2023 Romance Reading Challenge
Fall in love with my 2023 romance reading challenge
Whether you’re a long-time fan of the romance genre or just dipping in your toes, you’ll expand your happy-ever-after reading life with my 2023 Romance Reading Challenge! This is a monthly challenge, so you’ll find a different category for each month of year.
You can adapt the categories to choose books anywhere in the range from sweet to sexy, so feel free to enjoy as much or as little steam as you prefer.
Throughout the year, I’ll be sharing recommendations for each category by month in both my email newsletter, on my bookstagram, and on BookTok!
Keep track of your progress by signing up with your email using the form below and receive the exclusive printable checklist and printable progress checker!
Why Join The 2023 Romance Reading Challenge?
All readers know it can be tough deciding what to read next! This 2023 romance reading challenge is designed to expand your options and help find new to you romance books that you’ll love.
Most of all though, this is meant to be fun! I keep my categories pretty broad so you can easily find books that fit you to ensure you’re reading books you’ll love.
Plus, there’s zero pressure to complete the challenge! I’m a big mood reader, so truthfully I struggle to stick with the categories myself!!
I simply want you to make this 2023 romance reading challenge work for you! If that means diligently following along and completing each month’s challenge, that’s amazing! If it means picking and choosing a few categories throughout the year (in any order!) that makes me just as happy.
So, let’s get to the selections!
2023 Romance Reading Challenge Categories
January – A Debut Romance
To kick off the 2023 Romance Reading Challenge, I’d like to honor the first novels by authors. I can only imagine the excitement and emotions that come with publishing your first book, so I encourage you to find a debut author or simply the first published book written by one of your favorite authors.
February – Book With “Love” In The Title
What better time to incorporate “love” in a title than Valentine’s Day month? Admittedly, this will be a pretttty easy category to fulfill, so you can free reign to find exactly the type of romance book you want!
March – Romance Written By A Person Of Color
There are endless romance books written by persons of color that might fly under the radar, so I wanted to bring some attention to these incredible authors! A few of my favorites are Denise Williams, Talia Hibbert, Alisha Rai, and Jasmine Guillory.
April – Sports Romance
It’s the return of baseball!! In honor of my favorite sport, I’m going to ask you to read a sports romance. It can be any sport, since the most popular options seem to be football and hockey. I’m personally going to try to find a baseball romance, so send me any recommendations if you have them!
May – A Book Like Bridgerton
The return of Bridgerton on Netflix should be around this time and I’m so freaking excited!! So, May’s category for the 2023 Romance Reading Challenge is a book like Bridgerton. I’ll accept pretty much any historical fiction option, but if you want books that specifically match the story lines or historical era, you can check out my list!
June – Grumpy / Sunshine Romance
The return of summer makes June the perfect month to dive into a grumpy/sunshine romance. I only heard about this specific trope a year or two ago, but I’m finding it’s one of my favorites! The general gist is one character is peppy, optimistic, and generally “sunny” while their romantic partner is the exact opposite.
July – A Cover With Two Characters
Another cover art challenge! With all of the cartoon covers available now, scan through your bookshelves or the library and seek out one featuring two people on the front.
August – BookTok Recommended Romance
I’ve been obsessed with TikTok lately and I’ve found there are books showcased there that go missed on blogs and Bookstagram! So, here’s a chance to pick up something that may have slipped past your radar.
September – Romance In A Small Town
With fall in full swing, it felt like the ideal time to dive into a small town romance. These novels take place in a quaint setting, full of quirky side characters as well as the detailed town that becomes a character itself.
October – Romance Book About Witches
Spooky season is upon us! Let’s dive into a book about witches! I have a great list already started, but let us know if you find a new one that fits in this category!
November – Romance Written Before 2010
If you’re like me, you only recently got into romance books the past few years. While I do occasionally reach for an older book, the vast majority of ones I read are recently published. So I’m challenging you to find a romance book written over a decade ago for November.
December – Non Christmas Holiday Romance
In recent years there have been a flurry of more diverse holiday reading options, so I want to encourage myself and you to try one of them! Find a book celebrating Hannukah, Diwali, or any other holiday celebration besides Christmas this year.
How To Join the 2023 Romance Reading Challenge
It’s simple! Enter your name and email address in the form below. Once you confirm your subscription, you’ll receive my monthly newsletter which will include suggestions for that month’s challenge!
Plus, you’ll get a free 2023 Romance Reading Challenge printable checklist and tracker when you sign up!
How To Keep Track of the 2023 Romance Reading Challenge
Use the printable checklist and tracker if you like having a paper copy to keep track of the books you’ve read for this challenge. I’ll also share Instagram templates for each monthly category as well as the entire challenge! You can find the complete challenge template below!
If you want more detailed tracking, check out my Excel Reading Tracker! It includes a variety of features, including a detailed reading log, TBR tracker, and 10+ graphs/charts to review your reading habits! It’s available here for only $5!
If you’re on StoryGraph, join the 2023 Romance Reading Challenge HERE to track the books you read for each prompt! Thanks Shannon for setting up this option!
Bookmark and pin this page, since I’ll be updating this post with Instagram trackers and relevant book lists as we complete the challenge together!
Let’s get reading, fellow romance lovers!!
Which month of the 2023 Romance Reading Challenge are you looking forward to the most? Share in the comments!
I decided to join the challenge this year! I found the challenge in StoryGraph so signed up there as well. I don’t pay attention to Book Tok so will need help for that month.
Thanks for joining us! Also I’m so glad you mentioned StoryGraph – I had no idea you were able to add reading challenges there so I joined as well! I’ll be adding book recommendations for each prompt along with everyone else and I added it to the post 🙂
Don’t worry – I’ll have you covered for BookTok! There’s already a list of spicy BookTok books on my blog and I’ll be sure to share some less intense options as well!