Hello Readers! This is my fifth year to participate in the Popsugar Reading Challenge. If you’ve never heard of the challenge, you can learn about it here. There’s also an informative Goodreads group here, as well as a Facebook group. 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. The list creators are always encouraging readers to make the list their own and to interpret the prompts in the way that is best for their own use, as well. 

At about the midpoint of the year, I like to take a look at my original post, see how my progress is going, and update any changes I’ve made. This year is no different than previous years. My ARCs (advanced readers copies) are what mostly change my “plan” for the year. Or sometimes I’ll read a book and discover it didn’t really fit the prompt I had it penciled in for. So far I’ve managed to read 36 out of 63 books I have planned for this year, which means I’m about 7 books ahead of schedule, but I try to be finished with the challenge by November, just in time for Nanowrimo and some seasonal reading. I’ve read 51 out of 100 books for my Goodreads challenge so far, which means I’ve read 15 books I haven’t used in Popsugar prompts. Some of those books will work in prompts, but I’m holding off placing them with the hope I’ll still get to the books I had originally planned to use.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on prompts I haven’t fulfilled!

I’ve dimmed (or faded) the book covers for the books I have planned but haven’t read yet and placed a green check mark by the titles I have read.

• ✅ A book published in 2022 – Cold the Night, Fast The Wolves by Meg Long (My Review)
• A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship – Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (alternate – How to Get Away with Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce)
• A book about or set in a non patriarchal society – Dune by Frank Herbert (alternate – Scythe by Neal Shusterman)
• A book with a tiger on the cover or “tiger” in the title – Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry
• A sapphic book – Read Between the Lines by Rachel Lacey (alternate – Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron)

• ✅ A book by a Latinx author – West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras (My Review)
• A book with an onomatopoeia in its title – Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
• A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid – Always Only You (Bergman Brothers, #2) by Chloe Liese (alternate – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr)
• A book about a “found family” – The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
• An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner – Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (alternate – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison)

• ✅ A #BookTok recommendation – Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover
• A book about the afterlife – In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn
• ✅ A book set in the 1980s – Our Little World by Karen Winn (My Review)
• ✅ A book with cutlery on the cover or in the title – Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (I’m cheating a bit here and using the UK cover.) (My Review)
• A book by a Pacific Islander author – The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

• A book about witches – The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith (alternate – The Ravens by Kass Morgan)
• ✅ A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022 – The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons, #2) by Julia Quinn
• ✅ A romance novel by a BIPOC author – Digging Up Love by Chandra Blumberg (My Review)

• A book that takes place during your favorite season – My favorite season tends to be whichever one I’m in, so I decided to read one book for each season.
• ✅ Winter – Home for Christmas by Camilla Isley (My Review)
• ✅ Spring – Just the Two of Us by Jo Wilde (My Review)
• ✅ Summer – Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (My Review)
• ✅ Fall – This May End Badly by Samantha Markum (My Review)

• ✅ A book whose title begins with the last letter of your previous read – Elsewhere by Alexis Schatkin (previous read was An Echo in the Bone) (My Review)
• A book about a band or musical group – The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl
• ✅ A book with a character on the ace spectrum – The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• ✅ A book with a recipe in it – This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
• ✅ A book you can read in one sitting – Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Osman

• ✅ A book about a secret – Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson (My Review)
• A book with a misleading title – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gayle Honeyman (alternate – Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid)
• ✅ A Hugo Award winner – All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• ✅ A book set during a holiday – 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston
• ✅ A different book by an author you read in 2021 – Book Lovers by Emily Henry (My Review)

• ✅ A book with the name of a board game in the title – Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (Board game Wisdom of Solomon – This feels like a stretch, and if I read something that fits better, I’ll change it.)
• ✅ A book featuring a man-made disaster – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• ✅ A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page – The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (quote by Christina Lauren on the cover)
• ✅ A social-horror book – Very Bad People by Kit Frick (My Review)
• A book set in Victorian times – Premeditated Myrtle (A Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery, #1) by Elizabeth C. Bunce (alternate – Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye)

• A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title – Up All Night edited by Laura Silverman
• ✅ A book you know nothing about – City of Orange by David Yoon (My Review)
• ✅ A book about gender identity – First Time for Everything by Henry Fry (My Review)
• A book featuring a party – Bend Toward the Sun by Jen Devon (I’ve read the first few pages, and this one opens at a party!)
• An #ownvoices SFF book – A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

• Your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar Reading Challenge (I like to challenge myself by choosing a prompt from each past challenge, and this year I’ve chosen almost all travel-themed prompts.)

• 2015 – A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit (Alaska) – Running Wild by K.A. Tucker
• ✅ 2016 – A book that takes place on an island – One Night on the Island by Josie Silver (My Review)
• ✅ 2016 Summer Challenge – A book that takes place somewhere you hope to go (Utah) – Something Wilder by Christina Lauren (My Review)
• ✅ 2016 Fall Challenge – A book you’ve always wanted to read – From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata
• ✅ 2017 – A book about travel – One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (My Review)
• 2018 – A book set at sea – Namesake by Adrienne Young
• ✅ 2019 – A book set on a college or university campus – Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy (My Review)
• 2020 – A book with a three word title – Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane
• ✅ 2020 Summer Challenge – A book set at a resort or hotel – The Suite Spot by Trish Doller (My Review)
• 2020 Fall/Autumn Challenge (originally posted on Popsugar’s Facebook page) – A book that takes place somewhere you’ll probably never visit – From Thailand With Love by Camilla Isley
• ✅ 2021 – A book set in a restaurant – Blame It on the Brontës by Anne Sereno (My Review)

Advanced Prompts

• ✅ A book with a reflected image on the cover or “mirror” in the title – The Life We Almost Had by Amelia Henley (My Review)
• A book that features two languages – Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
• A book with a palindromic title – Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
• A duology (1) – King Of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
• A duology (2) – Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

• ✅ A book about someone leading a double life – An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7) by Diana Gabaldon
• A book featuring a parallel reality – Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid (my current read)
• ✅ A book with two POVs – The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain (My Review)
• Two books set in twin towns, aka “sister cities” (1) – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Paris)
• ✅ Two books set in twin towns, aka “sister cities” (2) – Moment in Time by Suzanne Redfearn (San Fransisco) (My Review)

Congratulations for making it to the end! Are you participating in the Popsugar Reading Challenge? Do you have suggestions for prompts I haven’t read? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!