Maddie and I have received some very exciting upcoming releases over the past few weeks and ARC August is apparently a thing, so I thought I would take the time to share them with you! #ARCAugust is hosted by Read.Sleep.Repeat and it sounds like a super fun way of trying to tackle your ARC TBR pile!

How To Keep A Boy From Kissing You by Tara Eglington

This is probably the ARC I am least excited for in my collection. I really enjoy the whole ‘sweet 16 and never been kissed’ element – it’s what I adore about Kisses For Lula by Samantha Mackintosh, which is one of my all-time favourite underrated contemporaries – but it’s the exact opposite. Instead of wanting to be kissed, Aurora Skye (such a fictional name!) wants to stay that way. Then there’s a boy…of course there is, right?…and he’s basically perfect for her, but she’s stubborn and doesn’t need him (YES!) but then they get thrown together in their school production of Much Ado About Nothing and we’ve all seen that Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode. We know how this is going to go. I really hope that it’s going to defy my expectations, and work through some of the tropes in interesting ways, but we’ll see…

The Form of Things Unknown by Robin Bridges

I read Dreaming of Antigone, also by this author, earlier on in the year, and there was a blurb for her second book at the end and I remember in intrigued me enough to want to read it too! This book also happens to include the characters taking part in Shakespeare! Except this time, it’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. So I hope it’s going to be a bit surreal, lyrical and emotionally hard hitting. It seems like it’s going to be a bitter sweet story with a bit of discord, so I’m actually looking forward to it. I think the opposing Shakespeare plays also perfectly sum up the tone that these books will have, so the comparison will be interesting too.

The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles

The cover and the title seem like completely different stories. Am I the only one who feels this way? I see the cover and think mystery thriller with dystopian elements. I hear the title and think summer contemporary romance probably written by Jennifer E. Smith. The Edge of Everything was a popular ARC at BEA and I think that was the only reason why I requested it. It’s about a girl and her brother struggling through a snowstorm, and I think that also reminded me of Cassie and Sam from The Fifth Wave and I wanted to have that connection to a sibling relationship again. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, I think the romance is going to be pretty high in this one, considering the tag line is ‘For the perfect love what would you be willing to lose?’

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria

This is a story set in the early 1900s where there’s a club where people can be entertained by illusions. Things go wrong, best friends are sacrificed, lies are told. That kind of thing. I hope this is going to be the kind of story where I’m completely immersed in the world and engrossed by the story. I want to be swept away by these characters and their magic. Maybe with some Night Circus vibes, but it also feels like a hit BBC drama.

The Secret City by C.J. Daugherty

I picked up the first book in this series when I met C.J at the Feminism in YA event in March. I’ve seen the book trailer and it looks like it’s going to be the next City of Bones. I can’t wait to read the first one, and I’m glad to have the second book on hand so I can jump on it immediately!

And I Darken by Kiersten White

This is one of those ARCS that’s been gathering pixellated dust on our to read shelf. I’ve tried to pick it up before and never gotten very far through. August is the month I will read this gender bend Vlad the Impaler! It’s got a really strong concept and I love female lead fantasies, and hopefully this will be no exceptions. I’m exception a lot of Action and Adventure, so we’ll see. I’ve seen some really positive reviews on GR people saying it’s dark and enticing. So I can’t wait!

The Best Possible Answer by E. Katherine Kottaras

This is the book that I am most excited for! It’s a contemporary about an over-achieving girl who’s set to go to an Ivy League university until her boyfriend leaks racy photos of her online. Then she gets a job at a community pool and makes more friends and puts her life back together, and I can’t even contain my excitement for this books, which is why it’s probably going to be one of the last I read this month. I love everything about the concept, and I think it’s going to be a real story packed full of my favourite thing: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! It sounds like something I’ll really enjoy, and to find a new author to follow would be incredible.