State of the Stack #87 (Sept. 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.

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.

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. Vendetta in Death by J. D. Robb (Sept. 1)
2. Remembering the Dead by Elizabeth J. Duncan (Sept. 3)
3. Ice Cold Heart by PJ Tracy (Sept. 4)
4. Fatal Cajun Festival by Ellen Byron (Sept. 5)
5. Save Your Breath by Melinda Leigh (Sept. 10)
6. Don't Say a Word by Amber Lynn Natusch (Sept. 14)
7. The Books of the Dead by Emilia Bernhard (Oct. 1)
8. Accepting the Lance by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Dec. 3)

Read Previously, Reviews Posted This Month

1. Singapore Sapphire by A. M. Stuart (August 1)
2. In the Line of Fire by R. J. Noonan (August 3)
3. Pride, Prejudice & Poison by Elizabeth Blake (August 4)
4. Death Comes to Dartmoor by Vivian Conroy (August 6)
5. Death in the Covenant by D. A. Bartley (August 7)
6. The Last Good Guy by T. Jefferson Parker (August 10)
7. Cold Woods by Karen Katchur (August 11)
8. Stolen Things by R. H. Herron (August 17)
9. Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews (August 20)
10. How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne (August 24)
11. Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore (August 27)
12. The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (August 28)
13. The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier (August 29)
14. Well Met by Jen DeLuca (August 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. Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen (Nov. 5)
2. Tell Me No Lies by Shelley Noble (Nov. 5)
3. Frozen Beauty by Lexa Hillyer (March 17)
4. Rogue Princess by B. R. Myers (Jan. 21)
5. Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Nov. 5)
6. A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney (March 10)
7. Spitfire by M. L. Huie (Jan. 7)
8. Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little (Feb. 25)
9. The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz (Jan. 7)
10. Accepting the Lance by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Dec. 3)
11. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Feb. 4)

My Review Pile

October

• The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif (Oct. 8; YA)
• A Legacy of Murder by Connie Berry (Oct. 8)
• Read and Buried by Eva Gates (Oct. 15) 

• The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas (Oct. 15)
• The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols by Nicholas Meyer (Oct. 15)
• All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell (Oct. 29; YA)

November

• Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Nov. 5; YA)
• Tell Me No Lies by Shelley Noble (Nov. 5)
• Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen (Nov. 5) 

• Tracking Game by Margaret Mizushima (Nov. 12)
• Echoes of the Fall by Hank Early (Nov. 12)

• Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer (Nov. 19; YA)
• The Princess Plan by Julia London (Nov. 19)

December

• Trace of Evil by Alice Blanchard (Dec. 3)
• Thin Ice by Paige Shelton (Dec. 3)
• A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh (Dec. 3) 

• Dangerous Alliance by Jennieke Cohen (Dec. 3; YA)
• Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay (Dec. 3)

January

• The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz (Jan. 7)
• Spitfire by M. L. Huie (Jan. 7)
• The Woman in the Veil by Laura Joh Rowland (Jan. 7) 

• The Prized Girl by Amy K. Green (Jan. 14)
• Rogue Princess by B. R. Myers (Jan. 21; YA)

February

• A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Feb. 4; YA)
• Golden in Death by J. D. Robb (Feb. 4) 

• Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace by Patricia Marcantonio (Feb. 11)
• Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little (Feb. 25)

March 

• A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney (March 10)
• Frozen Beauty by Lexa Hillyer (March 17; YA)

April

• Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller (April 14; YA)

Next Month's Plan

I am well ahead of schedule for my review books but I still think I'm going to read and review all of them before I read anything from my TBR pile. It would be nice to have a clean slate for once with no review commitments. We'll see if that works this coming month.

Also I have had a few DNFs and they are invariably YA books which leads me to believe that the genre isn't working for me anymore. I have a few YA on my review stack and they will determine if I keep getting YA books or abandon the genre for a while.

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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!