2026 Reading Challenge discussion

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026

Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.
— Brodi Ashton

For this month's theme of Heroes, you will choose your own path to explore heroism as you see it. You may focus on revolutionary figures; innovators; military members; superheroes; figures from folklore or mythology; first responders; teachers; medical workers; or any other heroes that you find personally inspiring. Whether you select fiction or non-fiction, one or two picks or a wide mix, is totally up to you.

To join, post a message telling the challenge leader how many books you plan to read. If you are new to our group and/or our group challenges, take a moment to check out the Yearly, Quarterly, Monthly Challenges - Start Here thread for more information on how our challenges are run.

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Many thanks to Janine for volunteering to lead this challenge. Our hero! 🦸‍♀️

How to participate:

To sign up, comment below with how many books you plan to read.

When posting updates, please include your original (sign-up) message number, plus your current progress. (E.g. Update to message #15, 2/6)

If you decide to drop out of the challenge, please don’t delete your original sign-up post. Just update and let me know.

If you have any questions or need more information, feel free to ask me or check out the FAQ thread.

Thanks everyone, happy reading!

Participants:

Amanda - 0/3
Amy - 5/5
Anissa - 0/2
Audrey - 0/5
Becky Q - 5/5
Brianna - 0/3
Brianna Raquel - 5/5
Caraina - 0/5
Carrie - 14/3
Ciara - 5/5
Frankie - 8/8
Janine - 3/3
JennH - 3/3
Jill - 0/3
Karin - 4/5
Kristina - 5/5
Marielle - 3/3
Rachel - 0/3
Renee - 0/5
Sarah - 11/11
Susan - 0/3
Susanna - 2/2
Suzanne - 0/3
TerryJane - 9/3
Whitney - 2/2

Last updated 4th August, up to message 64.

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026

First Responders, Medical Workers, and Military Members

8/8 Completed. Finish

1. Police Officer:Nothing Stays Buried-D.K. Hood 7/01/26
2.Police Officer:Family Lies-Karen Rose 7/01/26
3.Police Officer:Untraceable-Laura Griffin 7/09/29
4.Nurse:Believe in Me-Alexandria House 7/11/26
5.Firefighter:Sap & Secrets-Daphne Elliot 7/12/26
6.Doctor:For Better or Hearse-Ava Hunter 7/16/26
7.Navy Seal:Right To My Wrong-Lani Lynn Vale 7/18/26
8.Firefighter:Not Just Friends-T. Gephart 7/24/26

I'm in for 2!

Progress: 2/2

✅1. The Light Over London by Julia Kelly (Completed 7/3/26)
Main character joins the women's branch of the British Army during World War II.

✅2. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes (Completed 7/13/26)
Set in the 1930s, the main character joins a women's group to deliver books to rural communities. The group faces backlash and challenges.

HERO PICK & MIX - Monthly Challenge
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
Progress: 9/3

Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.
— Brodi Ashton

1. Fugitive Pieces - a man rescues and adopts a holocaust orphan
2. The Memory of Light - a teen with mental health issues saves others from death, danger, and displacement
3. That's Not My Name - friends investigate a kidnapping when the authorities fail
4. Devil's Peak - a detective, a prostitute, and a vigilante seek justice in different ways
5. California Fire and Life - a firefighter turned insurance investigator seeks truth and justice in an arson case
6. Ninth House - a young woman monitors sinister occult activity at her school
7. Vicious - heroes/anti-heroes with superpowers
8. The River We Remember - small town lawmen solving crime
9. Dispatches - war correspondent embedded with Vietnam troops

Please sign me up for 3.

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026

3/3

1 At Death's Dough: A Deep Dish Mystery by Mindy Quigley 7/12
2 Hide Away by Iris Johansen 7/17
3 26 Beauties by James Patterson 7/25

I'd like to sign up for 3 please.

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026

Progress: 0/3

Welcome to the challenge Frankie, Whitney, TerryJane, JennH and Susan. I'm looking forward to seeing the heroes you find in your books!

Hero Pick & Mix
Duration: 07/01-31/26

I think, in an attempt to be less overzealous I'm going to start with two books. This should help me knock out at least one of my HRCYED 3.0 books.

Goal: 2 books ; Progress: 0/2

1. Viral Sparks by Carley Henry (Completed: )

Completed

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026

5/5

1. Dead Girls Tell No Tales
2. Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes
3. Serpents and Shadows: Essence and Runes, Book 2
4. Seeing Other People
5. Unplugged: Middle Grade Humor Meets Realistic Fiction at an Arkansas Health Camp

HERO PICK & MIX - Monthly Challenge
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
Progress: 0/3

1.
2.
3.

I will aim for five books, with the exact hero definition yet to be decided. Thank you!

HERO PICK & MIX
July 1 - July 31, 2026
Progress: 5/5

Sign me up for 5!

✅ 1. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
✅ 2. Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
✅ 3. The Odyssey by Homer
✅ 4. Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
✅ 5. There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

I'm in for 5

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1, 2026 - July 31, 2026

**For this month's theme of Heroes, you will choose your own path to explore heroism as you see it. You may focus on revolutionary figures; innovators; military members; superheroes; figures from folklore or mythology; first responders; teachers; medical workers; or any other heroes that you find personally inspiring. Whether you select fiction or non-fiction, one or two picks or a wide mix, is totally up to you.

Completed: 0/5

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Welcome to the challenge Anissa, Brianna Raquel, Amanda, Ciara, Kristina and Caraina. Glad to have you!

Anissa I'll also be jumping in with some HRYCED 3.0 books for this challenge too to get of to a good start!

Sign me up 11 books

11/11 - COMPLETED

✅1. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War (10/7/26)
✅2. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban (22/7/26)
✅3. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World (15/7/26)
✅4. Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II (16/7/26)
✅5. Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars (23/7/26)
✅6. Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (21/7/26)
✅7. The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist (25/7/26)
✅8. Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites who Fought for Women's Right to Vote (11/7/26)
✅9. Bold Women of Medicine: 21 Stories of Astounding Discoveries, Daring Surgeries, and Healing Breakthroughs (14/7/26)
✅10. Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code (17/7/26)
✅11. Undercover Girl: The Lesbian Informant Who Helped the FBI Bring Down the Communist Party (18/7/26)

I would love to join this challenge!

Sign me up for 3 books. I will focus on female heroes (and I loved the first responders choice of Frankie!)

Progress: 3/3
The Garden of Evening Mists, MC is female judge who faces her past and helps other people
Wild Dark Shore, both female and male hero, grey, saving the environment
What Happened That Night, female DI tries to save the people who are suspected of a murder, doesn't succeed all the way



Thank you! 🥰

June is coming to an end and the challenge starts tomorrow, hooray!

Welcome Sarah and Marielle. Sarah that looks like a brilliant lot of non-fiction! Marielle, I love that you're focusing on female heroes, what a good idea!

I’m going for 3 books. 2/3
1. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms—If Ser Dunk the Tall isn’t a hero, I don’t know who is ( besides his descendant Brienne). Finished 7/2
2. A Game of Thrones Poor Ned Stark! The hero of the North! Finished 2/7

I will go for 5 books!
5/5-- Challenge Complete

1. Mad Mabel-- dies saving a child's life
2. T is for Trespass-- rescued victim
3. The Calamity Club-- saved family from financial ruin
4. Murder Chez Proust: A Mystery-- saved woman's life/attempted drowning
5. 5. Gulf Coast Cottage-- saved a family business

Updated message 21-- 1/5

Welcome Jill and Amy. What a great start already Amy!

Sign me up for 3

HERO PICK & MIX - Monthly Challenge
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
Progress: 0/3

Please sign me up for 3

🚨HERO PICK & MIX🚨
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
🎉Completed: 14/3 books


War Time Hero
1. The Room on Rue Amelie
2. The Things We Cannot Say
3. The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom
4. The Huntress
5. From Sand and Ash

Special Powers
6. Vicious
7. Somewhere Beyond the Sea
8. The Night Circus

Saved a Life (not during war time)
9. The Man Who Died Twice
10. Jurassic Park

Other-Carring/Mentor/Inspiring/Socially Brave
11. The Calamity Club
12. Theo of Golden
13. The Nickel Boys
14. Out of My Dreams

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
I like to join challenge

0/3

1.Backtalker: An American Memoir By Kimberlé Crenshaw
2.
3
.

Update to Message #5: 1/2

Updated message 21-- 2/5

Welcome Brianna, Carrie and Rachel!

Updated to here.

Hero Pick & Mix
July 1st - July 31st
Completed 2/5

1) The Grumpy Firefighter - 7/11 - 4 stars
2) Kissing the Single Dad Firefighter: A Curvy Girl Age Gap Instalove Romance - 7/11 - 4 stars
3)
4)
5)

I'm going for a mix of fictional heroes.

5/5

1. Sundown by Susan May Warren has four POVs, and three of them are direct heroes in this book who are involved in saving the world from an ancient form of smallpox.
2. Protector by Megan Hart
3. Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor has some heroes in it who save the galaxy from a rogue AI
4. Hidden in the Night by Elizabeth Goddard
5. Buried Secrets by Irene Hannon

2026 Reading Challenge
July - Hero Pick & Mix
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026

Progress: 3 out of 3

Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.
— Brodi Ashton

For this month's theme of Heroes, you will choose your own path to explore heroism as you see it. You may focus on revolutionary figures; innovators; military members; superheroes; figures from folklore or mythology; first responders; teachers; medical workers; or any other heroes that you find personally inspiring. Whether you select fiction or non-fiction, one or two picks or a wide mix, is totally up to you.

Badges
Badges are optional. If you wish to save yours, follow these steps: (view spoiler)

Earn these badges for challenge participation and/or completion!

Folklore or Mythology Heroes

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - ***** - 8/12/2026 - 408 Pages
2. Teen Titans: Robin by Kami Garcia - ***** - 8/26/2026 - 208 Pages
3. Teen Titans: Starfire by Kami Garcia - ***** - 9/2/2026 - 208 Pages

We're a week into July already! Welcome Renee, Karin and Suzanne, and congrats those who have made progress towards their first book(s) already,

GOAL 0/2
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Goal 5 Books out of:
1. Circe-fictional retelling Circe’s story from Greek Mythology-done-highly recommend!
2. The Odyssey-in process-plan to finish before I see the movie
3. The Friend Zone-romance with a firefighter as a main character will be done tomorrow
4. Olympus, Texas-audio-based on Greek/Roman mythology Ares/Aphrodite in process
5. A Thousand Ships-the story of the women of Troy 1/3 done (might DNF or push later)
6. Troy-by Stephen Fry-self explanatory lol (in Libby, unstarted)
7. Fruit of the Dead-modern day retelling of the story of Demeter ( in Libby, unstarted)

updated msg 11, 3/5

Welcome Susanna and Audrey. Great progress Brianna Raquel!

Hero Pick & Mix - Monthly Challenge
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
Progress: 5/5

Finished!

1. The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei 7/2
HIF: The MC works to save an entire alien species from extinction.
2. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See 7/3
HIF: MC's husband is a teacher.
3. Out of Her League by Ava Rani 7/4
HIF: MC is a doctor.
4. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez 7/15
HIF: The MMC is a firefighter.
5. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros 7/18
HIF: The main characters risk their lives to protect their world/loved ones.

Updated Message #31

2/5

Update to Message #5: 2/2

Updated to here. I hope you've all been having a hero-full first two weeks of July.

Congrats Whitney on completing your goal!

Update to message #7

1/3

Updated message 21-- 3/5

Well done JennH and Amy for making progress!

Updated Message #31

4/5

Update Message #4

8/8 Completed. Finish

Updated message 21-- 4/5

Update msg 18:

3/3 completed

Thank you! 🌸

HERO PICK & MIX
Duration: July 1 - July 31, 2026
GOAL 1/2
MSG #34

Updated to here. Well done everyone. Congratulations to Frankie and Marielle on completing their goal!