yet, I find them an essential part of my reading experience. After I saw one of my favorite bookish creators on Instagram review this book I immediately added it to my TBR list.
The premise for this book is simple as its purpose is to help empower you to develop the mindset to stop living consumed by the opinions and thoughts of others and focus on yourself. That means prioritizing your goals, your passions, and your pursuits and letting go of situations and circumstances that are beyond your control.
I don’t know about you but I can use a little advice and encouragement in this area and I’m looking forward to reading this book.
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Another self-help book that’s designed to inspire leaders to respond to the demands that many companies, organizations, and workforces require to foster a functional, productive, and thriving work culture. I’m super curious about Brown’s ideas regarding humility and steward-based leadership. This has become an area of extreme interest for me.
Good Boundaries and Goodbyes by Lysa TerKeurst
This book has been in my TBR since this past fall. But as spring has sprung I’m feeling the need to review my need for setting and enforcing healthy boundaries in my relationships. I can’t tell you how as a reformed people-pleaser it is ultimately necessary to continue making strides towards growing and evolving to avoid falling back into destructive patterns. Eager to finally read this book.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
I have seen multiple recommendations for this book and countless reviews detailing it as an exceptional exploration of the modern-day caste system that exists within our world today. I highly enjoy such cerebral and thought-provoking reads on such topics and I’m anxious to acquire this book and read it.
One In A Millenial by Kate Kennedy
As an elder millennial, I’m hoping this book injects the shock of nostalgia I’m aching for. The early 2000s were an interesting time. I often feel that I was growing and coming of age at the same time that society was also growing and coming of age as it began to step away from many of the conservative and traditional values that were dominant in favor of more progressive and liberal interpretations of what society should be. Can’t wait to check this out!
Fantasy
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
My next foray into the cozy fantasy genre. This story follows dangerous magical children residing in an orphanage who it is feared may bring about the end of the world. A case worker is sent to verify if this fear is true and uncovers secrets in which he’ll have to make a shocking decision. This sounds like the perfect cozy vibe for spring!
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison
This is another frequent resident on my TBR and I’m determined to FINALLY begin this series! We follow one woman’s daring journey through a fallen world to rescue her daughter from the hands of the man who brutally murdered her son. I know this is going to be a powerful and emotional read and I can’t wait!
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Another series I’m looking forward to beginning. We follow a land that has lost the power of magic and how it impacts the people of the land. Our protagonist jumping on the oppurtunity to bring magic back to the land by outwitting the prince determined on erasing it from the land for good. I’m a sucker for these stories and I know this is going to be an instant favorite.
A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
I began this series in January and I’m looking forward to continuing my journey in this world as we see Laia aligning herself with the rebels seeking to dismantle the oppressive rule of the Martial Empire to rescue her brother after he’s captured. Her story intersects with Elias a Martial soldier in training who wants to escape his future serving the empire he’s come to hate. I love this brutal, dark world and how ruthless of a storyteller Tahir is, and can’t wait to continue with this series.
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab
According to many in the bookish space either you love this book or hate it. I think that I’m going to fall in love with this story. We follow Addie Larue as she chooses immortality over being remembered by all those she comes across. After decades of loneliness and anonymity, she’s shocked to discover that someone remembers her. This is giving me all the vibes of a character-driven tale filled with introspection and oh how I love those! Can’t wait to read this one.
Fiction
Pictures of You by Emma Grey
I had the pleasure of reading from this author before and I enjoyed the emotional and honest aspects of her writing style I’m excited to explore more of her work in this new novel. We follow Evie Hudson following a tragic accident that claimed her husband’s life. She’s left trapped in the mind of her seventeen-year-old self. With the help of her high school friend Drew Kennedy, she begins to slowly piece her memory back together and realizes she needs to pivot into a better life.
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
A novel exploring the complex and challenging relationships between sisters? I’m so in. We follow three sisters who lead drastically different lives while they also come to terms with the loss of their fourth sister and are forced to reconnect and reflect on their relationship.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I’ve been eager to explore the work of Matt Haig especially this novel as it explores the numerous possibilities one can embark on in a given life. I’m expecting a poignant and thoughtful exploration of this concept.
Historical Fiction
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The synopsis for this story sounds like everything I enjoy in a good Historical Fiction. For starters, it gives the vibes of a multi-generational family saga that explores the consequences of a young woman’s decision to reject her married lover and marry a humble and sickly minister.
Swift River by Essie Chambers
I love a good coming-of-age story and this novel tells the story of a young woman named Diamond who’s the only Black person in her town. She’s bullied and ostracized by others because of her race, weight, and her father’s abandonment of her and her mother. As her mother is making plans to recapture some semblance of structure in her life Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met they connect over their shared history and she learns more background information on her father. Now, she must determine how this information will alter her future.
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
This story chronicles the lives of two young girls Ellie and Homa. Ellie and her family flee a life of luxury following her father’s death forcing them into a more modest way of living. Lost and alone she befriends Homa and they become inseparable until her mother finds an opportunity to return to the life of comfort she’d grown accustomed to whisking Ellie away from her childhood friend.
Years later a chance encounter of Homa in Ellie’s privileged world will alter the course of both of their lives. Building up to an earth-shattering betrayal with dire consequences.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
I enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert’s work and I’m looking forward to reading this story. We follow Vivian Morris following her being kicked out of college and forced to stay with her Aunt Peg in Manhattan as she manages a rundown theater. She’s surrounded by charismatic and intriguing characters from the showgirls to the deviously handsome male actor. Yet when Vivian’s mistake leads to a scandal it will turn her world upside down.
This Motherless Land by Nikki May
We have another multi-generation family saga exploring how the choices of two mothers impact the relationship between two cousins. Spanning two decades themes surrounding race, identity, culture, and love are explored as one family determines their generational wrongs can be righted.
Dark Romance
Lights Out by Navessa Allen
A fun dark romance featuring a masked man creating thirst traps on social media for women who explore this particular kink where he ends up becoming obsessed with one of his fans leading to sparks flying offline.
The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori
A forbidden enemies-to-lovers mafia romance between the sister and future brother-in-law? Sign me up! We follow Elena as she falls from dislike to lust to love with Nicolas Russo a “Made” man notorious for being a scoundrel and criminal. And while she can’t afford another scandal she finds she can’t resist Nicolas’s appeal.
Mystery/Thriller
Mirror Me by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg
This psychological thriller follows Eddie Asher as he’s struggling to make sense of whether it’s possible that he murdered his brother’s fiancee. Desperate for answers he seeks help from psychiatrist Richard Montgomery who specializes in treating patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder. But, the treatment triggers a cascade of memories that Eddie’s alter Pär can’t contain and protect him from. Forcing Eddie to face truths about his identity.
The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea
An abduction story following the disappearance of two high school girls Nicole and Megan. Miraculously, Megan escapes and underground bunker but Nicole is still missing. After Mean gains notirity from her tell all book she partners with Nicole’s older sister Livia and they begin to dig into the clues uncovering a truth more terrifying than they imagined.
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeny
A mystery set in the Scottish islands where Grady is haunted by the disappearance of his wife following mysterious circumstances and a year later meets a woman who’s her spitting image.
The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters
In the glittering world of Lagos, Nigeria Nicole has it all status, money, an exclusive group of friends and a wealthy Nigerian husband. But Nicole’s disappearance following a boat trip leads her Auntie Claudine to spring into action to investigate her niece’s disappearance. The more she uncovers the more her own past threatens to undermine her quest to seek justice for her niece.
Classics
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
An epic tale of retribution that follows Edmund Dantès as he’s wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. After learning of the hidden treasure on the isle of Monte Cristo he hatches the ultimate comeback to seek revenge on the men who led to his incarceration.
The Grapes of Wrath by James Steinbeck
Follow the Joad family as they begin their perilous trip from Okalahoma to California during the Great Depression. This tale explores themes of equality and justice in America as this family faces trials and tribulations.
Re-Reads
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
In this poignant and though provoking speculative fiction debut novel we witness the birth of a new society as everyone around the world wakes up with a mysterious box at their front door. Upon opening they will discover a string and the length of this string will determine your life span. We follow eight individuals forced to figure out the meaning of life in a new world where their time on earth has been revealed. How much of an impact does this knowledge have on a person? A society? A world?
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
In a world divided by blood there are Silvers who have abilities and are the upper class that rule and wage wars against each other for power and terrritory and rule with an iron fist. And then there are Reds who are the working class and struggling under Silver tyranny forced to fight in a war not of their choosing to bring glory to people that see them as nothing but a number. Mare finds herself struggling to accept the inevitability of her future fighting in the Silver’s war and through a freak accident discovers she has a power of her own. A power that will threaten the dynamic of a world system as she knows it.
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Aislin has been taught to avoid Faeries all her life and upon discovering her link to the faery world her life is turned upside down. Now Keenan the King of the Summer Court stalking her Aislinn is struggling to make sense of her new reality and how it will impact her future including her friendship with her best friend Seth.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Get ready to accomplish your goals and create structure and routine in your daily life. This easy to follow system teaches you the basics about habit-building and how to make adjustments by implementing simple behaviors and actions in your daily life that create a compound effect launching you into achieving your goals and becoming the person you’re striving to be.
Get Good with Money by Tiffany Aliche
Improve financial literacy and make a plan to achieve financial freedom by implementing these ten essential steps that will help improve your psychological relationship with money and guide you towards arranging systems that will help you secure financial security, save money, and plan for your future.
These are the books that are my highest priority these next few months. Here’s to hoping that I can stick to this TBR and that the second quarter isn’t as rough and unruly as the first quarter. What’s on your Spring TBR? Let me know in the comments below! Happy Reading!
