2025 Reading Wrap-Up

With the start of 2026, I’m looking back on my reading year. I exceeded my reading goal again, read from some amazing new-to-me authors and revisited some favorite authors. Here are my 2025 reading stats (thanks to StoryGraph).

I read 64 books, where my goal was 60. I read 23.906 pages. The first book of the year was “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” by TJ Klune. A book my dad picked as my first read of the year. It’s the sequel to one of my favorite books ever, “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and I didn’t expect it to be just as good. My first book was also an instant 5-star read. My last book of the year was a surprise, a book I got by accident. “Nyxia” by Scott Reintgen. Didn't know anything about this, had never heard of it before. A sci-fi book, the first in a series, which I will be continuing.  

I read most books and pages in June. I do remember I read some bigger books that month, like “Desperation” by Stephen King and “November” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. But also the most books, so it makes sense that I read the most pages in June. December is always a slower month for me when it comes to reading. I want to wrap things up and during my Christmas holiday, I spend more time with family and on other hobbies. 

To no surprise, thriller was my most read genre this year. I did set a goal to read less thrillers and I actually wanted another genre to become my number one this year. I didn’t succeed with that last one, but that’s okay. I didn't read as many thrillers as I usually do. I feel like thrillers haven’t really been doing it for me lately, so I’m setting a goal for next year to make horror my most read genre. I feel more drawn to that genre lately, and I did read several horror in 2025 as well. Overall, these five genres are the ones I read the most often every year. The order just varies. 

My longest and shortest book of the year happen to be both audiobooks. “Prety Girls” by Karen Slaugter was my longest book this year, with 20 hours. It was good, but I don’t really remember many of the details. I have that with most Karen Slaughter books by the way. My shortest book was only3,5 hours long, being “Future Boy” by Michael J. Fox. A very nostalgic read, if you’re a fan of “Back to the Future”.  

I spend an average of 8 days on each book, which was the same as last year and the year before. The average amount of pages was 354 pages, which is also almost the exact same as last year. I read “Heartstopper Volume 3” in one sitting (as for volume 4 + 5, which I also read this year). These are graphic novels and I probably read all of them within an hour. They are quick, fun reads.  “Annie Bot” took me 22 days to finish. I listened to it on audio and while listening to it, I sometimes didn’t feel in the mood for an audiobook. I also didn’t like this book and this was my least favorite book of the year. 

 

My most read authors were Suzanne Collins, Alice Oseman and Abby Jimez. My number one makes sense, since I read the entire “Hunger Games” series in April. The original trilogy were rereads for me and the two prequels were first-timers. I read the final three “Heartstopper” books, making Alice Oseman my number two. And also three Abby Jimenez books, with her becoming THE romance author for me, for a non-romance fan.

I had such a good reading year. Of all the books I read, the average rating was a 4, which is a really good average. I didn’t read any 1 or 1,5 star books and 5-star was my most given rating. I read so many 5-star books this year!

In March I read 6 book, with 3 being 5-stars, making it an average of 4,5 stars that month.
In February I also read 6 book, but 3 of those book were only 2,5 stars. Making it my lowest average rated month of the year.

Based on popularity on StoryGraph, “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, is the book that is shelved the most. It was a reread for me and I loved it just as much as the first time around.. “Het Laatste Verhaal van Jamie Gunn”, by Thomas Olde Heuvelt was the least shelved by readers. Understandebly so, since he’s a Dutch author and this book was only recently released in my country, and has yet to be translated to English. It ended up being my favorite book of the year. “Heartstopper Volume 5” by Alice Oseman is the highest rated book on StoryGraph. I also gave it a five-star rating, totally understand why everyone loves it.

I explored a bunch of new authors as well (I have read from Karen Slaughter before though, before I started using StoryGraph). Gillian Flynn is definitely a new favorite author for me. As are Charlotte McConaghy, Gabrielle Zevin, Chandler Baker, Coco Mellors, Octavia E. Butler and Marcus Kliewer, whom I want to read more books from.

Like last year, I didn’t realize I read so many books that were part of a series. Apparently I read 19 books that were in a series. But then again, I do get it a bit. Like I said, before, I read the entire “Hunger Games” series, which are 5 books. I read 3 of the “Heartstopper” books and I read the last two books in the “Wayward Pines” series. I also finished the “Part of Your World” series by Abby Jimenez. There are only a few books on my list that are part of series that I haven’t finished yet. And I’m interested in continuing them all.

I DNF’ed 8 books this year, which is a lot for me. I always feel sorry to DNF books. The most shocking one was “With a Vengeance” by Riley Sager. One of my most anticipated reads of the year and I just couldn’t get into it. The only book that I DNF’ed this year, that I will probably give another try is “I Was a Teenage Slasher” by Stephen Graham Jones. I love this author and I think I only stopped reading it, because I wasn’t in the mood for it at the moment. So I will probably pick it up again at some point. 

 

2024 Reading Wrap-Up

With the start of 2025, I’m looking back on my reading year. It was a great reading year, 2024. I exceeded my reading goal again, read from some amazing new-to-me authors and revisited some favorite authors. Here are my 2024 reading stats (thanks to StoryGraph).

I read 86 books, where my goal was 65. I read 23.026 pages. The first book of the year was “The Hunting Party” by Lucy Foley. A book my dad picked as my first read of the year. I didn’t really like it, it’s my least favorite Lucy Foley book so far. My last book of the year was a lot better, and was a big surprise: “The Lies You Told” by Harriet Tyce.

I read most books and pages in May, which was the month I participated in Escape the Readothon by Lexie. It was a month long readathon, which was so much fun. I also had a week of this month, so more time to read as well. In January I read the least amount of books, easing into the new year I guess. But it was November were I read the least amount of pages. I read some shorter books and listened to audiobooks primarily as well. That might explain this.

To no surprise, thriller was my most read genre this year. I still love this genre the most, together with mystery. Which is in second place. I read a lot more horror this year. Which I’m very happy about. And I’m surprised to see contemporary up there as well, together with crime. I do want to read more different genres, trying to read more diverse genres in 2025.

“It” by Stephen King was my longest book this year, with over 1100 pages. Can’t believe I read that book. My shortest book was under 100 pages, being “Find Her” by Tessa Bailey. Funny enough “It” ended on my favorites list and “Find Her” is probably the worst book I read in 2024.

 I spend an average of 8 days on each book, which was the same as last year. The average amount of pages was 361 pages. I read “Heartstopper Volume 1” in one sitting. I did that with more books this year. From the top of my head “Heartstopper Volume 2”, “The Christmas Guest” by Peter Swanson’ and “Find Her” by Tessa Bailey. Basically because they were either novellas or graphic novels. “Out There Screaming” took me 35 days to finish. It’s a horror anthology, so I read a story here and there when I had some extra time.

My most read authors were Peter Swanson and Janice Hallett, each with three books. I also read two books by Simone St. James, Holly Jackson, Freida McFadden, Stephen King, Jessie Sutanto, Riley Sager Iain Reid and Blake Crouch. I had read from them in 2023 as well, Peter Swanson was also on this list last year. Blake Crouch, Jessie Sutanto and Iain Reid were all new-to-me-authors.

Of all the books I read, the average rating was a 3,6, which is a pretty good average. Lower then last year, but I think I’m more critical now. I had definitely more 1 and 2 stars this year. I gave out the most 3 and 4 star ratings and 16 books were a 5 star. Among them was one reread.  

Even though I read the least amount of pages in November, it was my highest rated month. The year didn’t start well, I started with 2 and 2,5 stars in January. And again, in May was Escape the Readathon, so I got a lot of reading done, which means lots of books and pages got read that month. 

Based on popularity on StoryGraph, “Beach Read” by Emily Henry, is the book that is shelved the most. I don’t really get the hype, but I finally what the fuss is about. “Murder by the Seaside” , a short story collection of murder mysteries, was the least shelved by readers. I was not surprised to see “The Women” by Kristin Hannah as the highest rated. It’s a super popular book and I also really loved it. 

I explored a bunch of new authors as well (I have read from Bram Stoker and Mary Kubica before though, before I started using StoryGraph). Iain Reid is definitely a new favorite author for me. Other new-to-me authors that I really enjoyed were Blake Crouch, Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, Abby Jimenez, Benjamin Stevenson and Bonnie Garmus.

I didn’t realize I read so many books that were part of a series. Apparently I read 18 books that were in a series. There are some series I’m sure of that I won’t be continuing: The Obsession series (“Obsession” by Jessie Q. Sutanto), The Housemaid series (“The Housemaid’s Secret” by Freida McFadden), The Castle Knoll series (“How to Solve Your own Murder” by Kristin Perrin). Some I might consider continuing in: Six Crimson Cranes (“Six Crimson Cranes” by Elizabeth Lim), Green Greek series (“Wolf Creek” by T.J. Klune), Vera Wong series (“Vera Wong’s Unsollicited Advice for Murderers” by Jessie Sutanto), Indian Lake Trilogy (“My Heart is a Chainsaw” by Stephen Graham Jones) and A Rabbits Nvoel series (“Rabbits” by Terry Miles). The Appeal series by Janice Hallett is finished, as far as we know now. But I definitely do want to continue in these series: Bird Box series (“Bird Box” by Josh Malerman), Wayward Pines series (“Pines” by Blake Crouch), The Thursday Murder Club series (“The Last Devil to Die” by Richard Osman), Hearstopper series (“Heartstopper Volume 1 + 2” by Alice Oseman), Ernest Cunningham series (“Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone” by Benjamin Stevenson, Part of Your World series (“Part of Your World” by Abby Jimenez), Legend & Lattes series (“Legends & Lattes” by Travis Baldree) and the Hercule Poirot series (“Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie).

I DNF’ed more books, but still only 6, which is not that bad. “Homecoming” by Kate Morton, “How to Kill Your Family” by Bella Mackie, “Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit” by Jeannette Winterson, “Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty and “Death Comes at Christmas” (a short story collection). I also DNF’ed “We Sold Our Souls” by Grady Hendrix, but I will try this one again when I’m more in the mood for it. I was think of eventually reading “Nine Perfect Strangers” as well, but I saw the TV show and I’m definitely not interested anymore. 

2023 Reading Wrap-Up

With the start of 2024, I’m looking back on my reading year. It was a great reading year, 2023. I exceeded my reading goal, read amazing books and was introduced to new authors and genres. Here are my 2023 reading stats (thanks to StoryGraph).

I read 72 books, when my goal was 30. I read 26.257 pages. The first book of the year was The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. A book picked by my dad as my first read of the year. Was a bit disappointed in it. My last book of the year also ended up being my favorite read of 2023: The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

I read most books and pages in July, which was the month of the Summerween Readathon. Which also happened to be the first Readathon I ever participated in. Even though I choose shorter books for this Readathon, I eventually ended up reading 9 books that month, 5 for the Readathon. In December I read the least amount of pages, end of the year struggles I guess. In January, March and November I read the least amount of books. It was 5 each, which is still a good amount for me.

To no surprise, thriller was my most read genre this year. It’s my most beloved genre and the one I lean towards most often. Second was mystery. This is often paired with thriller. I tried out horror, crime and literary as well this year. Next year thriller and mystery will still be my main focus, but I want to read more horror, science fiction, non-fiction and historical fiction. 

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott was my longest read, and also my only reread of the year. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson was the shortest book I read. I loved both. 

I spend an average of 8 days on each book and the average amount of pages of the books I read was 358. “Night of the Mannequins” was the quickest read, I listened to this audiobook in a few hours in one day. “The Deep” by Nick Cutter took me the longest. This book I brought on my vacation to Italy/ Sicily this year, where I didn’t read that much. I eventually did finish it on my trip.

My most read authors were Peter Swanson, Grady Hendrix and Holly Jackson. From Jackson I had read before, Hendrix and Swanson were new-to-me-authors (and with that new favorites as well). There were a bunch of new authors I explored this year, such as Freida McFadden, Lisa Jewell, Simone St. James, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Nick Cutter and Paul Cleave, among many others. I also revisited some authors:  John Marrs, Riley Sager, Alice Feeney, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Ruth Ware, Alex Michaelides, M.J. Arlidge and Richard Osman.

Of all the books I read, the average rating was a 3,9, which is a pretty good average. I didn’t have a lot of 2 stars or lower, which proofs it was a good reading year for me. My most given rating was 4 stars. And I rated 16 books with 5 stars. Among them was the one reread I had.

Even though March was one of the months with the least amount of books, it had the highest average rating, with a 4,4. All books I read that month were a 4 star or higher. My year started off with an average of 3,4 in January, the only month I didn’t have a 5 star read. And in July I read the most pages, since it was the month with the Summerween Readathon and I ended up reading 9 books in total for that month.

Based on popularity on StoryGraph, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, is the book that is shelved the most. This also happens to be the highest rated book, overall, by the users on StoryGraph. “Whatever It Takes” by Paul Cleave is the least shelved book. I enjoyed both books.

Based on moods and genre, “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott stood out, since it’s very different to what I normally read. Other ‘odd ones out’ were “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville, “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller, “Daisy Jones & the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, “The Push” by Ashley Audrain and “Heroine” by Mindy McGinnis. Not all were a success, but the majority of these ended up being books I loved. I do want to read more of Taylor Jenkins Reid books and dive into more classics like “Moby Dick” in 2024.

I’m not a big series reader, but I apparently did read 15 books that were part of a series. The series I read this year, that I will not be continuing were the Fawkes & Baxter series (“Ragdoll” by Daniel Cole), the Hampton Murder Mysteries series (“Death on Windmill Way” by Carrie Doyle) and The Family Upstairs series (“The Family Upstairs” by Lisa Jewell). I finished the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson this year. I read “Good Girl, Bad Blood”, “As Good As Dead” and the prequel “Kill Joy” in the series. The first book I read last year. The series I want to continue in are The Marlow Murder Club series (“The Marlow Murder Club” by Robert Thorogood), The Henry Kimball & Lily Kintner series (“The Kind Worth Killing” and “The Kind Worth Saving” by Peter Swanson), the Helen Grace series (“The Doll’s House” by M.J. Arlidge), The Housemaid series (“The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden), the Whispering Pines series (“Whispering Pines” by Heidi Lang & Kati Bartkowski), the Robert Grimm series (“Hex” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt) and The Thursday Murder Club series (“The Bullet That Missed” by Richard Osman). “Little Women” is also a first in a series, or duology actually, which I didn’t know. I’m not sure if I want to read the second book.

I only DNF’ed two books this year: “Aunti Poldi and the Sicilian Lions” by Mario Giordano, which is part of the Aunti Poldi book series, and “Killers of a Certain Age” by Deanna Raybourne. I wasn’t invested in either one of the books and didn’t want to continue on reading them. I have no interest in ever picking them up again or giving them another try.