My Reading Plans For 2025 // Bookmas Day 6
I’ve been thinking about my reading plans for 2025. Specifically, I’ve been reflecting on how my 2024 reading plans didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I believe reading should be fun. You should read what you want, when you want. But I also believe, especially for people like me who like organisation, that having a plan can be beneficial.
My 2024 was influenced by my health playing up (hopefully for the last time!), prompting me to rethink my entire reading approach, from annual goals to reviews and spending habits. Here are the changes I am hoping will help me keep track of everything.
My Spending Habits
Diving straight in, I need to not only manage my book spending but also be mindful of costs associated with keeping up with popular reads.
For 2025, I’ve already pre-ordered books (more on this below) and noted when and how much money will be taken. One of the main reasons I pre-order most of next year’s books is the Waterstones triple points offer during Black Friday weekend, if you spend over £100.00. This is the second year I’ve taken advantage of this deal. The beauty of it is that the payment isn’t processed until the books are dispatched closer to their release dates. By the end of 2025, I’ll have earned £70.00 back in points from these pre-orders without having to spend a large sum upfront.
Not all of next year’s releases are on my pre-order list, though. Some titles may appear at The Works, a store I shop at often. For instance, Liz Tomforde has a new release in The Windy City series. The Works has stocked books from this series in the past, though not always around the release date. Since I’m in no rush to get them immediately, I’m happy to wait to pick them up there.
When it comes to shopping at The Works, they offer free standard delivery for orders over £30.00 or free click and collect for orders over £15.00. However, click and collect seems to be suspended at the moment—possibly due to the Christmas season, though I’m unsure if this is a permanent change. Regardless, I’ve set some rules for myself to stay mindful of my spending there.
Rules
- I’ve set a strict rule: I’m not allowed to pay for delivery. All my orders must meet the free delivery or free click-and-collect threshold. The only exception is if I’m spending enough for free click-and-collect, and any additional items in my cart (stationery, birthday gifts) bring the total up to the free delivery threshold. In that case, I can include those books in the same order. One reason for this rule is to encourage myself to get out more—picking up a single book in-store can be a great motivator to leave the house.
- Additionally, I’m not allowed to spend more than £30.00 per month on books at The Works, whether online or in-store. If I don’t spend anything in a given month, I can roll over that £30.00 into the next month—but I’m only allowed to do this twice during the year.
- Outside of these two rollovers, any unspent funds from the month’s budget must go into a savings pot. For instance, if I spend £10.00 and choose not to roll over the remaining £20.00, I’ll deposit that amount into the pot instead.
Outside of my love for books, I’m also focused on saving money. I know many people might suggest using the local library, but unfortunately, my local library primarily focuses on children’s books. There’s another library in the city center that I’m planning to visit. It’s been a few years since I last went, but sadly, funding hasn’t been prioritised for libraries where I live.
As I reviewed my spending habits to shape my reading plans for 2025, I decided to ensure that budgeting and saving were integral parts of the plan.
My 25 For 2025
Last year, I divided my 24 for 2024 list into three categories: new releases, books on my TBR, and classics I wanted to read. This year, I’ve taken a different approach and split my 25 for 2025 list into five categories.
New Sequels / In The Series / Prequels
- Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
- Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood
- How To Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin
- The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore
- A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol. 3 by Hiro Kashiwaba
New Standalone Releases
- Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
- With A Vengeance by Riley Sager
- This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead
Classics
- Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
- Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Anne Of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Non-Fiction
- 18 by Alice Loxton
- Oh Miriam! by Miriam Margolyes
- The Woman In Me by Britney Spears
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- A Pocketful Of Happiness by Richard E. Grant
Series on my Physical TBR
- Beyond The Page Bookstore Mysteries (10) by Lauren Elliot
- Bookstore Mystery Series (6) by Sue Minix
- Glendale Hall Series (5) by Victoria Walters
- Devon Mysteries (8) by Stephanie Austin
- Once Upon a Broken Heart Series (3) by Stephanie Garber
You might have noticed there are more than 25 books on this list—there are actually 52. That’s one book for every week of the year, which will be my reading goal for 2025.
Instead of picking just five books from my TBR, I decided to choose five series. This not only helps clear my physical TBR but also addresses a habit of mine: buying entire series instead of just the first book. I do this because I love having matching covers and formats, but space-wise, I need to decide if they’re books I’ll want to keep after reading.
To tie my spending habits into my reading plans—and as extra motivation to reach my goal—I’ve decided to save £10.00 for every book I read from this list, including individual books within the series. Alongside the £70.00 in Waterstones points I’ll accrue, I could potentially save up to £520.00.
My Pre-Order List
As mentioned above, I pre-ordered a lot of books over the Black Friday weekend. They are;
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
- The Baby Dragon Cafe by A. T. Qureshi
- Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
- A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol. 4 by Hiro Kashiwaba
- Out Of The Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young
- Wild Side by Elsie Silver
- The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas
- Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner
- The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore
- Tea You At The Altar by Rebecca Thorne
- How To Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin
- This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead
- Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
- With A Vengeance by Riley Sager
- Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
- Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
- The Baby Dragon Bakery by A. T. Qureshi
- The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore
- Untitled Thursday Murder Book by Richard Osman
- Uncharmed by Lucy Jayne Wood
- The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker
Why these books? Many of them are either the next installment in a series or by authors whose books I’ve previously purchased as Waterstones Special Editions—meaning they’ll all match. As for the others, they fall into a few categories: books I couldn’t find cheaper elsewhere and books that saved me additional delivery costs since I was already paying for Waterstones delivery. A few were also half-price during Black Friday.
8 of these pre-orders are on my 25 for 2025 list, and I’ll save £10.00 for each book I read from that list. For the remaining 44, I’ll save £5.00 per book, potentially saving up to £220.00. While my main goal is to complete the 25 for 2025 list, I don’t want to penalise myself for being in the mood to read a brand-new book that’s just arrived at my door.
Getting A Book Journal
I bought my own dot grid journal and loved sitting down at the start of each month to plan. However, finding the time to keep up with it was a challenge. I considered setting aside a day to pre-fill a new journal, but then I remembered a small business called Little Inkling Designs.
Based in Canada, I was initially worried about shipping costs and import fees. However, after speaking with others in the book community who’ve used this planner, I realised it offered excellent value for money compared to more local book journal options.
From the moment I saw videos of this journal, I knew it would meet all my needs and more. As someone with a Bookstagram account, the dedicated space for both reading and social media planning is incredible. I’ll be sharing more about the journal in an upcoming post, so keep an eye out for that!
One quick note: the company recently stopped selling to EU countries due to the new GPSR regulations. Hopefully, this won’t be a permanent change or create additional costs for them or their customers. But only time will tell!
And those are my reading plans for 2025! I would love to know if you have any reading goals for 2025. If you have pre-ordered any books or are you trying to tackle your TBR?
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As always, thanks for reading…
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