Skip to main content

My Favorite Reads of 2025! ๐Ÿ•ฎ

It's a new year, and you know what that means! Time to share my favorite reads from 2025. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you've already likely heard me rave about these books, so I'll get right to it.

In no particular order, I'm starting with a series. How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother by the amazing Jenny Proctor. A Christmas-themed Hawthorne book came out in November, and I need it right now.

Next, Some Like it Scot by Pepper Basham. Don't let the title fool you. This book is a nice, clean romcom with plenty of heart. (My reading journal has two whole pages dedicated to it.๐Ÿ˜‰)

Lastly, Double or Nothing by Cindy Steel. This is book two in the Pride and Pranks series, and I would recommend them all!



Writing update . . .

My first draft is complete! I'm taking notes and plotting where to insert certain elements. This is working a bit backward for me. Considering this will be a shorter book, this will add some length. It'll also allow me to be more intentional, which are both good things!



Reading . . .

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I thought I knew the story. While that's true, I was shocked by how moving I found it.


Just Don't Fall by Emma St. Clair, book one in the Sweater Weather series.


Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden. If you like Pride and Prejudice and Beauty and the Beast, I would give this book a try. It's a nice, short read. And I actually found this book after watching a trailer for the movie adaptation.



Enjoying . . .

Homemade peppermint hot chocolate. I often make a healthier version of hot chocolate in the colder months. I just so happened to have some spearmint tea bags, combined the two, and was not disappointed.



Music . . .

Okay, so this isn't exactly a song I've been listening to. I heard it on Instagram (_stephenspencer). Stephen takes stories his three-year-old daughter tells and turns them into songs. So, yeah. I've been walking around the house singing, "I'm an important mermaid!"๐Ÿ˜‚



I'd love to know your favorite books from 2025!

Talk to you soon,

Jessica


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spring is Here!๐ŸŒท

 Happy spring, friends!๐ŸŒž๐ŸŒฑ We've had a lot of rain here in the Hoosier state. It's getting warmer, and things are greening up. I can't wait for sunny days when I can go for walks and start working on my garden. This year, I'm planning to try my hand at container gardening. My garden plot is pretty small to start with. I like things that are straightforward and practical. So, this seems like it might be a good fit. And less weeding! Which is good, because I'm continuing to work through final tweaks for Champion's Sword . I should be done by the end of April. Then I'll move on to formatting, followed by one final read to check for commas and such. I'm looking forward to refilling my creative well and returning to drafting after so long in editing land.๐Ÿ˜‰ Reading . . . This month, I re-read Spells for Forgetting  by Adrienne Young. And I finally got my hands on Ignite  by Kara Swanson. If you've read Champion's Key , you'll understand why this ...

Behemoth

  Guys, I have three chapters left! Theoretically, I should be able to tackle these last chapters next week. I will say, though, that I've learned things often take me longer than I expect, and chapter fifty-one is a behemoth . Seriously, it's double the size of a lot of my chapters. After I've finished with edits, I'll read through the entire book to check everything one final time (and fix em dashes in the first half๐Ÿ˜) before moving on to formatting, cover design, and publication. Yay! Reading . . . This month, I read So That Happened  by Katie Bailey (Donovan Family, Bk. 1), a grumpy-sunshine romcom that was super cute. And I finally returned to the Hawthorne Brothers series (Jenny Proctor) and read How to Kiss Your Grumpy Boss  (Bk. 2) and How to Kiss Your Enemy (Bk. 3). Somehow, I unintentionally picked three workplace romances . . . and movie star ones for my upcoming blog๐Ÿ™ˆ, with the exception of Beg, Borrow, or Steal by the amazing Sarah Adams. I'll be repe...

My Favorite YouTubers

Something I've wanted to do for a while is share my favorite YouTube channels. But every time I considered doing it as a post on social media, I would get overwhelmed and set the idea aside. What better way to give it the attention it deserves and shift back into author mode than to post it here? Also, typing everything out on my phone sounded absolutely horrendous. And for those of you who are curious, I plan to start drafting next week.๐Ÿ˜‰ As I type this, aesthetic photos look down upon me from my bulletin board and a blue binder containing character sheets, scene ideas, & town places sits to my left. I have dubbed my little town "Kirkley."๐Ÿฉท Side note: A number of these YouTubers have books, so be sure to check those out as well! Bernadette Banner : If you're a fan of fashion history, hand sewing, and corsetry, this is the place for you! Charlie Follows : I really enjoyed the yoga teacher I was following online before Charlie, but I wasn't a huge fan of the ...