State of the Stack #79 (Jan. 1, 2019)

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 Avalinah'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.

2018 Progress Report

I reviewed 210 2018 releases and DNFd at least 9. Sometimes I just deleted the book from LibraryThing and my review list and so there are probably a few more than 9 that I DNFd. Eighty-seven of the books I reviewed were YA or Middle Grade titles.

I've already reviewed seventeen 2019 releases with reviews scheduled for near their publication dates in January.

Currently I have 34 books to be reviewed extending out until May. Seventeen of them are YA or Middle Grade titles. Four of them were published before 2018 and were received from a publicist when I agreed to review the latest book in that same series.

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 and the link goes to Amazon.

1. Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden (Jan. 1)
2. The Hangman's Secret by Laura Joh Rowland (Jan. 2)
3. The Au Pair by Emma Rous (Jan. 3)
4. The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye (Jan. 5)
5. This Promise of Change by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy (Jan. 8)
6. Untouchable by Jayne Ann Krentz (Jan. 9)
7. A Merciful Fate by Kendra Elliot (Jan. 8)
8. Tear It Down by Nick Petrie (Jan. 10)
9. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (Jan. 12)
10. Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee (Jan. 15)
11. The Burning Island by Hester Young (Jan. 16)
12. Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye (Jan. 17)
13. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (Jan. 22)
14. The Storm Keeper's Island by Catherine Doyle (Jan. 19)
15. One Tough Cowboy by Lora Leigh & Veronica Chadwick (Jan. 23)
16. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer (Jan. 24)
17. Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch (Jan. 26)

Read Previously, Reviews Posted This Past Month

1. Deadfall by Stephen Wallenfels
2. A Moment in Crime by Amanda Allen

I Added These Books

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

1. An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber (April 2)
2. My Favorite Cowboy by Donna Grant (Feb. 26)
3. Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn (April 2)
4. The Storm Keeper's Island by Catherine Doyle (Jan. 22)
5. The True Queen by Zen Cho (March 12)
6. Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto (Feb. 12)

My Review Pile

Old Ones

• Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch (2012}
• Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (2012)

• Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch (2013)
• The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch (2016)

February

• Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong (Feb. 5)
• Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins (Feb. 5)
• The Antidote by Shelley Sackier (Feb. 5)

• The Military Wife by Laura Trentham (Feb. 5)
• Past Due for Murder by Victoria Gilbert (Feb. 12)
• How I Became a Spy by Deborah Hopkinson (Feb. 12)

• Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto (Feb. 12)
• The Blood Spell by C. J. Redwine (Feb. 12)
• Say You're Sorry by Karen Rose (Feb. 12)

• Immoral Code by Lillian Clark (Feb. 19)
• In the Dark by Cara Hunter (Feb. 19)

• My Favorite Cowboy by Donna Grant (Feb. 26)
• We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlar Kay Mejia (Feb. 26)

March 

• The Last Woman in the Forest by Diane Les Becquets (March 5)
• If You're Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser (March 5)
• The Pioneer by Bridget Tyler (March 5)

• The True Queen by Zen Cho (March 12)
• The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees (March 12)
• Murder in Belgravia by Lynn Brittney (March 13)

• The Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst (March 19)
• Winter War Awakening by Rosalyn Eves (March 19)
• Secrets Never Die by Melinda Leigh (March 19)

• Sherwood by Meagan Spooner (March 19)
• Killing November by Adriana Mather (March 26)

April

• The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman (April 2)
• An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber (April 2)

• Caterpillar Summer by Gilliann McDunn (April 2)
• Dreaming Darkly by Caitlin Kittredge (April 9)

May

• The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (May 7)
• Spark by Sarah Beth Durst (May 14)

Next Month's Plan

I'm a month ahead with reviews. Since I sunsetted my YA blog, I need to be more selective in choosing books to review. In February, reviewing 4 books a week as I usually do, I only have room for one book from my TBR mountain. I want to be able to read and review more of the books I own. I am going to try to limit myself to choosing only 8 review books a month in 2019 starting in April since I already have more than that for January - March.

*********

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!