Aug 3 2015

Image

ARC August: Goals & Updates!

This yearly feature hosted by Octavia and Shelly at Read. Sleep. Repeat . couldn’t have come around at a better time. It seems like my ARC requests double around this time of year thanks to all of the brilliant upcoming releases. Currently, I’m challenging myself to make my way through the following ARCs by the end of August (there are a couple more since my sign-up post):

: Fool’s Quest by Robin Hobb

: Breakout by Ann Aguirre

: The Drafter by Kim Harrison

: The White Rose by Amy Ewing

: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

: Hunter by Mercedes Lackey

: Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

: Riders by Veronica Rossi

I’m shooting for one a week, but I would love to read them all before the end of August.

Week 1 – 8/8/15:

I finished two ARCs this week – Fool’s Quest and Breakout!

Week 2 – 8/15/15:

I got halfway through Hunter by Mercedes Lackey and picked up two more ARCs! #Fail

Week 3 – 8/22/15:

Week 4 – 8/29/15:

Total – 8/31/15:

Wish me luck!

by Niki Hawkes

Jul 15 2015

Image

ARC August: Niki’s Signing Up!

August 11, 2015

August 25, 2015

September 1, 2015

Hunter by Mercedes Lackey

October 6, 2015

It hurts my heart that Soundless by Richelle Mead is not on this list… Everybody seems to have a copy but me ::sobs::

Since I had to switch my reviewing status on NetGalley and Edelweiss from “bookseller” to “blogger” I’ve been consistent with maintaining a 100% response rate. Part of it is pure stubbornness, as I’ve convinced myself the only way to get approved more often is to be a dependable reviewer. However, the main reason I’ve been able to keep that percentage perfect is because of my “read the best books first” philosophy. I’ve only allowed myself to request titles I’ve already identified as releases I have to read on Goodreads (meaning no impulse requests just because I see something shiny). Since my upcoming releases list currently has over fifty books on it, I’ve been requesting more than average lately… Thank goodness for this challenge!

What ARCS are on your list this winter?

Aug 30 2013

Image

August 2013: Review Recap / ARC August Challenge

I read quite a few books this month, and a lot of them were ARCs for my ARC August challenge (see below). In fact, I read so many books that I didn’t have enough time in my blogging schedule to feature them all (the one’s I didn’t get to will be featured in next month’s recap).

Here’s a look at this month’s books:

(click the covers for the full review)

Spartan Frost – 1/5 stars

Spartan Frost by Jennifer Estep

Never Fade – 4/5 stars

Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

Zenn Scarlett – 3/5 stars

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Hexed – 4/5 stars

Legend – 5/5 stars!

Broken Forest – 2.5/5 stars

Broken Forest by Eliza Tilton

Countdown – 2/5 stars

Countdown by Michelle Rowen

And my favorite:

Dragon Keeper – 5/5 stars!

The Dragon Keeper

Statistically, I find this month fascinating. It has the lowest average rating so far this year, and I can’t help but think that it has something to do with the fact that I read mostly “obligation” books (Aka: books I read because I feel like I should). I made a deal with myself at the beginning of the year that I wouldn’t read anything because I felt like I had to – and you know what? It’s made for this single best year in reading I’ve ever had! The moral of the story? Don’t bog yourself down by mediocre books just because they are free. That’s not to say there aren’t some truly amazing titles available as ARCs, it just pays to be picky.

Now for the ARC August challenge recap:

I am super excited that Octavia at Read. Sleep. Repeat. hosted this challenge because it gave me the motivation I needed to work through all of my outstanding ARCs. I’m happy to say that of the original six I plan to read, I got through four of them… And then read four additional acquisitions to boot! I never thought I would be at this point, but I finally have my Net Galley ARCs down to just two books – and it’s going to stay that way this time (by the way, for this challenge I considered only current ARCs eligible… it’s incredibly sad how many past ones I never got to before their release dates)!

ARCs Read:

: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

: Sky Jumpers by Peggy Edelman

: Inhuman by Kat Falls

: Countdown by Michelle Rowen

: Broken Forest by Eliza Tilton

: Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

: Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

: Spirit Animals: Wild Born by Brandon Mull

You can definitely see what kind of arcs draw my attention. The clear winner for my favorite arc read this month is: All Our Yesterdays! I haven’t officially written a review for it yet, but suffice to say it was a 5/5 star rating and one that I will be talking about for months – I loved it! Spirit Animals was a close second, and that review is also forthcoming.

by Niki Hawkes

Jul 30 2013

Image

ARC August – Nik’s New Challenge!

As I was already considering devoting a good part of August to catching up on all of my ARCs, this feature couldn’t have come at a better time. Hosted by Read. Sleep. Repeat., This is a one month feature, and I’m challenging myself to make my way through the following ARCs:

Broken Forest by Eliza Tilton

Wyrmweald by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

Count Down by Michelle Rowen

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Ideally, the goal is to make it through all the books I’ve requested on Net Galley. I force myself to be really picky on that website because, holy cow, it can be addicting. If I complete my challenge, then I hope to move forward only requesting one book at a time (yeah, right – like that plan will work).