2024 Out of Comfort Zone Reading Challenge 💗 Mid-Year Checkin

Hello fellow bookworms 💗 We’re halfway into this year and I wanted to update you on my Out of Comfort Zone Challenge – once again I’m doing this Mid-Year Checkin separately from the other Reading Challenges. I started the OOCZ Challenge in 2020 and I have loved branching out more when it comes to my reading! Today, I wanted to reflect on what I have been reading so far that counts toward my challenge and how I have liked all the books that I read. If you’re interested in the challenge, there is still time to join! I’ll leave the signup open until the end of the year, so you can join any time if you want to 😊

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• Out of Comfort Zone 2024 Reading Challenge 💗 We’re back for another year!
• My 2024 Out of Your Comfort Zone Challenge TBR 💗

What is the Out of Your Comfort Zone Reading Challenge? 💗

The aim of this challenge is to read books that you consider to be outside of your comfort zone. The Challenge itself is tailored to your goals, so it’s going to be really relaxed and individual as everyone has a different definition of their comfort zone. You can set yourself a number of books to read in a particular genre (or subgenre, age range, etc.) or make a TBR with books you hope to get to!

Signup Form // Form for your monthly progress // Canva Template

The Guidelines 💗

• The Challenge runs from January 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2024
• If you want to join, you can do so all year until the challenge ends ♥
• The goal of the reading challenge is to read genres/age ranges outside of your comfort zone (be as broad or specific as you’d like to be with that)
• This is all very relaxed, so do whatever works best for you, be it how many categories, books, and TBR’s as you want!

How you can join 💗

• Fill out the sign-up form if you’re interested in joining!
• You can join by setting up a post on your platform, be it Blog, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. with your reading goals/TBR for the Readathon
• Share your TBR’s/Posts/Progress throughout the year with the hashtag #oocz2024!

Levels & Badges 💗

I have reached the ‘Explorer’ Level

• ✅ EXPLORER: Read 20 books outside of your comfort zone

#outofcomfortzonechallenge Books 💗 26 Books Read

** The pictures show my favorite books from each category 🥰

I barely read one Sci-Fi book and I’m super sad about it 😢 I literally just finished Ghost Station, otherwise I wouldn’t have any book to talk about. I’ve not been doing too well with checking out different genres and tend to rely on my comfort genres (because I’m in a frustrating, stressful situation with my job hunt) 😅 Luckily, next month’s Devour Your TBR challenge is to check out sci-fi books, so I’ll focus on reading more from this genre then!

• Favorite Book: Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes ⭐

1 Book Read

• Ghost Station (S.A. Barnes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I don’t read historical fiction often, so three books is good for me! I found a new favorite historical romance in Half a Soul and read a great Manga with a historical setting so I’m happy about the majority of my reads ❤️ Unfortunately, A Restless Truth was a miss for me, but I hope the last book in the series is better – I plan on reading it before the end of the year!

• Favorite Book: Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater ⭐

3 Books Read

• Half a Soul (Olivia Atwater) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
• The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 1 (Itsuki Nanao, Nekokurage, Natsu Hyuuga) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• A Restless Truth (Freya Marske) ⭐⭐.5

I’ve been doing well with reading Mystery/Thriller books! My enjoyment of the books I read was a mixed bag. I loved the three books I featured and had so much fun with them, I definitely recommend How to Find a Missing Girl, Killer Instinct and Even If We Break 🥰 The rest of the books were enjoyable but didn’t blow me away, I expected a bit more from The Night in Question and The Reappearance of Rachel Price 🤔

• Favorite Book: How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok ⭐

7 Books Read

• How to Find a Missing Girl (Victoria Wlosok) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
• Killer Instinct (Jennifer Lynn Barnes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Even If We Break (Marieke Nijkamp) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Reappearance of Rachel Price (Holly Jackson) ⭐⭐⭐.5
• The Night in Question (Kathleen Glasgow, Liz Lawson) ⭐⭐⭐.5
• Their Vicious Games (Joelle Wellington) ⭐⭐⭐
• No One Can Know (Kate Alice Marshall) ⭐⭐⭐

Since I still don’t read much Horror, I’m happy with my progress! I’m more likely to read Horror during Fall and especially during October, so I know that by the end of the year, I’ll have read more books in this genre! I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read so far and even read my very first Horror manga! Ghost Station is Sci-Fi Horror, so it fits into two categories and I’ve loved this subgenre 👀

• Favorite Book: Cursed Cruise by Victoria Fulton & Faith McClaren ⭐

3 Books Read

• Ghost Station (S.A. Barnes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Cursed Cruise (Victoria Fulton, Faith McClaren) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1 (Gege Akutami) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Compared to last year I barely read any nonfiction. I usually try to read one per month, but that clearly didn’t work out this year. I noticed that I hadn’t read any nonfiction recently and I have been making an effort to check out some self-help books like I Didn’t Do the Thing Today or Mindset! I’ve enjoyed both of them and I’m hoping to read more relevant self-help books that might be helpful for my current frame of mind!

• Favorite Book: I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore ⭐

2 Books Read

• I Didn’t Do the Thing Today (Madeleine Dore) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Mindset (Carol S. Dweck) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The only thing I’ve been keeping up with is reading Adult books! I read significantly less than last year, but I’m still happy with my progress as I found some great books to enjoy 🥰 I’ve mostly been reading from authors I know, but I loved discovering Olivia Atwater and Lana Harper this year! I also read my first adult manga, which was Cherry Magic! a cute Boys Love manga with a magical twist 😊

• Favorite Book: Funny Story by Emily Henry ⭐

18 Books Read

1. Funny Story (Emily Henry) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
2. Cherry Magic! Vol. 1 (Yuu Toyota) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
3. Half a Soul (Olivia Atwater) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
4. Bookshops & Bonedust (Travis Baldree) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. Business or Pleasure (Rachel Lynn Solomon) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. Do Your Worst (Rosie Danan) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. Ghost Station (S.A. Barnes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
8. Payback’s a Witch (Lana Harper) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
9. I Didn’t Do the Thing Today (Madeleine Dore) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. Mindset (Carol S. Dweck) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
11. The Dragons of Nova (Elise Kova) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
12. From Bad to Cursed (Lana Harper) ⭐⭐⭐.5
13. Time to Shine (Rachel Reid) ⭐⭐⭐.5
14. In the Event of Love (Courtney Kae) ⭐⭐⭐.5
15. Godkiller (Hannah Kaner) ⭐⭐⭐
16. No One Can Know (Kate Alice Marshall) ⭐⭐⭐
17. The Rebels of Gold (Elise Kova) ⭐⭐.5
18. A Restless Truth (Freya Marske) ⭐⭐.5

Have you read any books outside of your comfort zone this year? Did you find any new favorite books? 💗