Hi everyone! Today I am SOOOO excited to announce that this September will be our SIXTH Annual Reading Challenge Month!  Like in past years, we will have four weeks of fabulous festivities with some great books and amazing prizes. The dates run a little wonky this year, so the event will actually run September 7th – October 3rd, with each week kicking off a different challenge.

Ok, so here is the deal to refresh everyone on how it works and get our new folks up to speed. All month long we will be holding fun weekly reading challenges to give us a chance to try some new books that we may not normally pick up. The challenges are designed to push you a bit out of your reading rut, but also made to be manageable so everyone can participate regardless of reading interests. Each week, our reviewing gang will be trying out books that fit the challenge themes. [check out what we will be reading here]

And here its the best part… you all get to join in the fun! Each week is sponsored and there will be lots of prizes! There are two ways you can participate. Anyone who comments on any of our challenge reviews will be entered to win that week’s prize. Plus, if you participate by reading along with your own challenge book any of the weeks and write a mini review, you get mega BONUS entries. That means lots of chances to win and a great opportunity to find some new books, authors, and genres to love! In addition to chances to win each week, we will have a fabulous grand prize awarded at the end of the month (and OMG you guys, the grand prize is amazeballs)! Everyone who earns entries during any of the weekly challenges will be also entered to win the grand prize!  [check out our Prize Preview Post here]

This year our challenges were chosen in part from votes from readers in our Challenge Month polls, so thanks to everyone who voted!

Here is the line up for challenge month:

• Week 1: Self Published Book Week – Pick a book that is self published
• Week 2: New-to-Me Author Week – Choose a book by an author you have never read
• Week 3: Past/Future Week – Pick a book that falls outside the contemporary time period. This could be historical, futuristic/sci fi, or even something like steampunk or medieval fantasy
• Week 4: TBR Pile Week – Choose a book that has been in your TBR Pile for at least a year

We’d also like to encourage everyone to check out books that feature diverse characters and own voices authors!

So what happens now? Well, first off, next week I will have more details on the prizes just to get you extra excited. We already have some great sponsors lined up! And then the week after that, I will have a list of what we are planning to read during the month. So if you want to read along with our choices you can, or you can start choosing some of your own books that fit the challenge themes. I’ll also share some lists and suggestions of places to look if you need book ideas. And remember, every time you participate by commenting or reading along, you get entries for prizes! So this should be a fabulous event! Keep your eyes open the next few Sundays as we share more details, including all the specific contest rules.

P.S. If you want to check out past Reading Challenge Months, you can find them all listed here