State Of The ARC #62

By Leah's Books on May 1, 2026 • ( 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 March with 27 ARCs left to be read.

It’s definitely springtime—the weather is vacillating between warm and cool, sun and clouds, and rain. Mom got away to Florida to visit the grandkids, great-grandkids, and her siblings, and I got a nice quiet break at home. I managed to get a lot done, and even started clearing out my old clothes to sell on Vinted. How have I accumulated so much stuff without realizing it?

Mom and I are all caught up on The Rookie, and I currently have her watching Fight Club. I suspect it will push her boundaries, because this isn’t a movie she’d ever pick without me insisting. But I am now searching for a new series to get her into. We did start 9-1-1, and that’s right up her alley. Plus, there’s a lot of episodes to keep her busy.

April has been a catch-up month, with me visiting a bunch of doctors to try to get a treatment that will work for what seems to be dysautonomia along with my autoimmune health issues. Plus, now that Mom is back home, she’s playing catch-up with a bunch of doctor appointments as well. As always, fatigue is a big issue for me, and has been acting up more than usual, so it can be a challenge to get as much done in a day as we hope to. Instead, we continue to break things into smaller tasks and try to do whatever we can.

With all the extra time I had without Mom needing my help, I was able to get through a good amount of books. A lot of those were ARCs, and I am so glad that I ended the month with less ARCs than I started with, even with the awesome new ones that I got approved for. There were so many books from my list that were coming out in April, and while I got through a lot, there are some that I didn’t get to yet. So I’ll be torn between catching up on ARCs that are already published, and upcoming releases. Fortunately, my ratio went up to 96% this month, so I’m looking forward to seeing how much higher I can get the ratio to go.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.

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

I got approved for 8 new books in April:

The Girls in the Dark by Avery Bishop
Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw
The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki Vansickle
The Whitechapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier
Strange Bedfellows by Amanda Mortlock
Sisters of a Halved Heart by Nayantara Roy
This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone by Catherine Mack (audiobook)
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel

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

The Girls in the Dark by Avery Bishop — see my review here.
The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore — see my review here.
The Keeper by Tana French — see my review here.
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer — see my review here.
The Lost Girl of Craven County by Emily Matchar — see my review here.
Holy Island by LJ Ross — see my review here.
This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone by Catherine Mack — see my review here.
This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone by Catherine Mack (audiobook)
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel — see my review here.
The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer — see my review here.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth — see my review here.
A Death in the Dark by Ellie Alexander — see my review here.