State of the ARC is a monthly meme temporarily hosted by Sarah at All The Book Blog Names Are Taken meant to motivate you to finish up your long overdue ARCs (Advanced or Early Reader Copies). This is its original intention, while some bloggers have tweaked it a bit for their own purposes, such as just keeping ARCs in order by due dates. Or you can just be a hot mess like me who sometimes misses publishing dates (or ignores them altogether) and needs a way to stay organized on what has been read, reviewed, or is still begging for attention. Thank you to Evelina @ Avalinah’s Books for coming up with this super helpful monthly meme.

I finished July with 23 ARCs left to be read. 

I really did try to focus on getting through some more of my ARCs this month, but the trend of the universe laughing in my face has continued. I’m dealing with my own health issues, and visiting a bunch of doctors. September looks to be the same, with a lot more appointments and some testing scheduled, so I’m probably not going to get on top of my ARC backlog. I usually try to get my ARCs read at least a month in advance, but that clearly didn’t happen this month, and I doubt it’s going to happen next month either. I did manage to briefly get my ratio up to 94%, but a last minute approval knocked it back down to 93%.

I got approved for 4 new books in August:

• Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
• He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
• A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter
• A Victorian Grimoire by Patricia Telesco

These are the ARCs that I read and reviewed, with links to my reviews:

• Where the Dead Sleep by Joshua Moehling — see my review here.
• Famine by Laura Thalassa — see my review here.
• Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree — see my review here.
• After That Night by Karin Slaughter — see my review here.
• He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan — see my review here.
• Death by Laura Thalassa — see my review here.

Here are the ARCs I still have to read:

• The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle by T.L. Huchu
• The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer
• Hex and the City by Kate Johnson
• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
• The Kitchen Witch Handbook by Aurora Kane
• A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
• The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan
• The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
• A Victorian Grimoire by Patricia Telesco
• A Box of Magick by Jamie Della
• Spoon to be Dead by Dana Mentink
• The Reformatory by Tananarive Due 
• A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter
• My Tel Aviv Table by Limor Chen
• The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
• A Bean to Die For by Tara Lush
• Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
• Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
• Since She’s Been Gone by Sagit Schwartz
• Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering
• Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Which ARCs are you excited about this month? Do we have any in common? Have you already read any of the ones on my list?