Back in the day, ARC August was a big deal and a way of life. I did it all the time. I always think of doing it unofficially (because I don’t know that it’s a real thing anymore? lol) but in a more casual way. My goal for August 2023 is to read 80% ARCs. I know there’s a good chance that a library hold comes in or something and I get sidetracked, so my overall hope for the month is to read 10 books, 8 of them being ARCs. I have a lot to choose from (ugh…) but thought it would be fun to give myself some prompts and challenges to pick out the TBR.
I’m only going to read past-due or current month egalleys – no ARCs that are coming out in September or later. This is a way for me to catch up and get closer to 80% on Netgalley – usually I’m around 70% or a little more but lately I’ve been at 69%. At the time of writing this, I have 98 books that were published prior to August 2023 that I could read. I’ve definitely lost interest in a few so there’s a good chance that I try to read and DNF a book or two throughout this process, but I’m going to give it the ol’ college try.
Here are the 8 challenges I’m using to try to pick out my TBR and the books that I’ve selected to match. I’m going to go with these 8 categories or prompts but pick 2-3 books each so I can have variety to choose from. I will finalize my list of books when I make my August TBR in a week or two. This allows me to mood read a little bit Here are all of my options!
ARC August TBR Options
1. Read a 2023 release (prior to August)
This was harder than I thought because I filled this one in after some of the other categories, and I’ve actually been okay with review copies this year lol. I decided to add at least one book that couldn’t fit in other categories (paranormal/vampires) and the others are some parallel life, royalty, and regular ol’ romance.
2. Read a mystery or thriller
I’ve read so much within this genre this year but I haven’t done a great job with reading review copies within this category! Here are some from the past year or two that I’d like to read, including one that actually comes out in the US in August.
3. Read a contemporary romance
A good mix of 2022 and 2023 releases, I think! I’m shocked I’ve waited on any of these honestly because I’ve read and loved books by all four authors before.
4. Read a book picked by random number generator
Okay I did a random number generator three times and I got 18, 17, and 10 out of 98… somehow! I sorted my shelf newest to oldest, so I ended up with these books from 2022. I’m intrigued by all of them still even though the average rating is pretty low for two of them. I’ll select my choice by mood later!
5. Read a book from my “jazzed up for this” shelf
This is one of those embarrassing categories where clearly I’m excited for these books and yet I still haven’t read any of them. I have a good feeling I know which books are more likely based on audio/library holds coming in during August…
6. Read a book publishing August 2023
I have four egalleys for books that publish in August, so here they all are! I also preordered THE BLONDE IDENTITY so I have a good feeling I’ll be reading this one (at a minimum) in August. The others could fall under the contemporary romance, mystery, and overall 2023 categories if I choose as well.
7. Read a book in a series or a series-starter
I wasn’t expecting to have so many contemporary books (3 out of 4) when I picked this prompt but there is one lone fantasy book I could pick if I’m in the mood! Only one of them is a later book in a series and the rest are the first books.
8. Read whatever – wild card / mood read pick from these titles
And finally, I know there are going to be some books I don’t want to part with from my list when I pare everything down. Rather than adding more options for my final prompt, I thought it made sense to just pick any additional book from one of the categories as a wild card option. It’ll likely be based on my mood or just overall vibe of the month!
Leave a Reply