With a new year comes a fresh start, and likely the New Year’s resolution to read more.

We all say it in January, yet it’s easy for that goal of sifting through 50 pages a day to slip through the cracks. Yet, even as busy as our schedules can become, there’s always a book out there for everyone.

Perhaps you’re into motivational books, or maybe. you need a fast-paced thriller to really inspire you to complete a book cover to cover. However you please, there’s certainly a book on this list for you to consider as your next read.

I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember and have ranked and reviewed a total of 128 books in 2024. That said, my eyes are always glued to new releases and popular, mass-marketed book clubs like Reese’s Book Club, Read with Jenna, Sarah Selects and more.

Ahead, find the new and cherished titles I kicked off 2025 with, along with other top picks that Amazon Books Editors exclusively shared with Post Wanted. From multi-perspective plots to a book about Barbie, January 2025 was a good one.

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Goodreads rating: 3.86/5 stars

About the book: “The Lodge” by Kayla Olson is a cozy rom-com that centers on a writer who decamps to a Vermont lodge for work but shortly finds herself distracted by the charming ski instructor next door. This close-proximity trope also has themes of listening to your intuition and following your heart.

Goodreads rating: 4.16/5 stars

About the book: “The Stolen Queen” by Fiona Davis is a historical fiction masterpiece that takes you through two perspectives — Charlotte, an anthropology student who is an associate curator at the Met, and Annie, an 18-year-old who lands a position working for former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland and in charge of organizing the Met Gala. Their lives become entwined when one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing, delivering themes of resilience, womanhood and emotionality.

Goodreads rating: 3.58/5 stars

About the book: “The Note” by Alafair Burke is about three friends who are rekindling their former best friend status at a Hamptons beach house, only to find themselves in the midst of a horrible prank that went wrong. When protagonist May finds herself at the center of an timely police investigation, she begins to wonder whether her long-lost (besties?) Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her.

Goodreads rating: 4.33/5 stars

About the book: “Homeseeking” by Karissa Chen is an heartfelt and intimate telling of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and shedding light to the various definitions of home — including what it means to find home far from your homeland.

Goodreads rating: 3.60/5 stars

About the book: “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus” by Emma Knight offers varying portraits of motherhood and female friendship, centering on college student Pen who travels to Scotland for a chance to reconnect with her family’s roots, begging the question, “what extent do we need to look back in order to move forward?“

Goodreads rating: 3.97/5 stars

About the book: “The Three Lives of Cate Kay” by Kate Fagan is a modern-day spin of “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, written in memoir-style, that highlights three different “versions” of Cate Kay, of whom is grappling with her identity, past and future.

Goodreads rating: 4.27/5 stars

About the book: “Let’s Call Her Barbie” by Renée Rosen is a fictionalized account of Ruth Handler’s journey in creating the iconic Barbie doll, exploring her personal struggles, the rise of the doll and the impact it had on American culture.

Goodreads rating: 3.95/5 stars

About the book: “Flirting with Disaster” by Naina Kumar is a romantic comedy that follows the unpredictable and often humorous journey of a woman navigating love, relationships and self-discovery in a fast-paced world, where she meets her ex-husband (kind of) and must lodge with him during a hurricane watch.

Goodreads rating: 3.41/5 stars

About the book: “The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey” by Astrid Dahl is a darkly comedic mystery that follows a group of women who are entangled in a murder (think: Real Housewives of New Jersey meets Lifetime), with tangled secrets they uncover as they navigate life, love and murder in the Garden State.

Goodreads rating: 3.68/5 stars

About the book: “Death in the Downline” by Maria Abrams centers on a multi-level murder in this darkly funny mystery novel about the glamorous world of MLM “huns” — and the dangerous secrets at the top of the pyramid.

Goodreads rating: 4.14/5 stars

About the book: “Confessions” by Catherine Airey is a haunting debut that spins a mesmerizing story of family and fate, survival and revelation, examining the irresistible gravity of the past — namely, how it endures through generations, pervasively present even when buried or forgotten.

Goodreads rating: 4.42/5 stars

About the book: “The Favorites” by Layne Fargo is an epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, surrounding the story of a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice. It’s not your average sports romance, either.

It was a captivating exploration of ambition, desire, and the power of unbreakable bonds. “Kat Shaw and Heath Rocha defy odds by becoming ice dance stars with goals to win championships by alluring the world with their sizzling chemistry, rebellious style and roller-coaster relationship,” Kami Tei, Amazon Books Editor, shared with Post Wanted.

Goodreads rating: 4.01/5 stars

About the book: “The Intentional Year” by Glenn and Holly Packiam is a guide to living with purpose, offering practical advice and spiritual wisdom for setting intentional goals and creating a fulfilling, meaningful life over the course of a year. While not a new release per se, it’s one I always start the year with.

Goodreads rating: 4.09/5 stars

About the book: “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen follows the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, as they navigate love, heartbreak and societal expectations, balancing reason and emotion in their search for happiness and security. Austen is an author I always carve out time to read at the beginning of the year.

Goodreads rating: 4.37/5 stars

Fans of “Yellowstone” will love this book, but so to will fans of pace-y narrative nonfiction that pit the monied and powerful against those just trying to make a living: think “Empire of Pain,” but for the wild west and climate change.

“We named this one of Amazon’s Best Books of January, and we can’t wait for readers to get hooked on this true story of ranchers versus billionaires set against the mountain range known as The Crazies,” Al Woodworth, Amazon Books Editor, shared with The Post.

Goodreads rating: 3.99/5 stars

Quietly beautiful, Amazon Books Editors haven’t stopped thinking about this book.

“The story follows an estranged mother and son as they confront the defining moment that drove them apart,” Abby Abell, Amazon Books Editor, said. “At its core, this book is about how we’re shaped by the narratives we tell about ourselves, and how others bear witness to them. It explores the past’s power over the present, and the courage it takes to face it for a better future. Exceptional writing with emotional depth that took my breath away, this book is both intimate and profound, which is why we named it one of Amazon’s Best Books of January.”

Goodreads rating: 4.11/5 stars

This is the kind of “improve your life” book you could hand to anyone, anytime, thanks to the warm voice of clinical psychologist Julie Smith, who you might be familiar with thanks to her 2 million Instagram followers.

“It’s a reassuring read that urges connection and confidence, like an adult version of ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!'” –Lindsay Powers, Amazon Books Editor, said. “It never feels like an annoyingly cheerful pep talk, just wise and encouraging, a helping hand for weathering life’s inevitable bumpy moments. Perfect for the New Year!”

Goodreads rating: 4.46/5 stars

Scott Turow is a master of the suspenseful legal thriller, with clever plotlines, and fly-on-the-wall atmosphere that makes his books unputdownable.

“With ‘Presumed Guilty,’ Rusty Sabich comes out of retirement for a high stakes murder trial, and the question of a loved one’s guilt or innocence had me on the edge of my seat,” Seira Wilson, Amazon Books Editor, said. “If you’ve watched the Apple TV+ adaptation of Presumed Innocent (or read the book), you won’t want to miss this one.”

Goodreads rating: 3.97/5 stars

“Wildly funny in the most delightfully demented way, brutally honest, with unexpected sweet spots that catch you in the feels, this is the redneck Running with Scissors or the gay Educated that you’ll want to buy several copies of, because you’ll be dying to discuss it with your friends or book club,” Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Books Editor, shared. “My personal favorite of the month, the Amazon Editors named it the top pick for the Best Books of January.”

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