Reading Challenge Update: April

Way back in December of last year and January of this year, I decided to sign up for some reading challenges. Despite my complete failure in participating in most of them during 2015, I thought I'd do a lot better this year. To keep myself on track (and to let you know what I've been reading), I came up with these Reading Challenge Update posts that I'll share at the beginning of every month. Each post will cover the books that I read and counted for reading challenges during the previous month.

Note: Some of these challenges allow readers to cross-read, which means you can read the same books for multiple challenges, and they count for all of them. Throughout these monthly updates, including today's update, you may notice this trend.

Debut Author Challenge

The 2016 Debut Author Challenge is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. The goal of the challenge is to read as many middle grade, YA, and NA debuts that you can during the year.

Books Read

   

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge

The Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge is hosted by Jess of Gone with the Words and Danielle of Love at First Page. It's all about reading those swoony contemporary romance novels. Each month, participants link up their reviews for the contemporary romances that they've read.

Books Read

 

All four of the above books feature a little bit of romance, and it was nice to read so many books about summer love! I really enjoyed Two Summers, Summer of Sloane, and Suffer Love.

Backlist Books Reading Challenge

The Backlist Books Reading Challenge is hosted by Bekka at Pretty Deadly Reviews. The goal of the challenge is to read as many backlist (one year or older) books that you can during 2016.

Books Read

I only read one backlist book this month, and it was The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige. It was published in April of 2015, so it just made the cut!

Flights of Fantasy

Flights of Fantasy is hosted by Alexa of Alexa Loves Books and Rachel of Hello, Chelly. The goal of Flights of Fantasy is to read as many fantasy novels that you can. It's a no-pressure challenge, which means that you can read as little or as much fantasy as you want!

Books Read

  

After rereading Dorothy Must Die last month, I dove right into The Wicked Will Rise. It was nice to be back in Paige's deranged Oz, and I'm hoping to read Yellow Brick War this month.

I also got to read The Star-Touched Queen a little early, and I loved this book. If you haven't read it yet, you must grab a copy and start reading. It's enchanting!

Personal Reread Challenge

As many of you might know, I'm terrible when it comes to rereading books. I intend to reread quite a few of my favorites, but all the new ones get in the way. This year, I'm challenging myself to reread more of my favorites while still reading new books.

Books Read

I didn't reread any books this month because I participated in ARC April.

Non-Challenge Books

As an avid reader, I also realize that I will be reading a lot of books that don't fall in any of the challenges that I'm participating in. Rather than forget about them, I decided to showcase them here as a little recap.

Books Read

 

While these two book could probably be added to the Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, I held off because they have different feels to them. "Kindred Spirits" was a cute short story about waiting outside a movie theater to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Every Exquisite Thing read more like a coming-of-age, even with the tiny romance.

Okay... so even though I thought I would do a lot more reading in April, I am thrilled to see so many books on this update! I didn't think I would even be able to read four, especially with my eyes, but I persevered and I ended up reading eight full-length novels and one short story! 

Now I want to hear from you! How are your reading challenges working? Are you on track? Behind? On schedule? Have you abandoned them? Feel free to let me know in the comments, and be sure to let me know if you posted any monthly recaps for April!