April Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I hadn't gotten a Book of the Month in a few months because I already have a decent pile of books to get to, but the April selections had a title I wanted to grab.

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

With Book of the Month, you can choose a hardcover new release from five selections for $14.99 per month. You can also add on as many titles as you want for $9.99 per book. Shipping is free to the U.S.

You can skip any month and your credit will carry over for the next month. For example, I was charged for February but didn't pick a title that month, so the credit carried over to March, and since I didn't pick a book in March either, the credit continued to carry over to April (I wasn't charged again for March because I skipped).

For April, I chose What Comes After by Joanna Tompkins:

In misty, coastal Washington State, Isaac lives alone with his dog, grieving the recent death of his teenage son, Daniel. Next door, Lorrie, a working single mother, struggles with a heinous act committed by her own teenage son. Separated by only a silvery stretch of trees, the two parents are emotionally stranded, isolated by their great losses—until an unfamiliar sixteen-year-old girl shows up, bridges the gap, and changes everything.

Evangeline’s arrival at first feels like a blessing, but she is also clearly hiding something. When Isaac, who has retreated into his Quaker faith, isn’t equipped to handle her alone, Lorrie forges her own relationship with the girl. Soon all three characters are forced to examine what really happened in their overlapping pasts, and what it all possibly means for a shared future.

With a propulsive mystery at its core, What Comes After offers an unforgettable story of loss and anger, but also of kindness and hope, courage and forgiveness. It is a deeply moving account of strangers and friends not only helping each other forward after tragedy, but inspiring a new kind of family.

 
I think that the story sounds like a good mix of mystery with deeper issues addressed, too. A perfect book to read when it's rainy outside and I want to stay on the couch under a blanket. I haven't started it yet, but it's definitely in my "to read" pile!

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code MAYREADS to get your first book for $9.99
  

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is a great deal at only $14.99 for a brand new titled. A hardcover new release would easily cost $25+ at a major bookstore.

January 2021 Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I got two books in my January Book of the Month box, one was a free add-on because I reached BFF status. 

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 for a new hardcover title. You can select from one of five selections, and if you don't see a title you like you can skip the month and carry over your book credit to the next month. You can also add on as many titles as you want for $9.99 per book.

If you achieve BFF status you'll get to choose one of the Book of the Year finalists and add it to your January box for free. To get BFF status you have to purchase 12 boxes (doesn't have to be consecutively). You'll also receive a tote bag with your 12th box.

I chose The Survivors by Jane Harper as my January title and added The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, which was the Book of the Year winner for 2020.

Here's the synopsis for The Survivors:

Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away...

There were several great titles to choose from for my Book of the Year Finalist add on, but I settled on The Vanishing Half because it seemed like the most fitting for the times:

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.

I'm a little behind on my reading and have quite a few titles on my backlog to get through, all from Book of the Month! That's not a problem, though, since I have plenty of time to read during the pandemic.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe 
• Use coupon code FEBREADS to get your first ook for $9.99
  

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is one of my favorite subscriptions and is definitely my favorite book subscription. You just can't beat a brand new title for only $14.99.

December 2020 Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I got two books with my December Book of the Month box, neither of which were featured for the month.Since this was my birthday month I was able to choose a free extra title.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for a new hardcover title. You can choose from one of five books, and if none of them strike your fancy, you can skip the month or choose from a small option of previous titles.

The December box came with a sheet of cute Boxie stickers, the Book of the Month mascot.

I wasn't interested in any of the December selections so I chose The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. For my birthday bonus book I could choose anything from their past catalog, so I picked The Night Tiger by Yangze Choo.

Here's the synopsis for The Great Alone:

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger.

And for The Night Tiger:

Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother's Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin plunges into a dark adventure: a mirror world of secrets and superstitions.

Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master's dying wish: that Ren find the man's finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master's soul will wander the earth forever. As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren's increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes.

Yangsze Choo's The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible.

 
Both titles sound like great stories that will transport me to two very different places and I'm excited to read them.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code NEWBOOKS to get your first book for $9.99
  

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is the best book subscription box to me. You can't beat $14.99 for a new, hardcover title, and they always have great titles to choose from.

October 2020 Book of the Month Review

Book of the Month is one of my favorite subscriptions. The price is great and I love getting a new book each month.

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

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for a new hardcover release. You can choose from one of five titles that have been hand-selected by different judges. You can also add on any title from their store for only $9.99 and can skip a month (your credit will carry over) if there aren't any titles that interest you.

My October selection was Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. I had high hopes for this book, especially because Book of the Month described it was "weird." Here's the synopsis:

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe. 

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?

Overall, this was just okay. It's an apocalyptic scenario with strange but beautiful imagery that examines the connections we think we have to one another. It was good, don't get me wrong, but for some reason I wasn't blown away. It almost felt like it was trying too hard to be profound.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
  

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is a great subscription for readers and would make a great gift for the upcoming holiday season. You can't beat the price for a brand-new hardcover book!

$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.

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.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
  

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.

July 2020 Book of the Month Selections and Coupon

The July Book of the Month selections are here! You have until July 6th to choose your book this month.

*Disclaimer: Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month is $14.99 for a new, hardcover book. You can add on as many title as you want for $9.99 each. Here are the selections for July:

• The Beauty in the Breaking by Michele Harper: the real story of an ER doctor's life
• The Shadows by Alex North: a creepy thriller for urban-myth believers
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: a new take on Gothic suspense that displays the horrors of colonialism against a dreamy (nightmarish) backdrop.
• Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein: a story of long-standing rivals, gymnastic routines, and inter-athlete love.
• Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman: a nonfiction exploration of female friendship from all angles.

Which book are you choosing this month? I'm going to go with The Shadows, because I loved Alex North's previous title I got from BoTM!

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code NEW5 to get your first book for $9.99

June 2020 Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I skipped the May Book of the Month and it worked out for June, since there were two books I wanted and I was able to use my rollover credit to get one of them. This month's selections were really interesting.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month is probably my favorite subscription and it's a must-have for book nerds. You'll get a new release hardcover for only $14.99 each month. You can choose from one of five titles and if none of them pique your interest, you can skip the month. You'll be charged, but then that credit will roll over to the next month until you choose a book (you can skip as many months in a row as you want).

You can also add on any number of titles to your box for $9.99 per book, which is an awesome deal. Since I had skipped May, I used my $14.99 credit and paid the $9.99 for the extra title.

The first book I chose was A Burning by Megha Majumdar. I say first because, if I didn't have the rollover credit, I would have chosen this book only. It's a debut novel from the author and is about three people in India whose paths cross around a terrorist attack. Here's the synopsis:

Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear.

Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. An extraordinary debut.

The second book I chose was Home Before Dark by Riley Sager. This is the fourth title from this author and the fourth time they've been featured in Book of the Month. I've read two previous titles by them and I enjoyed them. I figured this title would be a fun, more easy read to balance out the heavier themes in A Burning.

What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

Bottom Line: I'm excited to dive into both of these titles and was very pleased with the selections for June. I ended up getting two brand new books for only $24.98, which is still less than the price of most hardcovers in a bookstore! I love Book of the Month and look forward to checking out the new titles each month.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code SUN5 to get your first book for only $9.99

April 2020 Book of the Month Review and Coupon

Ah, this review is late, but time is weird now. I'm sure you'll all forgive me. Anyway, I was hesitant about the April Book of the Month selections at first, but upon further inspection, I decided to choose a title instead of skipping the month, and I'm glad I did.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 for a new, hardcover title. You'll be able to choose from five books that have been selected by the BoTM staff and range in genre from thrillers to romance to non-fiction. You can also add on any past titles for only $9.99 per book.

If you don't see a title that catches your fancy, you can always skip that month and your credit will roll over the following month (and you won't be charged again the following month).

I read at about a book a month pace, so I love this subscription. I'm always very excited to see what selections are available at the beginning of the month!

At first, none of the April titles really stood out to me and I almost skipped. But then I looked up each title and read a bit deeper into their synopses and settled on The Library of Legends by Janie Chang.

China, 1937. When Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, nineteen-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian and a convoy of students, faculty and staff must walk 1,000 miles to the safety of China’s western provinces, a journey marred by the constant threat of aerial attack. And it is not just the refugees who are at risk; Lian and her classmates have been entrusted with a priceless treasure: a 500-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.

The students’ common duty to safeguard the Library of Legends creates unexpected bonds. Lian becomes friends and forms a cautious romance with the handsome and wealthy Liu Shaoming. But after one classmate is arrested and another one is murdered, Lian realizes she must escape before a family secret puts her in danger too. Accompanied by Shao and his enigmatic maidservant, Sparrow, Lian makes her way to Shanghai in the hopes of reuniting with her mother.

During the journey, Lian learns of the connection between her two companions and a tale from the Library of Legends, The Willow Star and the Prince. This revelation comes with profound consequences, for as the ancient books travel across China, they awaken immortals and guardian spirits who embark on an exodus of their own, one that will change the country’s fate forever.

I'm so glad I picked this book! It's beautiful story that weaves traditional Chinese folklore into historically significant events. Although I'm Korean and not Chinese, I enjoy reading about Asian history and this is the perfect blend of history and fiction.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code MAY5 to get your first book for only $9.99

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is a great subscription for readers! They always have the newest, most talked about books and I've gotten some great titles. You can't beat the price of $14.99 for a brand new hardcover, either.

March 2020 Book of the Month Review

I didn't get a Book of the Month for February because I didn't love the selections, so I was extra excited to see what was available for March.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for your choice of one of five hand-selected titles. The books are all hardcover new releases and are selected by a monthly panel of judges. You can also subscribe for a full year at $149.99 per month (~$12.50 per book).

You can skip any month if the selections aren't to your liking and your credit will roll over to the next month. You can also add on as many titles as you want to your monthly shipment for $9.99 each.

To be honest, I wasn't very excited about any of the titles for March, but since I didn't get a box in February I really wanted to get one this month. I decided on The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. I am a fan of his non-fiction writing, especially The Devil in the White City, so I knew that this book would be well-written. Here's the synopsis:

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.

I'm not the biggest fan of Winston Churchill and I fear this book will further the narrative of him as the savior of Great Britain while ignoring his blatant racism and support of eugenics, but alas ... I chose it, so I guess I have to give it the benefit of the doubt.

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Bottom Line: Hopefully the April titles will have a book that really piques my interest, but for now, Book of the Month is still an excellent value and a great way to access new titles.

January 2020 Book of the Month Review

Most of the January Book of the Month selections were just so-so to me, but I ended up picking a horror/thriller novel that was pretty great!

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

Book of the Month is only $14.99 per month for a brand new hardcover book, or $149.99 for 12 months ($12.50 per book, savings of $30 over the monthly plan). You'll be able to choose from five new releases and can add on as many books as you want for $9.99 each. If you choose the yearly option, you can redeem your credits for any book on the site. The monthly selections are hand-picked by a panel of judges and sometimes even feature pre-releases!

You can skip your box at any time and your credit will roll over to the next month. You can also easily cancel your subscription at any time through a link in the account page.

I almost skipped for January, but I decided to give The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James a try. Here's a synopsis:

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.

This book was really entertaining. It was a bit predictable and had some common tropes in it, but overall it was a good read. It had good pacing and the story kept me interested throughout.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe

Bottom Line: There are so many great books being published all the time, so having Book of the Month present five of the best each month is perfect for me. This month's title was really fun and I'm looking forward to the February selections!

January 2020 Book of the Month Selections and Coupon

Picking out my Book of the Month is always my favorite way to start the month! The January 2020 selections are now live.

*Disclaimer: Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for a brand new, hardcover book. You can choose from one of five books that were selected by a panel of judges. Here are the selections for January:

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James:
Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd:
Bridie Devine—female detective extraordinaire—is confronted with the most baffling puzzle yet: the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, secret daughter of Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, and a peculiar child whose reputed supernatural powers have captured the unwanted attention of collectors trading curiosities in this age of discovery.

Winding her way through the labyrinthine, sooty streets of Victorian London, Bridie won’t rest until she finds the young girl, even if it means unearthing a past that she’d rather keep buried. Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where spectacle is king and nothing is quite what it seems.

Tightrope by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn:
With stark poignancy and political dispassion, Tightrope draws us deep into an "other America." The authors tell this story, in part, through the lives of some of the children with whom Kristof grew up, in rural Yamhill, Oregon, an area that prospered for much of the twentieth century but has been devastated in the last few decades as blue-collar jobs disappeared. About one-quarter of the children on Kristof's old school bus died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide, or reckless accidents. And while these particular stories unfolded in one corner of the country, they are representative of many places the authors write about, ranging from the Dakotas and Oklahoma to New York and Virginia. But here too are stories about resurgence, among them: Annette Dove, who has devoted her life to helping the teenagers of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as they navigate the chaotic reality of growing up poor; Daniel McDowell, of Baltimore, whose tale of opioid addiction and recovery suggests that there are viable ways to solve our nation's drug epidemic. These accounts, illustrated with searing images by Lynsey Addario, the award-winning photographer, provide a picture of working-class families needlessly but profoundly damaged as a result of decades of policy mistakes. With their superb, nuanced reportage, Kristof and WuDunn have given us a book that is both riveting and impossible to ignore.

Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey:
Miranda Popkey's first novel is about desire, disgust, motherhood, loneliness, art, pain, feminism, anger, envy, guilt—written in language that sizzles with intelligence and eroticism. The novel is composed almost exclusively of conversations between women—the stories they tell each other, and the stories they tell themselves, about shame and love, infidelity and self-sabotage—and careens through twenty years in the life of an unnamed narrator hungry for experience and bent on upending her life. Edgy, wry, shot through with rage and despair, Topics of Conversation introduces an audacious and immensely gifted new novelist.

When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald:
Sometimes life isn’t as simple as heroes and villains.

For Zelda, a twenty-one-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules:

1. A smile means “thank you for doing something small that I liked.”
2. Fist bumps and dabs = respect.
3. Strange people are not appreciated in her home.
4. Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet.
5. Sometimes the most important things don’t fit on lists.

But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable—and dangerous—methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. It isn’t long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength.


Selections are active now and I chose The Sun Down Motel for my book! Which will you choose?

• New subscribers: use my referral link to get your first book for only $5!
  

December Book of the Month Review and Coupon

Subscribing to Book of the Month again was one of the best choices I made this year! I love this subscription. It's always so much fun to pick out a brand new book each month.

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

Book of the Month was founded in 1926 and has been sharing great new reads with people ever since. The current iteration of the subscription allows you to choose from five new releases that are chosen by a panel of judges each month.

Your first box is $9.99 per month (keep reading to see how you can get your first box for only $5, though) and after that you'll be charged $14.99 per month for a book credit. You can skip any month and the credit will roll over to the next month. After 12 boxes you'll be a member of their BFF Club, which includes an extra credit during your birthday month and perks like a free tote bag with book pocket.

My selection for December was Long Bright River by Liz Moore, and I decided to add No Exit by Taylor Adams to my box. You can add on as many books as you want to your monthly shipment for $9.99 each.

Here's a synopsis for Long Bright River:

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

And for No Exit:

On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.

Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape. But who can she trust?

I decided to start No Exit first because it was shorter and it's excellent so far!

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe: first month is $9.99, no coupon needed
• Use coupon code FAM5 to get your first book for only $5

Bottom Line: Book of the Month would make a great gift for anyone who loves to read. The selections are always excellent and you can't beat the price of $14.99 for a brand new hardcover book!

November Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I skipped the October Book of the Month so I was hoping to find a selection that I liked for November. Luckily there were some titles that caught my interest.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month is one of my favorite book subscriptions. Your first mont his $9.99, and after that it's $14.99 per month for a new hardcover book. I have additional tax for the state of New York, bringing my monthly fee to around $16. That's still an excellent price for a brand new book.

Each month you'll be able to select one of five books that have been hand-selected by a panel of judges. If you don't see anything you like you can skip that month and your credit will carry over to the next month. You can also add on any books from past boxes for only $9.99 per book.

After 12 boxes, you'll become a member of the BFF Club and will get perks including a tote bag with a book slot, a free add-on during your birthday month, and a free copy of one of the finalists in the Book of the Year competition.

I usually go for anything that's a mystery or thriller, so The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell was an easy pick for me this month. Here's a synopsis:

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

I'm about three quarters of the way through the book and to be honest, it's a little less interesting and exciting than I was expecting. It's a decent read, but I've lost interest as I've gotten deeper into the book. Despite not yet knowing the ending, I think this will end up being a three out of five stars for me.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe: first month is $9.99, no coupon needed
• Use coupon code HIGHFIVE to get your first book for only $5

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is one of the best and most affordable ways to get a brand new book sent right to your door. Their selections are always top notch!

September Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I love Book of the Month! I love getting a brand new book of my choice each month. I know I'll always have something fun to read and a new book to look forward to.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links. 

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for a brand new hardcover book. You'll be able to choose from one of five books that are selected by different judges. You can also add extra books to your box for $9.99 per book. This is an excellent price, considering most new hardcovers retail for at least $25 in book stores. You can also skip a month if you're not interested in any of the selections.

I love a mystery/thriller, so September's book was an easy choice for me. I picked The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup. Here is the synopsis:

A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen.

His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene.

Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago.

A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted?

To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues.

Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over.

And no one is safe.

I'm a little more than halfway through the book and it's so good! It's really detailed but not monotonous. It also switches back and forth between different characters and I like getting their different stories and perspectives. It's also being developed as a Netflix original series!

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code HIGHFIVE to get your first book for only $5

Bottom Line: If you're a reader you will absolutely love Book of the Month! They always have excellent selections, but they make it easy to skip a month if you need to. I've loved each and every one of the books I've gotten so far.

August Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I've been thoroughly enjoying my Book of the Month subscription. I usually read a book a month, so having a brand new one to open up delivered right to me is perfect!

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains affiliate links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for a brand new hardcover book. You can also add on other books for $9.99 each.

There are five books to choose from that are hand-selected by a panel of judges. If you don't like any of the books you can skip the month and your credit will carry over to use at a later time.

For August I chose The Whisper Man by Alex North, which is a mystery/thriller about a serial killer. To be honest, the August selections weren't super exciting to me and I almost skipped before I saw this title.

I'm about halfway through the book so far and it's pretty good. It isn't the riveting page-turner I hoped it would be, but it's still sufficiently intriguing. Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

Told in alternating voices, Alex North's thriller The Whisper Man delivers strong twists and a truly surprising ending. A fresh start always seems like a good idea, but for Tom Kennedy and his son Jake, it doesn't go so well. When the two move back to Tom's hometown, their arrival coincides with the kidnapping of a boy who is Jake's age. The crime appears to have the hallmark of Frank Carter, a serial killer who terrorized the town twenty years earlier, and part of the novel is narrated by the cop who captured Carter decades earlier. The Whisper Man is spine-tinglingly creepy, and the suspense keeps building, layer by layer. Little reveals only serve to keep the reader guessing, and the end feels like more than a reveal--for me it was as if the entire atmosphere of the story took an unexpected and chilly turn. At first, the storyline appears to employ a familiar genre trope, but it veers wonderfully from the expected, and North's inclusion of a touching father-son relationship in this psychological thriller took it to the top of our best of the month list.--Seira Wilson, Amazon Book Review

If you're a reader, Book of the Month is a great subscription for you. I love getting a new book every month for only $14.99!

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code HIGHFIVE to get your first box for only $5

July Book of the Month Review and Coupon

I've always been an avid reader, so Book of the Month is one of my favorite subscriptions! This month I chose a thriller as my book selection.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month features five selections each month, hand-picked by a panel of judges. It costs $14.99 per month and you can choose to add-on as many books as you want for $9.99 each. This is a great price for a brand new hardcover book!

If you're not keen on any of the selections that month you can choose to skip and your credit will carry over. Note that you'll still be charged -- usually I get charged a few days before the end of the month and then my credit is ready for selection time on the first of the following month.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sanger immediately stood out to me among the July selections. I love a good thriller, and this one sounded very good. I'm only about one third of the way through currently but it's definitely a page-turner! Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story...until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's sordid past and into the secrets kept within its walls. What she discovers pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

I look forward to selection time for Book of the Month each month; it reminds me of when I was a kid and the Scholastic Book Fair would roll around. The BoTM staff and judges do a great job of selecting up-and-coming authors and exciting titles.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe
• Use coupon code HIGHFIVE to get your first box for only $5

Bottom Line: I made the right choice for July! Lock Every Door is great so far and you can't beat the price of $14.99 for a new, hardcover book.

June Book of the Month Review

I re-activated by subscription to Book of the Month back in May but just received my first box in June. I'm excited to get back into the swing of receiving a new book every month!

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Book of the Month costs $14.99 per month for one book and extra books are only $9.99 each. Shipping is free to U.S. addresses (currently this subscription is only available in the U.S.).

The team at Book of the Month selects five new releases to feature and you'll be able to choose the book you'd like to receive. If you don't like any of the selections you can skip that month. I didn't care for any of the May books, so I decided to skip and save my credits for June.

I had two credits available for June and was incredibly pleased to see repeat author Blake Crouch featured. His book Dark Matter is my favorite book I've read in a while and was also a selection I received from Book of the Month (read that review here).

My selection for June was Recursion by Blake Crouch. The BoTM "Quick Take" reads "the tech bro villain we probably deserve." The synopsis is as follows:

Memory makes reality.

That’s what NYC cop Barry Sutton is learning, as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

That’s what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?

I'm so excited to get started on this one, I just have a few pages left on my current book before I dig in!

I had a bonus credit so I also chose Miracle Creek by Angie Kim, which was a selection from April. It's about a thriller about a Korean family and a young, single mother accused of murdering her autistic son. I love thrillers/mysteries, and the added depth of being about a Korean family (I was born in South Korea) made this a must-read for me.

• Visit Book of the Month to subscribe

Bottom Line: Book of the Month is a book lovers' dream! In my experience, they do an amazing job of selecting books that appeal to a wide range of interests. Plus, you can't beat the price of $14.99 (plus the ability to skip a month)!

May Book of the Month Selections and Free Book

The Book of the Month selections for May are here, and they're running some great promos as well! One of the books is by Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Shutter Island. You can also read an exclusive Q&A with him here.

*Disclaimer: Post contains affiliate links.


This month subscribers can get a free copy of Into the Water by Paula Hawkins with the purchase of a three month plan. Use promo code WATER to take advantage of this deal! Current subscribers can add this book on with their May selection for only $9.99.

Another great deal this month is just in time for Mother's Day: gift a BOTM membership and get one month free for yourself! You can gift 3, 6, or 12 month plans. This offer runs through May 14th.

Last but not least, here are the May selections:

• SINCE WE FELL! by Dennis Lehane - Judge Sarah Weinman
• Woman No. 7 by Edan LePucki - Judge Kim Hubabrd
• The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich - Judge Stacey Armand
• The Leavers by Lisa Ko - Judge Elizabeth Kiefer
• Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood - Judge Nina Sankovitch

New subscriber deals:

• Get your first month for only $5
• Get a three month membership for $9.99 per month + a free BOTM tote

April Book of the Month Selections and First Month for $5!

The April Book of the Month selections are now available! I really love this subscription; they offer an expertly-curated selection of books for an affordable price.

*Disclaimer: Post contains affiliate links.


Book of the Month is $16.99 per month for the book of your choice. Each month, five guest judges select a book and those are the ones you can choose from. If you don't find one you like you can skip that month.

Here are April's selections:

• One Day We'll All Be Dead by Scaachi Koul
• American War by Omar El Akkad
• Killers of the Flower Moon by Sarah Weinman
• Startup by Doree Shafrir
• The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

You can get your first month for $5 using this link or a three month membership for only $9.99 per month with a free BoTM tote using this link!