$10 Off Book of the Month Coupon

Book of the Month is offering $10 off 6- and 12-month subscriptions!

Use coupon code BOXIE10 for $10 off a 6- or 12-month gift subscription. That brings the price down to $79.99 for 6 months and $179.99 for 12 months.

October 2020 Gramma in a Box Review

 Happy Spooky Season! I love this time of year, with all the pumpkins, black cats, and ghosts and ghouls. The October Gramma in a Box celebrated all of these fun things with candy and cookie crafts!

*Disclaimer: This box was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Gramma in a Box is a monthly subscription that sends supplies to create candy and cookie crafts. Boxes have a different theme each month, with three projects and enough to make 15 to 20 individual treats. The only things you'll need to supply yourself are basic items like a bowl and spoon for mixing.

Here are their pricing options:

• Monthly: $20 per month
• Three Months: $60 every three months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)
  
• Six Months: $120 every six months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)
• 12 Months: $240 every 12 months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)

You can also try an individual box without subscribing to an auto-renewal for $22.

Shipping is free to the U.S. and taxes are included. If you want to cancel, do so by the 25th of the month. You can also try one box for $20 without a renewing subscription.

The projects are always so creative! The first one for this month was Spooky Witches Hats and involved using melting chocolate, Hershey's Kisses, and sprinkles to decorate ginger snap cookies. In the first photo I accidentally included the bones and skulls candy instead of the sprinkles, but you can see what they look like in the second photo, above.

The second project was Crispy Halloween Bites. I used the rest of the melting chocolate and mixed in crisped rice cereal, then spooned it into the paper cups and topped with the skull and bones candies. I also added a few sprinkles for some more color. This is a really simple treat but colorful and fun for parties.

 
The last craft is always cookies. The cookies are pre-baked and come in sealed plastic to preserve freshness. It's best to complete the crafts within a week of receiving the box so that they're at their freshest.

The Halloween Cookies had large and small pumpkin, ghosts, and witch hat shapes with orange, white, and purple frosting and various sprinkles. Unfortunately I messed up the face of one of my ghosties, but it still tasted delicious!

• Visit Gramma in a Box to subscribe
• Connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Bottom Line: Gramma in a Box is a great way to share yummy treats and fun times creating them together with your loved ones. The themes and projects are always on point and creative!

July, August, and September 2020 Book of the Month Reviews

I got a little behind on my reviews, especially for Book of the Month. In all honesty, I just got a little lazy. 

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love!

I love Book of the Month. It's exactly what it sounds like: a monthly subscription where you can choose one of five new, hardcover titles for $14.99 per month, shipping included. You can also add on as many titles to your box as you'd like for $9.99 per book, or skip that month if nothing piques your interest.

My July selection was The Shadows by Alex North. I had received a previous title by this author from Book of the Month, The Whisper Man, and it was excellent, so I was excited to try another title from him. Unfortunately this one was not as interesting as the first book, but it was still a decent story. Here's the synopsis:

You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile--always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet--and inspired more than one copycat.

Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree--and his victim--were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and suffering from dementia, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home.

It's not long before things start to go wrong. Paul learns that Detective Amanda Beck is investigating another copycat that has struck in the nearby town of Featherbank. His mother is distressed, insistent that there's something in the house. And someone is following him. Which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day twenty-five years ago.

It wasn't just the murder.It was the fact that afterward, Charlie Crabtree was never seen again...

When you receive your 12th box, you'll officially have "BFF" status, which includes the following added benefits:

• Book of the Month tote bag (pictured above)
• A free add-on book during your birthday month
• A free choice of one of the Book of the Year Finalists
  

I really like this tote! It has an exterior book pocket that also comes in handy for holding my keys, phone, and/or wallet, and an interior zip pocket. I've been carrying it as an everyday bag and for shopping runs.

My August book selection was The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. I hadn't gotten a science fiction title for a while, and this one sounded great. I haven't read it yet, but here is the synopsis:

Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying—from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total.

On this dystopian Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. Now what once made her marginalized has finally become an unexpected source of power. She has a nice apartment on the lower levels of the wealthy and walled-off Wiley City. She works—and shamelessly flirts—with her enticing yet aloof handler, Dell, as the two women collect off-world data for the Eldridge Institute. She even occasionally leaves the city to visit her family in the wastes, though she struggles to feel at home in either place. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security.

But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined—and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.

Last up is my most recent box, for September. I chose Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden. It's a thriller and I can't wait to dive into it:

Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.

They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.

Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling.

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Bottom Line: I was happy to achieve BFF status with Book of the Month in August, as I think the added bonuses are great value. My birthday is in December, the same month as the Book of the Year finalists announcement, so I'll get two extra books for that month!

Book of the Month is a must-have subscription for any avid reader, or anyone looking to expand their book collection.

September 2020 Gramma in a Box Review

The September Gramma in a Box was aptly-themed with Back to School candy and cookie crafts!

*Disclaimer: This box was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Gramma in a Box is a monthly subscription that sends a box full of treats for you to create three candy and cookie crafts. The only items you'll have to provide are kitchen staples, like a bowl and spoon for mixing.

Here are their pricing options:

• Monthly: $20 per month
• Three Months: $60 every three months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)
  
• Six Months: $120 every six months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)
• 12 Months: $240 every 12 months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)

You can also try an individual box without subscribing to an auto-renewal for $22.

Shipping is free to the U.S. and taxes are included. If you want to cancel, do so by the 25th of the month. You can also try one box for $20 without a renewing subscription.

The September box featured back to school themed snacks. There's an info card that talks about the theme for the current box and the next month, as well as ingredients and possible allergens listed for each craft on the other side.

The first craft was Apple for the Teacher. The crafts are always so creative, and this one is the perfect example. I melted the chocolate discs in the microwave, then dipped each pretzel into the chocolate and covered with red sprinkles, a fondant leaf, and part of a Tootsie Roll for the stem. So cute!

The second craft was Alphabet Bites and it included the rest of the melting chocolate. I mixed in puffed cereal, cereal marshmallows, and alphabet sprinkles to create a yummy and colorful treat!

The final craft is always cookies. The cookies are pre-baked and shrink-wrapped in plastic, but it's still advised that you complete the crafts within a week of receiving the box so that they stay their freshest.

The September cookies were Back-to-School Cookies and had apple and school bus shapes. The third shape was a pencil, but also could have become a schoolhouse I think, if you wanted to decorate them that way. There were also several colorful sprinkles to add to the designs with blue, yellow, and red frosting. I mixed the blue and yellow to create a little green, too, for the leaf on the apple.

• Visit Gramma in a Box to subscribe
• Connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Bottom Line: Gramma in a Box is such a fun way to spend time making candies and cookies that you can share with your loved ones! The theme was perfect, as always, and all the treats were delicious.
 

August 2020 Gramma in a Box Review

Gramma in a Boxis a great way to have fun and share time and snacks with your loved ones! This box has been an especially nice treat for me during COVID self-isolation began.

*Disclaimer: This box was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Gramma in a Box was created by Terry, who was inspired by wanting to share baked goods with her grandchildren after they moved away. The box contains cookie and candy crafts that you can easily make and share.

Here are their pricing options:

• Monthly: $20 per month
• Three Months: $60 every three months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)
  
• Six Months: $120 every six months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)
• 12 Months: $240 every 12 months (automatic 10% off the monthly price)

You can also try an individual box without subscribing to an auto-renewal for $22.

Shipping is free to the U.S. and taxes are included. If you want to cancel, do so by the 25th of the month. You can also try one box for $20 without a renewing subscription.

The August theme was "Under the Sea." The box always contains three crafts with enough supplies to make 15 to 20 individual treats. Everything you need is inside as far as the ingredients go, you'll just have to supply basics like a bowl and spoon for mixing.

The info card talks about the monthly theme and the opposite side lists all of the ingredients inside and any possible allergens.

The ingredients are all individually packaged. This month, unfortunately two of the frosting packets had a little tear in them so some got on some of the other ingredients, but since everything else was packaged nothing was ruined.

The first craft was Baby Shark Pops! So cute. To make them, I melted the chocolate discs in the microwave and dipped the sticks into the chocolate, put the stick into the marshmallow, and then rolled them in the graham cracker crumbs. There were enough marshmallows to make six pops, though some of mine got a little melted due to the heat during transit, so a few were smaller than the others. This didn't bother me, though. The last step was to add the Goldfish crackers on the sides.

The second craft was my favorite, the Clams with Pearls. The Gramma in a Box snacks are always so creative, and this one was extra cute! It involved using the rest of the melted chocolate to put in between two Nilla Wafer cookies, then add in the chocolate pearl and eyes on top. Some of the eyes got a little messy for me since I just used my finger to apply the chocolate, but the instructions suggested using a toothpick to make them cleaner (I didn't have any, so I improvised).

The third project is always cookies, and the August were Sea Life Cookies. There were eight cookies total, with three frosting colors and lots of different sprinkles. The cookies are pre-baked and plastic wrapped and I've never gotten them in any state other than completely fresh. It's recommended that you complete the crafts within a week of getting your box to make sure they stay fresh, though.

I liked the simple star, fish, and shell shapes because they were easier for me to frost and decorate. The cookies are a delicious butter/shortbread and are a big hit with my family.

• Visit Gramma in a Box to subscribe
• Connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Bottom Line: Gramma in a Box is a great value! Not only do you get to have fun creating the crafts, but being able to share them with the people you love is priceless.