March 2020 Wrap-Up

In February, I read 27 books. It is the most I have read in a single month. Ever. Since the majority of them is unreviewed for now, I am starting a brand-new wrap-up series, beginning this month.

Into the World of ARCs

On the first day of March, I finally joined NetGalley, a website for book reviewers to access ebooks from publishers before release. When I first started reviewing books on Goodreads at the end of 2017 and on my book blog in 2018, I had no idea how other bloggers acquired books that were not yet published. After finally doing some research in February 2020 because of all the extra time at home due to the pandemic, I decided to try NetGalley to get some advanced review copies (ARCs).

Guess what? It totally worked!

This month, I read 16 books (81% fiction) and 3 short stories, 12 of which are ARCs. I am mostly excited about getting review copies from Bold Strokes Books, an LGBTQ+ literature publisher. The first time I read a book published by them was in February, and it was Kris Bryant‘s Listen. Then I read a few more by Melissa Brayden, whose works I have always wanted to read but never did until now. I was also fortunate enough to get some books from other publishers, too, including Cambridge University Press and Tor Teen.

At the end of 2019, I pledged to read 50 books in 2020 on Goodreads. I am ecstatic to say I reached my goal at the end of March, just a quarter into the year! Jericho Brown’s The Tradition is my 50th book.