July BookCase.Club Review and Coupon

I know I say this every month, but I always get so giddy when my BookCase.Club boxes arrive! I love getting new books and this subscription makes it easy and affordable.

*Disclaimer: These boxes were sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review. Post contains affiliate links.

BookCase.Club sends two hand-selected books from your genre of choice for only $9.99 per month with $5 shipping. They have plenty of options to choose from:

• Thrill Seeker - mystery/thriller
• Strange Worlds - sci-fi/fantasy
• Teenage Dreams - young adult novels
• Blind Date - paranormal romance
• Booking for Love - romance
• Quarterly Cook Books - two cook books every three months
• Quarterly Military History - two military history books every three months

There's also a BookCase.Kids option with three cases available for kids of different ages. You'll receive three hand-picked books per month with that box.

This is a review for the Thrill Seekers and Strange Worlds cases. I've gotten so many great books from both of these cases and I'm always excited to see what the next month will bring!

The Thrill Seekers case had some really great titles this month. When I saw the Broadchurch by Erin Kelly cover I said "yeeeeessss!!!" out loud because I loved the Broadchurch TV show. At first I though, "I didn't know this was a book first," but that's because it wasn't. This was adapted into a novel from the TV series, but I'll still read it because I really enjoyed the show. Black Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin also sounds like a really great murder thriller

Here is the blurb for Broadchurch, from Amazon:

In the sleepy British seaside town of Broadchurch, Detective Ellie Miller has just returned from vacation, only to learn that she's been passed over for a promotion at work in favor of outsider Alec Hardy. He, escaping the spectacular failure of his last case, is having trouble finding his way into this tight-knit community wary of new faces. But professional rivalry aside, both detectives are about to receive some terrible news: 11-year-old Danny Latimer has been found murdered on the beach.

For Ellie it's a personal blow; Danny was her older son's best friend. She can't believe anyone in Broadchurch would ever have harmed him. But Alec considers everyone, even Danny's parents, suspect in his death. It's a living nightmare for everyone involved…even before the press arrive and start stirring up the secrets every town member keeps hidden behind closed doors.

An intimate portrait of a town and the ordinary grievances that have slowly simmered for years before boiling over in an unthinkable crime, this remarkable adaptation of the hit television show Broadchurch tells the story of a shattered family, a reeling town, and the two imperfect detectives trying to bring them answers.

Black Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin:

As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving “Black-Eyed Susan,” the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa’s testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row.

Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans—a summertime bloom—just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications—that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large—Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution. But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories—and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue.

What they don’t know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter. Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night.

The Strange Worlds case has increased my interest in sci-fi and fantasy novels quite a bit. I've always appreciated the genre but never really got to into it, but the books selected by BookCase.Club have been excellent.

This month's case features Proxima by Stephen Baxter and The Fold by Peter Clines. Both sound like they have great stories, but I'm especially interested in The Fold. The plot reminds me of my all-time favorite sci-fi book, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

Proxima by Stephen Baxter:

Mankind’s future in this galaxy could be all but infinite.

There are hundreds of billions of red dwarf stars, lasting trillions of years—and their planets can be habitable for humans. Such is the world of Proxima Centauri. And its promise could mean the never-ending existence of humanity.

But first it must be colonized, and no one wants to be a settler. There is no glamor that accompanies it, nor is there the ease of becoming a citizen of an already-tamed world. There is only hardship...loneliness...emptiness, even as war brews in the solar system.

But that’s where Yuri comes in. Because sometimes exploration isn’t voluntary. It must be coerced.

The Fold by Peter Clines:

The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.

That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step. The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe. Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.

As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything.

Bottom Line: All four books in both the Thrill Seekers and Strange Worlds cases from BookCase.Club are great! I don't know which one I'm going to start reading first. I am consistently impressed with the books they send and I think this subscription is an excellent and affordable option for all book lovers!

• Visit BookCase.Club to subscribe
• Use coupon code SEESHOP15 for 15% off your first box!
• Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram

June Chicago Cubs Sports Crate Review

Rejoice, my June Sports Crate is finally here! There was a lot of rigmarole related to this shipment, hence why I'm reviewing it in July. Keep reading for more on that...

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

Sports Crate is a part of the Loot Crate family and the MLB Edition is available for the following teams: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals (boo), San Francisco Giants, and the Texas Rangers.

Crates are $39.99 per month for 5-7 officially licensed, team-specific items valued at $80+. They also have a Season Pass option available for $179.99. The Season Pass is only available through July 31st, so sign up quickly if you want to go that route. But you might want to read on before you decide to go that route.

Anyway, there are five Crates total (May-September) and the Season Pass will afford you 10% off the monthly price, an additional MLB Action Figure, and two entries into the Golden Ticket sweepstakes each month (instead of just one with the monthly subscription option). One subscriber for each team option will get a Golden Ticket in their box that's good for exclusive team experiences, like on field tours and more.

Okay: June Crate drama. Crates are supposed to ship the third week of the month and take about a week to arrive (the website says 1-2 weeks, but last month mine only took four days). The end of the third week of June rolled around and I had no box. No one else did, either. Everyone took to social media and was asking Sports Crate what was going on, but no answers were given at first. Very frustrating, especially since I signed up for the Season Pass option and couldn't cancel!

Sports Crate did finally release a statement via email saying that the Crates were held up because one of the items was delayed in production, thus delaying shipments. That's fine, I understand stuff happens; however, Sports Crate should have told us all this as soon as they knew. I find it hard to believe that they didn't have this information sooner than when they sent out that email.

One other thing that was bothering me was that I never received my FedEx tracking number for June's box. I just assumed they didn't send out tracking numbers, but then I learned that some people got tracking and Sports Crate also kept referencing tracking numbers on Twitter, etc. I contacted them via their Customer Service form and received a non answer first, but then when I reached out via Twitter they told me there was a glitch in the system that caused some tracking emails to not be sent out. Apparently that glitch is still not fixed because I never got an email with tracking until I contacted them (AGAIN!) via their contact form. Only then did I finally receive my tracking number.

So, like I said in the beginning of this post, rigmarole! Nonsense! Overall it's frustrating because I know Sports Crate is from Loot Crate and they've been around for a while, so I feel they should be experienced enough to have better customer service than this. I hope there are no delays with future boxes.

All that craziness aside, I really liked the June Sports Crate! I wasn't sure about the "Behind the Plate" theme when it was released as a spoiler because I was afraid it would be full of items for grilling and I don't grill. But the items were much better this month than in May and I was happy with most of them.

What item was kind of a bummer? The one pictured above. Each month's box will feature an exclusive BALLERS Collectible Figure, and this month's box featured catchers. I was really, really hoping for a Willson Contreras figure because he's so exciting to watch and one of my favorite new Cubs. Nope. We got Miguel Montero, which is especially funny now because Miggy is no longer a Cub. He was recently DFA'd and is now with the Toronto Blue Jays. Oops!

There is also a matching Topps Trading Card of Miggy to go along with the figure. I do really like these figures and they're one of the main reasons I subscribed.

• Cubs Barbecue Oven Mitt - I love this! The info card says it's great for summer barbecues and grilling, but as I said, I don't grill. I do cook things in the oven a lot, though, and this oven mitt is so much more fun than the plain black one I was using before.
• Frosted Novelty Glasses - The fact that these are called "novelty glasses" made me laugh. They're clearly shot glasses, but I understand that the other name is more PC. I also like the description in the info card: "No matter how you decide to use these glasses at your Behind the Dish party, remember that anything is worth a shot." So Sports Crate is in on the joke, too. I like the frosted glass and that they came as a set of two.
• The Home Plate Bottle Opener and Coaster - These are really unique and I like the multipurpose design. The home plate shape is fun and I like that they're made of plastic (or acrylic maybe, I don't know) and not wood or cork because then the water doesn't seep through and get all soggy all over my table. I'm currently resting my water cup on one of these as I type this review.

• Cubs Flag - This is my favorite item this month. I feel like you should always have a team flag available. I have a Cubs flag hanging up in my cubicle at work, and now I have one for home, too. I wanted to buy a W flag, but since I live in New York and the Cubs aren't as popular I didn't want my neighbors to see a white flag with a W in the middle and get the wrong idea. Also, I don't have a flag pole or anything so I have this hanging in my bedroom, so I guess my neighbors seeing anything is a moot point. I like the bear logo and shattered design. At first I didn't get why it said "Chicago Homestand" on it, but the info card says you can display this at a barbecue, like at your homestand.

Here are more up-close views of the Miggy Montero BALLERS figure. I think these are well-made and fun collectibles, especially since they're exclusive to Sports Crate. As you can see, they have lots of points of articulation (21 to be exact) so you can place them in to all different poses. Currently I have Miggy and Jon Lester from May's box on my bookshelf with their torsos turned around backwards because I'm weird like that.

• Visit Sports Crate to subscribe

Bottom Line: I am much happier with the June Sports Crate than I was with May's. I have to admit, May's was kind of underwhelming and I was starting to think I made a mistake purchasing the Season Pass, but this box gives me more hope. Plus, next month's BALLERS figure is Kris Bryant so I'm excited for that!

Pura Vida Birthday Sale: 50% Off!

Pura Vida Bracelets is celebrating their birthday today with a great sale! Read on to find out how to get your first month for 50% off.

*Disclaimer: Post contains affiliate links

The Pura Vida Monthly Club sends members three new bracelets a month for only $14.95 (up to $50 value!). The bracelets are handcrafted by artisans on Costa Rica and the styles are picked by Pura Vida's Instagram influencers and fashion stylists.

Today only, you can get your first month for 50% off! Use coupon code BIRTHDAY50 to take advantage of this deal.

June Harrison Blake Apparel Review and Coupon

The Harrison Blake Apparel collection for June featured bright colors and fun accessories perfect for summertime parties!

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

Harrison Blake Apparel sends a necktie and four coordinated accessories for $25 per month. They also have a bow tie subscription for $16 per month. Shipping is free to the U.S. for both options. This is a review of the necktie subscription.

June's tie and handkerchief were bright and beautiful and the accessories were great for summer. I've noticed that Harrison Blake Apparel has been sending more lifestyle accessories along with fashion, which is great.

Usually there is a little card that includes information about the items, but my package didn't contain one this month. Regardless, the tie is a pink knit tie and the pocket square was a matching floral pattern. I love the colors and think this would be perfect for a summer wedding.

My favorite item was the rabbit pin since rabbits are my favorite animals. The wooden bracelet is also an interesting design and easily transitions from dressy to a more casual outfit.

The last two accessories were a small shaker for cocktails and an apron. The apron is a synthetic material and thin, so it's perfect for outdoor grilling. I like the cocktail shaker a lot and have been meaning to get one, so I'll definitely be able to use this.

• Visit Harrison Blake Apparel to subscribe
• Use coupon code SEASON for $15 off your first set
• Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

Bottom Line: Harrison Blake Apparel is an affordable men's fashion subscription that sends unique items. I think it's a great option for anyone looking for a coordinated set and fun accessories!

Emma & Chloé 4th of July Deal: 30% Off Everything!

Celebrate the 4th of July with Emma & Chloé! Today only, get 30% off everything, including all subscriptions. Read on for the details!

*Disclaimer: Post contains affiliate links.

Emma & Chloé sends handmade jewelry from up and coming French designers for $35 a month. Read my review of their June box here to see what they're all about.

Now through midnight on July 5th you can get 30% off any shop collection or any subscription length with the coupon code LIBERTY.