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 April with 13 ARCs left to be read. 

May flew by for me. It was a busy but ultimately joyful month. I’ve been more assertive about needing a little bit of time to rest between tasks I used to be able to do regularly. My mom has been more understanding of how I structure my days, and I have been working on keeping our schedules organized and easy to manage. Both of us are learning how to prioritize self-care more.

While April was a busy month with holidays and family, May was more about appointments, slowing our pace, and accepting that with more patience towards each other and ourselves. For me, part of it was taking some time off from everything except resting and listening to audiobooks when I could, and it helped a lot, although it threw off my regular posting schedule just as I was getting back into the swing of things. As I was getting caught up on blogging and life in general, I was also catching up on shows that I only really watch while I’m working on the computer. I have some very eclectic taste in shows, and I was looking for something new to replace Grey’s Anatomy (now that they got rid of Grey, I wasn’t finding myself enthusiastic to watch the stories of staff that took the place of nearly all of my favorite characters). I wound up watching some old episodes of SVU, Monsters Inside Me (parasites are equal parts horrifying and fascinating), a re-watch of Season 1 of Nine Perfect Strangers to get ready for Season 2, new episodes of Will Trent that I hadn’t seen, and finally The Better Sister. Ironically, I just realized that of these shows, three are based on books.

May didn’t involve nearly as much reading as I had hoped, and for the first time in a while (if I’m not mistaken) I reviewed fewer books than I got approved for. I was disappointed to see my number of ARCs slowly creeping back up, but it was because I took that unexpected down time. Maybe a daily practice of doing something kind for my body is in need for June. Anyone who likes the idea can feel free to take it and adapt it for yourself, since I think we can all benefit from doing something kind for our bodies (and minds) in today’s world. I’m pretty sure just mentioning this to one of my besties turned into both of us doing it! The more the merrier.

Although I got approved for more books than I read, my ratio stayed steady at 97%. No complaints here, and the ARCs I read were really good. I’m starting to feel better, and while I don’t do well in the heat, there are some activities I’ll risk it for, like catching up with a high school era bestie to watch the band debut of my college bestie. Hopefully this means that June is going to include more balance for me, and a focus on gratitude and positivity. Several of the books I was approved for are already published, but I’ll get to them as soon as I possibly can.

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

I got approved for 5 new books in May:

1. No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack
2. The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer
3. We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
4. The Wife’s Silence by Amanda McKinney
5. The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel

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

1. Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi — see my review here.
2. My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende — see my review here.
3. Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler — see my review here.

Here are the ARCs I still have to read:

1. No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack | Amazon
2. A Charming Touch of Tarot by Melissa Holtz | Amazon
3. The Wife’s Silence by Amanda McKinney | Amazon
4. Roommating by Meredith Schorr | Amazon
5. School of Shards by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko | Amazon
6. The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao | Amazon
7. The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel | Amazon
8. Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman | Amazon
9. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Amazon
10. High Season by Katie Bishop | Amazon
11. The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan | Amazon
12. We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter | Amazon
13. Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne | Amazon
14. Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher | Amazon
15. The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer | Amazon

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