25 in 2025 Reading Challenge from Four Paws and a Book

Hello friends! I hope you're having a wonderful day and have plans to enjoy your favorite book this evening. 

For today's post, I thought it would be fun to share a reading challenge in which I'm participating for this year. I found Brianna at Four Paws and a Book last year and have really loved participating in her challenges and happened to come across this one a couple days ago.  The concept is straightforward but the idea is to push yourself outside of your comfort zone with some of the prompts.  I liked that idea because I tend to stick to one genre or author and this will help me branch out.  So below I'll be sharing which books I'm picking for each prompt or if I don't have a prompt, I'll be asking friends/family/booktubers to give some recs and will share those once I get them.

Before we begin, I want to be sure to shout out the creator of this challenge: Four Paws and a Book.  Please be sure to check her video out on YouTube (plus some other videos - she's pretty awesome).  Also, I am sharing affiliate links below so if you make a purchase from my link, I can potentially make a small commission on your purchase. 

1. 2025 Release: For this prompt, I am to pick a book that was published in 2025. I have several books that will have good options for this, but I think I'm going to go with When I Come Back by Alise Monroe.  This is an ARC that I read and she released the book last month. If you have Kindle Unlimited, this is available there.  Be sure to check it out. 

2. One Word Title: For this one, I am to pick a book with ONE word in the title.  That means that books with A or An or The cannot be included.  For this book, I picked Bride by Ali Hazelwood.  I borrowed this book from a friend, so I am definitely going to be reading this earlier in the year so I can give it back to her. 

3. Involves Travel: This is any type of travel whether the book is entirely about travel or the main characters travel. In this case, I picked Keep Me by Sara Cate. The main character travels to Ireland so I think that covers this category. 

4. Number in the title: For this one, I will be reading Four Ruined Realms by Mai Cortland. I really enjoyed her Five Broken Blades book she published last year so I am planning to read the next book in her series which happens to have a number in the title. 

5. Cover buy: So many books I have purchased have been solely based on the cover because they're just so pretty. However, I fell in love with this one because the sleeve is reversible and the book itself is just SO pretty.  For this prompt, I have picked North Is the Night (Tuonela Duet Book 1) by Emily Rath. 

6. Seasonal Book: This one is a bit weird because I cannot tell you exactly what book I'll be reading for this because I'll be doing a Once Upon a Book Club holiday box for this category. I received this bookish box as a gift from my husband and instead of spoiling the book for myself, I'm going to wait until I open the box to make it more fun. 

7. LGBTQ+ Representation: I've had this one on my list for a long time, but Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston.  I have watched the movie version of this book and really enjoyed it so I am excited to see how different the book is from the movie. 

8. Favorite author’s newest release: I do not have a favorite author because there are so many wonderful authors out there; however, Demi Winters released the second book in the Road of Bones series and I am so excited to read it. Be sure to check out Kingdom of Claw AND The Road of Bones. 

9. Hyped Book: Onyx Storm would have been a good pick here as well, but since I put it in another category, I am going to pick Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix for this category. It's a friend's favorite author so I am excited to read this one too. 

10. Color of the Year: The color of the year for 2025 is called Mocha Mousse which is a very pretty light brown color (check it out here). Four Paws and a Book also recommended using the 2025 Reading Challenge color from Goodreads which is a teal/turquoise color.  For this book I can either do The Favorites by Layne Fargo to meet the Mocha color or Swordheart by T. Kingfisher for the teal/turquoise. 

11. POC Author: For my POC author, I have chosen Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan. I really loved his Crazy Rich Asians series, so I'm sure I will enjoy this one as well. 

12. Novella: A novella is defined as a book that is less than 200 pages, but more than a novelette.  In my world, I'm going to define it as a book with around 150 pages or so.  For this one, I'm planning to read All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.  I've been hearing great things about these books and want to read through them all. 

13. 5 Star Prediction: I picked this in my Book of the Month box this month and I am so excited to read it. I have seen so many wonderful things about the book so far and I'm excited to read it for book club in April. The book I picked for this category is Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven. 

14. “Comped”: This prompt is to read a book that was listed as "if you like this book... then you'll like this book".  For this pick, I am reading The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean.  This book was compared to All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker and since that was my number one book for 2024, it was a no brainer to pick it up and read it. 

15. Friend Recommendation: I borrowed The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune from a friend and I cannot wait to read it. It comes highly recommended. 

16. Over 400 pages: Since I have been reading the Crescent City Series, it was a no brainer to included House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas as my 400+ page book. In fact, it's double the length required for this prompt.  

17. Special Edition: I am sure throughout 2025, I will be purchasing several books that are special edition copies, but the one I am most excited for is Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. I picked it up last month and will be reading it for book club in a few weeks. 

18. Chapter Titles: This is a fun prompt because not many books have chapter titles in them anymore. That being said, I'll be reading Quicksilver by Callie Hart. 

19. Debut Author: I've already finished this one, but I picked The Road of Bones by Demi Winters. If you haven't heard of this series before, I 100% recommend checking them out. She is a debut author and the book is incredible.   

20. Mental Health Representation: I feel like nowadays, a lot of authors do a good job of weaving mental health into their stories so I had a hard time choosing, but for this one I have chosen Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. 

21. Snake on the Cover: For the snake on the cover, I have chosen House of Breath and Sky by Sarah J. Maas. 2025 is the year of the snake and the cover has a male character holding a snake twisting around his arm. 

22. Self-Published: I believe one or two of the ARCs that I am reviewing will be self-published so I will likely use one of those for this prompt.  However, I am not sure which one I will be using for this prompt. 

23. New-to-you Author: I'm a smidge embarrassed to admit this, but I have not read a single Kristen Hannah Book. So I will either be reading The Women or The Great Alone by her as I have both of them in my possession. 

24. TBR Vet: I almost don't even want to put this on the list because then I have to keep myself accountable, but I am adding Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I started this series years ago and haven't finished the last one. My friend has given me endless amounts of crap for not finishing the books so here I am adding it to my list so that I finally finish it. 

25. From another challenge: I am participating in a readathon in June, so I will use one of the books I read that month to meet this category. 

That's my list of 25 books for 2025! I am excited about what I've come up with, but it's very possible between now and the end of the year I may switch a few of them around or swap them out depending on what books I read for book clubs going forward. Either way, I am excited and cannot wait to get some reading done.

Well that's all for today.  What books are you excited to read this year? 

Have a wonderful day,
Jackie
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