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 January with 15 ARCs left to be read. 

Wow, reflecting back on February makes me realize how fast this month flew by. It doesn’t feel like much happened, but looking back, I realize how much got packed into this month. I was also so surprised to realize while preparing this that I have been doing State of the ARC posts for four years consistently.

There wasn’t enough time to get everything that I wanted to do, but I’ve been making some strides. Pun intended, since I strained my Achilles tendon by taking one slow step at home. Luckily, I was able to see the orthopedist, where I was given a walking cast,  prescribed more physical therapy, and rest and ice. The boot is more comfortable than I expected, but it is exceedingly difficult to walk with one boot that has heel lifts to manage the injury. It’s kind of like wearing a high heel on one foot and a flat on the other, and walking too much is painful. It doesn’t help that my body alignment is thrown off because of this, and I can’t drive until the boot is off. Fortunately, my mom has been a huge help and is fine with driving me around to all my appointments.

Because of this, I’ve been spending more time just resting and learning to accept that my body needs time to heal, and it is okay not to be able to do all the things. I have been getting signs pointing towards increasing my self-care since the year started, and I guess the universe didn’t think I was moving fast enough and made it so that I had to relax and take it easy. 

February was also a fantastic month for ARCs. I was almost fully caught up, but then I got a last minute approval of an audiobook about mindfulness that I’m actually really excited to sit with and practice. Although I’m doing everything I can to take care of my health, mindfulness is an area that I can definitely use some help with. So at this point, I only have one late ARC, but to be fair, I got the book after it was published. All I have to do is to take a little time to read and practice. My ratio kept steady at 97%, and I am so excited about it. So as of today, I only have one book that is past due, but that’s not my fault. 

This is one of those rare months where I got my post prepared and scheduled, only for two last minute ARCs to get approved in February. While I was riding high on my ratio, I wasn’t surprised to see it drop down to 96%. Guess I’ll have to read even more in March!

I am really excited to see my total number of ARCs creep down from high in the twenties to the mid-teens, even though I couldn’t stop myself from requesting. As long as I read more ARCs than I get, the numbers will keep going down. So let’s hope that this tendon injury will push me to get more done, since I can’t really do much other than walk very short distances, and I’m just sitting around with nothing else to do. As usual, my goal is to get to single digits of ARCs, but the only way I’m going to be able to do that is to be very picky about the books I’m requesting.

Here’s how this month went for my NG ARCs:

I got approved for 9 new books in February:

1. The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan
2. Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne
3. Maya and Natasha by Elyse Durham
4. Roommating by Meredith Schorr
5. Daily Mindfulness: A 31 Day Guide to Mental Clarity by Alex Smith-Powell
6. Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher
7. Make Yourself at Home by Wendy Clarke
8. The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao
9. Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben

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

1. A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling — see my review here.
2. Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano — see my review here.
3. I Am the Cage by Allison Sweet Grant — see my review here.
4. Maya and Natasha by Elyse Durham — see my review here.
5. The Sirens by Emilia Hart — see my review here.
6. Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine — see my review here.
7. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher — see my review here.

Here are the ARCs I still have to read:

1. Daily Mindfulness: A 31 Day Guide to Mental Clarity by Alex Smith-Powell | Amazon
2. Make Yourself at Home by Wendy Clarke | Amazon
3. Saltwater by Katy Hays | Amazon
4. Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen | Amazon
5. Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben | Amazon
6. Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi | Amazon
7. My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende | Amazon
8. A Charming Touch of Tarot by Melissa Holtz | Amazon
9. Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler | Amazon
10. Roommating by Meredith Schorr | Amazon
11. The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao | Amazon
12. Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman | Amazon
13. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Amazon
14. High Season by Katie Bishop | Amazon
15. The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan | Amazon
16. Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne | Amazon
17. Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher | Amazon

Which ARCs are you excited about this month? Do we have any in common? Have you already read any of these?