Hello my sundrops! To quote Maisie Peters, “I wake up and it’s October”. As we’re getting towards the end of the year, I’ve started to not only look ahead to 2026 (doesn’t sound like a real year) and what books I’m looking forward to, but also what books on my owned tbr that I’d like to read before the year is out.
One of my big goals for 2025 has been to get my owned tbr down to 100 books. At this moment, I’m at 135, which really isn’t a horrible number considering the amount of books that I buy throughout the year and the books that I get through the library or ARCs that I get. I do wish I remembered what my owned tbr was at when the year started to see how many I’ve already ticked off the list, but alas, I don’t remember. The thing is, I don’t think I’m going to get to 35 of the books on my owned tbr in addition to all the other things I want to read, so I decided to pick 9 books from my owned tbr that I’m going to prioritize.
I’ve talked about my struggles/hesitancy with the fantasy genre before, so I don’t need to bring it up again. That being said, I have quite a few fantasy books on my tbr from some trusted authors and I really want to get to these 3 before the end of the year.
The Rest Is Silence by Yves Donlon is the sequel to Smile and Be a Villain which is a Hamlet retelling that I read earlier this year (here’s my review if you’re interested), and I absolutely loved it. It was such a hit for me and I was so glad that the sequel was coming out this year so that I didn’t have to wait too long. Smile and Be a Villain was the exact type of fantasy that I love, so I have really positive expectations for The Rest is Silence, and I can’t wait to see what happens to my beloved Ophelia and Hamlet.
We’re not gonna talk about how long Masters of Death by Olivie Blake has been on my tbr and about how many tbr lists I’ve put it on and still haven’t read it yet. That’s between me and my mood reading tendencies. However, I’m determined to finally read it this year, and I will most likely be reading it this month since it seems like a great October read. I personally am an Olivie Blake girlie and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read from her, so here’s hoping that this is another success.
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang is probably the fantasy book on my tbr that I’m most hesitant about. This is the most outside of my comfort zone with fantasy. I don’t doubt that I’ll love the writing because I love Ann Liang’s writing so much, but I don’t read a lot of historical fantasy — though the historical part is actually what I’m most excited about. This is on my 25 in 2025 list, so I do really want to get it read this year. I also have the audiobook and I think that this would be a great one to read both physically and audibly.
Alright, let’s talk mystery/thriller reads which I would say are probably the ones I’m most excited about since those are my favorite genres. It was actually pretty easy to pick 3 mystery/thriller books to focus on because 1) the majority of the mystery/thrillers that I own I have read, and the ones I haven’t read yet I know I’m not currently in the mood for and 2) these three are probably the ones I’m most excited about.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, if you’re a fan of the mystery genre and you’re not reading Katy Watson, you’ve gotta get on that because the Three Dahlias Mysteries series is such a love letter to classic mysteries and so much fun. The fifth book in the series, A Deadly Night at the Theatre came out recently and I am so excited to get to it! It’ll also fit a prompt for the Buzzwordathon this month, so I will be reading this one very soon!
In July I read Famous Last Words, my first Gillian McAllister book and I absolutely loved it, so I’m really looking forward to reading Wrong Place Wrong Time. I’ve had Wrong Place Wrong Time on my tbr for a while and I actually got a copy for Christmas last year.
Another book that’s on my 25 in 2025 is God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I’ve heard so many good things about this book and had actually hoped to read it last year but just didn’t get around to it. I won’t lie, the length intimidates me a bit (which yes, is a funny thing to say as someone who has Les Mis in their top books of all time), so I may get the audiobook tandem read this one as well, but regardless, I definitely want to read this in the last 3 months of 2025.
Now, it just wouldn’t be October if I didn’t read a bunch of horror books! I’m not saying I’m going to read all of these this month — though I would like to! — but I definitely will try to get to at least one of them before the month is over.
I’ve had Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews on my radar since before its release but it took me so long to pick up a copy! I had wanted to get a copy when it was the Barnes and Noble YA Book of the Month, but when I had gone to get it they didn’t have a copy and then it was one of those cases where I just kept forgetting to get it because of other books. A lot of my favorite BookTubers have loved this one, which for sure makes me more excited to read it!
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison was my September Book of the Month pick, and I purposefully was holding off on reading it until October. I haven’t read anything by Rachel Harrison before, but I love a haunted house story and this one sounds like something that I’ll really enjoy.
The cover of I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong is definitely what drew me to the book and why I wanted to buy it, but the premise does sound really interesting! I love stories that include the supernatural and ghosts, and this was another one that I really did want to hold off on reading until October. I’m hoping the weather cools down soon because I think this would be the perfect book to read at night while curled up under a blanket!
I definitely want to read as many books from my owned tbr as I can by the end of the year (and would love to get that owned tbr down to 100), but these are the 9 that I’m planning on prioritizing and making sure that I get to in the next 3 months. Some of these I’ve specifically been waiting for October to read, and others I’m just feeling like I’ll want to read soon. Fingers crossed that I’ve got at least one 5 star read in here as well because I’ve been in a 5 star drought for the last two months!
Are there any books that you’re going to prioritize for the end of the year? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time 💜
Masters of Desth by Olivie Blake is SOOOO GOOD. I read it while listening to the audiobook, which was nice cause there are so many different characters and timelines, so the narrator voices were nice!
oh that’s good to know! maybe i should tandem read that one too…
CAITLYN WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME IS SO GOOD.
i’m really excited to read it after how much i enjoyed famous last words!