Hey, guys!
The past few months, I've been subscribing to the Book of the Month Club. I absolutely adore this box and the company. It's so much fun and I love the books that they've been picking out. They've also started including YA extras and more books from previously featured authors. Here are the books I've picked for the past few months! I'm sure you're not surprised, but I haven't read all of these books yet. I just wanted to be fully transparent.
What Is The Book Of The Month Club??
Book of the Month is a monthly book subscription box. Each month, 5 curators pick out their favorite new hardcover books, and you can choose which one you want to receive on the first of the month. You can also add up to 2 additional books for only $9.99 each.
How It Works:
1. New selections are chosen each month. On the 1st of the month, the site announces the 5 books that they chose for the month.
2. Choose your book! Choose by the 6th, or skip the month.
3. The boxes are shipped and you get a beautiful BOTM box and book!
Shipping: U.S. only (apologies to my international readers!)
Cost: $14.99/month (includes a book credit - after all credits are used each extra book is $9.99); Shipping is FREE
Overall Product: Subscribers will receive a hardcover book from the books that were selected that month. You can add up to 2 extra books for $9.99 each plus BOTM goodies for an additional fee.
February
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
I'm really excited to dive into this book. Angie Thomas is such a relevant and iconic writer. Her characters are always so poignant and inspiring.
Goodreads synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.
On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be, and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.35 stars (22,936 ratings)
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Fiction
Page Count: 447
CW: racism, drug dealing, gun violence
~ ~ ~
March
{skipped this month BUT I acquired on of the BOTM picks after regretting my skip}Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This is by far one of my all-time favorite reads of 2019. I'm so freaking excited to read more from Taylor Jenkins Reid. Her characters and stories are so unique and so well done. I absolutely adore this book.
Check out my mini review {here}!
5/5 stars!
Goodreads synopsis:
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.
Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.
Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.28 stars (48,026 ratings)
Release Date: March 5, 2019
Genres: Historical, Fiction, Contemporary
Page Count: 368
CW: substance abuse, addiction, and abortion
April
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Goodreads synopsis:
At school, Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers—one they are determined to conceal.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.06 stars (45,348 ratings)
Release Date: April 16, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Page Count: 273
CW: sexual assault, domestic violence, depression, suicide
Release Date: April 16, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Page Count: 273
CW: sexual assault, domestic violence, depression, suicide
[add on] Wicked Saints (Something Dark & Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan
Goodreads synopsis:
A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.
A prince in danger must decide who to trust.
A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.
Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.
In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy...
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.83 stars (4,032 ratings)
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Page Count: 385
CW & TW: for self-harm (both as a magic system, and talk of self-harm in the past), torture, parental abuse, abandonment, abduction, a lot of alcohol consumption (maybe addiction), gore, violence, and war themes.
[add on] The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I'm so excited to read this in June. I plan on reading this for the Romance-a-Thon and a buddy read with @whatelizabethreads. Stay tuned for my TBR and my future thoughts!
Goodreads synopsis:
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.
Written with Reid's signature talent for creating "complex, likable characters" (Real Simple), this is a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.3 stars (81,600 ratings)
Release Date: June 13, 2017
Genres: Historical, Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Adult, LGBTQIA+
Page Count: 388
CW & TW: domestic abuse, death/grief, homophobia/biphobia, racism, suicide, abortion
~ ~ ~
May
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
I had the privilege to read this story early via NetGalley. It's no surprise that I absolutely adored it. Helen Hoang is a masterful writer and I will read and purchase everything she writes. When I saw that BOTM was featuring it, I had to get this copy. I first fell in love with Helen's work when I read a copy of The Kiss Quotient from the BOTM box.
Check out my mini-review {here}!
5/5 stars!
Goodreads synopsis:
Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.15 stars (81,600 ratings)
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Adult Fiction, #ownvoices
Page Count: 296
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Adult Fiction, #ownvoices
Page Count: 296
CW & TW: grief, abandonment
How Not To Die Alone by Richard Roper
Goodreads synopsis:
Andrew's day-to-day is a little grim, searching for next of kin for those who die alone. Thankfully, he has a loving family waiting for him when he gets home, to help wash the day's cares away. At least, that's what his coworkers believe.
Andrew didn't mean for the misunderstanding to happen, yet he's become trapped in his own white lie. The fantasy of his wife and two kids has become a pleasant escape from his lonely one bedroom with only his Ella Fitzgerald records for company. But when new employee Peggy breezes into his life like a breath of fresh air, Andrew is shaken out of his routine. She doesn't notice the wall he's been safely hiding behind and their friendship promises to break it down.
Andrew must choose: Does he tell the truth and start really living his life, but risk losing his friendship with Peggy? Or will he stay safe and alone, behind the façade? How Not to Die Alone is about the importance of taking a chance in those moments when we have the most to lose. Sharp and funny, warm and real, it's the kind of big-hearted story we all need.
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.85 stars (614 ratings)
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction
Page Count: 336
CW & TW: emotional adultery
Do you guys subscribe to BOTM? What kinds of books do you like to pick? Do you like to get multiples?
I'm really excited to get to my BOTM books. I always purchase them to read ASAP, but then it never happens. I'm sure many of you can relate.
This box is fantastic and I definitely recommend it. It's improved so much since my first subscription in 2017.
My Other BOTM Club Blog Posts:
☆ June 2018: {click here}
☆ March 2018 : {click here}
☆ April 2018: {click here}
☆ May 2017: {click here}
Happy reading!
Olivia
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