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).
March was an unexpected ARC month for me as I had a lot of new release ARCs due for release this month. Thanks to January’s Late-a-thon providing me with a way to catch up with a lot of my overdue ARCs, I was able to get my ARC reading (mostly) back on track just in time for many of my new releases. Thankfully, this month’s reading was went much better than last month’s reading as well so it was a great reading month all around!
As of the end of March I am also going on a new release ARC break, with the exception of the four new releases I have coming up in April and May. Although being approved for new release ARCs and getting to read them ahead of release is massively exciting and something that I am always, always incredibly thankful for I have found it making reading a bit stressful lately as well as taking over my TBR’s. I want to start focusing more on the books I own as well as books from the library.
Current State of the ARC
I managed to read 3 ARCs, DNF one and am currently reading 1 (alongside reading another 4 non-ARC books) so I’m pretty damn happy with my progress this month and I didn’t request a single additional ARC. Last month I felt like I had my ARCs much more under control, and now I can say that I definitely feel in control of my ARCs with the exception of a few outstanding ARCs which will be my next priority as well as catching up with my reviews for the last few ARCs I read.
Read/Currently Reading
You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman – ★★★★★
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I fell in love with this book and I think this is one that’s going to stay with me for a long time. In care you missed my review, you can find it here
New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl – ★★★★☆
One of the ARCs I was most looking forward to this year and New Suns didn’t disappoint. It was a wonderful spread of stories from a wide range of different authors across different genres which came together to form this brilliant collection. I had wanted to post the review up in time for its release but haven’t yet had a chance.
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling – ★★★☆☆
I had been looking forward to The Luminous Dead as it was something a little out of my usual comfort zone. Whilst I enjoyed it, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me sadly. Another one that I need to hurry up and write up my review for!
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
I’m currently reading my ARC of Wicked Saints which I sadly didn’t get a chance to finish in time for my spot on the blog tour. I’m enjoying taking my time a bit more with this one though as I’ve been really enjoying it so far.
Acquired
The Migration by Helen Marshall (Publisher)
Whilst I didn’t request any ARCs this month, I did receive my copy of The Migration from the publisher which I am looking forward to reading, also the cover for it is so stunning and I am super thankful for getting a physical copy of this.
One of the major lessons I think I’ve learned this month is that it is okay to miss out. A lot of my ARC requesting has been focused on not wanting to miss out on big upcoming releases and wanting to help hype up the books prior to release through reviewing. However, I’ve come to the realization that I don’t always have to load myself up with ARCs to support those books and that I can read them once they’ve come out. This has definitely helped take a lot of the pressure off and, hopefully, means that I won’t get in another situation where I get super behind again on overdue ARCs.
As I mentioned, I’m going to be slowing down the amount of ARCs I’m reading over the next few months but I do have Emily Eternal to look forward to as well as Summer Bird Blue (*screaming*) which I’m also on the blog tour for in April.
As always, let me know how your March went especially I know the reading slump continued for some of you and let me know what ARCs your looking forward to reading in April.
Red Rocket Panda 
I read You Asked For Perfect and, while I haven’t finished my review for it, I can honestly say that I agree with you! It’s amazing!
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I’m trying to cut back on accepting ARCs as well… I have let too many pile up again, so now I’m stressing over reading them
Nice progress on your bingo!
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I’m so glad to hear you liked You Asked For Perfect. SO excited to read it in the future! I’ve cut back a lot on ARCs lately and what you said about missing out/not missing out is exactly what I needed to hear.
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