The 20 Book of Summer 2026 Reading Challenge drew to a close on 31st August and despite all the challenges that life inevitably throws at me when I set myself a time-sensitive task to complete, I can report that I have successfully completed the challenge by reading 20 books. Although not necessarily the 20 I originally planned to read!
I love this challenge because it's almost impossible not to succeed! Everything is fluid except the reading dates. The goal can be reduced to as few as 5 books, and as there is no minimum number of pages to consitute a 'book', 5 books should be easily achievable. The titles selected at the outset are not set in stone, so again, if I'm struggling, I can drop a larger book for a shorter story.
I always begin this challenge expecting to reduce my TBR list but in previous years I've found that I'd somehow added more than I'd taken off!
Here are the books that I did manage to read and review:
- Secret Psychic Stories: Volume 1 by Margaret Solis
- #Lola (#Toots 0.5) by Lin Le James
- Swept Away (The Larkford Series) by Penny Parkes
- Staff Wellbeing Programme: For Staff Working In Schools, Colleges And Residential Settings by Cathy Shuter
- Ferry Godfather (Cute Shorts #2) by Laurie Baxter
- A Charlie Browne Christmas (Cute Shorts book #4) by Laurie Baxter
- Escape the Volcano by Stephanie Dagg
- A Wordsmith’s Guide to Writing Authentic Dialogue (The Wordsmith's Guides) by Elizabeth M. Hurst
- Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing (Pelican Crossing Book #9) by Maggie Christensen
- The Secret Dressmaker (Threads of Resistance Book #2) by Jenny O'Brien
- The First Christmas (Christmas On The Close Book 1) by Stephanie Wood
- Snow After Christmas by D. Allen
- A Dog in the Manger Part One by Victoria Wallin
- The Apple Orchard by Veronica Henry
- Five Old Flings by Stephanie Dagg
- Christmas at the Chateau by Lorraine Wilson
- Before the Garden on Holly Street: Valentine's Day by Megan Attley
- A Christmas Gift by Stella Wilkinson
- Snow by Cora Brent
- Loving Spirits at the Vintage Tearoom by Sharon Booth
My original list has seen only 5 changes. I swapped a couple of titles for books on blog tours in series that I've been enjoying and could not possibly miss out on. Two books failed to load on my e-reader - guess I need to get a new one! - so they've been put to one side, as has Death at the Village Christmas Fair which I still hope to read before the year is out.
Something I haven't counted towards my 20 books total, I read an early draft of Jenny O'Brien's next novel in her Threads of Resistance series, The Crocheter's War, as a beta reader and am very much looking forward to reading the final copy when it is published in the New Year.
Have I reduced my TBR list this year? I began the challenge with 838 ebooks, 5 audiobooks and at least 12 paperbacks. I haven't touched the paperbacks or audiobooks but I did a stock take and deleted some titles that I was never going to read and I've been really good and not bought or acquired any more... Ahem! ...that many more titles! My digital TBR List today stands at 821. Oops! Well it is down a bit...