Another day, another bookish post! This is my complete 2025 list of booms that I read. So if you are looking for any recommendations, look no further.
I’ve added a little code to sort the books a little and represent the variety of formats I have read in and why I chose certain books.
Colour code:
Green: One of my ’25 books for 2025′
Red: Book Club Books
Blue: Borrowed Library Books
Bold: my favourite book that month
DNF – means ‘did not finish’
I have put either ‘Audible’ or ‘Spotify’ next to my audiobooks, so if you see that its the audio version.
DISCLAIMER: ’25 books for 2025′ was a little challenge I set myself – I almost read half of the books I needed to but, I did trail off a little towards the end of the year keeping up with Book Club Books and my seasonal reads. But 11 isn’t bad.
January
It’s a wonderful life: Illustrated Edition
The Teacher by Freida McFadden
I died on a Tuesday By Jane Corry
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
Sleep by C L Taylor
This year’s for you and me by Emily Bell DNF
February
The Other Tenant by Lesley Kara
A Company Of Liars by Karen Maitland (Audible) 1/2
Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding (Re-Read)
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (Re-Read)
Friends Forever by Danielle Steele
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime by Mark Haddon
March
With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher
A Company Of Liars by Karen Maitland (Audible) 1/2
The Doctors Wife by Daniel Hurst
Ward D by Freida McFadden
The Wake Up Call by Beth O Leary
April
The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden
Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara
The Girls by Lisa Jewell
I haven’t been entirely honest with you by Miranda Hart (Audible)
The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini
May
Best Summer Ever by Heidi Swain
The Tenant by Freida McFadden
The Boy Who Lived by David Holmes
(Audible)
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
The Dallergut Dream Department Storeby Miye Lee
Return to the Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee
(Audible)
June
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
(Audible)
The Split by Sharon Bolton
Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer
July
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Book Boyfriends by Lucy Vine
Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer 1/2 (Spotify)
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
August
Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden
Little People, Big Dreams: Lenny Henry
Blind Spot by Paula Hawkins (Quick Read)
Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer 1/2 (Spotify)
A Gypsy in Auschwitz by Otto Rosenberg
The Story Spinner by Barbra Erskine (Audible)
Blackout by Emily Barr (Quick Read)
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
Strange Houses by Uketsu
September
The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose (Novella)
The Crash by Freida McFadden
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis
A Slow Burning Fire by Paula Hawkins
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
October
Future boy by Micheal J Fox (Audible)
The Intruder by Freida McFadden
All Wrapped Up by Heidi Swain
Love and Lattes at Pumpkin Hollow by Victoria Walters
November
The Christmas Book Hunt by Jenny Colgan (Audible)
The Christmas Holiday by Phillipa Ashley
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore (Spotify)
The Cinnamon Bun Bookshop by Laurie Gilmore (Spotify)
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stoneby J K Rowling – Full Cast Audio Edition (Audible)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling (Audible) 50%
The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson
December
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling (Audible) 50%
All We Want For Christmas by Phillipa Ashley
The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore (Spotify)
Not another Bloody Christmas by Jo Middleton
Total no of Book Club Books: 8
Total completed books of my ’25 for 2025′ challenge: 11
Total no of books altogether: 63
A great year of reading! Here’s to more in 2026 😃📚
Just like every year, I have a Harry Potter Christmas tree 🎄 it goes up in our bedroom.
So here it is in all its glory! Super happy with it again this year. Loving the addition of the floating candles too 😍
I love the coloured lights and that they are the Hogwarts house colours. I also have some star lights around our curtains (also Hogwarts house colours)
It looks super magical in our room, I love it.
The Sorting Hat works so well as a tree topper too!
This is always one of my favourite posts to do for Blogmas! Anyone who knows me or has followed me on here will know that me and my twin sister are big Harry Potter fans, so this is of course one of my favourite parts of decorating…
The Harry Potter Christmas tree.
I have collected quite a few different Harry Potter tree decs over the years, and in more recent years they have become much easier to come by with shops such as Primark selling quite a vast range each year.
I have also bought a few from our various trips to the Warner Bros tour in Watford. We went for the ‘Hogwarts in the snow’ event and it was truly magical , as was the Christmas merch in the shop.
The Harry Potter tree has a brand new location in the flat this year. We have had a lot of redecorating done and with added furniture etc it couldn’t really fit nicely in the master bedroom, so it has taken up residence in our spare room, which is basically an office (So my husband will feel very festive when he works from home, whether he likes it or not haha)
Lets take a look!
I love it!
I was so chuffed a few years ago when I found Christmas lights that were the Hogwarts house colours. I also love the way that Gryffindor house ribbons look instead of tinsel.
I do have a Harry Potter tree topper but I was unable to locate it this year so I went back to my original tree topper of my Sorting hat (which tbf looks pretty awesome)
Me, my twin sister and her family, my husband, and a couple of our friends went to the Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour in Watford. This place is BRILLIANT, a must for any Harry Potter fans, I love visiting there. They had the ‘Return to Azkaban’ event on celebrating 20 years of the 3rd film – it was an awesome day out, and great to see some new parts of the tour.We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on the 11th of June. Tim bought me some beautiful flowers, and we went out for a lovely meal at one of our favourite Italian restaurants. To celebrate our 8th Wedding Anniversary me and my husband spent a touristy day out together in London. We started off the day at the Tower of London, we then had a boat rode on the Thames, followed by the London Eye, sightseeing, and a comedy show in the evening. It was a brilliant and super fun day out. For Fathers Day, we went to Felixstowe for a day in the sunshine. We had a nice walk along the prom and a go on the ferris wheel with Dad.We enjoyed dinner at ours, a nice sunset walk and games with my mother in law.We celebrated my Dad’s 70th birthday with a family meal, with the cake I made for dessert… followed by a day on the Mid Norfolk railway 🛤
I thought that I would share with you one of my favourite Christmas decorations …
My Harry Potter themed Christmas tree.
I themed the tree around the colours of my favourite Hogwarts house – Gryffindor.
First, I started off by wrapping the tree with red and gold tinsel.
Next, I added the hand tied Gryffindor ribbons.
Then, I arranged all of my different Harry Potter baubles.
I have quite a few now as Primark have done some lovely sets over the last few years.
I also picked up a few amazing Gryffindor themed decorations at the studio tour in Watford.
I predominantly place my red and gold Gryffindor baubles as well as my general Harry Potter baubles, around the front of the tree. The others go around the other side to even it out.
Finally, I add my tree topper!
This year, I went for my sorting hat. I do have a Harry Potter Hogwarts Crest topper, but I could not find it in our storage unit (sad times)
The Sorting Hat looks so effective up there, it makes a brilliant topper.
I am really happy with how the tree came out this year.
I do think that I need to have my coloured fairy lights on the tree next year, just to enhance it a little and make it stand out… especially as I have a set that are red, yellow, blue, and green, which are the Hogwarts house colours.
Top tip 1: If you’d like to do your own Harry Potter tree but you can’t find any baubles for sale, then you could do what I did the first year I had one… use your Harry Potter Memorabilia to deocarte your tree ie Hogwarts train tickets, Yule Ball programme etc
Top tip 2: Buy some baubles that are the colours you want to represent on your Harry Potter tree (ie Red & Gold for Gryffindor, Silver and Green for Slytherin) You could hang them as they are or decorate them yourself to make them themed baubles.
And today I am going to show you which Advent Calendars I have this year. I’ve got a nice variety with a last minute addition.
Let’s take a look!
Up first, my chocolate advent calendar…
I got out my Harry Potter pocket advent calendar, this one you fill yourself.
I got me and my husband chocolate coins for each day.
It has 24 pockets, so I’ve put extra in for the 25th as I like yo have one for Christmas morning too.
Next up, I have my beautiful Pop up Harry Potter advent calendar. I bought this either last year or two years ago (I can’t remember)
It is so cool – and it’s great that you can refuse it!
I love the little decorations you get each day, to hang on the tree!
My final advent calendar is a F.R.I.E.N.D.S themed one. This was an unexpected one, but I couldn’t resist it. A bonus was that it was in a sale at my local bookshop, so it was a bargain.
This one comes with cool little F.R.I.E.N.D.S themed goodies such as decorations, bookmarks, puzzles (& I’m not sure what else yet!)
It’s fun to have a few different ones to open each morning!
Roseanne Byford 