Romance books and board games…two things we adore. We wanted to create a romance reading challenge that combined the fun of a board game with our love of romance books and all the wonderful subgenres it contains. Something that was visual and interactive but easy to dive into.

And so, in a gloomy castle – aka terraced house in England and a condo in Florida – with a great Wi-Fi signal, a flash of lightning and much evil cackling the Romanceopoly 2025 reading challenge was born. Whether you are an old hand with romance or you are new to the genre, we thought this would be a fantastic way to discover new books and authors and catch up on things that have been languishing on the TBR. Join us for our fifth year of the Romanceopoly yearly reading challenge.

Ready for the Best 2025 Reading Challenge?

Welcome to Romanceopoly 2025! This year, we’ve given our reading challenge a glow-up to make it more fun, flexible, and perfect for romance readers like you. Whether you’re a longtime fan or just hearing about this for the first time, we’re here to help you find your next book obsession—and maybe make some new bookish friends along the way.

Watch our Romanceopoly 2025 announcement video

What Is Romanceopoly 2025 Reading Challenge?

This year, Romanceopoly is transforming in a way that’s bigger and better than ever before! If you’ve joined us in the past, you already know the thrill of rolling the dice and making your way around the challenge board, but get ready for something completely new and immersive. We’ve said goodbye to the traditional Monopoly-style board and welcomed a brand new design—introducing Romanceopoly 2025, a whimsical map filled with four distinct towns, each bursting with its own seasonal charm.

Instead of moving through generic spaces, you’ll now wander through quaint streets, vibrant markets, enchanted forests, and lively plazas. Each town—whether it’s the wintry wonders of Frostwood Village or the sun-soaked magic of Sunset Bay—offers unique landmarks and story-inspired prompts to explore at your own pace. There are now cozy seasonal events, special lives shows, and group reads to make every season feel like an adventure within an adventure.

Romanceopoly 2025 Board

How to Play Romanceopoly 2025

You do you! This challenge works however you want:

• Roll the Dice: Want to keep it spontaneous? Roll dice and move through the street in the map to pick your next prompt.
• Stroll Through the Seasons: Prefer to keep things seasonal? Follow the map in order and match your books to the time of year.
• Are your seasons reversed? Then disregard the dates and read the season you’re on.

Romanceopoly 2025 Seasonal Towns

Each town has five reading prompts, so there are 20 core prompts in the yearly reading challenge, meaning you’ll be reading 20 books in 2025 to complete the challenge. You’ll also find specific dates assigned to each within the year-long challenge, which runs from January 1, 2025, to December 1, 2025:

• Winter (Frostwood Village): January 1 – March 31
• Spring (Blossom Falls): April 1 – June 30
• Summer (Sunset Bay): July 1 – September 30
• Fall (Amber Heights): October 1 – December 31

Optional Reading

If you want to read more than the 20 core prompts for the year, then we have some optional parts of Romanceopoly 2025 that you can add in to your plan.

Holidate Bonus Challenges

Each season also has four optional Holidate prompts inspired by seasonal celebrations. That’s 16 extra prompts if you’re up for it. But if you’re not? No big deal. You can pick and choose the holidates you want to complete, read the ones you want. Read some, read none or read all. These are not landmarks you’ll find on the “map”.

Seasonal Events

Each season brings a special, week-long event! Do one, none or all. No pressure, no FOMO! And guess what? You can even join the seasonal events without doing the entire year-long challenge. We’re flexible like that. These week-long events are dated to ensure everyone enjoys the experience together, meaning you have to complete the prompts during the assigned week. Each event will have 6 prompts and you’ll be able to double or triple up on prompts, meaning one book can count for multiple prompts—but only for special events! You will see the special events on the map but remember they are not landmarks for you to “land” on when you’re making your way through the board.

Mark your calendars:

• Winter Market Square: February 24 – March 2
  Live Video: Saturday, March 1, 2025
• Spring Renaissance Fair: June 23 – June 29
  Live Video: Saturday, June 28, 2025
• Camp Firefly: September 22 – September 28
  Live Video: Saturday, September 27, 2025
• Urban Legends Nights: December 8 – December 14
  Live Video: Saturday, December 13, 2025

Earn Badges and Prizes

We’re also introducing an exciting new way to celebrate your progress! As you journey through Romanceopoly, you’ll have the chance to earn exclusive badges. Each badge earned grants you free subscriptions to our paid community on Substack, giving you access to exclusive content, chats, and more. It’s our way of recognizing your dedication and making sure your reading adventure is filled with even more perks and community love!

• First Chapter Badge: Finish 5 town prompts or a seasonal event (1 month free).
• Romance Rising Badge: Finish the 5 prompts plus the holidates for one town (3 months free).
• Page Turner Badge: Finish all 20 core prompts (6 months free).
• Eternal Flame Badge: Crush all 20 prompts and all 16 Holidates (1 year free).

Claim Your Prize

To claim your prize, you must track your progress either through the website tracker on underthecoversbookblog.com or by using a public StoryGraph account with the challenge tracker. Once you’ve completed the requirements, complete this form to submit your claim! You don’t have to wait until the challenge is finished. Submit as soon as you qualify so you get instant access to the paid community.

How to Track Your Progress

Keeping track is easy—we’ve got you covered:

1. Printable and digital resources: Download the board, prompts, cards and guidebook, plus promotional material about the challenge.
2. StoryGraph: Join our official StoryGraph challenge.
3. Website Tracker: Log your progress on our site and get instant achievements.

Recommendations

As we post our book recommendations lists for each prompt, we’ll be linking them in the Storygraph challenge, the website tracker and you can find them at any time here on the blog.

Join the Fun

This challenge is as much about community as it is about books. Share your progress and connect with other readers by:

• Using #Romanceopoly on social media or videos (feel free to tag us on all of that @utcbookblog).
• Joining our Substack community for exclusive recommendations, live chats, and more. You can subscribe for free and you’ll also get a monthly Romanceopoly newsletter, along with community extras.

We’ll be here every step of the way to cheer you on, share book recs, and celebrate your milestones.

Ready to Start?

Here’s your game plan:

1. Download Your Resources: Grab your map, prompts, and tracker here.
2. Pick a Digital Tracker: Storygraph or our website to track your reads online and get ready to claim prizes.
3. Plan Your TBR: Start making a plan for what books you can possibly read for each prompt! Planning is half the fun.
4. Follow Us: Stay in the loop with our blog, Substack, and social channels. Don’t forget that Substack will be the official Romanceopoly hub so be sure you’re subscribed there for free.

Whether you’re here to smash all 36+ prompts or just casually check out a few, Romanceopoly 2025 is your ticket to an amazing bookish year. Let’s make it one to remember. Happy reading!

Read more:

• All Romanceopoly book recommendations

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