Book Subscription Box Selections — October 2024

So, as you can tell, I have taken a little break from making any posts recently.  But with the seasons changing outside and the fall weather creeping in, why not make a comeback by talking about one of my favorite things – getting a new book every month!

 

I have loved being a member of Book of the Month and Aardvark Book Club over the last few years, as I have rediscovered a love for reading and get the satisfaction of getting two new books every month.  I am not a huge book-buying person, so opening up these beautiful boxes every month is the perfect thing to scratch that itch instead of spending way too much money at Barnes and Noble (which I do every now and then anyway).

 

Let’s take a look at this month’s selections!

The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke

Genre: Gothic Fiction

Short Blurb: A mysterious hiking accident kicks off this spooky tale of witchcraft, revenge, and a mother’s search for answers.

The Wild Huntress by Emily Llyod-Jones

Genre: Young Adult

Short Blurb: Enter an enchanting, monster-filled forest and join the deadly hunt in this stunning tale invoking Welsh mythology.

Dearest by Jacquie Walters

Genre: Horror

Short Blurb: Voices on the baby monitor, animated toys, creepy crawlers – motherhood’s hard, but has never been quite this horrifying.

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

Genre: Thriller

Short Blurb: After a dating losing streak, she thinks she’s found Mr. Right.  But is he a dream come true or a nightmare in disguise?

The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Short Blurb: In this seductive tale of rival assassins and thieves, a desire for revenge might just ignite a dangerous romance.

When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Short Blurb: The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they whip the sense right out of your head.

The Lightning Bottle by Marissa Stapley

Genre: Thriller

Short Blurb: A love letter to rock ‘n’ roll and star-crossed love, we follow Jane Pyre’s road trip around Europe as she attempts to find out what really happened to her partner in love and music, who disappeared without a trace years earlier, leaving Jane to pick up the pieces.

This Cursed House by Del Sandeen

Genre: Horror

Short Blurb: In this Southern gothic debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth – they’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

 

My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine

Genre: Romance

Short Blurb: Nothing sucks more than fake dating a vampire in this paranormal romantic comedy.

Where I End by Sophie White

Genre: Horror

Short Blurb: Aoileann desperately wants a family, and when Sarah and her three young children move to the island, Aoileann finds a focus for her relentless love.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

Genre: Fantasy

Short Blurb: The demon Vitrine loves the dazzling city of Azril.  She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.  And then angels come, and the city falls.

Let me know which books you are thinking about picking up from these subscription boxes!

Monthly Book Picks — December 2023

Happy December 1st!  The holiday season is officially in full swing, and that brings cold weather and the need to wrap up with a good book.  And there are some great selections when it comes to this month’s picks from each of the monthly book clubs, so let’s check them out!

Book of the Month December 2023 Picks

1. A Winter in New York by Josie Silver (Romance)

This delicious rom-com has all the right ingredients: secret family recipes, holiday vibes, and a big pinch of love.

2. The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen (Fantasy)

Buckle up for a dark and strange ride! This wicked rewrite of The Nutcracker has a couple of surprises up its sleeves.

3. No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall (Thriller)

Small-town secrets and family tensions are unleashed when a married couple moves into an old home with a bloody past.

4. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (Historical Fiction)

Part family drama, part war epic — this harrowing, emotionally riveting debut depicts the havoc wreaked in WWII Malaya.

5. Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang (Short Stories)

Brimming with warmth and vibrancy, this beautiful debut collection of stories asks sharp questions about modern life.

Aardvark Book Club December 2023 Picks

1. The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor (Gothic Fiction)

From the USA Today bestselling author of “Beautiful Little Fools”, Jillian Cantor’s “The Fiction Writer” follows a writer hired by a handsome billionaire to write about his family history with Daphne du Maurier and finds herself drawn into a tangled web of obsession, material secrets, and stolen manuscripts.

2. Yours For the Taking by Gabrielle Korn (Science Fiction)

The year is 2050.  Ava and her girlfriend live in what’s left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it’s hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world.  Soon, it won’t be safe outside at all.  The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.

3. The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell (Mystery)

Rupert’s 30th birthday party is a black-tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald’s — catered with cocaine and expensive champagne.  The morning after, his girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath, a single stiletto heel jutting from under a bush.  You know how they live.  This is how they die…

4. What Waits in the Woods by Terri Parlato (Thriller)

Her ballet career derailed by injury, a once-promising young dancer returns to her hometown only to face a grisly discovery — and the increasingly alarming realization that nothing from her past is quite what she believed — in this electrifying twisty suburban thriller for fans of Stacy Willingham, Greer Hendricks and Megan Miranda.

5. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord by Celeste Connally (Historical Romance)

“Bridgerton” meets Agatha Christie in “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord”, a dazzling first entry in a captivating new Regency-era mystery series with a feminist spin from Celeste Connally.

Amazon First Reads December 2023 Picks

1. The Amish Wife by Gregg Olsen (True Crime)

In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman perished during a barn fire.  The coroner’s natural causes.  Ida’s husband, Eli, was never considered a suspect.  But when he eventually rejected the faith and took his son, Danny, with him, murder followed. 

2. Split by Alida Bremer (Historical Fiction)

It’s 1936.  The seaside-resort village of Split on the Adriatic coast bustles.  The tourist spots are booming, passenger steamers dot the harbor, and Jewish emigres have found tenuous refuge from persecution.  But as war in Europe looms, Split is also a nest of spies, fascists, and smugglers — and now, a locale suspiciously scouted by a German Reich film crew.  Then one summer morning it becomes the scene of a murder investigation when a corpse is found entangled in fishing nets in the port.

3. The Lies You Wrote by Brianna Labuskes (Police Procedural)

The double murder of a married couple in a small Washington town draws FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto into an investigation that mirrors a decades-old crime.  Twenty-five years ago — to the day — Alex Parker murdered his parents, then took his own life, leaving behind a note admitting everything.

4. Olivia Strauss is Running Out of Time by Angela Brown (Women’s Fiction)

A woman has no choice left but to enjoy the adventure of life — and its surprises — in a funny and emotionally moving comedy of errors about the gifts of growing older.

5. Scorpio by Marko Kloos (Military Science Fiction)

On a distant Earth colony, an orphaned survivor of an alien invasion discovers that the greatest world-ending dangers aren’t behind her.

6. Sleeping with Friends by Emily Schultz (Psychological Thriller)

When Mia Sinclair-Kroner wakes from a coma, all she can remember are the movies she’s known and loved.  Her college friends quickly assemble for a weekend party, in an effort to help her remember.  But with old friends comes old wounds, and it soon becomes clear that Mia’s accident might not have been an accident at all.

7. The Last Phone Booth in Manhattan by Beth Merlin and Danielle Modafferi (Romance)

When a young woman hits rock bottom, she embarks on a positively Dickensian adventure in a witty and warmhearted novel about past regrets, old loves, new beginnings, and making up for lost time.

8. The Seventh Girl by Andy Maslen (Crime Thriller)

Fifteen years ago a serial killer was on a rampage murdering young women in Middlehampton.  Then the killings stopped, and the murderer evaded the police.  So when the body of another young woman is found bearing the twisted killer’s unique hallmark — the overpowering stench of lavender and an origami heart — DS Kat Ballantyne knows this can only mean one thing: the killer is back.

9. Two Women Walk into a Bar by Cheryl Strayed (Memoir)

Cheryl Strayed, the bestselling author of “Wild” and “Tiny Beautiful Things”, finds humor and connection in a poignant short memoir about love, family secrets, and reconciliation.

Monthly Book Picks — November 2023

Happy first day of November!  I thought it was supposed to be getting chilly but all last week here in Massachusetts we had some days that were over 70 degrees!  How the heck did that end up happening?!?  Well the beginning of a new month marks the release of new books and new choices for three different book subscription boxes.  At the beginning of every month, I am going to be posting what books are in the three types of monthly book subscription services I am a part of and sharing which ones I end up picking up.  Since this is my first time doing this, let’s talk about what each of these services are!

Book of the Month — For years, readers have had the opportunity for new books to arrive to their front steps from new and emerging authors that have been curated by their selection of readers to see what book works best for you from a variety of genres, some of which become some of the most read books of the year!

          To try it out for yourself, check out my referral code! https://www.mybotm.com/6js2u6tz50q?show_box=true 

Aardvark Book Club — The first international monthly book subscription and the new kid on the block, featuring books from popular authors and those you may not have heard of before.

Amazon First Reads — For those who have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited, get early access to new books across a variety of popular genres and have it sent right to your Kindle.

Book of the Month November 2023 Picks

1. The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak (Spy Thriller)

CIA agent Amanda Cole is thrust into an international conspiracy involving high-profile assassinations and Russian blackmail.  It’s the case of her lifetime, but solving it might require her to betray another spy — who just so happens to be her father.

2. The Last Love Note by Emma Grey (Contemporary Fiction)

You may never stop loving the one you lost.  But you can still find love again.

3. Again and Again by Jonathan Evison (Contemporary Fiction)

From one of America’s greatest, most creative novelists comes “Again and Again”, a poignant and endlessly surprising story about love lost, found and redeemed.

4. What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez (Young Adult)

Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten.  Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns most: her globetrotting parents — who frequently leave her behind.

5. This Spells Love by Kate Robb (Romance)

Reeling from a recent breakup, a young woman tries to heal heartbreak with a spell — only to wake up in an alternate reality where she’s lost more than she wished for — in this witty, whimsical friends-to-lovers debut rom-com.

6. Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward (Literary Fiction)

“Let Us Descend” is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching.  Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

 

Aardvark Book Club November 2023 Picks

1. Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead (Horror)

From the critically acclaimed author of “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” and “The Last Housewife” comes a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts — the preacher’s daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks — hold the key to uncovering the truth.

2. The Good Part by Sophie Cousens (Contemporary Fiction)

By the New York Times bestselling author of “Just Haven’t Met You Yet”, a downtrodden twenty-six-year-old wakes up to the life she’s always wanted, but is it really a dream come true?

3. The Favorites by Rosemary Hennigan (Mystery)

A graduate student plots a takedown of the popular professor who wronged her sister in this provocative campus novel about privilege, power and obsession.

4. Love Interest by Clare Gilmore (Romance)

A sparkling adversaries-to-lovers romcom set at a magazine publisher in Manhattan.  When Casey and Alex are forced into proximity, they soon realize falling for each other is just as much of a risk as it is a reward.

5. The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (Literary Fiction)

A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Amazon First Reads November 2023 Picks

1. Night Owl by Andrew Mayne (Thriller)

A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

2. When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker (Historical Fiction)

Camera-shy Elise Branson is different from the other women in her matriline.  Her mother is an award-winning actress.  Her late grandmother, Vivian Snow, is a beloved Hollywood icon.  But when Elise’s upcoming wedding coincides with a documentary being made about Vivian, Elise can’t escape the camera’s gaze.  And even in death, neither can her grandmother.

3. Please Tell Me by Mike Omer (Psychological Thriller)

After a year in captivity, a kidnapped child escapes — only to reveal horrific truths that lead her psychologist on a race against time in this thriller from New York Times bestselling author Mike Omer.

4. Never Meant to Stay by Trisha Das (Romance)

A bighearted romantic comedy about family and finding the perfect match set against the exuberant backdrop of contemporary Delhi. 

5. Salt and Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher (Historical Fantasy)

A gifted healer unravels the mysteries of a cursed estate — and its enigmatic owner — in a witchy retelling of Jane Eyre.

6. The Last Caretaker by Jessica Strawser (Book Club Fiction)

Katie’s divorce was, in a word, humiliating.  So when her friend Bess offers a fresh start — a residential caretaking job at a nature preserve — Katie accepts.  No matter that she’s not exactly a “nature person.”  How hard can it be?

7. Same Time Next Year by Tessa Bailey (Short Story)

From New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey comes a steamy novella full of hope and humor tracking a couple’s fake marriage for a year after the wild New Year’s Eve when they first say “I do.”

8. The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen (Suspense)

In this ingenious and subversive twist on the classic gothic novel, the mysterious past of an island mansion lures two sisters into a spiderweb of scandal, secrets and murder.

9. Leave It to Us by A.C. Arthur (Women’s Fiction)

After inheriting Grandma Betty’s beloved beach house, Lana, Yvonne and Tami must return to the island of their most memorable summer vacations to renovate the property before deciding what will become of its future. 

10. Simon Says Good Night by Orit Bergman (Children’s Picture Book)

Simon didn’t say go to sleep…did he?  After he’s tucked into bed, Simon and his favorite toys get ready to play…Simon Says!