Deanna Lynn’s December 2025 Reading Guide

Deanna Lynn’s December 2025 Reading Guide

Happy End of the Year Month!

Hello, there! It’s December and in an effort to get myself more organized, I sat down and focused on creating my December 2025 Reading Guide. I know the month technically started on Monday, but there are still quite a few books coming out this year, and I want to share some of them with you.

If you’re anything like me, this year pretty much flew by for you and now you’ve come to realize you didn’t read nearly as much as you’d hoped to do this year. That’s where I am right now. I had a lot of blessings this year (bought my first house!) and also a lot of stress (bought my first house!) and now that life has calmed down a bit and cold weather and snow has arrived (in Missouri, at least), I find myself wanting to read all the things.

I have been an avid reader since I was little. I remember my parents and siblings reading me all the things growing up. There’s still a picture of me floating around the house somewhere where I’m laying in bed “reading” the Sunday comics. I was three and completely enamored. I’m still enamored with books and stories, so much so that I never feel quite like myself when I’ve gone too long without diving in and reading a book or two. That has happened far too often this year and I am determined to start next year off on a better reading note.

So, let’s get this year ended the right way and talk about December’s new releases.

 

DECEMBER 2025 Reading Guide HEADER

* NOTE: Please visit our upcoming releases page for a full list of December 2025 reads! *

 

Tuesday, December 2nd

Tender Cruelty by Katee Robert COVER

Tender Cruelty by Katee Robert

Sourcebooks Casablanca

I was his wife. His lover. His sworn enemy. The ice queen to Olympus’s most hated king.

*A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Hera and Zeus.*

The barrier that’s protected Olympus for generations has fallen. The enemy’s breached the gates and the Thirteen are scrambling to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the city they’ve sworn to protect. At least they would be if they weren’t at each others’ throats instead.

Hera has no intention of letting her husband, Zeus, survive the oncoming storm. But despite the white-hot hatred burning between them, when Hera and Zeus are forced to work together, enmity crystalizes into something brighter. Hotter. Too powerful to deny or destroy.

Hera never bartered on falling in love with the man she married—the man she once swore to kill. But now, standing back-to-back in the ruins of Olympus, she may be forced to admit that she’s been wrong about Zeus all these years…and there may be something about their marriage worth saving if they can survive long enough to turn sworn enemies into something more.

The Mating Game by Lana Ferguson COVER

The Mating Game by Lana Ferguson

Berkley

Two wolf shifters reluctant to love discover there’s no fighting the call of the wild . . .

Contractor Tess Covington has spent her entire life as a regular non-shifter human, so after she lands in the Denver ER with flu-like symptoms, it comes as a complete shock to be told that, no, she’s not sick—she’s actually a late-presenting omega wolf shifter. With her family in dire financial straits and a contract for her own television show on the line, she can’t afford not to complete the renovation job she came for. And given that her newly emerged wolf is in danger of going into heat, she’ll just have to do her best to follow the doctor’s advice to keep away from alpha shifters.

Alpha wolf Hunter Barrett has spent most of his adult life living by a routine, and a big part of that involves staying clear of omegas after having one stomp on his heart. So when the tiny contractor shows up at his place smelling like the one thing he’s determined to avoid, he thinks it must be some sort of cosmic joke. But with his lodge on the verge of failing and this sweet-smelling omega his only hope to turn things around . . . he’s left with few other options than to grin and bear it.

Set on avoiding each other as much as possible, they find things unexpectedly starting to heat up between them enough to thaw even the frostiest of hearts. Though even with the pair going head over paws for each other, there’s no changing that their fling has an expiration date. The more time they spend together, the more they realize they’re playing a dangerous game—one where the only thing on the line is their hearts.

Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken COVER

Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken

Red Tower Books (Entangled)

They said the Gods were myth. That the Giants were only stories told around dying fires. They lied.

The Gods aren’t dead—they’re only sleeping, locked in mortal bodies, scattered across the world, waiting for the right spark to wake them. And my father is the most ruthless of them all.

He raised me to obey. To bleed. To be his blade when the time came. Now he’s sending me to Endir University, a place filled with ancient bloodlines and deadly secrets, to steal back Mjolnir, the hammer of legend. If I fail, everyone I love dies.

But Aric Erikson wasn’t part of the plan. He’s the enemy’s heir. Distant. Dangerous. And…the one person I can’t afford to fall for. He’s closed himself off completely behind a wall of ice, but the more I’m ordered to unravel him, the harder it becomes to remember where the lies end and I begin.

There’s only a mission I never chose—and a man I was never meant to love—standing between me and a war that will decide the fate of the world.

But if I’m the spark, maybe he’s the fuse. And the Gods? They’re about to wake up angry.

No One Aboard by Emy McGuire COVER

No One Aboard by Emy McGuire

Graydon House

The White Lotus meets The Last Thing He Told Me in this domestic mystery about a luxury sailboat found floating adrift in the ocean and the secrets of the missing family who set sail aboard it weeks before…

At the start of summer, billionaire couple Francis and Lila Cameron set off on their private luxury sailboat to celebrate the high school graduation of their two beloved children.

Three weeks later, the Camerons have not been heard from, the captain hasn’t responded to radio calls, and the sailboat is found floating off the coast of Florida.

Empty.

Where are the Camerons? What happened on their trip? And what secrets does the beautiful boat hold?

Set over the course of their vacation and in the aftermath of the sailboat’s discovery, No One Aboard asks who is more dangerous to a family: a stormy ocean or each other?

Tuesday, December 9th

The Bird Watcher by Jacquelyn Mitchard COVER

The Bird Watcher by Jacquelyn Mitchard

MIRA

From New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard comes a page-turning drama that explores the beauty of female friendship; the relationship between money, power, and sex; and the very human desire to protect the ones we love most.

When she is convicted of a double murder, Felicity Wild, a brilliant grad student turned high-priced escort, declares, “I may not be innocent, but I’m innocent of this.”

Reenie Bigelow never doubted it. A jury may have given Felicity a life sentence, but Reenie knows that her childhood best friend is not capable of murder. And so Reenie, a journalist, decides to use her deep connections to Felicity’s past to unravel the truth.

The more she uncovers, the more Reenie is convinced that the story the prosecution told is wrong, despite the puzzling fact that Felicity said not one single word in her own defense. But there’s one thing Reenie knows for certain: Felicity would never lie.

 

 

The Cursed Horde King by Zoey Draven COVER

The Cursed Horde King by Zoey Draven

Indie

A bewitching spy. A ruthless king. A love that could ignite a war.

Amaia has worked hard to make her family proud. As the star apprentice to the pyroki master in Dothik, she’s weeks away from inheriting her mentor’s coveted post. But when her desperate brother begs her to take his place in the Heartstone Accords, a diplomatic exchange with their rival nation, she agrees to the unthinkable. Her mission? Cross the sea to Grym, secure work at the dragon hatchery, and spy for the throne.

But Grym is nothing like she imagined—and neither is its formidable king.

Merciless and calculated, Alaryk Arn’dyne is as feared as the ancient dragon he commands. Gifted with powerful heartstone magic that can twist minds, he’s impossible to deceive…and a dark temptation Amaia needs to avoid at all costs.

After a deadly curse strikes Alaryk’s dragon, Amaia knows she can save him, forcing a reluctant alliance with the very person she’s sworn to betray. As their forbidden attraction grows, however, she discovers a male scarred by a painful past, whose wicked needs make her burn.

But when an unexpected crime threatens to ignite a war, Amaia must choose: her home, her heart…or the ruthless king who could destroy both.

 

 

Bad Blood by Sherilee Gray COVER

Bad Blood by Sherilee Grey

Indie

She was created to serve Hell.
He was the one sin she could never resist.

Roxana has spent her whole life as one of Lucifer’s lethal handmaids—trained to obey, to sacrifice, and to bury every desire she wasn’t built to feel.

Including the one that’s always burned for Lothar.

Fate never forgets though. When Roxy and Lothar, the hellhound pack’s best tracker, are forced together to hunt an escapee from Hell, she finds herself struggling to deny the desire she’s fought for centuries to suppress.

To make matters worse, Lothar’s inner beast is fighting him for control. His instincts snarl for her.
Mine.
Claim.
Protect.
He’s determined to make her his. But little does he know, giving in to their desire could destroy them both.

And when an enemy from the past makes their move, turning the hunters into the hunted, Roxy and Lothar must fight side by side not only to survive a monster… but a history, a hunger, and a truth powerful enough to tear them apart.

Because some bonds aren’t meant to be denied, and resisting each other may be the one battle they’re destined to lose.

 

 

Tuesday, December 16th

You Can Scream by Rebecca Zanetti COVER

You Can Scream by Rebecca Zanetti

Zebra Books

Twisted family relationships, sociopaths and conspiracy theories abound in the icy Cascade Mountains of Washington State in New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti’s heart-pounding series about an FBI profiler and her equally brilliant sister on the wrong side of the law. For fans of Karen Rose, Heather Gudenkauf, Allison Brennan, and Melinda Leigh.

Laurel’s family was never simple—but her half-sister, Abigail, a brilliant, unpredictable psychopath, just made it lethal. Accused of murdering their father, a man she always called a monster, Abigail claims
self-defense. As the trial unfolds and long-buried family secrets explode into headlines across Washington State, Laurel’s hard-won privacy is shattered. And the nightmare is just beginning.

Even as Abigail’s trial consumes public attention, new dangers close in as the murder of a prominent scientist and the illegal poaching of a rare Pacific plant point to something insidious. Laurel turns to Washington Fish and Wildlife captain Huck Rivers, her partner in work and life, for help. But the deeper they dig, the more the case seems to echo the chaos unraveling Laurel’s world.

With danger tightening around her, Laurel faces an impossible choice: trust Abigail in one crucial, treacherous alliance, or risk losing everything. Her career, her relationships, even her life hang in the balance. The clock is ticking—and if the threat breaks loose, nothing will be fast enough to stop it.

 

Tuesday, December 30th

We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark COVER

We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark

Avon Books

From the bestselling author of the Kingdom of Lies series comes a slow-burn romantasy set in a Roman-inspired world ruled by merciless vampires. Filled with breathtaking combat, vengeful gods, and magical creatures, We Who Will Die is the epic first installment in an enthralling new series perfect for fans of Carissa Broadbent, Jasmine Mas, and Rebecca Yarros.

Life in the perilous Thorn district is a constant battle for Arvelle and her younger brothers. And the vampire standing on her doorstep is about to turn their world upside down.

Faced with an unthinkable choice, Arvelle makes a magically binding vow to do the impossible: kill the emperor, an ancient vampire created by the god Umbros. But first, she must enter the Sundering—an arena where only the fastest, strongest, and deadliest survive long enough to be selected for the emperor’s elite guard.

She quickly draws the ire of the Primus, the powerful figure charged with protecting the emperor. But the vampire under the armor is the last person Arvelle expects to encounter in the emperor’s court.

With her brothers’ lives in the balance, Arvelle has no choice but to ally with the man who once shattered her heart… and with the emperor’s sadistic son, Rorrik—two vampires whose motives are impossible to pin down. Rorrik holds the key to understanding the powers Arvelle is developing—abilities that would put a price on her head if discovered by the emperor.

To survive the arena and complete her mission, Arvelle must get to the bottom of a conspiracy that will change everything she thought she knew about herself—and the two vampires who are deeply entwined with her destiny…

 

 

 

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