Hello Readers! This has been my sixth year to participate in the Popsugar Reading Challenge. What I like about this challenge is it pushes me out of my comfort zones a bit, but I can almost always find books off my own shelf to fill the prompts. And I think 2023 may have been my best year for reading off my own shelves. The theme this year was nostalgia, which many participants were not happy about because several prompts were repeated from the last few years and several prompts included rereading, but I actually enjoyed the theme; I’m a sucker for nostalgia. This was also my first year to stick to the original 50 prompts without adding anything extra, and I have to say, it was quite a relief. 😅

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You can see what I originally planned to read in My Popsugar Reading Challenge for 2023 post and what I’d managed to read halfway through the year in My Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 Mid-Year Update. After comparing my original and finished list, I managed to read 31 out of the 50 books I had planned. ARCs, new releases, Libby availability, and books with upcoming adaptations altered my list the most. And some books I’d planned were moved to other prompts where they fit better. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge this year and now I just have to wait for the release of next year’s prompts!

• My favorite prompt: I didn’t really have a stand-out favorite prompt, but if I had to choose, I’d pick: A book you wish you could read for the first time again. I do love to reread!
• My least favorite prompt: Probably a book with a pet character. It was definitely the prompt I dreaded the most, but I ended up reading (and mostly enjoying) an ARC I had DNFed, so that was good.
• My hardest prompt to fulfill: It’s a bit ridiculous, but my final prompt to fulfill was a book with a map. I just assumed I would read a book sometime throughout the year that had a map, but it never happened. I wanted to read Killers of the Flower Moon before the adaptation was released and thankfully it also had a map.
• A prompt I hope to see again: A book you bought secondhand. I always appreciate a prompt that helps me pull backlist books off my existing shelves.

(Link to Goodreads synopsis through book title.)

• ✅ A book you meant to read in 2022 – Running Wild by K.A. Tucker
• ✅ A book you bought from an independent bookstore – The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
• ✅ A book about a vacation – Happy Place by Emily Henry (My Review)
• ✅ A book by a first-time author – The Stranded by Sarah Daniels (My Review)
• ✅ A book with mythical creatures – Greywaren (Dream Thieves, #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

• ✅ A book about a forbidden romance – My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
• ✅ A book with “Girl” in the title – The Summer Girl (Avalon Bay, #3) by Elle Kennedy (My Review)
• ✅ A celebrity memoir – Uncle of the Year: & Other Debatable Triumphs by Andrew Rannells (My Review)
• ✅ A book with a color in the title – Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2) by Talia Hibbert
• ✅ A romance with a fat lead – Act Your Age, Eve Brown (The Brown Sisters, #3) by Talia Hibbert
  *This prompt caused a little controversy among the discussion group because of the word choice. The idea behind the prompt is to take back the word “fat”, removing the negative stigma the word has gained—much like the LGBTQIA community has done for the word “queer”, but some readers argued the word “fat” can be triggering. It’s an interesting discussion, but I’m not sure what the right choice is.

• ✅ A book about or set in Hollywood – The Love Theorem by Camilla Isley (My Review)
• ✅ A book published in spring 2023 – The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane (My Review)
• ✅ A book published the year you were born – Forever… by Judy Blume
• ✅ A modern retelling of a classic – Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
• ✅ A book with a song lyric as its title – One Day at a Time by Tessa Alexandra (My Review)

• ✅ A book where the main character’s name is in the title – Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn (My Review)
• ✅ A book with a love triangle – Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (reread)
• ✅ A book that’s been banned or challenged in any state in 2022 – Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• ✅ A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past challenge – 2019: A reread of a favorite book – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• ✅ A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2023 – Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

• ✅ A book set in the decade you were born – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
• ✅ A book with a queer lead – Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah (My Review)
• ✅ A book with a map – Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
• ✅ A book with a rabbit on the cover – Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
• ✅ A book with just text on the cover – My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

• ✅ The shortest book (by pages) on your TBR list –  Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• ✅ A #Booktok recommendation – Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune (My Review)
• ✅ A book you bought secondhand – Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
• ✅ A book your friend recommended – Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
• ✅A book that’s on a celebrity book-club list – Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (My Review)

• ✅ A book about a family – Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (My Review)
• ✅ A book that comes out in the second half of 2023 – Hello Stranger by Katherine Center (My Review)
• ✅ A book about an athlete/sport – The Deal by Elle Kennedy
• ✅ A historical-fiction book – Lone Women by Victor LaValle (My Review)
• ✅A book about divorce – Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

• ✅ A book you think your best friend would like – Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (My Review)
• ✅ A book you should have read in high school – If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
• ✅ A book you read more than 10 years ago – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• ✅ A book you wish you could read again for the first time – Beach Read by Emily Henry
• ✅ A book by an author with the same initials as you – Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood (I’m stretching this prompt to include my middle initial and maiden name.) (My Review)

Advanced Prompts

• ✅ A book written during Nanowrimo – Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
• ✅ A book based on a popular movie – Pretty in Pink by H.B. Gilmour
  *This prompt was perfect for my newly acquired vintage movie novelizations!
• ✅ A book that takes place entirely in one day – The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• ✅ A book that was self-published – Addicted to You by Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
• ✅ A book that started out as fan-fiction – Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

• ✅ A book with a pet character – Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
• ✅ A book about a holiday that’s not Christmas – The Do-Over by Lynn Painter
• ✅ A book that features two languages – The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim (My Review)
• ✅ The longest book (by pages) on your TBR list – Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare (752 pages – My Review)
• ✅ A book with alliteration in the title – Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan

Did you participate in the Popsugar Reading Challenge this year? Did I read any of your favorite books? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!