State of The ARC – August TBR

For 2022 I have started a new series TBR posts and Challenges, one of which is my State of the ARC posts. I will do two posts a month; a State of the ARC TBR post and a State of the ARC Wrap up post.

These State of the ARC posts are to keep me accountable on all the ARCs I am so privileged to receive. I want to get that Netgalley rating back up to the coveted 80% as well as tell you all about some of the amazing books that are coming out each month.

This post covers my August 2022 ARCs that I want to try and read this month and tell you a little bit about each one as well as there release date etc. That way you can help keep me accountable as well as potentially looking out for new additions to your own TBR.

I utterly failed in my July ARCs, and the readathon. I got really into my writing, which I will do an update about soon but It meant my reading took a nose dive. August is a bust month for me. Its the Edinburgh Festival so I have lots of friends and relatives visiting, lots of shows to go to and I also have a good few ARCs out either in August or the first of September

My Netgalley Percentage Current stands at:

56 %

The Generation Killer
Adam Simcox

The Dying Squad #2

eARC
Release Date: 18/8/22

About the book:

On the sixth day, God created MANchester. On the seventh, The Generation Killer intends to tear it down.
There’s a new serial killer in Manchester – and it’s up to a dead guy to catch him. Joe Lazarus, specifically: his latest Dying Squad assignment demands he bring to justice The Generation Killer, a psychopath who murders the oldest member of a family, as well as the youngest. Joe and his new partner Bits have mere hours to catch the killer and save his latest kidnap victim.
Joe’s former partner, Daisy-May has her own problems. Children in the Pen are going missing and Daisy-May resolves to find out who’s taking them, one of the many, Warden-of-the-Pen jobs on her to do list. Her predecessor The Duchess won’t be able to lighten her load; she’s tracked her terrorist-in-waiting sister, Hanna, to Tokyo. The Duchess doesn’t know what Hanna’s planning, she only knows that unless she stops her, it’s going to be very bad news for the living…

The Book Eaters
Sunyi Dean

eARC
Release Date: 18/8/22

About the book:

Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book’s content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.
But real life doesn’t always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.

Long Shadow
Olivia Atwater

Regency Faerie Tales #3

eARC
Release Date: 18/8/22

About the book:

The marriageable young ladies of London are dying mysteriously, and Abigail Wilder intends to discover why. Abigail’s father, the Lord Sorcier of England, believes that a dark lord of faerie is involved – but while Abigail is willing to match her magic against Lord Longshadow, neither her father nor high society believe that she is capable of doing so.
Thankfully, Abigail is not the only one investigating the terrible events in London. Mercy, a street rat and self-taught magician, insists on joining Abigail to unravel the mystery. But while Mercy’s own magic is strange and foreboding, she may well post an even greater danger to Abigail’s heart.

The Black Dog
Kevin Bridges

eARC
Release Date: 18/8/22

About the book:

Declan dreams of becoming a writer. It’s a dream that helps him escape the realities of his life – going through the motions at college and stacking supermarket shelves part-time, whilst fighting a battle with the ever-darkening thoughts in his head.
He has his pet Labrador for companionship and his best friend-turned-mentor, a pseudo-intellectual who works as a greenskeeper at the local municipal golf course, both of which help keep the worst of his anxieties at bay. But following a drunken row with local gangsters, Declan’s worries threaten to spiral out of control.
James Cavani – Declan’s idol and his hometown’s claim to fame – is a renowned writer, director and actor. But despite his success, his past hasn’t relinquished its hold of him, and through his younger sister’s battle with drug addiction, he finds himself returning to a world he thought he had escaped.
At face value, their lives couldn’t be more different, but perhaps fate has a way of bringing kindred spirits together – and perhaps each holds the other’s redemption in their hands.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Sangu Mandanna

eARC/AudioARC
23/8/22

About the book:

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos “pretending” to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….

Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
Megan Bannen

eARC
Release Date: 25/8/22

About the book:

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.
After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.
If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most – Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares – each other?

Belladonna
Adalyn Grace

AudioARC
Release Date: 30/8/22

About the book:

For as long as Signa Farrow has been alive, the people in her life have fallen like stars…
Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being – and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy.
Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger, and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer, though, is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful – and more irresistible – than she ever dared imagine.

The Dragon’s Promise
Elizabeth Lim

Six Crimson Cranes #2

eARC
Release Date: 30/8/22

About the book:

Princess Shiori made a deathbed promise to return the dragon’s pearl to its rightful owner, but keeping that promise is more dangerous than she ever imagined.
She must journey to the kingdom of dragons, navigate political intrigue among humans and dragons alike, fend off thieves who covet the pearl for themselves and will go to any lengths to get it, all while cultivating the appearance of a perfect princess to dissuade those who would see her burned at the stake for the magic that runs in her blood.
The pearl itself is no ordinary cargo; it thrums with malevolent power, jumping to Shiori’s aid one minute, and betraying her the next—threatening to shatter her family and sever the thread of fate that binds her to her true love, Takkan. It will take every ounce of strength Shiori can muster to defend the life and the love she’s fought so hard to win.

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Happy Reading!