State of the Stack #70 (April 1, 2018)

This is my monthly State of the Stack post. It is my way to keep track of my review books and to hopefully reduce the stack that I have waiting for me. I take a look at my review commitments on or near the first of the month. Link with Avalalinha's Books (description below) to check out other people's progress. She has just recently started a meme about review books.

Here is my Review Books Spreadsheet I list them in publication order and sort them by month. I can quickly see how many books I have for each date. Ideally, this keeps me from over-committing to review books. Check my spreadsheet to find out where I got each book.

I also do this post because sometimes (frequently) review books sit on my stack for a while before I read and review them. I try to read and review books within two weeks of publication date. Sometimes I can't, though, if too many books are releasing on the same date or if the book arrives too near its publication date and my calendar is already full.

I am very grateful to the authors and publishers who support my reading habit.

My Review Pile

May

Flowers and Foul Play by Amanda Flower (May 8)

The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg (May 15)

The Queen of Sorrow by Sarah Beth Durst (May 15)

Airports, Exes, and Other Things I'm Over by Shani Petroff (May 15)

The Game Can't Love You Back by Karole Cozzo (May 15)

Onyx & Ivory by Mindee Arnett (May 15)

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (May 22)

June

Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton (June 5)

City of Bastards by Andrew Shvarts (June 5)

Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Perez (June 5)

How We Roll by Natasha Friend (June 5)

The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen (June 5)

The Memory of Fire by Callie Bates (June 5)

The Body in the Ballroom by R. J. Koreto (June 12)

Last Girl Gone by J. G. Hetherton (June 12)

Death and a Pot of Chowder by Cornelia Kidd (June 12)

Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (June 12)

Girl with a Gun by Kari Bovee (June 19)

The Lost Books: The Scroll of Kings by Sarah Prineas (June 26)

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows (June 26)

Now You See Her by Lisa Leighton & Laura Stropki (June 26)

July

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James (July 3)

Somebody's Daughter by David Bell (July 10)

Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert (July 10)

When Life Gives You Demons by Jennifer Honeybourn (July 17)

Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen (July 17)

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie (July 17)

Between Frost and Fury by Chani Lynn Feener (July 24)

Contagion by Erin Bowman (July 24)

The Impossibility of Us by Katy Upperman (July 31)

The Girl You Thought I Was by Rebecca Phillips (July 31)

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning (July 31)

August

These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch (August 7)

Nine by Zach Hines (August 7)

The Butterfly Conspiracy by Vivian Conroy (August 7)

To Catch a Witch by Heather Blake (August 7)

#murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil (August 7)

The Truth Lies Here by Lindsey Klingele (August 21)

September and October

Read and Gone by Allison Brook (September 11)

In Cold Chocolate by Dorothy St. James (September 11)

Burning Ridge by Margaret Mizushima (September 11)

Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron (October 9)

 

I Read This Month

These are listed in the order I read them. Links go to my reviews for all that have been posted already. Otherwise, the date the review is scheduled for is listed.

1. A Glimmer of Hope by Steve McHugh (March 27)
2. The Stone Girl's Story by Sarah Beth Durst (April 3) 
3. Bad Neighbors by Maia Chance (April 4) 
4. The Shadow of Death by Jane Willan (April 5) 
5. Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston (March 22)
6. Lord of the Pies by Nell Hampton (April 7)
7. Whispers of the Dead by Spencer Kope (April 12)
8. Save Me (Corrupted Hearts) by Tiffany Snow (April 17)
9. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian (April 13)
10. The Explorers: The Reckless Rescue by Adrienne Kress (April 18) 
11. The Viridian Convict by Sam York (April 10) 
12. A Town Called Vengeance by Kevin Wolf (April 16) 
13. Shattered Mirror by Iris Johansen (April 19)
14. White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig (April 20) 
15. What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka (April 21) 
16. The Outcast by Taran Matharu (April 25) 
17. Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue (April 25) 
18. Pairing a Deception by Nadine Nettmann (April 26)
19. The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick (April 30) 
20. The Lies They Tell by Gillian French (April 27) 
21. Better Off Read by Nora Page (April 28) 
22. No Cure for the Dead by Christine Trent (May 2) 
23. Cake and Punishment by Maymee Bell (May 3)

Read Previously, Reviews Posted This Month

1. Hooked on a Phoenix by Ashlyn Chase (March 1) 
2. The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller (March 2) 
3. Lake Silence by Anne Bishop (March 6)
4. Searcher of the Dead by Nancy Herriman (March 7)
5. The Final Six by Alexandra Monir (March 7)
6. Lethal in Old Lace by Duffy Brown (March 8) 
7. Under the Shadows by Gwen Florio (March 10) 
8. Bones Don't Lie by Melinda Leigh (March 13)
9. Deja Moo by Kirsten Weiss (March 14)
10. Losing Leah by Tiffany King (March 14)
11. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James (March 17)
12. Deadly Secret by Tara Thomas (March 20)
13. Lost Crow Conspiracy by Rosalyn Eves (March 21) 
14. Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston (March 22)
15. Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi (March 23) 
16. Falling Star by Terri Osborn (March 24) 
17. Ice Wolves (Elementals) by Amie Kaufman (March 26) 
18. The School for Psychics by K. C. Archer (March 28) 
19. The Window by Amelia Brunskill (March 28) 
20. They Lost Their Heads! by Carlyn Beccia (March 30) 
21. A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks (March 31)

I Added These Books

These are listed in the order I received them. Links go to Amazon. Date published is listed in parentheses.

1. The Stone Girl's Story by Sarah Beth Durst (April 3)
2. A Glimmer of Hope by Steve McHugh (April 1)
3. The Lies They Tell by Gillian French (May 1) 
4. Girl with a Gun by Kari Bovee (June 19) 
5. The Memory of Fire by Callie Bates (June 5)
6. Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston (March 27)
7. The Butterfly Conspiracy by Vivian Conroy (August 7)
8. Save Me (Corrupted Hearts) by Tiffany Snow (April 17)
9. Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie (July 17)
10. Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert (July 10)
11. In Cold Chocolate by Dorothy St. James (Sept. 11)
12. Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron (Oct. 9)
13. To Catch a Witch by Heather Blake (August 7)
14. #MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil (August 7)
15. A Town Called Vengeance by Kevin Wolf (May 1)
16. Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (June 12)
17. Burning Bridge by Margaret Mizushima (Sept. 11)

Next Month's Plan

So, I reduced the size of my review stack slightly this month. I read 23 and only added 17. I have 19 from NetGalley, 16 from Edelweiss and 7 from Macmillan currently on my stack. Five of the books on my NetGalley stack have been on my Kindle more than three months which isn't too surprising since I read books in order of publication date rather than in order of the date I received them.

I have been working away at my May releases but still have 7 to go. Then there are 14 June releases and 11 July releases currently on my stack.

I am well ahead reading, writing reviews, and scheduling posts. My April calendar is already complete and I have begun reading books that will be posted in May.

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I am also linking up with the State of the ARC meme. Here is the explanation and rules.

State of the ARC is a monthly meme at Avalinah’s Books meant to motivate you to finish up all your long overdue ARCs (Advanced or Early Reader Copies). You can track your reading progress and link up with your own post. Most commonly it comes out on the 30th of every month.

Rules of State of the ARC:

• Mention that you’re linking up with State of the ARC @ AvalinahsBooks, which is a fun way to share our ARC progress, challenges, wins, woes and mishaps.
• Include the link to this post, or the current State of the ARC post. You can use my State of the ARC image too.
• Don’t forget to visit all the other people in the link-up and comment.
• And most importantly – have fun!