State Of The ARC #68

By Leah's Books on November 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 September with 27 ARCs left to be read.

Greetings from sunny South Florida! I came down here to surprise my nephew for his 40th birthday, and he couldn’t have been any more surprised. My brother came down also, so we’ve been spending as much time with the family as possible. I’m staying a few extra days here before returning home in early November. Two of my nephews live in Florida, and I always make sure to spend one week crashing at each one’s house so that I can devote equal time to their kids. It’s especially cool because they each have a daughter and son who are close in age to each other, and the family is always getting together. I didn’t want to mention this earlier just in case my nephew did check out my blog posts.

I have a niece who came up from North Carolina to spend the two weeks with my mother, which allowed me to take this trip, and I’m so grateful for the way the family has really come together to ensure that we can all see each other. It didn’t hurt that my nephew’s birthday falls just before Halloween, so I can also go around and take the kids trick or treating. I already know that it is going to be a blast because we always have a blast. The kids are all at really fun ages, so they’re great to interact with. But by far my favorite aspect of this away-staycation is not having to be the grown up with all the responsibilities. I’m couch surfing and being the fun aunt, although I do make sure to make less work for the family and I wind up doing some (or all) of the dinner cooking.

Naturally, spending time down here has reduced my reading stats, but it is so worth the hit. I can read anytime: when the kids are asleep or at school, on the plane, or when I get home. I value the time with the family so I like to devote my entire attention to them, and I know they appreciate the way I’m never too busy to hang with them. I even got my great-niece hooked on a book I ordered for her. She’s 10 and brilliant, she just needed the right book to catch her attention and make her want to read. You might be wondering, what book? I got her the first book in a series, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. I read it in audiobook format and it was outstanding, with the narrator really leaning into the unique voices, accents, and quirks of each character. It was so much like the way my mom would read stories to me as a kid, and how I read stories to the little kids I’m around. If you have little ones, I strongly urge you to check this out. It’s HP-adjacent, but I think it’s even better.

I focused on my NetGalley ARCs this month, and while I’m reading one physical ARC sent by a publisher, I haven’t quite made it through it and am not likely to finish it this month, so all of my reading was from NetGalley. Some of them were good, some were okay, and there was one that I had to DNF because there were some things in the book that gave me the ick and I put it down and just couldn’t get back into it. Even with my new approvals, I am finishing this month with 4 fewer ARCs than I started it. My ratio is still at 96%, although I would like to end this year with fewer than 20 ARCs, so I have to stay focused and not request any new ARCs on NG. I have been trying my best to be more selective about the books I accept for review, and it has been helping with my organization.

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