state of the arc #6

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

In keeping with last month's goals I did manage to increase my reading pace a little bit in the month of June, which has kept me more or less on track with my review copy deadlines! Although I did acquire a few new physical ARCs I've been very good about keeping NetGalley requests to a minimum; I'm starting to realize that the act of requesting is very satisfying in the moment, but I just don't enjoy eARCs as much as physical books. For a highly anticipated release I'm happy to be allowed access to any advance copy, no matter the format, but I'm trying to be much choosier in what I request on my own initiative.

Holding off on requests has also helped me to raise my NetGalley feedback ratio to 73%—yay!

Physical ARCs continue to be where I add as many—or even more than—I read in a given month. Thankfully I have very few with August release dates and quite a few with September releases, which should give me breathing room to not just stay on track, but get ahead! As of today I have nine ARCs with September publication dates and my goal is to have at least six of them finished with reviews drafted by the end of July.

SYMBOLS DECODED

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

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
Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

I also have 12 ARC reviews written and queued for posting! In July I'll have reviews for Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, Sea Witch by Sarah Henning, Fawkes by Nadine Brandes, Sanctuary by Caryn Lix, Contagion by Erin Bowman, and The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas.  Later in the year—or next year, in one case—I have reviews already lined up for Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart, Rust and Stardust by T. Greenwood, Mirage by Somaiya Daud, Wildcard by Marie Lu, Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand, and Enchantée by Gita Trelease!

ON THE HORIZON

I only have 4 ARCs with release dates in August or sooner, including a couple of low-pressure overdue titles. Hopefully this means I can not only get further ahead with my review copies, but my backlist titles as well! I'm really looking forward to Seafire by Natalie C. Parker, along with finally reviewing The Overneath, a collection of short stories by Peter S. Beagle. Skipping ahead to some fall reads, I'm excited for Sadie by Courtney Summers, Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer, and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton!

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!