Why oh why oh why do I do this to myself every year?! Because summer reading IS the #20BooksofSummer challenge of course! That’s why 🤭

Hello and welcome to damppebbles! It’s lovely to see you. Today I am launching my bid for summer reading success. And in order to achieve that success, I’m signing up for the 20 Books of Summer challenge. I’ve been taking part in the challenge for a few years now with varying degrees of success (or perhaps ‘failure’ would be the more apt word!). I’ve only managed to complete the challenge once and that was in 2020 when we were all stuck at home during the COVID lockdowns. There wasn’t a lot else to do other than read really. Last year my effort was abysmal. I read four out of twenty books. But that was the start of my blogging hiatus which later turned into a reading hiatus! This year I am determined to do better (let’s face it, it won’t take much to do better than last year!). I joke about it but the Summer Reading Challenge is one of the highlights of my reading year. It’s also the only challenge I tend to take part in.

This year things are a bit different. The fabulous Cathy of 746 Books created this challenge over 10 years ago and has run it every year since then. Cathy announced last year that she was going to take a well-deserved break and has handed the reins over to Annabel at AnnaBookBel and Emma at Words and Peace. Enormous thanks to Cathy for all of her hard work over the years. It would be such a shame to lose this challenge as I know I, and many blogger friends, really look forward to taking part. Huge thanks to Annabel and Emma for stepping in and ensuring things continue to run smoothly, like a well-oiled machine.

But what’s it all about? The 20 books of summer challenge is all about reading books. Twenty of them. Or fifteen. Or, if you prefer, ten. It really is that simple. The challenge starts on Sunday 1st June and finishes on Sunday 31st August. Select the books you want to read, stick them in a list on your blog/preferred platform and link back to Annabel’s sign-up post. Want to change the books you’re reading halfway through the challenge? That’s fine. Want to cut down your list from twenty to ten? That’s also fine. It’s the most chilled out, most relaxed reading challenge out there. As Annabel says in her sign-up post, the only rule of the challenge is that there are no real rules.

For me, the best part is selecting my books in advance (and seeing what everyone else has selected too!). So without further delay, here are the twenty books I plan to read between 1st June and 31st August:

1. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
2. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
3. Love Kills by David Jackson
4. We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough
5. We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

6. The Compound by Aisling Rawle
7. The Night I Killed Him by Gill Perdue
8. The Stranger in Room Six by Jane Corry
9. The Outback by Sara Ochs
10. Chasing Shadows by Robert Bryndza

11. The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
12. Runner 13 by Amy McCulloch
13. Butter by Asako Yuzuki
14. In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan
15. Broken Girls by Joy Kluver

16. The Final Vow by M.W. Craven
17. Strange Pictures by Uketsu
18. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
19. The September House by Carissa Orlando
20. 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon

Out of the twenty books above I have eighteen actually in my possession. One is a current NetGalley request which I hope to be approved for. The other is one of my most anticipated books of the year and it doesn’t publish until mid-August.

Out of the twenty books listed above seven of them are my own books. The rest are review copies.

Out of the twenty books above thirteen are digital copies with only seven physical copies. This seems to be the way my reading is going.

If I read all of these books and don’t request any more over the Summer (🤣 like that’s going to happen!)  then I will have cleared my NetGalley shelf (which was one of my bookish goals at the start of the year).

So that’s it. The twenty books I plan to read over Summer 2025. All quite dark, all very much to my taste in books. Aren’t they gorgeous?! Have you read any of them? Any you’re really looking forward to reading? Are you taking part in the challenge this year? I’d love to see your books so please feel free to leave a link to your challenge post in the comments!

If you would like to join in then there’s still time. Go on, give it a try. How hard can it be, right…? 😉

Happy Summer (or Winter!) reading!