First 20% Challenge

Like most book bloggers, at one point I accidentally requested myself into a TBR mountain that promptly collapsed on me when everything was approved and due at around the same time.

Ah, who am I kidding? This has actually happened to me twice now. It’s not uncommon, in book blogging, to request more than we can read, or have real-life events interrupt our schedule, or even to feel overwhelmed and run away from review copies.

Now, most Netgalley egalleys/ARCs expire, but since I download them to my Kindle, I get to keep them forever.

My response rate has been well above 80% for a long time now, but I’m still holding on to those ARCs I requested years ago because:

• I feel that because I was interested enough at some point to request them, I’m still interested now
• I really wanted to read them at one point, and I might want to read them in the future
• And it’s OK to review books late. IT IS OK.*

So here is my plan:

I am going to read the first 20% of each of these books.

If my interest is not sufficiently captured in that first 20%, I am going to DNF the book, therefore relieving myself of reviewer’s guilt for not reading books I requested for review.

If my interest is sufficiently captured, I will continue on with the book and write an honest review.

I’ve chosen 20% because I can generally tell within the first 20% whether or not a book is going to be worth my time investing in. If I’m bored, or I feel like the writing isn’t working for me, the feeling generally lasts the entire book and I end up grumpy that I’ve wasted my time on a book I didn’t love. Similarly, if the writing engages me, I can pretty much tell from the first page or so if I’m going to love it.

Here is a text list of all the ARCs I still owe reviews for:

• Riding on Air by Maggie Gilbert
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
• Grounded by G.P. Ching
• Passion Potion by Mary Beth Daniels
• Sky’s End by Lesley Young
• Arrow of the Mist by Christina Mercer
• Sworn to Raise by Terah Edun
• Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon
• Miss Ellicott’s School for the Magically Minded by Sage Blackwood
• Literally by Lucy Keating
• Fireworks by Katie Cotugno
• Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer
• Lucky Girl by Amanda Maciel
• The Lucky One by Caroline Overington
• Vigilante by Kady Cross
• Select by Marit Weisenberg

*Yes, there are a lot. If you’re not a book blogger, you probably won’t understand.

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