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2025 Book Lover’s Reading Challenge
Throughout the last year, we’ve discussed several potential reading challenge themes for 2025, but one idea pulled at our hearts more strongly than all the others because it reminded us of how grateful we are for YOU.
We recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of Book Girls’ Guide and the tenth year of our friendship, which also developed thanks to our mutual lifelong love of books. What better way to celebrate our connection with each other and all of you than with a yearlong challenge dedicated to books and the people who love them?
How Does This Challenge Work?
The Book Lover’s Challenge includes twelve monthly reading prompts related to different aspects of reading that we all love, from browsing the aisles of our favorite bookstore or library to losing ourselves in the world of a story. You’ll find a recommended monthly reading schedule below.
Every month, you will choose a book related to the monthly reading prompt from our curated list of highly-rated books. Each list includes a synopsis of every book, as well as additional notes to help you select your perfect read.
The new book recommendation list for each prompt will be published on the third Friday of the month. For example, the list of Books About Book Stores for the February prompt will be sent out in our newsletter on Friday, January 17th.
After you finish reading each month, we’ll invite you to share your feedback by completing a short book rating log.
Join the Book Lover’s Challenge
When you sign up using the box below, you’ll get a welcome email with a link to download the cute printable tracker for this challenge. Even if you’re already on the email list, you can provide the same email address in the box below to receive this year’s tracker.
Once you’ve signed up for the challenge, you’ll begin receiving our Friday email newsletter. This is the easiest way to help you stay on track.
In addition to signing up for the challenge, we recommend joining our Read with the Book Girls Facebook group. It’s a friendly place where we discuss books, both for the challenges and anything else that we’re reading.
Monthly Reading Schedule & Rating Logs
This reading challenge features a wide range of prompts beyond typical book-lover themes. For example, in June, we’ll be sharing a list of amazing audiobook narrators along with some of the best titles they have narrated. Don’t worry, if audiobooks aren’t your thing, you’ll enjoy these book recommendations just as much in print form.
Below is the reading schedule for the challenge. Every month, we’ll send you a new list filled with excellent book recommendations for the upcoming prompt. Don’t worry, you don’t have to remember the dates. Just watch your email and we’ll let you know when the list is ready!
| Reading Month | Challenge Prompt | List & Rating Log* Release Date |
| January | Characters Connecting Through Books – NOW AVAILABLE! | Rating Log: 12/20/24 |
| February | Books About Book Stores | 1/17/25 |
| March | Modern Retellings | 2/21/25 |
| April | Characters Becoming Part of the Story | 3/21/25 |
| May | Books About Writers & Editors | 4/18/25 |
| June | Favorite Audiobook Narrators | 5/16/25 |
| July | Books About Book Clubs | 6/20/25 |
| August | Books Written Under Pen Names (Including Writing Duos) | 7/18/25 |
| September | Books About Libraries & Librarians | 8/15/25 |
| October | Characters Interacting with Real Authors | 9/19/25 |
| November | Holiday Novels for Book Lovers | 10/17/25 |
| December | Re-Read a Favorite or Choose One of Our Favs | 11/21/25 |
Inner Circle Members will receive the Book Lover’s Challenge recommendation lists one week early as a special perk for supporting the Book Girls’ Guide.
Printable Book Lists & Member Perks
Readers who support The Book Girls’ Guide through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site can access printable versions of our challenge recommendation lists. Exclusively for the new 2025 Book Lover’s Reading Challenge, members receive not one, but two different printable options each month.
In addition to receiving a single-page printable containing all the book titles from each list for this challenge, you also have the option to print a journal page format that has space to indicate your interest level in each book, jot down notes, and rate the books for your own records.
We offer two membership levels. Both our BFF members and our Inner Circle members will receive the printables for this challenge. However, only our Inner Circle Members will have access to the monthly book recommendations one week earlier than everyone else. Visit our Buy Me a Coffee membership page for a full list of benefits for each level.
What Do I Do When I Finish Reading My Book Each Month?
As a member of our email list and Facebook group, you can share your rating and other feedback about your monthly challenge reads via our book rating logs. We share a link to the rating form in the Friday newsletter every week, and you’ll also find them in the “Monthly Reading Schedule & Rating Logs” section above.
The book rating forms help us determine which books should stay on our recommendation lists, which should be removed, and whether any changes are needed to our descriptions. Additionally, we use the data to calculate the “BGG Reader Ratings” that you’ll see noted for many of the books.
At the end of each month, we compile an infographic highlighting the top books from each challenge prompt. It’s become a fun tradition that many look forward to in our newsletter!
Additional Frequently Asked Questions
If you’ve signed up for the challenge above, you’re all set, and our emails will help guide you through everything throughout the year.
If you have any questions, you can continue reading the most commonly asked questions below.
How much does it cost to participate?
All our reading challenges, as well as our other book lists and resources, are free for everyone! Although putting together and administering the challenges takes an extraordinary amount of time, we never want finances to be a barrier to participation. At the request of some of our readers, we established a totally optional Buy Me a Coffee membership for anyone willing to help support our work.
What types of books are included?
As with our other challenges, the book recommendation lists will include a wide variety of genres, from contemporary and historical fiction to mysteries, romance, and magical realism. We aim for a mix of newer releases and backlist titles that are easier to get from the library without a long wait. We also always try to include diverse characters and authors.
Do you host any other reading challenges?
Yes! We host numerous yearlong reading challenges, as well as fun mini-challenges. You are welcome to join as many challenges as you would like each year. Many of our readers participate in more than one.
If I’m doing more than one challenge, can a single book count twice?
Yes, absolutely! In fact, this year, we’ll help you find books that meet the monthly Book Lover’s challenge prompt and one or more of the other challenge themes by providing a crossover list each month in the newsletter.
Do audiobooks count?
Yes! We’re equal-opportunity readers. Whether you choose a paper book, ebook, or audiobook, if you finish the material knowing the story the author set out to tell, you’ve “read” the book!
Can I choose my own book?
Absolutely! You can choose any book from our recommendation lists or any other book that meets the challenge prompt. In fact, if you really enjoy an off-list book you select, we’d love for you to share your feedback in our rating logs (select “Other” from the book title dropdown).
Can I recommend a book for one of the future Book Lover’s Challenge book lists?
Yes, we’d love to hear your recommendation, and you can submit it using this form. Please only recommend books that you’ve already read and rated highly.
How do I get the printable tracker for this reading challenge?
Just scroll back up and fill out the email form in the blue box, which is located above the chart of challenge prompts.
What if I signed up, but didn’t receive the email?
Sometimes, our emails might get trapped in your spam filter. If you signed up but haven’t received the email with the printable reading tracker, be sure to check your spam folder. To keep future emails out of the spam folder, be sure to add our email address to your address book, or drag our emails over to your Primary tab in Gmail.
If you’ve checked your spam folder and still don’t see the email from us, then please send us a quick email to hello(at)bookgirlsguide(dot)com and we’ll get it sorted out for you as quickly as we can.
Can I join a reading challenge after January?
Absolutely! How you choose to participate is totally up to you, so there’s no such thing as being behind. Any month can be a great time to start!
If you’re a voracious reader, you can double up and complete multiple prompts in one month. Or feel free to start with the current month and move forward.
No pressure from us. We’re happy for you to join in whenever and wherever!
What happens if I miss a month?
Nothing at all! Life happens, and we’re committed to our challenges being fun and not stressful.
While it feels great to make it to the end of the year with all 12 months completed, sometimes it’s better to skip a month and move on to the next prompt when you can. You can also go back and read the month you skipped if you’d like, but please don’t feel any pressure to do that.
Do I have to go in order?
Yes and no. We’ll publish the book lists each month based on the schedule we’ve laid out above. Reading in order will ensure that you don’t have to spend hours researching books for each prompt.
Can we use the challenge for our book club?
Absolutely! We’ve had many book clubs use our challenges and reading prompts to help guide their book selections throughout the year.
One suggestion is to give each member a link to the book list for each prompt and let them vote on their top 3 options to help narrow down the book options before making the final selection as a club.
We also have a list of Universal Book Club Discussion Questions to spark insightful conversations, no matter what title your club is exploring.
P.S. We have many other resources for book clubs, including lists of highly rated and discussion-worthy novels and book club guides for specific titles.
Thank you so much for reading with us, we hope you love the challenge!
