This month, I took part in the 4th annual #arcaugust book challenge to read the ARC’s that I’d requested. Some people were doing this to clear out a backlog of books, but I requested books specifically for this because I hadn’t been reading ARC’s as much recently, and I wanted to do some to get ahead on reviews for the remainder of the year.

The plan:

The plan was to read 12 ARCs: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, Chronicles of a Last Summer by Yasmine El Rashidi, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson, The Secret Ingredient of Wishes by Susan Bishop Crispell, Small Admissions by Amy Poepelle, Love Comes Later by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, Faithful by Alice Hoffman, The Graces by Laure Eve, The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman, Root, Petal, Thorn by Ella Joy Olsen, The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, and Iron Cast by Destiny Soria.

All but one of these authors was new to me, so these could either be great or terrible or somewhere in between. I’d read and reviewed the first book in Genevieve Cogman’s series, The Invisible Library, so I knew I wanted to do the same for the second book!

I’ve been making an effort to read books that are more diverse – in their subject matter, their characters’ races and identities, as well as in their authors, and I think I did fairly well with my planned reads this month.

I didn’t read…

Love Comes Later by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

I didn’t get to read this one because it archived before I could get to it, despite the fact that it doesn’t publish until August. I’m really disappointed because I really wanted to read this.

I did read…

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi ★★★★

I read The Star-Touched Queen all in one sitting, and I’ll have the review for it out on November 14th, since it was actually published in May! I really enjoyed this Indian-esque Hades and Persephone retelling, so I hope you will too!

Chronicles of A Last Summer by Yasmine El Rashidi ★★

I received a review copy from LibraryThing, but I won’t be posting a full review of Chronicles of A Last Summer, because I marked this as a DNF about halfway through, and I don’t believe in reviewing books I never finished. The story could have been really interesting to me, and it’s based on the author’s life, but the narrator was 6. I couldn’t get into the simplistic way she was telling the story, sadly. Perhaps you will enjoy this more than I did!

Root, Petal, Thorn by Ella Joy Olson ★★★★

This book review is already out, so go read it! [Click that link to read it!] I enjoyed this book and thought that it did the perspectives really well. Each character felt so distinct, and their families showing up in Ivy’s time felt right, instead of feeling contrived like it easily could have. This book has already been released, so go read my review and then go buy it!

The Graces by Laura Eve ★★★★

This book was bewitching, pun intended. The Grace family felt like a witch version of the Cullen’s, except that they hadn’t broken away from the social structures of being witches. I didn’t expect most of what happened in this book, and I’m so glad I read it. Also the cover is fabulous! This review comes out on Monday!

The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman ★★★★

This was a great follow-up to The Invisible Library. I can’t wait for the last book to come out in December! Review will be published on Sept. 12!

The Secret Ingredient of Wishes ★★★

I didn’t love this book like I thought I would, although it had a lot of great elements. The review will be published on Sept. 16!

 My (Underground) American Dream: My True Story as an Undocumented Immigrant Who Became a Wall Street Executive by Julissa Arce ★★★★

I used this to replace Love Comes Later, because I still wanted to meet my number, if not the exact books. This review will be out on Sept. 19.

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria ★★★★★

Okay, y’all need to read this book. I’m not even kidding, I loved it. This review will be out on Oct. 10, so keep an eye out for it!

Faithful by Alice Hoffman ★★

I’m not reviewing this one, because it was really blah.

Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel ★★

I’m also not reviewing this one, because it was really blah.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson ★★

I’m not reviewing this one either, because it was not at all what I thought it would be, and what it was didn’t work. Sorry.

The Young Widowers Handbook by ★

I am definitely not reviewing this book, because I couldn’t finish it. The kicker for me was that the guy couldn’t change a tire, but was on a road trip with his dead wife’s ashes, and got a flat tire, so he just abandoned his car in the middle of nowhere and started walking. Cause that’s smart. Come on, now. If you don’t know how to change a flat, use your smart phone to find a mechanic that you can be towed to.

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco ★★★★★

I am horrifically sad that this book doesn’t come out until March, because this is absolutely amazing. You will all need to read this, and my review will come out on February 27, right before the book comes out on March 1!

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Overall, I made it through this list, but it was crazy stressful, between work and life. If I do #ARCAugust again, I will definitely cut the amount of reading down. I also read quite a few non-list books, but I needed to destress from everything that was going on in the ARC’s.