My Popsugar Reading Challenge for 2025

Hello Readers! This will be my eighth 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—I’ve linked to the most popular one. 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, although I failed to do that last year. 😬

When choosing books for the prompts, I try to pick out existing books on my physical and digital shelves first and then fill in any other spots with books I’ve been wanting to read but don’t own. The last few years I’ve done much better using Libby, too. What usually causes my list to change the most are my ARCs (advanced reader copies). It’s usually while I’m reading them that I discover they’ll fit a prompt on the list, or in a different spot than where I’d planned.

This year the theme is “transformation”. Popsugar states:

“The goal is that this challenge may just inspire you to transform into whatever you want to be, whether that’s a better reader, a better writer, or perhaps a better small talker when the topic of books comes up.”

They’ve also included a few new printables as helps, including A Reading Challenge Pocket Field Guide and A Reading Challenge Journal Page, which are fun additions.

I have to say, I’m more excited for this year’s prompts—and the books I’ve chosen to fill them—than I have been in several years. There’s a nice mix of topics and nothing too terribly difficult to fill. Most importantly, there isn’t a prompt that I’m dreading, which hasn’t been the case in the past few years. The advanced prompts are fun this year, too. They’ve made them in various levels from easy to hard, although I feel like the “easy” prompts may be some of my hardest. 😃

Let’s see what books I’ve penciled in for my reading this year!

1) A book about a POC experiencing joy and not trauma – Twenty-Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds (alternate – Seven Days in June by Tia Williams)
2) A book you want to read based on the last sentence – My Friends by Fredrik Backman (I’m not about to get spoiled, but I know whatever Backman writes will have a great last line.)
3) A book about space tourism – Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (alternate – Orbital by Samantha Harvey)
4) A book with two or more books on the cover or “book” in the title – Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
5) A book with a snake on the cover or in the title – Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

6) A book that fills your favorite prompt from the 2015 PS Reading Challenge – (a book of short stories) Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
7) A book about a cult – The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
8) A book under 250 pages – Burn After Reading by Jessica Ciecin Henriquez
9) A book that features a character going through menopause – Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
10) A book you got for free – Humor Me by Cat Shook

11) A book mentioned in another book – Carrie by Stephen King
12) A book about a road trip – Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren
13) A book rated less than three stars on Goodreads – After Life by Gayle Forman (Instead of interpreting this as the book overall is rated less than three stars, I’m interpreting it as the book has been rated less than three stars at least once, because NONE of the books on my TBR are rated less than three stars.)
14) A book about a nontraditional education – Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Shiguro (alternate – Babel by R. F. Kuang)
15) A book that an AI chatbot recommends based on your favorite book (I don’t have just ONE favorite book, so I put in my favorite romance, Beach Read by Emily Henry.) – Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

16) A book set in or around a body of water – Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
17) A book about a run club – The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
18. A book containing magical creatures that aren’t dragons – Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
19) A highly anticipated read of 2025 – A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young
20) A book that fills a 2024 prompt you’d like to do over (or try out) – (A book where someone dies in the first chapter) Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

21) A book where the main character is a politician – King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
22) A book about soccer – Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith
23) A book that is considered healing fiction – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
24) A book with a happily single woman protagonist – Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
25) A book where the main character is an immigrant or refugee – Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

26) A book where an adult character changes careers – Would You Rather by Allison Ashley
27) A book set at a luxury resort – The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
28) A book that features an unlikely friendship – Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
29) A book about a food truck – Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich
30) A book that reminds you of your childhood – Scavenger Hunt by Christopher Pike

31) A book where music plays an integral part of the storyline – Somewhere in Hollywood by Lisa Czarina Michaud
32) A book about an overlooked woman in history – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
33) A book featuring an activity on your bucket list – The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Henrix
34) A book written by an author who is neurodivergent – Ever After Always by Chloe Liese
35) A book centering LGBTQ+ characters that isn’t about coming out – Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris

36) A book with silver on the cover or in the title – Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
37) Two books with the same title (1) – Challenger by Adam Higginbotham
38) Two books with the same title (2) – Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
39) A classic you’ve never read – Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
40) A book about chosen family – A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Advanced Prompts

Easy

A book by the oldest author in your TBR pile – Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates
A book with a title that starts with the letter Y – You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
A book that includes a nonverbal character – The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
A book you have always avoided reading – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (So much controversy around this book AND its adaptation. Still not sure if I want to read it, but I already own it.)

Medium

A book with a left-handed character – Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
A book where nature is the antagonist – The Love Haters by Katherine Center (The synopsis mentions a hurricane??)
A book of interconnected short stories – Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Hard

A book that features a married couple who don’t live together – After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A dystopian book with a happy ending – I Think We’ve Been Here Before by Suzy Krause
A book that features a character with chronic pain – Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese