Top Ten Tuesday | Books On My Summer 2025 Reading List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books that coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining here!

This week’s theme is all about the books on our Summer TBR!

Unlike years past, I have a solid reading list planned out for this summer. Previously, I used to pick up books for my TBR based on books that caught my fancy, but which I hadn’t yet acquired.

That led to me ending up reading just 3-4 books from my list.

This time, though, I have planned in advance and actually have these books at home with me.

Here are the top ten books I hope to read this summer.

1. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Decided to read some African lit this summer, and Purple Hibiscus is something that was long on my radar.
2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – Second book in my African lit reading endeavor. This is a book about two sisters from Ghana who end up on opposite sides when slavery was rampant.
3. Then she was gone by Lisa Jewell – I expect Homegoing and Purple Hibiscus to be heavier, emotional books, so I want to mix up my reading list with some light thrillers.
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – I am leaning into the British crime genre, something I wasn’t too familiar with back in India. This book has been all over the bestseller lists, and it was optioned for Netflix – so this is the first book I am going to read off this list.
5. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware – Her previous books have been a little up and down for me, but I’m giving her another chance with this one.
6. Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes—I used to be very fond of the Walsh sisters series, but I haven’t read the later books. I picked up this in a moment of sentimentality and started on it a couple of days back. I’m not sure about it. Either I have grown out of her writing, or this is a poor choice. It’s a bit wishy-washy and seems overlong for the story it’s trying to tell. Let’s see if I finish it over this summer.
7. A Sliver of Darkness by C.J. Tudor – I actually started reading this book of short stories last fall, but I plan to complete the book this summer.
8. The Hunter by Tana French – I read the first book in the Cal Hooper series by Tana French (The Searcher). It was nice, but also a bit slow and meandering. Coincidentally, the blue bride posted about the second book – The Hunter, and it seems to be better. Looking forward to trying out this one.
9. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes – Another Marian Keyes novel. This promises to be another formulaic chick-lit read, but I don’t mind that, honestly.
10. The Gathering by C.J. Tudor – And another C.J. Tudor as well. This book promises to be really gory and spooky. Probably better as a fall read, but since it’s there at home, I am adding it to my TBR to round out my top 10 list.

What books do you have on your Summer TBR? Which books on my TBR would you recommend I read first? Any books you suggest I drop?