State Of The ARC #57

By Leah's Books on December 1, 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

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 October with 20 ARCs left to be read.

Is it just me, or did November feel like it lasted eleventy billion days? The month started out warm and cooled off a lot more, even having some frosty nights and one day of flurries but no actual snow. I tried my best to take it easy and practice self-care, but things have been really hectic with my mother. She had another fall at the beginning of the month, and we discovered that she had an asymptomatic UTI that we didn’t know about which made her septic. The hospital treated her and my brother and his wife, who live not too far from us, have been taking care of her better than I’d be able to. I’ve had more time to myself as a result, but Mom and my siblings all lean on me to help Mom with any and everything, so it wasn’t a real break.

We were privileged to hear released hostages Maya and Itay Regev and their father speak at a local venue. This is the second time I’ve been able to see former hostages speak, and it so incredibly powerful to hear how their faith and connection to other hostages and their families got them through. I always think of how my mother had an uncle who was in the US Army and was captured in WWII and placed in a concentration camp for ‘looking Jewish.’ He told my mother that ‘the people who have something to live for, like a spouse and children’ were the ones who survived. And seeing how much released hostages rely on faith to get through—even secular Jews turned to their faith more.

I crushed it with my NetGalley progress in November. My ratio is holding steady at 97%, and I was approved for some really amazing reads. I read more books than I was approved for in November, and am closing out the month with two less books on my list, even including the new ARCs I was approved for.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to build on my momentum and keep up the progress so I can close the year out strong, with a minimum of ARCs, and hopefully no overdue ones. December is an easier month, and my remaining NG ARCs aren’t being published until January, so this is prime time for me to catch up.

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

I got approved for 8 new books in November:

Liar’s Dice by Juliet Faithfull
A Satchel of Richards by Lee Taylor
Don’t Feed the Lion by Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi
The Keeper by Tana French
The Girls in the Cabin by Caleb Stephens
Soon by You by Dahlia Adler
The Last Vampire by Romina Garber (audiobook)
The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia (audiobook)

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

The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers — see my review here.
The Library of Fates by Margot Harrison — see my review here.
The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer — see my review here.
The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten — see my review here.
The Tattered Cover by Ellery Adams — see my review here.
A Dangerous Friendship by Robin Merle — see my review here.
Don’t Feed the Lion by Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi — see my review here.
The Girls in the Cabin by Caleb Stephens — see my review here.
The Last Vampire by Romina Garber — see my review here.
The Last Vampire by Romina Garber (audiobook version)