A huge part of blogging seems to be reviewing ARC’s. Many book lovers are excited to get their hands on a new release before it’s even, well, released. It’s exciting to read a book before anyone else has read it. Especially if it’s from a huge known and well-liked author such as Cassandra Clare.
However, I’m not a huge ARC reader. I’ve tried doing Netgalley (a website to request ARC’s) on multiple occasions but I never was able to get around to reading the books before the release date (or before they disappeared off of my kindle). You’re probably wondering, “Well why can’t you read ARC’s, Amber? What’s so wrong with them?”
There is nothing wrong with them, I just can’t read them. I’m a mood reader. I may be super excited for an ARC but as soon as I get it, all the excitement goes away and I don’t feel like reading the book anytime soon.
And if I don’t feel like reading an ARC after I get it, I end up not finishing it before the release date of the book. Then I feel bad for not reviewing it sooner. Because isn’t that the point of ARC’s? Is to spread word about it and get people to read it? It’s hard to do that if I don’t do it before the release date.
I just live in a big cycle of guilt if I don’t review ARC’s soon. Do you read ARCs? Is it easy for you? Do you get behind? Any advice for those that may struggle with ARCs like me? Or advice for people who do want to read ARC’s, but are not sure how?
escapelifeinthepages.com 
I don’t read arcs. I prefer to marathon my series because I can never remember what happened in the last book so an arc would enhance that, plus you can’t talk to anyone about it which would be so annoying; I also don’t have enough subs/followers to get any anyway lol 🙂
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YES! I forgot about not having anyone to talk to about them. It’s hard enough reading a super good book that’s not well known and having no one to talk to XD
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I can totally relate to this. For the most part, I’m pretty good about getting ARCs read and reviewed when I’m supposed to but sometimes I’m just really not in the mood for the book and end up putting it off. It definitely makes me feel bad. What’s helped for me is to just limit my requesting. I used to request everything that looked interesting; now I only request a couple of books that I know I’ll want to read and don’t let myself go overboard, haha. Personally, I think the book blogging community sometimes puts way too much emphasis on ARCs. I get the excitement (I love reading ARCs especially of books that I’m really excited for) but it seems like ARCs become this “status symbol” and if you don’t get them or read them (whether it’s because you’re a small blogger or simply because you don’t want to), you’re not a “real blogger.”
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Oh my gosh, i can’t believe I never replied back to this! So sorry! But I agree. I think it’s lame when people look down on you for not reading ARCs.
-Amber
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I have only just joined Netgalley and reviewed a couple of books. I don’t mind it so far but it is difficult to get interested in reading the books when there isn’t anyone to talk to about them. Netgalley is also surprisingly clunky as a website so that has taken some getting used to on its own!
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I tried using Netgalley a few times but I never reviewed the books fast enough so my score on it got bad and i got accepted to read less and less books until they were poor written books haha. But I’m glad you’re doing well with it 😀
-Amber
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