Exciting reads for 2025

If “read more books” made it onto your New Year’s resolutions for 2025, you’re in the right place. After all, there’s no better motivation than diving into great reads that transport you, enrich your life, and give you plenty to recommend to friends and social circles.

‘Immortal’ by Sue Lynn Tan

Set in the rich, immersive world of Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess duology, this standalone fantasy brims with political intrigue, forbidden magic, and a slow-burn, delicious romance. When young heir Liyen ascends the human throne after her grandfather’s death, she vows to protect her kingdom by breaking its ties with the immortals. But when summoned to the Immortal Realm, she must forge an uneasy alliance with the enigmatic and fearsome God of War. As peril looms and tensions rise, Liyen must navigate dangerous secrets, growing attraction, and a threat that could destroy everything she’s fighting to protect. 

‘How to Be Enough’ by Ellen Hendriksen

Kick off the new year with a self-improvement book like Hendriksen’s How to Be Enough. A perfectionist herself, Hendriksen sheds insights on the root causes and pitfalls of perfectionism, including the three boats of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism (we are our own toughest critics), other-oriented perfectionism (the one we set on others), and lastly, the most toxic one, and on an upward march thanks to social media, socially-ascribed perfectionism. While perfectionism isn’t entirely bad, Hendriksen ruminates on what works and rethinks what doesn’t, guiding readers to be kinder and more compassionate to themselves.

‘Strange Pictures’ by Uketsu

For the horror and mystery fans: this spine-tingling debut by a Japanese author, who is somewhat of an enigma himself, is one you absolutely can’t miss.  Strange Pictures weaves together four interconnected stories: an innocuous blog, a child’s haunting sketch of a house, a cryptic drawing scrawled by a murder victim in his final moments, and an amateur sleuth who is led down a rabbit hole. Scattered throughout the book, eerie illustrations serve as clues, drawing readers into a dark web of intrigue and daring them to solve the mystery, puzzle by puzzle. Plus, if you’re taking on the Fully Booked Reading Challenge, Strange Pictures has 250 pages and is perfect for the “Book You Can Read In One Sitting” prompt.

‘Water Moon’ by Samantha Sotto-Yambao

A cozy ramen shop, a hidden pawnshop that buys people’s deepest regrets, a loved one that goes missing, rides on paper cranes — sign us up! Yambao’s latest novel feels like stepping into a magical, breathtaking dream you’ll never want to leave. Need another reason to pick it up? The origami-inspired book jacket that folds into a boat. How cool is that?

‘Witchcraft for Wayward Girls’ by Grady Hendrix

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls follows 15-year-old Fern, who was sent to Wellwood House, a home for unwed mothers in 1970s Florida. Under the watchful eye of Miss Wellwood, Fern and the other girls endure a rigid, joyless existence — until they meet an itinerant librarian who gifts them an occult book and a way out. But everything has a price,  and with each ritual, Fern and her friends spiral deeper into a dangerous game that can cost them everything. 

‘We Do Not Part’ by Han Kang

In her latest novel, Nobel Prize winner Han Kang dives into a forgotten chapter of Korea’s history. Kyungha, a journalist, is stuck in an apartment in Seoul, writing and rewriting a will she tears up and writes again the next day. One winter morning, she receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon, who is hospitalized, begging her to rescue her pet bird on Jeju Island. Once Kyungha gets there, a snowstorm hits the island, and she’s forced to grapple with fragments of loss, trauma, and suffering, and the painful memories buried deep in the snow.