Hi and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post! This is the final one before Christmas and this week’s topic is Books I hope Santa Brings. Surprise surprise, I’m going rogue once again! I know I won’t be getting any books for Christmas already. Instead, I’ll be checking up on my list of backlist books I was hoping on reading through the year. I did a mid-year check-in on this list as well, and unfortunately I had some more work to do back then. So, what is the result at the end of this year? Have I read the ones I wanted to at the start of 2025?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
- The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi – I hadn’t read this one during my mid-year check-in, but I eventually did in September. And I truly don’t understand why I left it on the shelf this long. It’s an important story that needed to be told, to give LGBTQIA+ people in Nigeria a voice. [review]
- Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean – I read this book back in February and it’s just a cute palate cleanser, yet dealing with serious topics. It’s YA and that was pretty noticeable to me as this is a genre I hardly read these days. [review]
- Wildfire by Hannah Grace – Unfortunately I didn’t get to this yet, but it’s on my winter TBR. So, who knows!
- The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi – I somehow was a bit hesitant considering my reading experience with When The Moon Is Low, but this was unnecessary. This book made me feel so many emotions and is one of my 2025 favorites. [review]
- Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender – Another one I’ve read and found so-so. It’s not bad, but very YA and I’m just growing out of that age category. [review]
- The Woman in Me by Britney Spears – No, I still haven’t read it. The buzz fizzled out years ago already though, but it’s still on my TBR.
- The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel – No, I haven’t read this book either. I don’t think I will do so in the remainder of the year as I just finished Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network, a book about both WWI and WWII.
- For Fallon by Soraya Naomi – Nope, haven’t picked up this one either and at this point, I really wonder if I ever will.
- The Survivors by Alex Schulman – Okay, I totally forgot about this one! So no, I haven’t read this either.
- Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu – I read this one for a change, but it was one of the most disappointing books of the whole year. Totally not what I was expecting. [review]
My final check-in on my 2025 backlist titles is okay with 5/10 read. Let’s start curating my 2026 list already!
