Hello friends,
I hope you have had a good reading month in January and are looking forward to a better one this month. I am slowly getting back into reading this year after having a very difficult time last year. I enjoyed the books I have read so far, and you can check out my latest reviews to see what I have been reading.
As always, I have some highly anticipated reads coming out this year (two of which were already published late last year) and I have already pre-ordered some of them, waiting patiently for their release. I will be sharing my top 10 with you and here they are…
- Ready to be loved by you: A forbidden Love contemporary Romance by Enewerome
Published: December 20, 2024
Pages: 266
Genre: Christian Fiction
Blurb: A CLEAN AND WHOLESOME CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN ROMANCE STORY
Haunted by the wounds from her past, Vivienne Adetokunbo, a fiercely independent professional bridesmaid and video content creator, wants nothing to do with God, love, or marriage. Levi Edegware, despite being saddled with the weight of a past mistake, is a devout Christian and hopeless romantic events coordinator who desires a happy family with a woman who shares the same faith and values about marriage as him.
When a wedding mishap throws them together, their first encounter is far from a fairytale. However, things take a turn when Vivienne and Levi become colleagues, which forces them to confront their fears, beliefs, and desires.
As Levi shows Vivienne kindness she’s never known, an undeniable connection grows between them. But will Vivienne let go of her fears to embrace God’s love and a future with Levi, or will her walls remain unbroken? Will Levi forsake all he has ever known to be with the woman he sees a future with?
If you love sweet romance
Slow burn
Faith arcs
Forbidden love
Enemies to lovers
Workplace romance
Forced proximity
Dual POV
Nigerian culture, pidgin, and food
Then you will enjoy Ready to be Loved by You.
2. Black White Blur: An African Romantic Psychological Thriller by Rosemary Okafor
Published: August 31, 2024
Pages: 344
Genre: Romance/Thriller
Blurb: What if the person you loved and knew turns out to be someone you never knew at all?
Life is beautiful for Ifechukwu. She has everything; a loving father, a thriving business, and a man that loves her more than she ever imagined possible.
Everything changes when a charming stranger, harboring a dark secret appears at her engagement party, triggering a series of events that set her on the run while questioning the intentions and loyalties of those around her—including that of the man she is planning to spend the rest of her life with. On her quest to finding answers, she realizes that hidden among the many emotions warring inside her is one feeling she does not want to nurse. Especially not for the uncanny handsome stranger who is after her for one reason…maybe her body and her death.
Is she wrong about the stranger’s intention?
Could there be someone else who wants her dead?
Is this handsome stranger only using her as a bait to lure ‘this’ someone out?
3. My friends by Fredrik Backman
Expected Publication Date: 20 May 2025
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Blurb: Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.
4. Say You’ll Remember me by Abby Jimenez
Expected Publication Date: 1 April, 2025
Pages: 419
Genre: Romance
Blurb: There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…
. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.
Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.
5. Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Expected Publication Date: 4 March, 2025
Pages: 416
Genre: Literary Fiction
Blurb: Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.
In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations on the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.
6. Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
Expected Publication Date: February 4, 2025
Pages: 464
Genre: Romance
Blurb: Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming against the current. As a Stanford sophomore and student-athlete in platform jumping, Scarlett prefers to remain invisible, choosing instead to focus on getting into medicine and recovering from the injury that nearly ended her career. There is no time for relationships… at least that’s what she tells herself.
Swimming captain, world champion and golden boy of water sports, Lukas Blomqvist is incredibly disciplined. This is how he wins gold medals and breaks records: maintaining total concentration in each stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a closely guarded secret is revealed and everything changes…
It is then that they make a deal. But as the pressure for the Olympics mounts, their relationship also intensifies, and what was meant to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying adventure becomes more than they both thought, and Scarlett realizes that her heart may be entering dangerous waters…
7. We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes
Expected Publication Date: February 11, 2025
Pages: 464
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blurb: Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach about love, and what it actually means to be family.
8. The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez
Expected Publication Date: 1 March 2025
Pages: 82
Genre: Romance
Blurb: It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.
9. Story of my Life by Lucy Score
Expected Publication Date: March 13, 2025
Genre: Romance
Blurb: Hazel is given a one-two punch when she’s forced to move out of her Upper East Side apartment and is given a final warning from her publisher.
If she doesn’t turn in a book by her next deadline, they’re cutting her loose.
Hazel rashly decides to leave what’s left of her city life behind and impulse buys a house in rural Pennsylvania sight unseen. How better to entertain the loyal readers she still has and rediscover her writing mojo than immersing herself in small-town life?
Too bad this town looks to be on its last legs. At least she’s finding swoon-worthy inspiration from her hot, grumpy contractor Cam and his animal-rescuing, community-involved family. It’s all just research. What could go wrong?
10. No Perfect Love by Adesuwa O’Man Nwokedi
Expected Publication Date: 11 March, 2025
Genre: Romance
Blurb: In the backdrop of ‘90s Festac, Gina’s heart is captivated by her first love, Mudi, until his father’s disapproval drives them apart. Enter Tobenna, a charming suitor whose love lacks the intensity of Mudi’s, yet still manages to ensnare Gina’s affections.
Decades later, Gina finds herself trapped in a marriage that falls short of the idyllic dreams she once harboured. Despite her efforts to bury the memories of Mudi’s ardent love letters, they persist like ghosts from her past, haunting her thoughts and stirring dormant emotions within her heart.
When a serendipitous encounter brings Mudi back into her life, Gina is faced with an agonising choice that threatens to upend her carefully constructed world. Will she risk everything for the possibility of rekindling a long-lost flame, or will she remain tethered to the familiarity of her crumbling marriage, clinging to the hope of salvaging what remains?
Are there any book(s) on my list that may interest you? What are your highly anticipated reads for this year? Share with us in the comments we would love to hear from you.
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