Howdy, y’all! It’s time for my September 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. I wonder if this will help me reduce the number of books on my TBR. Who am I kidding? I’m a reader; of course, I’ll always add books. In August 2025, I had 613 books. Today, I have 610. Yay, the number dropped. Will my September 2025 Goodreads TBR shelf clean-up help drop that number a bit more?
I saw this Goodreads TBR Clean-Up post at Megan’s Book Stacks and knew I had to try it. Megan found it over at MegaBunnyReads.
Click the titles to go to Goodreads.
How It Works:
- Go to your Goodreads want-to-read shelf.
- Use a random number generator to pick a number between 1 and however many books are on the list.
- Go to that book and look at the four after it for a total of 5.
- Read the synopses of the books.
- Decide: keep it or delete it?
- Discuss here.
Books To Be Read: 610
Starting Number: 52. It appears that I’m reviewing the books I added in spring 2021.
Shelf Sorted: Date Added
Let’s get this September 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up underway!
Baby & Solo by Lisabeth Posthuma
Seventeen-year-old Joel Teague has a new prescription from his therapist—a part-time job—the first step toward the elusive Normal life he’s been so desperate to live ever since The Bad Thing happened. Lucky for Joel, ROYO Video is hiring. It’s the perfect fresh start—Joel even gets a new name. Dubbed “Solo” after his favorite Star Wars character, Joel works his way up the not-so-corporate ladder without anyone suspecting What Was Wrong With Him. That is, until he befriends Nicole “Baby” Palmer, a smart-mouthed coworker with a chip on her shoulder about . . . well, everything, and the two quickly develop the kind of friendship movie montages are made of. However, when Joel’s past inevitably catches up with him, he’s forced to choose between preserving his new blank slate persona and coming clean—and either way, he risks losing the first real friend he’s ever had. Set in a pop-culture-rich 1990s, this remarkable story tackles challenging and timely themes with huge doses of wit, power, and heart.
My Thoughts
I’ve been curious about this book since I first came across it all those years ago. But I haven’t been able to find a copy of it. But I have to know what Joel’s secret is. As a Gen Xer, I’m all for 1990s pop culture.
KEEP
Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency by Bea Koch
Regency England is a world immortalized by Jane Austen and Lord Byron in their beloved novels and poems. The popular image of the Regency continues to be mythologized by the hundreds of romance novels set in the period, which focus almost exclusively on wealthy, white, Christian members of the upper classes.
But there are hundreds of fascinating women who don’t fit history books limited perception of what was historically accurate for early 19th century England. Women like Dido Elizabeth Belle, whose mother was a slave but was raised by her white father’s family in England, Caroline Herschel, who acted as her brother’s assistant as he hunted the heavens for comets, and ended up discovering eight on her own, Anne Lister, who lived on her own terms with her common-law wife at Shibden Hall, and Judith Montefiore, a Jewish woman who wrote the first English language Kosher cookbook.
My Thoughts
I love reading about women who don’t fit the mold.
KEEP
The Wedding Game by Meghan Quinn
Luna Rossi is a veritable crafting genius—she can bedazzle and bead so hard her Etsy site is one of the hottest in the world. So it’s only natural that Luna would convince her brother and his husband-to-be to compete on The Wedding Game, a “do-it-yourself” TV show, for the title of Top DIY Wedding Expert.
As a jaded divorce lawyer, Alec Baxter scoffs at weddings and romance. But when his recently engaged brother begs him to participate in The Wedding Game, Alec grudgingly picks up a glue gun and prepares for some family bonding.
Both fierce competitors, Luna and Alec clash on national TV as harsh words and glitter fly with abandon. But as they bicker over color swatches and mood boards, they find themselves fighting something else: their growing mutual attraction. While Luna is torn between family loyalty and her own feelings, Alec wonders if he might have been wrong about love and marriage all along…
My Thoughts
This sounds like it could be a fun read.
KEEP
It Had to Be You by Georgia Clark
For the past twenty years, Liv and Eliot Goldenhorn have run In Love in New York, Brooklyn’s beloved wedding-planning business. When Eliot dies unexpectedly, he even more unexpectedly leaves half of the business to his younger, blonder girlfriend, Savannah. Liv and Savannah are not a match made in heaven, to say the least. But what starts as a personal and professional nightmare transforms into something even savvy, cynical Liv Goldenhorn couldn’t begin to imagine.
It Had to Be You cleverly unites Liv, Savannah, and couples as diverse and unique as New York City itself, in a joyous Love-Actually-style braided narrative. The result is a smart, modern love story that truly speaks to our times. Second chances, secret romance, and steamy soul mates are front and center in this sexy, tender, and utterly charming rom-com.
My Thoughts
A book that focuses on love, but not between the main characters? Call me curious! And this is the first book on the list that I actually own.
KEEP
Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley
Kara Sullivan’s life is full of love—albeit fictional. As a bestselling romance novelist and influential bookstagrammer, she’s fine with getting her happily-ever-after fix between the covers of a book.
But right now? Not only is Kara’s best friend getting married next week—which means big wedding stress—but the deadline for her next novel is looming, and she hasn’t written a single word. The last thing she needs is for her infuriating first love, Ryan Thompson, to suddenly appear in the wedding party. But Ryan’s unexpected arrival sparks a creative awakening in Kara that inspires the steamy historical romance she desperately needs to deliver.
With her wedding duties intensifying, her deadline getting closer by the second, and her bills not paying themselves, Kara knows there’s only one way for her to finish her book and to give her characters the ever-after they deserve. But can she embrace the unlikely, ruggedly handsome muse—who pushes every one of her buttons—to save the wedding, her career, and, just maybe, write her own happy ending?
My Thoughts
A bookish book? And it’s sitting on my shelf, just waiting to be read.
KEEP
That is my September 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. It appears to have not affected my shelf, as I’m keeping all five books. LOL!
This was fun. I may do it now and then to help keep my shelf realistic. In the past, I had added books without giving them much thought. Will I stop doing that? Of course not! What kind of animal do you think I am?
What do you think? Have you tried something like this to manage your TBR?
Are you looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups.
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Mad and Bad was really good.. Enjoy!
These all sound so fun! Mad and Bad sounds especially interesting.
When I did a TBR clean-up, I found that the more recently the books were added to my TBR, the more likely I was to keep it. I hope you enjoy these books when you get to them!