Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2026 - April Update: Madame Fourcade's Secret War & Hyperbole and a Half

Happy Saturday everyone!  I hope everyone's had a good April so far.  I've now completed 6 tasks for Book Riot's 2026 Read Harder Challenge.  The tasks I completed in April required me to read a nonfiction book about resistance and a nonfiction comic.  I selected Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson and Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh respectively.  Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month:

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Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson is a book I'd been eyeing at the library for a few years now and I'm glad Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge finally got me to check it out.  Honestly, I should have learned about Marie-Madeleine Fourcade earlier.  She was a fascinating and inspiring woman.  Why isn't her name and her story common knowledge?  I love the author's style and I will absolutely be checking out more of her work in the future.  If you liked Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis, Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham, Squirrel Is Alive: A Teenager in the Belgian Resistance and French Underground by Mary Rostad, and A Call to Spy (2019), you have to try this work of nonfiction book.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh has been on my radar since forever and I'm glad I finally picked it up.  I didn't realize that I'd actually seen some of the illustrations before online either.  I wasn't quite expecting the style of it, but it worked for me.  If you're a fan of Jenny Lawson's work you might like this too.  I'll have to check out more from Brosh soon.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

Next Up For May:

May

Read a romantasy book with a queer and/or BIPOC main character

My choice: A Rival Most Vial: Potioneering for Love and Profit (Side Quest Row #1) by R.K. Ashwick - I just found out about this and it sounds really cool.

Read a work of magical realism or fabulism

My choice: White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi - This is another one that's been on my TBR for a very long time.  It's time to check it off.

Are you taking part in this challenge?  Have you read either of these books?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!