2021 Beat the Backlist Challenge

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
  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 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
  ✔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 Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase
  One Small Sacrifice by Hilary Davidson
  One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan
  ✔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
  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
  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
  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