It’s October, and that means spooky season! Though even a week or so into the month and I keep forgetting it’s no longer summer and should be autumn – during the day it’s still been pretty warm, though the temperature does drop overnight and into the early mornings. I’m fully in cosy season though, with my scented candles out, wrapped up during the day, and enjoying layers again!
2026 Reading Challenges
Updates: #1 / #2 / #3 / #4 / #5 / #6 / #7 / #8
Goal: 61/70 (+7)
Musicals Reading Challenge 2026
17/24, +1 Bonus (+2) Prompts Completed
Currently Reading
1940s: On the Town – New York, New York – Set in or about a major city
I am still reading London: The Concise Biography because despite being concise, it is a beast of a book! I am enjoying it though and Ackroyd has such a great writing style.
Better Man – Let Me Entertain You – Features a festival/gig/concert
For this, I went with a book in translation – Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun, by Mónica Ojeda, translated by Sarah Booker. It’s really interesting. It took me a bit to really get into it, but once I did I was absolutely hooked.
Read
The Prom – Unruly Heart – YA LGBT+
Showstopper (Tom Ramsay) was such an adorable read, with two lovely leads and worked so well for this prompt. It’s a gay Contemporary Romance set at a competition for musical theatre kids, and absolutely deserves to be talked about more. And adapted! This would make a brilliant limited series.
The Lion King – He Lives In You – Parents/Parenting
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association was fantastic! A cosy paranormal read centred around a family dealing with their young daughter recently becoming a werewolf, causing them to move to a magical town so she can attend the local magical school. Vivian, the MC, has to deal with school runs and WhatsApp groups and the PTA all while trying to adjust to a new life.
Books to Read: Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night, The Convenient Marriage, The Millionaire Waltz
Twenty Genres in 2026
18/20 (+1) Prompts Completed
Read
Gender or Feminism
Only one prompt cleared for this one this month, but I’m happy with that as I read 5 for this challenge last month! This pick was Rebel Writers, one I was really looking forward to but ultimately felt a little let down by!
Books to Read: Maria the Wanted and the Legacy of the Keepers, Sleep Like Death, Witches
Netflix Movies & TV Shows
18/24 (+2) Prompts Completed
Read
Heartstopper – LGBTQIA+ Romance
I finally made a bit of progress on this one! I’m still a little tempted to rework my options for it, but we’ll see how it goes as I currently have 0 audiobooks on any of these challenges. Anyway – my pick for this prompt was All That Remains. It was okay, though I found it to be a bit all over the place and slow.
The Queen’s Gambit – Tragic Past
I enjoyed Agony’s Lodestone – this one focuses on a trio of siblings, searching for clues about the fate of their missing sister and finding something strange in the woods where she disappeared. Don’t read this if you’re going camping anytime soon.
Books to Read: So You Want to Talk About Race, A Discovery of Witches, Blood of the Pack
Romance Tropes & Microtropes
0/81 (0) Prompts Completed
Currently Reading
best friends brother
I am deliberately still reading Cross the Line – I’ve taken it fairly slowly, while I try and work out how to fit in some audiobooks for the other challenges! I am very close to finishing this though, so it’s likely there won’t be much movement on this challenge for a while. But I have just picked up a bunch more romance books so I am very excited to add some to this challenge!
Books to Read: Cash Target, Donut Girl and the Bosshole, Deranged
This is the time of year when I start looking forward to next year’s challenges – I’ve started coming up with prompts for my Musicals Reading Challenge, and we’re working on putting together the DHR Horror Challenge! Around the end of November/start of December I’ll be looking out for the 2027 challenges I want to take part in, and I’m very excited. This year I did two horror challenges, and I absolutely won’t be doing that again, but I do want to do maybe a romance or fantasy one and a more broad one – only time will tell what I end up doing!
