This reading challenge, hosted by Austine & Katie @ NovelKnight, is all about knocking off those older books from your to-read list. Any genre, any format, any length. I participate in several group reads of older series so this fits my reading habits so very well. Last year, I read almost 80 books for this challenge, making a serious dent in my backlist. My pledge this year is to read 70 books for this challenge.
Guidelines
-
- The book must have been published in 2020 or earlier to count. It can be in any format (including an ARC/eARC) as long as the release date is 2020 or earlier (i.e. 2021 releases are not allowed).
- You have to start and finish the book in 2021 to count it. Any books started in 2020 and finished in 2021 do not count. Any books started in 2021 and finished in 2022 also do not count.
- The challenge runs from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
How to Join- POST your backlist TBR for the year somewhere online! This can be in the form of a blog post, instagram photo caption, Twitter thread, Goodreads shelf, YouTube video, whatever works for you! You are NOT locked into these books, it’s just something to get you started! Make sure to share a link to this page somewhere in your post so others can find the challenge!
- SIGN UP is not required this year! Just go to the site and grab your tools to create your challenge.
- READ backlist books and knock them off your TBR!
- SHARE your updates on social media!
Official Challenge Tags#BeatTheBacklist #BeatTheBacklist2021 #BTB2021
Get Your Challenge Tools Here!
My TBR Backlist(In alpha order)
After the End by Clare Mackintosh
✔After the Storm by Linda Castillo
American Predator by Maureen Callahan
✔Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo
The Au Pair by Emma Rous
✔The Awakening by Nora Roberts
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
✔Beach Read by Emily Henry
Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf
Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald
✔Best Laid Plans by Allison Brennan
The Better Liar by Tanen Jones
The Better Sister by Alafair Burke
The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz
Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine
✔Blood Lines by Angela Marsons
Blue Flowers by Carola Saavedra
The Body Lies by Jo Baker
The Book of Dreams by Nina George
The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
The Boy at the Door by Alex Dahl
The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
✔Broken Bones by Angela Marsons
Buried Deep by Margot Hunt
Call Your Daughter Home be Deb Spera
Chances Are…by Richard Russo
The Child by Fiona Barton
✔Child’s Play by Angela Marsons
The Christmas Pact by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward
✔Cold Snap by Allison Brennan
✔Compulsion by Allison Brennan
✔Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh
✔Dead Heat by Allison Brennan
✔Dead Memories by Angela Marsons
✔Dead Souls by Angela Marsons
✔The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo
Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Death and Other Happy Endings by Melanie Cantor
The Disappeared by Sibel Hodge
The Dreamers by Karen Walker Thompson
Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin
✔Dying Truth by Angela Marsons
The East End by Jason Allen
Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett
Everything You Are by Kerry Anne King
Faker by Sarah Smith
Fallen by Rebecca Zanetti
False Step by Victoria Helen Stone
✔Fatal Fraud by Marie Force
Fatal Inheritance by Rachel Rhys
✔Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons
A Favor for a Favor by Helena Hunting
Firewatching by Russ Thomas
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
Follow Me by Kathleen Barber
✔For Now, Forever by Nora Roberts
The Forgiving Kind by Donna Everhard
The Friends We Keep by Jane Green
Ghosted by Rosie Walsh
The Gift of Forgiveness by Katherine Schwartzenegger Pratt
✔The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda
Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger
Gone Too Long by Lori Roy
A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas
A Good Man by Ani Katz
The Good Neighbor by Cathryn Grant
The Good Sister by Gillian McAllister
Greenwood by Michael Christie
Half of What You Hear by Kristyn Kusek Lewis
✔Hard Pursuit by Pamela Clare
✔Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo
Her Mother’s Death by Daniela Petrova
Hidden by Rebecca Zanetti
✔A Hidden Secret by Linda Castillo
The Hidden Things by Jamie Mason
✔Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
✔The Highlander’s Christmas Countess by Anna Campbell
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
✔Home for the Holidays by Brenda Novak
House Rules by Ruby Lang
✔Ignite on Contact by Jaci Burton
I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie
The Killer in Me by Olivia Kiernan
✔A Killer’s Wife by Victor Methos
Killing Mind by Angela Marsons
The Last by Hanna Jameson
The Last Collection by Jeanne Mackin
Layla by Colleen Hoover
Layover by David Bell
The Liar’s Room by Simon Lelic
A Lie for a Lie by Helena Hunting
✔The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor
The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin
✔Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent
Little Lovely Things by Maureen Joyce Connelly
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
The Long Call by Alice Cleeves
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
✔The Lost Girls by Allison Brennan
The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
Lost You by Haylen Beck
Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
✔The MacGregor Brides by Nora Roberts
✔The MacGregor Grooms by Nora Roberts
✔Make Them Pay by Allison Brennan
Man of the Year by Caroline Louise Walker
Marilou is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith
Master Class by Christina Dalcher
✔Maximum Exposure by Allison Brennan
Me by Elton John
Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra
✔Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts
Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West
A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci
Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman
✔The Morning After by Lisa Jackson
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Carole Lombardo
My Ex-Best Friend’s Wedding by Wendy Wax
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan
✔Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson
Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin
✔The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
✔No Good Deed by Allison Brennan
Normal People by Sally Rooney
✔Notorious by Allison Brennan
Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge
On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl
✔One by One by Ruth Ware
✔One More for Christmas by Sarah Morgan
One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase
One Small Sacrifice by Hilary Davidson
One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan
✔Only the Lucky by Linda Castillo
✔Ordinary Hazards by Anna Bruno
The Other Mrs. Miller by Allison Dickson
The Other’s Gold by Elizabeth Ames
Out of Time by Monica McCarty
Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen
The Passengers by John Marrs
The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes
✔The Perfect Neighbor by Nora Roberts
A Philosophy of Ruin by Nicholas Mancusi
Physical Forces by D. D. Ayres
✔Play Dead by Angela Marsons
Playbook series by Alexa Marting
✔Poisonous by Allison Brennan
Precious You by Helen Monk Takhar
✔Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little
✔The Princess and the Rogue by Kate Bateman
The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
✔Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas
Raze by Roan Parrish
The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman
✔Rebellion by Nora Roberts
Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian
Rend by Roan Parrish
Reputation by Sara Shepard
✔Return to Virgin River by Robyn Carr
A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua
The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
✔Rock Chick Reawakening by Kristen Ashley
✔Rock Chick Redemption by Kristen Ashley
✔Rock Chick Rescue by Kristen Ashley
The Rumor by Lesley Kara
✔Save Your Breath by Melinda Leigh
The Second Sleep by Robert Harris
A Secret for a Secret by Helena Hunting
✔Secrets Never Die by Melinda Leigh
✔Shattered by Allison Brennan
She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
Snap by Belinda Bauer
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena
Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston by Robyn Crawford
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
The Suspect by Fiona Barton
Swimming for Sunlight by Allie Larkin
Taken by Rebecca Zanetti
Talk to Me by John Kenny
✔Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding
Tell Me Everything by Cambria Brockman
Temper by Layne Fargo
That Second Chance by Meghan Quinn
✔Their Christmas Baby Contract by Shannon Stacey
The Things I Know by Amanda Prowse
Their Last Breath by Sibel Hodge
✔Thick as Thieves by Sandra Brown
Things My Son Needs to Know About the World by Fredrik Backman
This is Not How it Ends by Rochelle B. Weinstein
Those People by Louise Candlish
✔The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
To the Lions by Holly Watt
Two to Die For by Allison Brennan
Unbreak Me by Michelle Hazen
The Unbreakables by Lisa Barr
A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker & Carol Lennig
Verity by Colleen Hoover
✔Waiting for a Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan
Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey
The Warehouse by Rob Hart
We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan
Weather by Jenny Offill
✔Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave
✔What I’ve Done by Melinda Leigh
What Lies Between Us by John Marrs
✔When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
When the Duke was Wicked by Lorraine Heath
Wife After Wife by Olivia Hayfield
✔The Winning Hand by Nora Roberts
✔Winter’s Camp by Jodi Thomas
The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
The Woman Inside by E. G. Scott
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher
Gah! Look at that TBR! I’ve got to be slowest reader in the entire book community lol That’s like 3 years worth of reading for me. Good luck completing this challenge 🙂
Thanks! I’m pretty greedy when it comes to books, reading about 150/year.
Oh, yes, now this I can get behind and do for next year! Will have to get organised. Thanks, Jo!
You’re welcome, Alexandra💜 This one makes me feel less guilty about being behind😏
Oh, I hear you, it’s like saying well I will read them now, because I’m doing the challenge. Incentive, right? 😉
Exactly!
What a list!! Looking forward to see what you get to this year 🙂
Thank you, Ren💜 My eyes are always bigger than my reading tummy😏
Same!!!
I am trying to do more of this but not in a challenge. Good luck!
Anne – Books of My Heart
Thank you, Anne💜 It makes me feel less guilty about reading books later than planned.
Love this! I’m in!
That’s great, Emily💜
I didn’t know the 2021 was live already! I’m definitely joining again as I always have so much fun with this challenge. Love your TBR! xx
Thanks, Yvo💜 I had to go searching for it. It’s a lot more low key this year.
I have so, so many books on my backlist, I will be dead before I can read them all. This is a good challenge for me as it might keep me on target instead of going off on tangents like I do. Good luck to you Jo.
Thank you, Carla💜 I also won’t live long enough to read everything on my shelf!