My name’s Deborah and I am a book addict. I’ve always been a big fan of reading but since my craving and career collided at LoveReading, it’s gotten a little out of hand. My family are at their wit’s end, frustrated by my towering bookshelves and books deposited in every nook and cranny of our home.

On debating which books to take on this year’s Summer holiday (my annual readfest), I started to ruminate on what makes a book desirable, what makes a book grabbable, what determines which one makes it to the top of our to-be-read pile?

In the UK, around 200,000 new titles are published each year, including both print and digital formats. This number can vary from year to year, influenced by trends in publishing, self-publishing, and market demand but that’s one helluva potential reading list to sift through!

Last holiday I decided to take a selection of books which were highly decorated, hugely coveted, bestselling books that in spite of that had never made it to my reading list. And it was a cracking selection which made my holiday even better.

This Summer, my strategy was to select a book in every genre. I adored selecting the book in each key genre. The romance, the thriller, the killer crime, the diverse voice, the set of short stories and the non-fic pick! 

Sometimes I’m a mood reader, I allow my mood to determine what I read next but as a glass half full kinda person, this can get a little formulaic so I tend to mix it up. Gone are the days where I binge a series, spree on a particular author. I have my favourites, of course, and I adore a debut but I am now a total flirt with my genres. Totally and utterly polygamous.

I don’t often pick up books on a whim anymore, with LoveReading I have far too many (sorry, lots of juicy!) reading recommendations to keep me more than fully sated. But I do love to be bewitched by a great cover. Who doesn’t? In George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss (1860), Mr. Tulliver uses the phrase in discussing Daniel Defoe's The History of the Devil, saying how it was beautifully bound. The phrase has also been attributed to a 1944 edition of the African journal American Speech: “You can't judge a book by its binding.” It was popularized even more when it appeared in the 1946 murder mystery Murder in the Glass Room by Lester Fuller and Edwin Rolfe: “You can never tell a book by its cover.”

And according to Nielsen’s ongoing Books & Consumers survey, 13% of book purchases in the UK in the 12 months to May 2024 were indeed influenced by just that, the front cover, rising to 30% of books discovered via physical shops.

Of course trusted recommendations from friends and family are a great source, although you only have to be a member of a book-loving Facebook community to see how much books polarise opinion to the point of contempt!

That’s our job here at LoveReading, helping you find your next favourite book. Did you know that if you go to the book page of a book you’ve adored, we give you a range of recommendations there of similar books with the most number of matching Thema codes. (A Thema code is part of a classification system used to categorize books by their subject matter). Just scroll down the page and you’ll find a segment called You Might Also Like... Here are some of the recommended next reads if you adored one of LoveReading’s Books of the Year All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. If you haven’t read it yet - do, please do!

What type of reader are you? Do you allow your mood to dictate what you read? Feel-good fiction when you’re feeling down? Or a hug in a book if you’re feeling fragile? How about when you absolutely well and truly are desperate for a good old sob? Here at LoveReading we supply a steady stream of reading recommendations for every mood: rain or shine. And every season too: Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter.

Perhaps you only read crime? Or are obsessed with romance? By diving into our fiction recommendations, you are sure to find your next read.

And if non-fiction’s your bag, we’ve got some absolute crackers right across the board - biography, nature or sport.

Do you apply a methodology to choosing your next book? Then, please let us know what that is. We love hearing about different ways to choose your next read.

Does your book club select your reads? We hear of lots of book clubs selecting three  books that interest them and them voting on their favourite. We’ve got a selection of recommendations for this scenario too, and many of them complete with reading group questions.

Sometimes you’re there from the beginning of the book buzz. We get mountains of book proofs here at LoveReading and often hear about books a year in advance. We love getting the inside track on what’s coming up, and it’s our job to share that knowledge with you too. We’ll be publishing our 2025 Preview soon so keep a look out for that, and every month we have our On The Horizon newsletter to keep you apprised of the books we’re most excited about coming soon. Make sure you’re signed up to our newsletters to be in the know.

If you’re looking for your next read check out our Star Books. At LoveReading we read a LOT of books. Here you can find a selection of our favourites, the ones that really stand out from the crowd, the best of the best within their genre. If you are only going to buy a few books this year, pick from this list as they are all stars! Each calendar year the books featured here become our Books of the Year.

In spite of all of this, some books fall through the cracks. Slip through the net. And I love it when I find a gem, or pick up a book I’d forgotten about. It’s the best feeling when you find a book without expectation. Unanticipated. Without a huge amount of fanfare and pressure. And you love it.

Here are a few of my favourites this year.