Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2026 Edition – Goal Review

Quarterly reading goal reviews have become a Best Reads Blog tradition and I can’t believe we’ve reached the half way point already! Where does the time go, I wonder? Hours spent reading I’m guessing

I’ll share my progress (or not!) here just for some fun book nerdy stats and, if you’re so inclined, you can share a goal or two in the comments. But no pressure – a goal can be as simple as ‘read a book.’

So, to enter this giveaway, just share anything goal related in the comments. Then, in the same comment, list a book that will help you reach your goal. So it looks like this:

“I want to catch up on some suspense series. Night Prey by Susan Sleeman.”

NOTE: BOOKS MUST BE CHRISTIAN FICTION OR CLOSED DOOR

You can enter up to three times in three separate comments — and you can use the same goal or a different one each time, but a different title for each entry.

Books can be published any time up to and including September 2026. Currently published books will be ordered this coming week for winners, otherwise it will be an IOU for a title releasing later.

WINNER’S CHOICE OF PAPERBACK OR EBOOK FOR US AND CANADIAN ENTRIES. EBOOKS ONLY FOR INTERNATIONAL READERS WHO HAVE A US KINDLE ACCOUNT.

See? Easy Peasy. But if you’re still not clear, don’t be shy about asking questions.

Here we go! We’re at the halfway point and it’s time to face up to what’s been working and what hasn’t when it comes to my goals this year.

I haven’t been focusing on two of my other author goals – 1) authors I’m keeping current with, and 2) read to zero authors.

I have only listed two keep current authors (and I am up to date with them) but I think I might just scrap this goal for the year and organize it better for 2027.

I’m having some success with the read to zero authors only I chose prolific writers and have quite the catching up to do. I’m really close with Hannah Linder, just have one book left to read, The Red Cottage. The other authors on my list: Sara Davison (15 left), Anna Conwell (4 left), Irene Hannon (9 of her Encore novels left), Gracie Ruth Mitchell (11 left), Toni Shiloh (17ish – a lot of these are from her early backlist and I’m still figuring out what’s available in print. I think some of the novella collections are ebook only), Courtney Walsh (9 books), Eryn Scott (32 books!)

I’m more or less on track with my 26 in 26 goals though I have only read four books this past quarter. I have twelve to go and I own almost all of the books or can borrow them from my library so I just need to apply my mood reading whims to this list! 🙂

Serious About Series – this goal has been a little less structured than I usually do. I have nineteen series on the list and am caught up with nine of them and am making progress on six more. Some are really long series – 10-20 books – so I’m not sure if I will manage to complete them all by the end of the year, but I’m gonna try!

WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON 

Saturday July 25 29 2026

92 thoughts on “Reader’s Choice Giveaway – Summer 2026 Edition – Goal Review”

  1. #1 -I really just need to get back to reading at my normal pace. I’m three books behind to reach my goal of 50 books for the year, which in past years I have easily met or exceeded. So, I guess the solution is to ask for a book that the library won’t order: The Life She Forgot by Joanna Davidson Politano

    perrianne (DOT) askew (AT) me (DOT) com

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  2. #2 – Catch up on debut reading: The Brunswick by Callie Murray

    (I’m not even sure that I’ve read even ine debut this year!)

    perrianne (DOT) askew (AT) me (DOT) com

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  3. #3 – Keep up with my historical reading which has become more prominent in my reading world: The Christmas Book Flood by Roseanna M. White

    perrianne (DOT) askew (AT) me (DOT) com

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    1. I’m finding debut books hard to come by so far this year. They are difficult to source out, I usually just stumble onto them so The Brunswick is high on my want to read list too. Good luck, Perrianne!

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  5. Good morning all! Wow! I’m especially impressed by your stats this time, Kav, bc you moved in the middle of all of this. Talk about time consuming! I got hit hard this year by life & couldn’t read at all at times! So my count is way down for the year & I changed my reading challenge number on Goodreads. I’m just thankful to be able to enjoy reading again! I’ve been to Scotland, Ireland, Italy (don’t I wish?!), and just left England with Laura Thomas in Ribbons of Guilt. Good book! My goals typically consist of more diversity, indies, and new to me authors so I’ve done pretty well with that this yr so far.

    To meet my diversity goal:

    Writer in Residence by Rhonda McKnight (Sept 8)

    dianalflowers at aol dot com

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  7. Indie published goal:

    Everlasting Love by Latisha Sexton (Aug 25) The 1st book, Neverending Mercy, was really good!

    Thanks, Kav, and have a blessed Sunday!

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    1. I listened to a lot of audio books while packing, unpacking and recuperating from packing and unpacking lol I have only read the first book in the Bite of Betrayal series — Captured in Frame. Have another Laura Thomas book on my TBR, but not from that series so I guess I better fix that pronto. 🙂 And I have Neverending Mercy on my TBR pile for this summer because of your recommendation followed by many others. Good luck, Diane!

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      1. I hope you’re finally getting good & settled in. Moving is such a daunting challenge & I’m impressed that you were able to accomplish it with pain issues & such. Yay for audiobooks . . . at least in your case! I personally think the last book in the Bite of Betrayal series is definitely the best (maybe bc there’s a stalker?—lol). I don’t think you have to read them in order bc I couldn’t remember what happened in the previous books anyway! hahaha But for those of you with photographic memories, you may want to read each one consecutively.

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  10. I love Goal Review Day and seeing where you are on your reading journey. I keep my goals simple and easy, reading for fun is my main focus. My first goal is always to keep up with your number count by half. I’ve read 163 of my 250 yearly goal. And that’s over half of your 288 so that’s a win!

    My second goal is to start tracking my genre breakdown like you do. Contemporary 77, Historical 33 and Suspense 53. Yikes, my historical count is way down, I think because of so many series I’ve followed in contemp. I need to work on balancing that out this quarter. My suspense count is actually improving due to some series bingeing.

    My third goal is to read 10 new to me authors every quarter for a yearly goal of 40. I just hit 40 so that’s another goal completed, check.

    My fourth goal was a copy of your 26 in 26. I’m sitting at 16 right now, mainly because the others haven’t released yet. I don’t know why I picked my new release list, but I did and my last book isn’t releasing until the end of Nov. This will be my last goal completed for sure.

    Just for the fun of it I added another goal, read a book from all 50 states, or at least partially set there. I’m at 42 of the 50 and hope to finish the last 8 this third quarter, we’ll see. Some of those states aren’t easy to find. I’ve had to use a couple from the historical index.

    I have a yearly goal of keeping up with as many new releases of favorite authors as I can:

    Things We Cannot Keep by Amanda Cox.

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    1. Reading for fun should definitely be our primary focus for sure! We don’t want to goal the fun out of reading, right? 🙂 Love that you are meeting your goals. Tracking genre is interesting, isn’t it? I always thought of myself as a primarily historical fiction reader, but my stats say otherwise. I’m envious of your KU membership enabling that series bingeing tendency! I’ve done that a bit with audible plus from that sale they had a few months back and their Plus option often offered the first one or two books in a series and then you’re hooked and need to pay to read the rest. 🙂

      Picking new releases for your 26 in 26 goal is an interesting choice. Love that you’re up to date with what’s been released so far. Guess you know one of the books you will definitely be reading in December! For my list I picked books or authors that I’d stalled on for some reason or others. Some got left by the wayside when I pounced on shiny new releases, others like the Holly series I wanted to read but they are so angsty I kept hesitating to continue the series. And I guess I need that motivation because I got to cross off ‘Crossed Off’ my list and though I have the whole series now thanks to that audible sale, I’ve only read one other book after that one. Think I have four more to go, but they are so intense and some of the scenes are too graphic for me I really need to be in the right frame of mind to read them. I was drawn to lighter reads like cozy mysteries and romances during the upheaval of moving over these last few months – my comfort reads which I sorely needed.

      Wow – 42 states?! I’m at 30. Part of my problem is I’d get stuck on a series and tried to read all the books in that series which means I usually stayed in the same location! Plus, I’ve been reading internationally a lot too. I should do a graph next time for location reading. I track it but haven’t made it a specific ‘do or die’ kind of goal. 🙂

      Good luck, Tracey!

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      1. I used to think I was a 50/50 reader between contemporary and historical with a few suspense thrown into the mix. And that was probably true before I started going down series rabbit trails and KU. I think there are as many historical on KU as contemp, but I’ve found so many series by new to me authors that that is what has changed my stats. I may need to explore more historical series going forward.

        I can’t do the Holly series, you know I’m a big scaredy cat, and little to no romance?! nope. A few of the suspense I’ve read I had to be in the right mood for too. That Jorgia Yates series for example. I had said I wasn’t going to start the new series book, Breach, but I think maybe I could, maybe, lol.

        We still have 5 months to finish our 50 states so that should be fine. I know what you mean about series staying in one state though, doesn’t help at all. It’s always nice when a series moves from one place to another.

        I think I need to up my international reading. When picking books, first I look for a great cover then read the blurb. So many blurbs don’t attract me. Maybe I’m just to settled in my ways and need to give myself a goal for different countries next year. Food for thought 🙂

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      2. I have Collison Course on Jorgia Yates on my TBR must nudge it up a bit higher on my ever changing pile. 🙂 And no, the Holly series is absolutely not the suspense for you!!!!!!! Only 5 months left in the year?! Ack! I had organized my TBR as I unpacked it and was all set to get going on it but then I went for my first new library visit — eeeeppp — and I might have brought home books that I didn’t really need and I’ve started reading one of them. But I also brought home scads of books about urban gardening, they have a huge selection, and lots of info on shade gardening so that’s good. It’s a cute little branch — definitely smaller than my previous library but laid out very well and I noticed quite a few CF titles shelved in among the fiction shelves so that was exciting to see old friends in a new space.

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  13. 2. Touch base with an author because it’s been ages since I’ve read one of their books.

      FATAL FINALE by Nancy Mehl

      Release Date – August 18, 2026

      2clowns at arkansas dot net

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    1. The Heiress and the Woodsman by Christine Suntz checks more historical books.

      Thanks for the goal review day, so fun! tracey14567 atgmail.com

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    2. 3. Start reading a new series – starting with book #1

        SEEKING THE KIDNAPPED CHILD by Deena Alexander

        Release Date – July 28, 2026

        2clowns at arkansas dot net

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      1. The only “goal” for me at the moment is a read-to-zero on a quickly becoming a favorite author (if that makes any sense)! Pepper Basham is one of those writers who I am becoming quite fond of and really want to read more of….I still have quite a few of her books to go. So with that being said, the one book in a series that will definitely help is:

        The Cairo Curse by Pepper Basham (February 2023)

        teamob4 (at) gmail (dot) com

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      2. 1) A new author to me ~ Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure (Daughters of Genius Society #1) by Angela Bell – Bethany House Publishers, February 27, 2024 Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House lanehillhouse[at]gmail[dot]com

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      6. Kav, yay for goals review day! 🙂 For a book high on my want-to-read list I’ll say My Beloved by Jan Karon. I’d love to read it this Christmas season.

        ckbarker at gmail dot com

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      7. For my new-to-me author goal, I’ll say The Christmas Book Flood by Roseanna White. Yes, you read that right — I’ve not read a book by this author yet but have listed many of her books as want-to-read. I just haven’t gotten to them yet. So many books and too little time! 🙂

        ckbarker at gmail dot com

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      8. Here’s another one for my high on my want-to-read goal – A Scattering of Light by Lori Benton.

        Thanks, Kav!

        ckbarker at gmail dot com

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        1. It’s fun to check out our goal progress from time to time, isn’t it? As long as we don’t beat ourselves up over what we haven’t done. I’m pretty easy going that way…though oddly fixated on making my 26 in 26 list so we’ll see how that goes. lol Good luck, Cheryl!

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      12. I love your detailed goals and book stats! My only stat is the number of books I read, and I’m currently reading #100. That’s not even halfway to the 200+ I usually read, not sure why that is but I’ll just keep reading!

        Goal to continue a series: Bookmarked for Love by Sarah Monzon, 7/21

        Sandyavery at comcast dot net

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      13. #2 goal to keep current with a new author (loved The Lawyer and the Laundress):

        The Heiress and the Woodsman by Christine Hill Suntz, 8/11

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      16. Another goal I have is to read more Christmas set books.

        A Very English Christmas by Carrie Turansky, Marguerite Gray, & Carole Lehr Johnson

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      18. Every time I see your pie charts I want to make one, too! Maybe one day if I can figure out how to do it. 🙂 

        Read more new-to-me authors – “To Love a Lady” by Gabrielle Meyer

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        1. I’m the least statistic status minded person but Canva templates made it easy…even for me. And then I just have to update them every quarter. Easy Peasy. Good luck, Sabrina!

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      21. I’ve read 53 books of my goal of 100. Goodreads says I’m one book behind schedule. I’ve managed to read books for my local book club and Karen Witemeyer’s Posse challenge. I gave up on another reading challenge.

        Erica Vetsch’s book An Accusing at the Old Bailey (Sept.) will help me meet my reading goal.

        pmkellogg56[at]gmail[dot]com

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      22. I usually don’t have too many goals set–that way I’m not frustrated when I don’t reach them. LOL I’m going to say that I want to read Esther Hatch’s new book A Most Unfortunate Happenstance. I think I’ve read most of her books now except that one.

        whthomas13 at yahoo dot com

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      24. I’d like to get caught up on Gabrielle Meyer’s books. I’ve read a lot of hers and have loved them. I’d like to read To Love a Lady.

        whthomas13 at yahoo dot com

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      28. As usual, I’m a little bit behind on my yearly reading goal, so I need a book that I’m eager to read, such as Don’t Upstage the Body by Naomi Stephens

        manderley23 at gmail dot com

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      29. I don’t know if it’s a goal, but a few months back, I thought to myself that I’d like to read more books set during The Titanic and I recently discovered that one was upcoming! So, to that end, The Survivors Guild by Gabriella Saab would fit the bill quite nicely!

        manderley23 at gmail dot com

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      31. Love how you visualize your stats! My main goal this year is to read and review a higher percentage of my Netgalley books that have been on my list too long. I haven’t tracked the percentage yet, that would be interesting to do.

        Another goal is to catch up on series that I’ve fallen behind on: Love in a Mist by Sarah Eden from The Gents series.

        colorvibrant at gmail dot com

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        1. Catching up with Net Galley reads is a great goal. Since I only do audio books with them, I don’t get many so it’s easy enough for me to keep up but I know so many reviewers have a hard time keeping up with all the delectable ebook offerings. Good luck, Heidi!

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      34. I’m doing really well on book count this year – I’m easily maintaining the pace of four a week!

        1. The Bell Tolls at Traeger Hall by Jaime Jo Wright

        rdalquist AT gmail DOT com

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      35. I’ve been trying to read more independently published novels, which has the everlasting challenge of discovering new books. But for an older Indie:

        2. Wedding at Sea by Melissa Tagg

        rdalquist AT gmail DOT com

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