State of the ARC #5 | June ’18

State of the ARC Meme

State of the ARC is a monthly meme at Avalinah’s Books meant to motivate you to finish up all your long overdue ARCs(Advanced or Early Reader Copies). You can track your reading progress and link up with your own post. Most commonly it comes out on the 30th of every month.

My goal for my June ARC’s post was to be able to say that I finished reading all the “current titles” I had. There were five titles to work through. Three of the ARCs were Fantasy, and the last two are be Mysteries.

Let me start off this months State of the ARC by saying that I Did Not Finish (DNF) 5 books. … I feel incredibly guilty about that, but honestly, I don’t want to hang on to a story when I’m not feeling it. I don’t want to end up writing a horrible book review for a book that I did not like. It’s not worth my time and energy. Frankly I’d rather talk about the books that I actually liked and enjoyed. Firstly though, the books I DNF’d.

The ARCs I Did Not Finish (DNF) this month were:

Alive by Scott Sigler; Alive was a book that I requested when I first signed up for Netgalley. Unfortunately, I ended up DNF’ing this one at 82%. The story was just….not for me, to be quite honest. (review)
Ruthless Magic by Megan Crewe; I had high hopes for Ruthless Magic. There was so much I was looking forward to. However once I started reading the story I immediately realized that I only enjoyed one of the points of view (there are two POV’s). I ended up not liking this book, unfortunately. DNF’d at 13%
’89 Walls by Katie Pearson, at 10% . The story isn’t what I thought it would have been and I genuinely did not like the setting either.
I DNF’d a book this month that I wasn’t too proud of honestly. I wanted to like the book, but it wouldn’t have been fair to end up reviewing a book that I strongly disliked. I particularly feel bad about this DNF because the book is a children’s book.
The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M. J. Rose; I was fascinated by the prospect of the fantastical elements of this story that took place back in 1894. However, quickly into reading this one, I realized I did not like the story enough to finish it. Marked DNF at 23%. (review)

The ARC’s I read this month were:

Burn Girl by Mandy Mikulencak; Burn Girl is a book that I’ve had for a few years, pretty much sitting in my back pocket. AKA, I’ve had Burn Girl waiting to be read for a long while. Since I’ve read Arlie’s story now, I can say that it’s a pretty good one! Trigger Warning; Arlie’s mom is a drug addict who ends up dying pretty early on in the novel. (my review)
Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood; Another book that I’ve had for quite a while! I didn’t want to read it for the longest time, because I wasn’t in the right mood to read a Science Fiction novel. Now that I’ve read it though, I’m glad I waited!
The Spirit Chaser by Kat Mayor; I was looking forward to reading The Spirit Chaser because I was drawn in by the characters being stars of a reality tv shows that centred around Paranormal-Hunting. I was really hoping for a happy ending in this one, and ultimately…this book left me in legitimate tears. I cried for a while after I finished the novel.
A Wolf Apart by Maria Vale; A Wolf Apart wasn’t exactly what I was hoping it would be, but I still really enjoyed reading the story. Especially when my favourite characters from the previous book were introduced into the storyline again.

I’m actually quite relieved that I’ve gotten a few of the older ARC’s I had off my plate. Even the ones that I ended up marking as DNF. I was really in the mood to read the older ARC’s I had, which worked out perfectly, since I read a few of the older ARC’s I had, as well as a newer ARC I had received in May.

While I only finished 4 ARC’s this month, I’m leaving June and entering July reading 2 ARC’s. The first, Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden. The second, Has to Be Love byJolene Perry.

I’m hoping that Has To Be Love gets more interesting…but I’m really not for the whole “I’m in love with my teacher” vibe this book has going on.

Annie on My Mind holds promise! I’m about 13-ish% into the novel. I can already tell that Annie on My Mind is going to test me. There are some moments where the story is really cute and sweet and completely adorable. Other times the story gives me a little bit of anxiety.

I feel like I requested a few ARC’s over the course of June because ~~I can’t hold back and~~ there are actually a lot of interesting books coming out in the following months. However, I just checked my requesting details and whatnot on netgalley. It shows that I haven’t actually requested any books this month. I’m oddly proud of that fact. I guess I’m really starting to gear down and working my way through the ARC’s I already have! Yay!

It was difficult not requesting any books this month, because there are just…so many books that are going to be publishing over the next few months, that sound amazinly interesting. Speaking of which.. I am soooo excited for the books coming out! The ones I ended up not requesting I have suggested as a purchase to my local library, and same goes for the books that I was denied — Even the ones in the past that I ended up not receiving. Which is still okay because there’s a chance that the library will get them (and if not, I can always buy an e-copy of the books)!

I started this months’ State of the ARC at a 52% feedback ratio percentage on Netgalley. I’m very happy to say that I’m now at a 57% feedback ratio! My goal for July is to have a a 60% FBR, at least.