Tag: Illumicrate

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: I Will Fly Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: I Will Fly, June 2024

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

I am still super far behind on this, but one day I will catch up, I promise. This is still really the only book box I buy and I enjoy it enough to keep it going so far. Apparently for about ten years. How does time by so fast?

Anyway, let’s dig into the contents of this one:

  • At the top we have two mechanical pencils (I have not used these, mostly because I am particular on the mechanical pencil I use for drawing, and otherwise I don’t really use them) inspired by Empress of Salt and Fortune.
  • Bandits of Liagnshan enamel pin inspired by The Water Outlwas. I like the pin, it has been added to the ever growing collection.
  • The monthly leaflet with the photo challenge and contents description. I used to keep these but have been recycling nowadays.
  • A metal bookmark inspired by The Bone Shard Daughter (I haven’t read that one yet), which is super cool.
  • The main book, which was Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen and I have yet to read it. It somehow didn’t become a priority amongst the choices I have made to keep around in my super minimal bookcase.
  • And finally a print album inspired by Girls of Paper and Fire (that was a good series). I like these albums because I actually use them for prints and they are awesome for keeping them tidy and I can browse them nicely.

Overall, it was super on theme and very well tied together for pictures and showing off all the elements. Most of the items were good and useful (the mechanical pencils would’ve been in use if I was taking more notes and going places). So can’t complain on this box, I like it when they items all look good together and seem to stick incredibly well with the theme and each other and that was a win here for sure.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Magical Bonds Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Magical Bonds, May 2024

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

Now we’re back to our regular posting schedule and somehow we are on the right month for illumicrate, just a year behind. Woops. But let’s check the contents, starting from the top left and going clockwise:

  • The featured book which is Goddess of the River, which I have read and reviewed already. And absolutely loved it. Big win here.
  • We then have some little clips, which I have been using for bags of crisps and other little things like that, very handy, even if a tiny bit big.
  • Anther one of the storybook setting magnets, which live on my fridge happily holding recipe cards of the things I tend to need the recipe often enough.
  • The usual content booklet.
  • Another lovely mug, which I cannot for the life of me remember what the fandom was, but they are generally my favourite style of mugs and I love them very much.
  • And finally, a book carrier. These are so so amazing, I have them all over the house, they’re the perfect thing to be at the base of the stairs to put things that need to go upstairs, and to have in the office for things that need to move form here to another room, and you get the idea, right?

This was a big winner box with lots of useful items and fun things that I have loved having, and that are regularly being used at home, so nothing really has ended up gathering dust or making me feel like it was wasted on me.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Magic vs Science Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Magic vs Science, April 2024

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

I have no idea what March was and no pictures or any evidence of the box, so hi, welcome to April and this beautiful box, which was just very pretty overall! Let’s go from the top left and clockwise:

  • Pencil case, I love these as they are always so pretty and useful. The only thing that would make them better is if they were the ones that can fit two levels and have a little tray in between.
  • Eco friendly makeup cleaning pads. These are pretty and I haven’t used them for two reasons, one is that I don’t wear a lot of makeup, and the other is that every time I have used this type of pad, they end up not taking the makeup well off my face and they end up slightly modly or yucky even after a wash, or leaving them to dry, just bad experiences and I don’t want to ruin them so they exist happily in my makeup drawer waiting to be used.
  • Our regular leaflet letting us know what is inside and the photo challenge.
  • The featured book which is To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang, still on my list to be read.
  • Gardening gloves, this went as a gift to someone who actually gardens, but they were very pretty and very well liked by the person who received them.
  • A jigsaw, I love these so much! This time the science fiction bookcase which I have yet to do.

Overall as I had already said, a very nice box with very pretty items and for the most part all in use except the makeup pads but that’s me not the box itself. I did like this one quite a lot.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Caged Hearts Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Caged Hearts, February 2024

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

In which I discover that the tea towel I thought would be a super cute background ends up being a bad background, woops. But this was February’s box and let’s see what it had insidestarting from the leaflet and going clockwise:

  • Monthly Leaflet, detailing the contents and the photo challenge.
  • To Cage a God by Elizabeth May was the featured book, and I have actually read this one, go me, after so many unread ones.
  • Anohter fo the collectible daggers/swords. I always forget which one is which as I don’t really collect them.
  • A glass jar, these are meant to be user for drinking water or whatever or some storage, but I have only kept two since I only have so much space, sadly.
  • A fairytale keyring, very cute.
  • A plastic container bag thing. I assume it’s meant to be for like airport stuff or something, but I wasn’t too crazy about it.

Overall, not a bad box, with some cute items and some used less, but it was still nice.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Principle of Moments

Posted on

The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson

Rating: 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.

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 actually can’t remember how I came to have a proof copy for this book, since I know it was not one I requested, so it either came freely from publisher or through BlackCrow (who are awesome with proofs).

As you may have seen from the previous post, I also have a hardcover copy of it but I read it on the proof copy.

Now, this si one of my lowest-rated book reviews in a while, and the main reason for it is that this book needed more editing and more work. It is a book written during school by the author and then reworked, and it shows as you read through it. The characters are wishy-washy and feel shoehorned into making the prophecy work (the prophecy parts were probably the most interesting). They just seem to be carried forever by the plot to make the plot happen while trying to figure themselves out, and not in a good way.

The format of it, with the prophecy, the time travel, and the trying to make reason of the side plots, was interesting and had a lot of potential, but for me, it falls flat. I did not care for most of the characters except George, who felt like he had just been dragged into this nonsense and had no choice (see? Everything is very much an “I have no choice but to do this” all over the book), so our two main characters in themselves are flat and boring, plot puppets overall to fulfil a prophecy and you could swap them for other characters and still get the same story.

The premise is that there is this prophecy about 3 parts of a story, and you are having that slowly told (the people talking of the prophecy talk about the person who made it, and make notes on it and therefore this was the most interesting part and you could read just the bits of the prophecy and get a decent story, skipping more than half the book, way more enjoyable) but you also get several points of view by a variety of characters on how they are going to save the world, or maybe just themselves because they are selfish and want to live and yet they are cowards and nothing like what they are supposed to be.

The overall summary is that this had potential, had an interesting idea, and formatting and the “prophecy” part was pretty decent, but the execution fell flat and steamrolled through the characters just to fit the prophecy and “plot”, and it could have been done better. They deserved better.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: In The Stars Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: In the Stars, December 2023

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

A box to end the year with a lot of items for the new year. Starting at the top left corner and going clockwise:

  • Theme leaflet
  • A money jar (or ideas) inspired by a quote from Addie LaRue.
  • A calendar with art for each month based on books, usually pretty nice.
  • Weekly planner with a habit tracker and space for each day. It is currently on my fridge and used somewhat for meal planning and notes.
  • The featured book which is The Pricniple of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, and surprisingly I’ve actually read the book (review coming soon!).
  • Finally, underneath all of it, a tea towel for space, quite nice design but the fabric is not particularly good at drying which is one of my biggest issues with it. It’s cool but useless.

Nice box to end the year, and I have used most of it except the towel which I tried to use, found it unusable and gave it away. I have this problem a lot with Illumicrate towels and tea-towels, they never dry enough and are pretty much useless for their intended purpose despite being very pretty which frustrates me because I would like to use them and have awesome towels. But the rest was cool!

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Anit-Hero Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Anit-Hero, November 2023

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

A dark and spooky box for Illumicrate with some interesting items. Starting at the top left and going clockwise:

  • Featured book, Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. I’ve read her books before so I expected to like and have yet to read it, woops. The reason it doesn’t look amazing in the pictures is because it has a see through slip cover and therefore really difficult to show in all its glory, but it’s pretty cool.
  • Theme leaflet.
  • A spooky tree ornament which I loved, to be fair I generally enjoy the tree ornaments Illumicrate sends and they end up on my Christmas tree.
  • I think this was a foldable bag (vaguely from memory) and I gifted it to someone who needed cool bags(I have a massive collection of tote bags to last me an eternity and that I do use for my shopping).
  • A classic mug from Illumicrate which is fun but not one I have currently in rotation.
  • Book ends, which I also do not have in use currently but I kept them because they are cool.

Overall, it was a box with lots of usable parts and that makes me happy, even if a few of them are not currently in use but that’s not because I don’t appreciate them. Nice little box and well themed I think.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Fairytale Forests Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Fairytale Forests, October 2023

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

A beautifully set box with a lovely theme for October. Let’s start on the leaflet and go clockwise:

  • Theme leaflet and contents.
  • Underneath, a delightful deskpad with a vrow and keys and perfect purple tones. Love it!
  • Nightfell replica dagger, not sure which book it is from as I don’t really collect them, but it is pretty.
  • Finding Dreams notebook, and it is a gorgeous one which feels too good to use (but will be used, it is on the notebooks shelf waiting its turn).
  • The featured book was After the Forest by Kell Woods, another one still on my list but unread.
  • And finally, we have some woodland and witch page tabs for little notes or to highlight specifics. I admit I am not someone who does this type of thing except for drawing reference, but I still like them and can appreciate them.

A good box overall, that deskpad takes the winner out of it because it is so pretty. I am never super keen on dagger replica boxes because it is just a thing that I don’t know what to do with. So it isn’t the best box, but not the worst either.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Last Hour Between Worlds

Posted on

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

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.

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.

Just to add to the disclaimer above, I did get a free copy from Orbit, but I also had a purchased copy and one from Illumicrate, so apparently this was a book I just needed to read. The copy in the picture is the one from the publisher because it is the one I actually took everywhere (you can see it, woops) and read.

The review before today’s was for Diary of a Void, which is about faking a pregnancy, and well, this book is not about pregnancy in itself, but rather about a main character who has given birth recently and is just trying to enjoy herself rather than work on an end of year party. It felt to me like these two books had to be next to each other because they approach a part of life that isn’t always included in books beyond a side note, and in both, it is an important part of it.

I also want to highlight that our main character is not a young adult, which was refreshing as was seeing that she is trying to balance motherhood and her return to work post birth. I need more books that just include it in the plot and where it is relevant in how it colours the decisions and thoughts of the character but not as a “plot” point exclusively. It was done masterfully here.

Now, to the actual proper plot, which is a crazy multidimensional mystery and trying to stop people from dying and close to the end of the world for the people involved, but in reality is more of a power game between higher entities.

Kembral is trying to enjoy herself at the end of the year party but the party just won’t let her as people start dying and then time seems to “rewind” and it starts all over, but moving between dimensions. As to why she seems to be one of the only ones to notice this, part fo the overall mystery.

Thankfully, she ends up joining forces (reluctantly) with her personal and professional nemesis, Rika. As they try to work on their own personal/professional tangle and at the same time, survive and save the world(s), chaos ensues.

There is a lot going on in the book, which is normally overwhelming, but the various threads of plot and pieces do tie each other nicely as it progresses. We learn more about why Rika and Kembral have such a relationship and what each side thinks, plus what they are seeing or kept hidden from each other. We also get, as mentioned the impact of her motherhood into the story, and her own professional relationships and morals as she tries to resolve what is happening. Then we have the various dimensions and worlds, which is chaotic and wonderful worldbuilding. Then we have the rituals/murders that keep happening each time and in each dimension. And the question is how to make it stop and save everyone, how do you solve a game and ritual that is at the level of higher beings and not you?

I had to stay up reading this book and really wanted to keep going, it was incredibly well written, kept me hooked and I wanted to know more on all points. I can’t wait for the next book.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: My Last Breath Illumicrate

Posted on

Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: My Last Breath, September 2023

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

A dark and very Evanescence box, because all I can think of when I see that is the song, and therefore I am judging on that, but ti does match it nicely. So let’s see what was in it, starting top left:

  • The usual leaflet of contents.
  • The featured book which is A Study in Drowning, I still haven’t read it, but it looks good and is still on my list.
  • Gothic Romance book pot, a bit too pink for my taste, but it is still gorgeous.
  • If we were villains jigsaw, and I like jigaws and they look like books so it’s a win for me.
  • One of my favourite things but that isn’t included much in the boxes, bowl cosy! In gorgeous fabrics.
  • There is also a magnet in a window, which is now permanently holding my recipe for banana bread on my fridge (it gets moved to the microwave when I am making it).
  • And finally a Queen of hearts card that I am not sure what it refers to, but I like the artwork.

Overall I liked the contents, even if some styles weren’t for me (the bookpot, but I do like book pots and have a few around the house, I am just picky on the specifics). The items are still in use, so also quite good given this is from 2023. Shame on me about not yet reading the book, woops.