state of the arc #5

State of the ARC is a monthly meme hosted by Avalinah's Books. It's a way to track your reading progress and see how fellow book bloggers are doing as well.

The rules for State of the ARC are quite simple; I couldn't put them any better than Evelina already has:

• Mention that you’re linking up with State of the ARC @ AvalinahsBooks, which is a fun way to share our ARC progress, challenges, wins, woes and mishaps.
• Include the link to this post, or the current State of the ARC post. You can use my State of the ARC image too.
• Don’t forget to visit all the other people in the link-up and comment.
• And most importantly – have fun!

ARC STATS

The distribution may have shifted a little, but my numbers still look much the same as last month. My overall reading pace for May dropped compared to the rest of the spring thanks to a week-and-a-half film festival that demanded most of my free time. Miraculously, I'm not all that behind though. My blogging calendar is filled out through July so as long as I stay mindful of it I should be okay. It is a little disappointing not to see my numbers go down, although I blame some zealous ARC acquisitions in the second half of the month more than my slower pace. I was so good during the fest (because I knew I wasn't reading, therefore: no requests allowed!) but as soon as it ended it was like I had to make up for lost time.

There is good news for both my Edelweiss+ and NetGalley feedback ratios, though! NetGalley crept up to 63%; I reviewed two books but got approved for a couple more, as well. And Edelweiss+ skyrocketed from 0% to 50%! Like many other bloggers, I get very few requests approved on there and none of those I did get were releasing until this summer. My poor luck on that site has made it kind of drop off my radar, but I'm happy to finally have the stats to show that I do actually review what publishers approve for me.

SYMBOLS DECODED

I've posted six ARC reviews since the last check-in:

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Onyx & Ivory by Mindee Arnett
What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine
All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella's Stepmother by Danielle Teller
Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Legendary by Stephanie Garber

I also have 9 ARC reviews written and queued for posting! In June I'll have reviews for Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne, Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton, My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton, Lies You Never Told Me by Jennifer Donaldson, and Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young.  Later in the year—or next year, in one case—I have reviews already lined up for Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, Contagion by Erin Bowman, Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand, and Enchantée by Gita Trelease!

Another month, another couple of DNFs as well. But...can you DNF a book you never started? I wound up coming home from a convention with an ARC of Smoke in the Sun, the sequel to Flame in the Mist. I hadn't read Flame yet, but it was on my to-read list so I got started on it. Fifty pages in, I knew this wasn't the series for me and moved the sequel off my to-read shelf as well. I was also really looking forward to The Maw, a horror/thriller billed as being similar to Michael Crichton's work. Except...you know that kind of male protagonist who sometimes makes it onto Twitter? Fixated on how his ex looks, trying not to look down women's shirts, and just an overall douche? Yeah, the main character was one of those. I'm also skipping my e-ARC of The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington for totally mood-related reasons. If I still haven't bothered picking it up after a couple more months, then I'll decide if I want to keep it around.

ON THE HORIZON

I have 8 ARCs with release dates in July or sooner, including a couple of low-pressure overdue titles. I'm really looking forward to books like Fawkes, The Cheerleaders, Sanctuary, and Grace & Fury! There are also some very tempting titles coming out later in the year that I probably won't be able to restrain myself from reading, like Melmoth, Damsel, Mirage, Not Even Bones, and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. Remember when I said that the spring was chock-full of new releases and my fall calendar was a barren wasteland? Yeah...I spoke too soon (thankfully!)

Will we be covering any of the same ARCs this month? Let me know which review you're most looking forward to in the comments below!