Let’s Talk: What’s on my NetGalley TBR

Hi besties, happy Thursday! I hope you’re all doing well and staying safe 💜I thought it would be fun to go over what I’ve got on my NetGalley TBR!

This year I’ve been trying to be much more mindful when it comes to requesting ARCs — only requesting ARCs that I’m really excited about as opposed to just anything that sounds interesting, not letting arcs pile up, reading them in a timeline manner (well, mostly), etc, etc.

At the beginning of the year I was doing a really great job of getting through my ARCs. I read 5 ARCs in January alone and while I haven’t read that many in one month again, I have done a fairly good job of keeping my unread ARCs under control. As of now, I have 5 unread ARCs and I thought we’d chat a bit about why I’m excited to read them.

You know the drill — grab your favorite beverage, get comfy, and let’s chat about ARCs!

Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin (Aug 1, 2023)

While fantasy is not my go-to genre, I do have some go-to fantasy authors, and Rachel Griffin is one of them. Nature of Witches is probably one of my favorite fantasies and I did really enjoy Wild is the Witch. I consider Rachel Griffin’s books more on the magical realism side, which is my preferred version of fantasy, and I’ve always liked stories about witches, so her writing is right up my alley.

I’m also incredibly excited because this book takes place near the sea. The sea and magic is a perfect combination for me, and I think that I’m going to really enjoy this one! As it comes out next month, it’s high on my priority list. 

Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown (Aug 29, 2023)

I’m very into reading horror at the moment (or at least finding horror books to read), so I am SO excited to read Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight! While I haven’t read a lot of horror anthologies, I do think that anthologies/short stories work well for the horror genre because you can really just get to it, you know what I mean? This anthology has stories written by authors I’ve read from before, Kalynn Bayron, and Kosoko Jackson and authors that I have been meaning to read such as Trang Thanh Tran and Em X. Liu, so I’m very intrigued by it.

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu (Sep 12, 2023)

I first found out about The Death I Gave Him when I was doing my Shakespeare reads in April, and let me tell you, I’ve had this at the top of my TBR since. The second I saw the words “retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a locked-room thriller” I immediately went to NetGalley and clicked request. Those are so many of my buzzwords all in one sentence. I don’t read a whole lot of sci-fi, but this one sounds way too cool to pass up.

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez (Oct 31, 2023)

I’ve never read anything by Isabel Ibañez before, but this book had me at “The Mummy meets Death on the Nile” because honestly that just sounds really cool! I haven’t read any books set in Egypt before, so that is another reason that makes me so excited to read this book. There’s magic, mystery, murder…what more could I want in a book?

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft (Jan 30, 2024)

If Allison Saft is writing it, I’m reading it. I just love her writing —- her characters are filled with such depth, her descriptions are lush, and her stories always know how to tug on my heartstrings. I love the idea of magic that lets one stitch their emotions and memories into fabric, that is such a cool concept, and I love a good fictional Royal Wedding! I’m so excited to get swept up into this Regency England-inspired fantasy world, I have a feeling that I’m going to really love this one.

And there you have it! Do you have any of these ARCs or are any of these books on your radar? Let me know in the comments. Until next time!