2026 Holiday Reading Challenge | The Running Bibliophile

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Who doesn’t love a good challenge, especially when it pushes you to read outside your comfort zone or discover a new author? I’ve always wanted to join a reading challenge or reading bingo, but so many of them feel repetitive. So, I decided to create something a little different. It doesn’t mean a challenge like this isn’t out there; I just haven’t come across one myself. Introducing The Running Bibliophile’s 2026 Holiday Reading Challenge, a fun and unique way to expand your reading list while celebrating the spirit of the year. This challenge features 14 books of your choice, with one key twist: each book’s plot must revolve around the specific holiday mentioned. The challenge runs for January 1 through January 31, 2026. To keep things exciting, you may not duplicate any books on the list. By the time you've completed the challenge, you will have read 14 new books to diversify your reading list. To kick things off, the first prompt is simple: choose any holiday-themed book as l...
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Book Review: Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum, #13) by Janet Evanovich

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lean mean thirteen stephanie plum janet evanovichIn Lean Mean Thirteen, written by Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum does a favor for Ranger by planting a bug in her ex-husband Dickie Orr's office. In the process of doing this, Stephanie sees one of their wedding presents, a clock, on his desk and tells him it is now hers. She then sees a picture of her arch nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, on Dickie's desk and goes ballistic . . . punching and hitting him (and more). Unfortunately for Stephanie, the whole office sees her do this, so when Dickie goes missing, she's the number one suspect in his case.

Overall, I enjoyed this book because it featured Ranger quite heavily, but I am growing tired of him always saying how he is barely keeping control of himself from having sex with Stephanie. I'd really like to see Stephanie's character finally get over her commitment phobia and settle down with Joe Morelli, her on again off again boyfriend. Morelli isn't in it too much and that was quite disappointing to me because I love the interactions between the two. What was nice is that is seems that Ranger and Morelli seem to come to a tentative agreement to like each other as people and that both of their focus is to keep Stephanie alive. Something else that I was glad to see was that it did have continuity from her between the numbers book Plum Lovin' (Stephanie Plum, # 12.5).

All in all, it was still funny and enjoyable, and it let me forget about the real world while I read Lean Mean Thirteen. There were even a couple of laugh out loud moments, and it takes a lot to make me laugh. What is even nicer is that it kept my attention the entire time unlike other books I've read. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Now, on to another book!

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