Hello Readers! This is 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. There’s an informative Goodreads group, as well as a Facebook group, and multiple groups on StoryGraph (but this one seems to be the most official). All of which are great places to go to gather inspiration for the prompts. I like to create this post to refer back to as I read, creating update posts throughout the year, as well.

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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 30 out of 50 books I have planned for this year, which means I’m about 7 books ahead of schedule, and I’ve only changed 7 books from what I had originally planned. The previous years I doubled up on some prompts, typically making my goal around 60 books, but this year I decided to just do the challenge the way it’s intended to give me more flexibility in my reading. I should have no problem finishing the challenge by my usual goal of November, just in time for Nanowrimo and some seasonal reading. I’ve read 47 out of 80 books for my Goodreads challenge so far, which means I’ve read 17 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.

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 you meant to read in 2022 – Running Wild by K.A. Tucker
• A book you bought from an independent bookstore – Babel by R.F. Kuang (alternate – Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney)
• ✅ 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 (alternate – Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti)
• ✅ 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 by Talia Hibbert
• ✅ A romance with a fat lead – Act Your Age, Eve Brown 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 True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
• ✅ A book published in spring 2023 – The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane (My Review)
• A book published the year you were born – Light Years by James Salter (alternate – Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary)
• A modern retelling of a classic – Circe by Madeline Miller (alternate – Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev)
• A book with a song lyric as its title – Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane (alternate – Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro)

• ✅ 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 (alternate – All American Boys by Jason Reynolds)
• 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 (alternate – A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman)

• ✅ A book set in the decade you were born – If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
• ✅ A book with a queer lead – Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah (My Review)
• A book with a map – A Torch Against the Night (Ember in the Ashes, #2) by Sabaa Tahir (alternate –Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas)
• ✅ 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 – The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman
• A #Booktok recommendation – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (alternate – Verity by Colleen Hoover)
• ✅ A book you bought secondhand – Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
• ✅ A book your friend recommended – Addicted to You by Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
• ✅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 – I’ll leave this one blank and choose it while reading.
• A book you should have read in high school – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (alternate – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison)
• 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 (alternate – Cinder by Marissa Meyer, which would be a reread)
  *There was a bit of grumbling about this prompt, as well, but as a years-long Nanowrimo participant, I was quite happy to see it on the challenge.
• A book based on a popular movie – Pretty in Pink by H.B. Gilmour (alternate – The Karate Kid by Bonnie Bryant Hiller)
  *This prompt is 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 – Wool by Hugh Howey (alternate – Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison)
• A book that started out as fan-fiction – Heartless by Marissa Meyer (alternate – Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren)

• A book with a pet character – Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (alternate – The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Nes)
• ✅ 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) I’m still planning to read my next Outlander book, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon (842 pages), so it may replace Chain of Thorns here.
• ✅ A book with alliteration in the title – Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan

Are you participating in the Popsugar Reading Challenge? Did I include any of your favorite books? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Wandering!