With July coming to an end, I’ve started making my reading plans for August and among those is ARC August. I’ve never participated before, but I have a bucketload of NetGalleys to read this year so I thought I’d join in and try and knock a couple of these out. I’ve picked out five to talk to you about today so let’s jump in to it.
Some Faraway Place by Lauren Shippen
I didn’t realise this when I requested this but Some Faraway Place is actually the third book in a series. From what I can tell from other people’s reviews, thankfully they seem to be more companion books rather than direct sequels so I should be alright to read this one first. I guess I’ll find out! I was really interested in the first book, The Infinite Noise, when it came out back in 2019 so I might go back and read that if I enjoy this one enough. So this story is about ‘atypicals’ who are basically people with powers of some kind—this protagonist in this one discovers she can enter dreams. It sounds like an amazing book so I’m very excited to give this one a go. It’s also a sapphic romance so I’m even more excited for that! Beyond that, I really have no idea what to expect from this book but it sounds very different to anything I’ve been reading lately so hopefully, it’s a fun little read!
The Wingmaker by Mette Jakobsen
I originally requested this book because it’s from Text Publishing, which is an Indie publisher here in Melbourne. They’ve put out some of my favourite books in the past and I’m just very intrigued by their books in general. But today while I was preparing this post I found out that this also has disability and neurodiversity rep apparently which means my interest in this has just gone through the roof. This follows a woman who works as a marble restorer and is working on this angel which is apparently her hardest project yet. She takes up an offer to spend some time at a quiet coastal hotel her father owns and things go from there. One of the reviews on Goodreads mentions that this is a quiet, atmospheric read that snuck up on them and made them sob so that sounds right up my alley too. I can’t wait to get to this one because I’m definitely feeling in the mood for it right now.
You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
This one sounds like it is absolutely going to tear my heart into millions of little pieces so you know I’m 100% here for it. It follows Julie and Sam who are high school sweethearts about to head off to college when Sam dies suddenly. Broken-hearted, Julie calls his phone to get hear his voicemail if nothing else, when Sam somehow picks up. I mean, doesn’t that already make your heart hurt? If you’ve been here a while, you might know that I’m a real sucker for a good book about grief. I find a lot of comfort in those kinds of books, as strange as that sounds, but I guess when I was in the very early days of my own grieving, books were the only places I found people who knew how to put it all into words. I’m hoping this one turns out to be a really beautiful book, especially with that drop-dead gorgeous cover.
Why She Wrote by Hannah K. Chapman and Lauren Burke
If you’ve seen any TBR posts I’ve done pretty much ever then you probably know that I really love including books that mark off two or more tasks or challenges that I’ve set for myself. It really helps me stay motivated, not just with those challenges but with other things I have to do as well. Anyway, this marks off a book for this challenge, of course, but it’s also one I own a physical copy of so reading it would also take a book off my TBR. That right there is one of the biggest reasons I fall behind with NetGalley books—because reading them takes nothing off my TBR and that’s really been my biggest focus this year. I can’t do anything about the others, but hopefully, it’ll help me feel a little less stressed by at least getting this one off my TBR. I’ve had a quick flick through this one and it looks absolutely gorgeous so it should be a fun little read.
Wake of the Phoenix by Chelsea Harper
I know you can’t really tell from the rest of the books on this list but I’m very much going through a fantasy thing at the moment. I don’t know what it is about Winter that makes me want to escape into fantasy worlds but this happens every year. I really have no idea what this one is about—I just loved the look of the cover and the title. I believe it has something to do with like thief guilds and debts that have to be paid along with maybe some political/court drama and intrigue. Goodreads mentions there’s a queer element to the book too, so that always grabs my attention. I like going into fantasy books without really knowing what it’s about—I think it makes the whole experience even more enjoyable, so that’s what I’ll be doing with this one too.
And that’s it for today’s post! Are you trying to read any ARCs this August?
Earl Grey Books 