Tag: fiction

Book Review

Moon Reads: Revolve

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Revolve by Bal Khabra

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection. 

Surprise, this is the book I read first of the series but it is actually the third one which comes to show one of the strengths of this series, that each book is in itself a standalone despite making references to what has happened in the previous ones (since the partners are "new" to the team they won't have context so this is handled nicely o the reader gets context without feeling like overexposure). 

The reason I chose this book was because it wasn't just hockey but it had artistic skating. But why was that relevant? Because for part of my teenage years I start with artistic roller skating and then moved to inline hockey (as I couldn't find a partner and the coach also coached hockey). And of course because both where done on ice at official levels, I would try to skate loads in ice rinks when I could afford it. 

So I came at Revolve with cautious hopes, could it talk about two things I loved deeply and also give me a good romance?

The answer was yes. So much that I would end up really liking the whole series and going back to the other books. 

Revolve follows Sierra Romanova who had an accident during a competiton on the ice and that left her with panic attacks when she enters the rink, but she wants to reclaim what that accident took from her and prove that she can do it. But her previous partner has a new partner and no one seems to want to partner up with her, and it's too late in the season...

Enter stage (rink) left, Dylan Donovan, playboy hockey player and the bad boy from the team, who goads her back into skating and proving him wrong. And maybe he also has something to prove as he is kicked out of the team for his chaos. Hockey is his dream and he wanted to follow Aiden and Elias, so he needs to win his way back and maybe skating with Sierra will help this happen.  

Dylan seems to just love pushing Sierra's buttons but then he starts caring and at the same time, it is one thing to push her buttons and another to let her suffer a panic attack, for which he seems well versed in handling, whcih shocks Sierra. And as Sierra slowly tackles her panic attacks, her fear and starts becoming once again a star in skating, Dylan also has to face his own reasons for being so reckless and for acting out so much. 

I enjoyed both the hockey and the figure skating, and both Sierra's and Dylan's story was really sweet and chaotic (Dylan reminded me a bit of my current partner, he seems super chaotic and feisty but is very sweet and caring at his core, and Sierra was a bit like myself in some ways). 
This is also the hardest review to write becuase I read the book the longest ago so I remember less specifics and the ones I do are pretty much plot spoilers I'd like to avoid since they were important to the story, but I will say that Sierr'as previous partner gets his comeuppance given he was the reason she had her accident.
 
And their epilogue to me was actually the sweetest of them all. 

So I hope you get to love this series and enjoy it, while I go dive into Embrace and get a review ready probably in a few weeks.
Book Review

Moon Reads: Spiral

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Spiral by Bal Khabra

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection. 

We're now on the second book from the Off the Ice series.

In this one we follow Elias Westbrook (Aiden's best friend) just after Collide, when they've been drafted into the Toronto Thunders, but somehow he has become quite popular for his good looks and the perception that he is a ladies man, and yet he has not made his first career goal at all, just a lot of assists. And he honestly just desperately wants to escape the attention and focus on the game. 

On the other hand we have Sage Beaumont, a ballerina who has dreamt since she was a kid to be like Misty Copeland and therefore wants to perform in the Swan Lake. But it turns out that your social media popularity matters when it comes to being able to secure the lead role for it. 

So when the chance present itself, and they get photographed together with speculations that she's his new conquest and potentially a more serious one, they both react very differently. For Sage this is the chance to get that media attention she needs while helping deflect the speculation on Elias' love life. Whereas Elias remembers how bad it was for everyone who has been caught int he press and his won experience with it, so he doesn't want to pursue a fake relationship since he doesn't think the pressure is good on Sage. 

But he can't seem to get her out his mind, with her blunt tongue, her incessant teasing and her approach to life, he may be less into faking it and just trying his best to not fall head over heels for her. Whereas Sage is practical, she just aims for independence and that ballerina position and Elias is throwing some changes into her life that she doesn't know who to react and what to do about them. 

I liked this one a bit better because it's very obvious from the beginning that the fake dating is everything but fake, but it was also super interesting to see how the fact they call it fake takes some pressure off on some aspects of the relationship and then on others it causes a lot of worries of how they are "performing" that relationship.  For me that part and how it is written made me ponder a lot of what we tend to perceive as a good relationship whereas what may actually be one that is just not as flashy or good for social media.

This one felt way more homey and cuter than Collide. Where Collide is indeed a collision of personalities, Spiral is all about that spiral into love and both of them are spiralling fast and without any brakes on. 

It is not my favourite but damn it was so close to being top of the list from the series. And honestly, I finished it and the fourth book arrived so I cannot wait to continue with the series (perfect timing). I can't remember the last time I was into a romance series as much as I am loving Off the Ice. 

Elias is actually such a softie and he is so sweet, whereas Sage is a lot of spikes and attitude in part because she has had to be the responsible one and ot protect her life and her brother. IT was really lovely to see the softening the nicenes from Elias, and also to understand slowly why Elias is so soft and wants to protect others. 

So I guess the short one is that Spiral is soft fake dating that'll make you feel like a hug.
Book Review

Moon Reads: Collide

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Collide by Bal Khabra

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light. 

I have been fighting WordPress for a while since their silly paragraph block won't load or let me write, so I am using their "verse" one, so, sorry for the weird formatting if this shows weird. 

I will admit Collide was not my first read from the Off the Ice series, but rather I came to it after reading another one out fo order, woops.  But I wanted the reviews to be in the right order. 

Collide follows Summer Preston who is utterly dedicated to her lifelong dream of becoming a sports psychologist, so much that she chose a very hard professor to be the one that lets her submit her research and promotes her, because she believes what she is trying to work on is worth the eye of her professor. But she instead gets told that she has to do a specific paper and that causes her to have to work with Aiden Crawford.

Aiden is the captain of the hockey team, and he takes the hits for the chaos his team mates cause, which means he is the firing line and may not be able to play if he doesn't participate in Summer's research. 

Summer doesn't love hockey and has some issues with it due to things that have happened in her past that make her consider it a problem and not something she wants to be involved in so having to deal with a cheerful life is simple attitude Aiden drives her mad, whereas she has everything set to schedule and working like clockwork. 

But as they start working together on the research they start understanding each other a bit better, but they still don't want to admit that they may be a good fit. 

The read was quite fun and I liked that despite the college life view and the fact that sex is prominent, Aiden was courteous and Summer was fully fleshed, She wants to achieve her dream and she cannot understand why there are so many blockers. She has good faith and believes in merit, whereas Aiden understands merit is but one part and there's more to things. 

Admittedly, Summer had more plot pieces to show than Aiden but it just meant her complications threw some interesting challenges for him, not that she was trying to do so, but the way some of the  issues get resolved was also really good and at least one of them was something I was like "I wonder if" and it totally was, but I didn't feel frustrated that I was right, the romance was sweet and I already knew they'd end up together and what type fo relationship they have since I had read ahead (because the supporting characters for each story have their own story and show in the other books, so you get an almost continuous line of their life stories and the lense just focuses more on one specific set of characters). 

As the first book to introduce you to the world, I liked it quite a lot and still wanted to read more, and it does show you a lot of what is to come not just for Summer and Aiden but for the rest of the team. 

So I'd recommend this as one of those just Romance series and it is something very rare for me to do in regards to books as I don't readmuch Romance, but Bal Khabra has won me over for her series.
Book Review

Moon Reads: Sad Girl Hours

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Sad Girl Hours by Anna Zoe Quirke

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

I can’t remember the exact reason I bought this one, but it felt like it’d be my kind of book. A good dose of cuteness, some sadness and lots of emotions. And I was right, this was a delight to read (despite dealing with heavy topics) and it felt like a warm hug or eating a nice apple pie fresh from the oven (not at burn your mouth temperature but at good temperature).

The story has two points of view, one from Saffron who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) who is dreading autumn and winter coming. She had to take time off the previous year from uni and can’t afford to do it again or it will make becoming an astrophysicist difficult or impossible. And also she’s somehow managed to keep it secret from all her friends and the people online that follow her for her short bubbly videos on astrophysics in a way that is easy to understand. She’s scared that if people know, they’ll dismiss it like her family does or they’ll stop liking her. And then she meets Nell.

Nell is our other point of view, who is proudly autistic, studying to become a poet, and a lover of autumn and winter and all the coziness they can provide. So she becomes determined to show Saffron that they’re not bad seasons with a bucket list of things to do to showcase how good it is to have the seasons come.

Of course as they start doing things like jumping on piles of leaves or lighting candles and having a cosy day in, Saffron and Nell both slowly start to develop feelings for each other but neither is sure of what exactly is going. And they both are trying to balance their own personal issues with having a fun time, becoming better friends and university.

There is a lot of fun but also some seriousness on caring for yourself and also how others care for you. I think this was a lovely little book to read and I’d recommend it as a nice autumn read. Do be mindful that it discusses SAD, family not taking this into account and being mean and not helpful, and obviously the spirals that can happen in your head about it.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Trident and The Pearl

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The Trident and the Pearl by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I am not a big follower of romantasy, mostly because I do like my romance and my fantasy but I don’t always want romance to take over the fantasy part. However, this sounded pretty interesting and made me curious.

I will start by saying that the actual rating is 3.75 not 3.5 but I do not have a way to make it that number via fox rating. The reason it gets this rating is more or less because of how the book declined the closer it got to the end.

Our story starts strong. Queen Coralys says goodbye to her husband who is going to try and save people during a hurricane/storm that is about to end their island and reign. She then goes to make a deal with her god, which according to her she doesn’t actually believe in, and gets an interesting bargain. Her people will be saved, but she will have to marry the first person to touch harbor and become their profession and life, so more or less it is a “sacrifice your Crown for your people” and she’s willing to do this. Now, we find out that her husband dies during the storm and she’s grieving, which odd request from the god, but oh well. And then we learn about her customs of her island etc. Which to be fair, end up being pretty irrelevant to the story, which was a bit sad.

Somehow the first person to arrive is a fisher man who has a horrible wound, god given, that won’t close. Coralys is still grieving but she gives the impression of being a superb queen and not spoiled and not your regular main character for a fairy tale or a romantasy. Sadly this lasts about a third of the book and then we get the trope of they can’t communicate.

Her new husband is a fisher man indeed who says he is the Fisher King, and Coralys is thick as bricks and has no imagination so she doesn’t figure out who her husband really is until extremely late, after every single piece of evidence has slapped her repeatedly in the face. And this is part of the reasons the book didn’t get a high rating.

The world building is incredible, how gods work, what makes a god a god, what causes gods to war against each other, and how the people can communicate with them and all that interaction, fascinating. Oke, the fisher king and Coralys’ new husban, also incredibly awesome. He is trying to allow her to grieve, give her space so that being husband and wife is not a responsibility and a burden for Coralys. Like he is a cinnamon roll who is sparing Coralys from a lot of things. And Coralys is anything but the Queen she supposedly was. The Coralys we get has convenient grief for the plot (always incredibly convinient and never comes around if the plot doesn’t require it, and yes I know grief is funky and so forth but in this case, it is too noticeable to just accept it as grief is a beast), is thick as bricks, has no idea what communication is (despite being a Queen and having been married before and had counselors, etc), and mostly lets the plot happen to her, which felt a waste of Oke and the actual plot.

The plot is interesting if Coralys wasn’t such a puppet of it. The romance is not really there at all. Well, we can see Oke being nice to her, trying to give her space while doing his many responsibilities, making sure to make time for her too amongst everything else, etc. And then Coralys is adamant on revenge for her dead husband, but you also can’t believe she is blinded by it, because she only cares when it is needed for the plot.

Still, plot was cool. I think the book needed another pass or two on edits to make Coralys actually be more fleshed out as she’s pretty much a blank puppet who says she is something but doesn’t really make sense at all with her actions or motivations or anything. She genuinely is just there to let the plot happen.

Would I read the second book? Yes probably, since I do like the world and I am curious to see what will happen. Would I say everyone should read this book? No, but if you enjoy romantasy and want a cool world with gods and chaos, and a nice male main character, this is a good one to have.

Book Review

Moon Reads – Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

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Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

This book was the perfect excuse to pull some cute cat plushies because why not, I have my own brand of “stray” cats.

I loved this book, probably even more the Emily Wilde’s series (and I enjoyed those a lot). And I am so so thankful to Orbit for the review copy because I was able to read the book before it came out and then I raved about it to other people (I do circus arts and I have an informal “book club” where we all read different things but weekly we talk about what we each read and recommend books to each other and this book has been one I’ve recommended a few times).

Anyway, to the actual review of this book. The short version of the review would be that this felt like I was reading a mix of the film and book versions of Howl’s Moving Castle (book version including the other two which rarely ever get included, but are so good), with Agnes being a little like Sophie and Havelock being like Howl. There is also like in the books, a much more involved sister and it is just very satisfying and wholesome and worth reading. Very cosy, very cute, you will want to visit a cat cafe and maybe watch Howl’s Moving Castle or read it afterwards.

Now the longer version, we start our story with Agnes trying to find a place to move into after a mage battle destroyed her previous shop front and the landlady she had cannot afford to fix the damage. Winter is coming and she needs a warm space for the cats and herself as she runs a cat charity to pick up strays. But most places she sees aren’t accepting her because she has cats. Until she finds the perfect shop, but she thinks she can’t afford it, despite being drawn to it over and over. Finally she decides to give in and just check it out, and somehow things work out in a way that is scary but feels meant to be. She’s quickly moving in and everything is pretty smooth, but then she starts getting weird visitors that go through her charity and into the basement of the shop.

To no one’s surprise, turns out she is a front for the most known mage ever Havelock, who is super famous and sought after. And well, as you would expect chaos ensues, with a magical battle between Havelock and another mage and our poor Agnes who loves keeping track of things and organisation struggles. But she’s practical and despite the fact she doesn’t agree with magic and mages, she will make the most of this chaos thank you very much.

She then goes on a mission (if you’ve seen Howl’s Moving there’s a scene that’s very similar to Sophie cleaning Howl’s Castle and it was so satisfying to read) to make things work out for this weird arrangement. But in some ways, she seems to be adopting Havelock as one of her strays and maybe, just maybe falling in lvoe with him despite her misgivings on magic and mages and the fact she thought she couldn’t love someone other than her husband who passed away two years before.

There’s a whole plot that I don’t want to spoil, but I definitely can say that this was adorable, very satisfying to read and honestly 100% worth it. I’d recommend it for the cosy factor, the magic, the Howl vibes, the pastries, the cats and the romance.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Moonflow

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Moonflow by Bitter Karella

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

Welcome to the first creepy post of October. I don’t know how much content have of this kind, but this felt fitting to be the first post for the month.

This sounded interesting in many ways when Orbit sent the monthly list of interesting books. Mushrooms, eldritch horror, a cult, and a lot of chaos, why not?

I think the best way I can describe this is that it was a trip! The story follows Sarah who studied to be a mycologist but didn’t finish and now grows mushrooms for people to consume and have a bit of fun. But life isn’t going great so when friend asks her to go on a trip to find spores for a new mushroom that gives the best trips when consumed, she agrees despite misgivings because she wants to try it again and also, the money will help her a lot to get back on track with life.

We also follow a few women who are part of the cult of the Green Lady, which is a feminist cult that exists in the Pamogo woods, that are meant to be difficult to navigate, shuffling themselves and known to belong to the Lord of the Forest. The cult is all about the feminine Green Lady and power to feminity, with lots of sexual power in it but only between women because apparently male energy is bad and corrupts.

Sarah makes it to outside of the woods where she meets her guide and then they start the trek, and Sarah starts getting weird messages that seem to be calling her deep into the woods. And you know, if you are already kinda lost, why not follow this random glitch message.

There’s a lot of chaos, some god events, a lot of sex and drugs, a lot about mushrooms (loved how they’d go all nerdy about things every now and then, which was funky), and a lot about what defines a woman and well, also cult behaviours and brain washing. As I said, it is a trip. But I laughed a lot, was terrified and the ending was just so creepy.

So it was horror well done, and very creepy. There is a lot I am sure on content warnings and I recommend you look for a list (I know there’s body horror, gore, killing, drugs, sex, transphobia, police brutality in a way, guns) because there’s loads going on, but it was a quick read, it just flowed and the ending felt fitting to the chaos ongoing in the Pamogo Woods.

Book Review

Moon Reads: You Are Here

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You Are Here by David Nicholls

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

I bought this on a whim on a trip to Waterstones. I loved One Day (before there was a film and a series) and the way they kept meeting yearly, and how much could change year by year. And somehow when I read the synopsis for this, it made me want to read it.

We meet our two main characters, Michael and Marnie, who are both unravelling a little in their loneliness and I guess a middle life crisis for each. Marnie is a good copywriter and loves her job, doesn’t really want to see people, feels awkward but knows she is funny and well, she is the kind of person who enjoys cancelled plans. Michael is grieving a divorce and not properly over it, but also blaming himself and managing past PTSD after a traumatic event.

And a friend in common will suggest doing a long weekend of walks, starting part of the Coast to Coast walk, which apparently has a lot of history and a specific route. It is also meant to be setup as a bit of a blind date, but not particularly between Marnie and Michael, the mutual friend has other potential prospects for each. And yet somehow, things happen and they end up walking together.

If you don’t walk much, particularly in nature, then this will be less known for you. I used to love just setting off and walking for hours and then back, or go with walks with friends. Or walk from a village to the pub in the next village over, or walk between two villages (3+ miles) to go to the library, grab some books and come back. I walk a lot less nowadays as I use a walking stick, but I still love walks in nature (much less walks in cities, I am not too fond of walking on concrete). I digress, the point I was trying to get to, is that if you walk in company there is both these bits of silence that is very companionable and also the moments of talking to each other, either side to side but kinda talking forward, or one behind the other, and you somehow get very deep in what you talk, or very silly. It just happens that walks make you talk of deep feelings, deep thoughts, you may not get anywhere, but you share, you explore, not only with your feet but with your conversation.

And this book, it is a lot about that. It is also somewhat of a love story (in a David Nicholls style so don’t expect the perfect happy ending, but to me it had a good hopeful ending). But it is about encountering your own demosn, sharing them, maybe realisign you’re not so alone and others are dealing with similar problems or can relate to you. That we are both very very different and at the same time very much the same, we’re all human.

It was a very soothing read for me, the pace is set by them trying to make progress, by their talks as they walk, a bit about the actual walk and what places you go by in the Coast to Coast walk in the UK (I knew the end to end starting in Scotland and ending in Conrwall I think but not this one). And also about what they would explore when they got to their end destination, to the place where they either stopped for lunch or for the day. And the little interactions there, the spaces were you stop walking and have to figure out what living is like.

You Are Here was a nice read, with a conversational pace, a bit of melancholy, a lot of humanity, some humour and a bit of romance, and it was good. I enjoyed it a lot.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Diary of a Void

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Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

I bought this book on a whim while I was in Oxford in Blackwell’s because it looked good. See, when I was barely in my twenties, translated fiction was ridiculously cheap because it wasn’t selling, and so I bought it and read it and loved a good book, but then it exploded and I was slightly put off by the price. So this was a call from my mind to remember my roots and my love for it.

Now, this specific review will be a bit more personal than you would normally get, because I read Diary of a Void in the early weeks of pregnancy, before I knew I was pregnant and the story hit me in a specific way at the time. Then I found out I was pregnant, and had a miscarriage and now that I am sitting down to write a review I can’t help but be hit by it in a completely different way (and it doesn’t detract from it, but rather, it makes ever so more interesting).

The premise for Diary of a Void is a slight pun at a guide book through pregnancy in Japan (there is a fancy explanation in the book about this), and it follows Miss Shibata as she suddenly has enough and says she’s pregnant. And she decides to continue the ruse with the help of reading about pregnancy, and some different ideas, but then how far is too far into having a make believe pregnancy?

Culturally, I can see this working in Japan, but not so much here in the UK or other western countries, so it is important to come to this story considering the setting, since it is important. And heck, the book is a quick read as we go through the different stages and the updates of how baby should be impacting our protagonist and what is recommended she do.

As she tells us the story, we start seeing when it becomes too real and she is deep in the lie, and it just gets interesting to see how she navigates each stage of the pregnancy and how to let work know updates and keep faking it. One of my favourite parts was the changes she decides to make due to the “pregnancy” and what is recommended, and how that makes her health and life better. This is still my favourite part after my own experience and the fact that I took habits from what I was doing for the pregnancy that was lost, and still do them. The routine, and the changes are still good. It is interesting what we can do and change for another life, even if in the case of Miss Shibata is purely for a void.

It was a good choice to get back into translated fiction and it is a weirdly interesting book, pregnant or not, to read, with some interesting reflections on how we react to pregnancy in us and in others and how society works around it.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Stranger than Fiction Book Box Club

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Subscription box: Book Box Club

Theme/Month: Stranger Than Fiction, August 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 12 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing a Book Box Club subscription, you can do it on their website.

Book Box Club is a young adult subscription box, the unique thing is the Clubhouse where you can chat to the author a month (or so) after the box was shipped and ask questions and just chat around. It also includes several goodies and usually the choice of book is one that is unique and not in other book boxes so very few chances of duplicate books and a lot of new reads discovery power.

A double book box for August and it was definitely full of items. Starting from top centre and the theme card:

  • Theme card.
  • Splinters of sunshine promo
  • A water bottle with measures to check how much you’ve had already.
  • Time Lord tea
  • Lightbulb clips, love funky clips so this was really nice
  • Tote bag with a quote about how strange we all are.
  • The Upper wOrld pin
  • Clubhouse invite
  • The Upper World which is an intriguing book with an interesting concept.
  • and the second book being Every Line of You, also quite interesting.

Overall, a lot of content and items, probably my favourite was the light bulb paper clips because they are cute but it is a hard choice since it was all cute and for a double book box, it did really well.