State Of The ARC #66

By Leah's Books on September 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 July with 34 ARCs left to be read.

August always flies by, and this year is no different. A lot of life has been showing up for me, and I’ve been doing my best to be ready for it.

It is clear that my mother needs more help than I can provide. I spent a good chunk of time this month trying to coordinate care and home services. So far, we have obtained both physical therapy and occupational therapy that come to the house, but being her primary caretaker is causing me to feel burnt out and overwhelmed, and trapped in a situation I can’t control. I do have a great therapist that I’m working with, and Mom even likes to come along to my appointments, which has really helped to improve our relationship.

I’m going to be treating myself to a little vacation soon. I think it’ll help both Mom and I to have a little bit of space apart. Recently, I’ve fallen into a rabbit hole of podcasts, mostly true crime but also one about people who are murdered, go missing, or experience accidents in national parks and other sites around the world. It’s amazing to hear about the scenery and conditions, risks, and get a bit more insight into hiking even though I am unlikely to get some boots and head out at the present time. I wonder if there are groups for like, intro to hiking, where both important skills and cool sights are highlighted?

Nearly all of my reading this month was ARCs again, but I was approved for as many books as I reviewed so far, so it kind of feels like I didn’t make progress but stayed in the same place. However, I did get approved for some new ARCs that sound really good, and I’m already looking forward to checking out more of the ARCs on my list. Since I’m behind on some of the publication dates, I’ve been trying to focus on upcoming reads and then fitting in the already published ones, particularly if I can get the audiobook version. I’m hoping to make good progress in September.

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

I got approved for 9 new books in August:

Between a Roquefort and a Hard Place by Linda Reilly
Speechless by Jordan Sawyer
Bad Honeymoon by Jessie Garcia
Wolf Point by Lisa Howells
Birth of the Witch by Nora Roberts
The Mystic and the Missing Girl (audio) by Vikki VanSickle
Children of the Wolf by Abby Geni
The Girl with Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup
Eight Ways to Say I Love You by Amanda Elliot

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

Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour — see my review here.
Soon by You by Dahlia Adler — see my review here.
The East Wing by Danielle M. Wong — see my review here.
Under the Crescent by Bat Ye’Or — see my review here.
Between a Roquefort and a Hard Place by Linda Reilly — see my review here.
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher — see my review here.
The Winds of Maracaibo by Maria Elena Morán — see my review here.
A Murder at the Mansion by Ellie Alexander — see my review here.
The Girl with Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup — see my review here.