October 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up

Howdy, y’all! It’s time for my October 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 September 2025, I had 610 books. Today, I have 619. Uh-oh, the number increased. Will my October 2025 Goodreads TBR shelf clean-up help bring that number down?

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: 619

Starting Number: 501. It appears that I’m reviewing the books I added in January 2025.

Shelf Sorted: Date Added

Let’s get this October 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up underway!

An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan

On the little Scottish island of Mure–halfway between Scotland and Norway–Flora MacKenzie and her fiancé Joel are planning the smallest of “sweetheart weddings,” a high summer celebration surrounded only by those very dearest to them.

Not everyone on the island is happy about being excluded, though. The temperature rises even further when beautiful Olivia MacDonald–who left Mure ten years ago for bigger and brighter things–returns with a wedding planner in tow. Her fiancé has oodles of family money, and Olivia is determined to throw the biggest, most extravagant, most Instagrammable wedding possible. And she wants to do it at Flora’s hotel, the same weekend as Flora’s carefully planned micro-wedding.

As the summer solstice approaches, can Flora handle everyone else’s Happy Every Afters–and still get her own?

My Thoughts

I adore reading Jenny Colgan’s books. This one was on my shelf for a while, and I didn’t get around to adding it until January because I realized I hadn’t logged all the books I owned.

KEEP

The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau

They say to never meet your heroes, but when Vivian Liao’s roommate gets engaged to her favorite actor’s costar, she has no choice but to come face-to-face with Melvin Lee again. He’s just as funny and handsome as he is on-screen…but thinks she is a snob and a sellout. It’s none of his business how she chooses to live her life, no matter how charismatic he is.

Mel is used to charming audiences as an actor and stand-up comedian, but can’t connect to Vivian. She’s a smart, talented artist — which is why he thinks she’s wasting her life as a corporate finance drone. The only thing uniting them is their goal for the wedding to go off without a hitch.

As they collaborate on wedding cake and karaoke parties, Mel realizes he might have seriously misjudged this bridesmaid, while Vivian discovers the best man might just be as dazzling off-screen as he is on. With the wedding underway, maybe more than one happily ever after is in the future.

My Thoughts

I read my first Jackie Lau book last year, and fell in love with her writing.

KEEP

The Dating Playbook by Farrah Rochon

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle.

And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former footballer wants back into the NFL, and he wants Taylor to train him. There’s just one catch—no one can know what they’re doing. But when they’re accidentally outed as a couple, Taylor’s game plan is turned completely upside down. Is Jamar just playing to win… or is he playing for keeps?

My Thoughts

I haven’t read any of Rochon’s books, but I have heard good things about her. And when her books are compared to those of three authors I’ve read and enjoyed, how can I not give her a try?

KEEP

Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane

When Roisin and Joe join their friends for a weekend at a country house, it’s a triple celebration–a birthday, an engagement, and the launch of Joe’s shiny new TV show. But as the weekend unfolds, tensions come to light in the group, and Roisin begins to question her own relationship. And as they watch the first episode of Joe’s drama, she realizes that the private things she told him–which should have stayed between them–are right there on the screen.

With her friend group in chaos and her messy love life on display for the whole world to see, Roisin returns home to avoid the unwanted attention and help run her family’s pub. But drama still follows, in the form of her dysfunctional family and the looming question: what other parts of her now-ex’s show are inspired by real events? Lies? Infidelity? Every week, as a new episode airs, she wonders what other secrets will be revealed.

Yet the most unexpected twist of all is an old friend, who is suddenly there for Roisin in ways she never knew she needed…

My Thoughts

I have never read anything by McFarlane, but I have heard great things about her books. This one was added to my shelf after picking it up as a blind date with a book.

KEEP

The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour

From a unique and singular voice comes the incredible true story of the last surviving undercover British female operative in WW2. Pippa Latour parachuted into occupied France in 1944 to conduct sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. Selling soap to German soldiers and hiding codes on a piece of ribbon, she sent back crucial information about troop positions in the lead up to D-Day, and continued her work until Paris was liberated. From her childhood as an orphan in South Africa to her years as an undercover agent, Pippa’s story is that of a woman determined to honor her principles and risk her life to fight against the greatest evil of the 20th century.

The Last Secret Agent is a posthumously published memoir, co-written with journalist Jude Dobson. Pippa was decorated highly for her actions, including being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire and receiving the Légion d’Honneur in France. For years, Pippa kept her involvement in the war effort secret from everyone, including her family, but for the first time, her story can now be told in full.

My Thoughts

I love learning about badass women. And can you think of anything more badass than working behind enemy lines during a war?

KEEP

That is my September 2025 Goodreads TBR Shelf Clean-Up. It appears not to have 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.