The ARC Book Tag | In Which I Call Myself OUT

Greetings readers!

As a blogger who started out way back in 2016, I thought that the day I would finally be getting ARCs was a long ways off. I wasn’t too concerned with them because I knew that in order to get them you really needed a platform and I just didn’t have one when I started out, obviously. So I was perfectly content with reviewing finished and already published books.

Then came the magical day when I received by first e-galley of Maud by Melanie J. Fishbane on Netgalley. From then on, I slowly started progressing with e-galleys, until I was contacted by a publisher and received an actual physical ARC. It was truly magical.

Since then, I have been getting a steady pile of ARCs every season, a perk for living in Canada and having big publishers and fewer bloggers. I feel for a lot of my international blogger friends who don’t get the chance to read ARCs because of legalities, but perhaps one day this bookish system will change and accessibility will widen.

Wow. That was a long intro. Anyways this incredible tag was created by none other than the wonderful ladies, Mandy and Sha over at Book Princess Reviews. If you know me, I am sure you know Mandy and Sha and if you don’t well I think you should correct that immediately!

Let’s get started!

RULES

• pingback to the creator (bookprincessreviews)
• pingback to the person who tagged you
• tag as many people as you want
• have fun!

WHAT’S THE FIRST ARC YOU EVER RECEIVED?

Spindle by E.K. Johnston…which I haven’t read. I went to an Indigo Preview event way back when and E.K. was present signing books so of course I got it! Plus I had read A Thousand Nights, which was beautiful and I still am interested in reading this one eventually. I wasn’t a blogger at the time when I received this, but this event inspired me to start one up!

*I really love this photo. XD I took it in a rush because I forgot about the IG prompt that day and the light was fading so I had to act fast. Fun note: That’s actually an olive branch from a Palm Sunday mass I attended earlier that year XD*

WHAT ARC WOULD YOU SELL YOUR SOUL FOR?

REBEL (aka Legend 4) by Marie Lu

But also not. But I definitely would. I flipped my bejeebers the day the announcement came out, people. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE FALL!!!!!

USING ARCS YOU HAVE RECEIVED OVER THE YEARS, SPELL OUT A-R-C.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Replica by Lauren Oliver

Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye

*I would like to gloat that I have actually read all of these :)*

 

*yes, this is the only picture I have of Replica and it is the ugliest photo I have ever taken. THAT BLANKET! *face meet palm*

ULTIMATE QUESTION: TO DNF OR NOT TO DNF AN ARC?

I really don’t like not finishing in general. I tend to give books the benefit of the doubt often and it doesn’t always work out (see Circle of Shadows review). I don’t know, I feel like I owe it to the publisher to read the book, especially if I requested it. That being said, I tend to force myself to read books that just aren’t working for me a lot and that needs to change I think.

NAME AN ARC YOU DNF’D AND AN ARC YOU COULD NEVER DNF.

DNF: A Mark Unwilling by Candace Wondrak
It was just so wrong in so many ways. I ended up skimming after 50% to reach the end so I guess it counts as a DNF

COULD NEVER DNF: The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth
I was l o v i n g my post-Narnia adventure book!

WHAT ARC DID YOU GO OUT AND BUY A FINISHED COPY OF AFTER?

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I had read an e-ARC, but I needed that physical copy on my shelf!!! (I love it so much) I bought it off of Book Outlet though, cheap and in great condition!

WHICH MEDIUM DO YOU GET MOST OF YOUR ARCS IN? (PHYSICAL / EBOOK / AUDIO)

When I first started out, I started with e-ARCs on Netgalley. I didn’t get a lot of acceptances, but as I found more Canadian pubs, I got approved more often.

Then a publisher actually reached out to me and I was sent physical arcs. And from then on I went hunting. I searched endlessly for Canadian publisher info and tried my very best to make myself known more on my social sites and then I had to build guts to actually send out those emails. Now I’m working with 4 Canadian pubs and they grant a lot of my requests! (I’m looking at you Penguin Teen CA and HBG Canada!!!)

GIVE BLOGGERS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE REGARDING ARCS (RECEIVING / REVIEWING).

Pace yourself. Don’t get greedy.

Only request books you really want to read, that really have your interest. Not half of it, but all of it.

Don’t pull a Rendz.

Here I am calling myself out. 

I have a problem when it comes to requesting. I tend to request based on the in-the-moment feeling of “I wanna read that book” so what usually happens is that when I get the ARC, I no longer have the dying need to read it, so it gets pushed and pushed and pushed, until it’s way past its release date and then it just feels pointless in reading the ARC. This is super horrible of me. I know it. It’s why one of my new years resolutions was to relax the requesting game.

I feel terrible looking at the unread ARCs I have and thinking that it could have gone to someone that really wanted to read it. Of course I tell myself that I will eventually read them, but if I keep bogging myself with more and more, will I ever truly get to them all? Probs not.

SO the best advice I give to you and to ME is to pace yourself, and don’t get greedy.

I Tag…

Michaela | Blogger Books | Justine

*No pressure to do the tag, if you don’t want to!*

Let me know what you think! Do you read your ARCs on time? How do you keep track of the books you get? What was your first ARC?

Happy reading!

~ Rendz

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