10 Books on my Spring 2025 To Be Read List (2025)

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This week the promo is for our Spring TBR lists, so it’s time to review what I chose for my Winter TBR list and see what I have read and if any of them are still sticking around!

I’ve read 5!

✅ Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

✅ She’s A Killer by Kirstin McDougal

✅  Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

✅ The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

✅ A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin

I am actually impressed with myself that I ticked off so many!

5 are staying on the list

⬆️ 1. Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse #6) by James S.A. Corey

The Free Navy – a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships – has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

This is staying near the top of the list! My fiance is also supposed to be reading it but I might give up waiting for him to be ready!

➡️ 2. Kala by Colin Walsh

“A gripping literary page-turner from a rising Irish talent in which former friends, estranged for twenty years, reckon with the terrifying events of the summer that changed their lives.”

I’m still in the Fuck True Crime mood, so I think it is definitely getting read sooner rather than later.

➡️ 3. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

The Robber Bride is inspired by “The Robber Bridegroom,” a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends, Tony, Charis, and Roz. All three “have lost men, spirit, money, and time to their old college acquaintance, Zenia. At various times, and in various emotional disguises, Zenia has insinuated her way into their lives and practically demolished them.

I got Alias Grace read and really enjoyed it, so I’m encouraged to read another Atwood (the previous Atwood I read was Oryx and Crake, which I hated so she’s not always good for a hit!). The Robber Bride sounds a lot weirder, and as I mentioned in my Winter TBR, I’d like to also read the Brother’s Grim story that this is based on.

➡️ 4. Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humour and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them.

Given that one of these stories is about a wedding (and I’m getting married in June) I’m still thinking I need to get into these short stories! It’ll be good for when I want a quick read.

➡️ 5. My Husband by Maud Ventura

The winner of France’s First Novel Prize in 2021, My Husband builds on the premise of hits like Gone Girl and Fates and Furies–how well can you really know your spouse?–and adds the tension and creepy obsession of You. The result is an irresistible read–compelling, tense, and engaging, infused with sly subversive humour, and told in an utterly original voice that makes it unforgettable.

After reading She’s A Killer recently I’m looking for another unhinged read that might be a bit more satisfying.

And 5 new picks!

🆕 6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Humbert Humbert – scholar, aesthete and romantic – has fallen completely and utterly in love with Lolita Haze, his landlady’s gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.

I’ve been wanting to read this since I listened to Jamie Loftus’ excellent podcast in 2020, and after I wrote my list of my favourite Unreliable Narrators last week it’s been on my mind more and more. I’ve just got to brace myself for it and read it a time when my brain can take it!

🆕 7. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

Another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.

This one is 642 pages so I’m saving it for when I’m prepared to get into a long read, but it is top of the list when I feel like I want a more straightforward mystery story… with spies and codebreaking!

🆕 8. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

I saw My Name is Marines rave about this and it sounds promising. This will be my pick when I want something completely different to my usual reads!

🆕 9. Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog… but she’s got a killer secret.

Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhiannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s plans for marriage and babies whilst secretly making a list.

A kill list.

Sky recently did an adaption of this (staring Ella Purnell) but I want to read the book, not watch that. This sounds unhinged and fun, we’ll see!

🆕 10. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

A dazzling urban satire of modern human relations? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something? Bridget Jones is everyone’s favourite Londoner. This is your chance to reacquaint yourself with the funniest, most heart-warming young lady ever to grace the pages of a Picador book.

I haven’t read this since I was a teenager and with the new movie out it’s been on my mind! Plus Bridget and Mark Darcy made it onto my 10 Favourite Love Stories list!

Let me know if you have read any of these, or have them on your own list!