2025 End of the Year Wrap Up +New Challenges for 2026

 

How did I do in 2025?

This year I challenged myself to be a Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30. If you want to check out my original post from January, please click here. I'm happy to report that I have successfully met my goal! I listened to 27 audiobooks this year and almost made it all the way to 30.

Here's the list in no particular order:  

1. His Face Is the Sun by Michelle Jabès Corpora
2. Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
3. The Sirens by Emilia Hart
4. Your Knife, My Heart by K.M. Moronova
5. The Finish Line by Kate Stewart
6. Firebird by Juliette Cross
7. Wolf.e by Paisley Hope
8. Anathema by Keri Lake
9. Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell
10. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
11. Onyx Storm (Part 1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Rebecca Yarros
12. The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor
13. House of Flame and Shadow (Part 2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Sarah J. Maas
14. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 
15. Fan Service by Rosie Danan
16. Exes & Foes by A.M. Woody
17. Exodus by Kate Stewart
18. Flock by Kate Stewart 
19. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
20. Murder at Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong
21. Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio
22. Lightlark by Alex Aster
23. Lights Out by Navessa Allen
24. House of Flame and Shadow (Part 1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Sarah J. Maas
25. Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer *started in 2025 but will finish in 2026
26. Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver *started in 2025 but will finish in 2026
27. When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain *started in 2025 but will finish in 2026

I also participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I ambitiously set my goal at 100 and only managed to read 39 books this year. I'm still happy with the progress! I achieved something. 

It's the same list as above with a few additions:

1. I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew
2. The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
3. Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon
4. Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods
5. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
6. I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming
7. The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
8. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
9. Understanding the Mass: 100 Questions, 100 Answers by Mike Aquilina
10. She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke
11. The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon by S.S. Taylor
12. A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson *started in 2025 but will finish in 2026

I challenged myself to read 50 books from my physical TBR and only managed 5. I also wanted to challenge myself to read more of my NetGalley books and review them (I'm trying to get the 80% ratio badge) and set my goal for 50. I got about halfway and ended with 23.

New Challenges for 2026

I'm going to do these same four challenges for 2026! I know I can meet these goals and want to push myself this year to make reading more of a focus. I'm always happier when I have time to read and reset during the week. 

Challenge Details

• Runs January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026. You can join at any time.
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2026 than you did in 2025.
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
• All genres count.
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, etc. I recommend creating a shelf on Goodreads titled 2026 Audiobook Challenge. You can keep track and link the shelf.
• Grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. You can post on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, your blog etc. about the challenge.
• Updates plus a giveaway will be posted twice during the year. The first update will be July 4, 2026, and the last update will take place on December 26, 2026. You’ll have one week to link up and share your progress and enter the giveaway

Achievement Levels

• Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
• Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
• Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15
• Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
• Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
• My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
• Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+
• Over-Achiever (Power Listener) 75+
• The 100 Club (Audiobook Addict) 100+
• I Can’t Hear You (earbuds always in) 125-150
• Audibly Addicted (listening to all the books 24/7) 150+

If you would like to sign up for your very own 2026 Audiobook Challenge, please visit Caffeinated Reviewer or That’s What I’m Talking About. All of the information I used came from Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer.

I will also be participating in the 2026 Discussion Challenge hosted by It Starts at Midnight (we'll miss you Nicole!). It's one of my favorite challenges to participate in, because I love all the conversations it starts. Way back in 2020 I challenged myself to create anywhere between 1-10 discussion posts, and this year I'm going to try being a Creative Conversationalist, which is 11-20 and seems doable.

Here’s All You Have to Do:

• Create a sign-up post announcing your intention to participate and link up below. There’s no need to say what your discussion posts will be about–just tell us you’re joining and let us know your goal. (Can be in an update post or a post with other challenges–you’re not required to make a completely separate sign-up post.)
• Please link back to both challenge hosts and include the challenge button in your sign-up posts. Feel free to also link back in your actual discussions (we appreciate it, so more people can find us!), but that’s not required.
• The challenge runs from January 1st until December 31st, 2026. Sign-ups will remain open through December 15th, 2026. So, you can basically sign up all year long. Come join us!
• Share it! The more people we get to participate in this, the more awesome discussions we can all be a part of and the more fun it will be! So, invite your friends to join us!
• On the 1st of every month, a link-up will go up on both Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight where you’ll leave your links for that month’s discussions.
• There will also be a big yearly giveaway- so do keep entering and checking back!
• Use the hashtag #LetsDiscuss2026 to share your progress and connect with other participants on Twitter/Threads/Bluesky/The Social Medium De Jour.

What Kinds of Discussions Can You Link Up?

Discussions can be about whatever you want as long as it’s relevant to books or book blogging! We tend to be pretty lax about our “rules” for what makes a bookish discussion, but we do have some guidelines, so please check them out: Please don’t link up discussions about things that are completely off-topic, like travel or fashion, etc.

• Please don’t link up month-end wrap-ups (We have the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up for that, and we’d love to have you join in!)—unless you have a very specific book-related discussion topic that you include in your wrap-up!
• Please don’t link up book reviews unless it’s more of a general discussion about a topic and you’re using a specific book as an example.
• Please don’t link up giveaways unless the post is mostly a discussion that just happens to have a giveaway attached (like if you were talking about the reasons you love audiobooks and you decide to do a giveaway of an audiobook at the end).
• Linking up Top Ten Tuesday posts or other meme posts are fine as long as there’s some actual discussion involved (not just a list of books). Same with tags—they’re fine, but we’d prefer if there’s some discussion involved of why you chose the books, not just a list of books that go with the tag topic.
• A post can be about you personally if it’s a get-to-know-you type post. (We love getting to know our fellow bloggers!)

The Levels:

1-10 – Discussion Dabbler
11-20 – Creative Conversationalist
21-30 – Chatty Kathy
31-40 – Terrifically Talkative
41+ – Gift of the Gab

I'm going to keep my Goodreads reading challenge set at 100. If I replace doom scrolling with reading, I should have no trouble making this one! However, because I got rid of so many of my physical books this year, I'm going to drop my Physical TBR goal down to 25. My NetGalley goal of 50 will remain the same, but hopefully I'm able to do significantly more than that. We'll see how it goes. 😅 Wish me luck!