My Chronicle Book Box – unboxing!

My first experience with the My Chronicle Book Box has arrived!! It was delivered all safe and sound yesterday and I thought I’d share my unboxing for those of you interested in Book Subscription Services!

My Chronicle Book Box is a unique reading box curated in the UK every three months containing the latest literary releases from your chosen genre and a selection of beautifully crafted associated items, exclusive to My Chronicle whenever possible.   It gives you the option of choosing a package to suit your reading tastes – so there’s a Crime & Mystery option, or Science Fiction & Fantasy and the SFF option is what I went for!

So here’s a little look at what I got in my box – look away if you don’t want any spoilers!!

All books wrapped up!

   A fab Peter Pan brooch!

     Cool bookmark and fab Harry Potter pin!!

  Love this Hobbit Print!

And onto the books!!

                     

   Freedom by Margaret Atwood

  Can we ever be wholly free? In this book of breathtaking imaginary leaps that conjure dystopias and magical islands, Margaret Atwood holds a mirror up to our own world. The reflection we are faced with, of men and women in prisons literal and metaphorical, is frightening, but it is also a call to arms to speak and to act to preserve our freedom while we still can. And in that, there is hope.

Selected from The Handmaid’s Tale and Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood.

VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.

  The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

with a signed bookplate!

How do you stop a murder that’s already happened?

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed–again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend–but nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

Deeply atmospheric and ingeniously plotted, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a highly original debut that will appeal to fans of Kate Atkinson and Agatha Christie.

   The Parentations by Kate Mayfield

                       with signed bookplate!

Eighteenth-century London and the lives of the sisters Fitzgerald, Constance and Verity, become entwined with the nearby Fowler household. For Clovis Fowler,whose unearthly Nordic beauty belies a ruthless thirst for power, and husband Finn, a Limehouse thief, have agreed to provide safe harbour to a mysterious baby.
The puzzling phenomenon binding them close arose unexpectedly from deep within the savage but beautiful landscape of Iceland, where a hidden pool of water grants those who drink from it endless life. But those who sip from the waterfall discover all too quickly that immortality is no gift.
To preserve the life of this strange baby from those who wish him harm means that all concerned must remain undiscovered for more than two hundred years. And, as the centuries creep thither, one in their enclave proves more menacing than those who pursue them. Worse, the life-giving pool that sustains them all, runs dry…

 interviews with both authors!

😍😍😍😍😍

Call me impressed!!  Even though I have already read The Seven Deaths I’m delighted to have a copy now of the beautiful hardback – with signature! – and I love the range of goodies alongside a fab range of books! The Parentations is a book I’d never heard of but it sounds pretty amazing so hoping to settle down with that soon! Can’t wait for the next box to arrive now!!!

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Book Subscription Services – May treats!

 I know you will all agree that there is nothing better than a day which brings ‘bookpost’ your way! Whether it be a lovely ARC copy sent by a publisher, some books that you’ve ordered yourself – because you deserved it!! – or one of the lovely Book Subscription services boxes arriving each month/bi-monthly – it is a day worth celebrating!  Although maybe at times your local Postman is cursing your name everytime he has to stop by!!

Well, today was a double treat day and much needed as I’ve been feeling pretty poorly, as both my Moth Box parcel arrived, along with my Bookishly monthly ‘tea and book’ subscription parcel!!  A simple way to put a smile on my face – it doesn’t take much does it!!

So I thought I’d share what goodies I’ve got along with links to the sites in case you are tempted to take a peek for yourself and treat yourself!!!  You know you want to…… 😉

MOTHBOX

This is a fairly recent addition to the Book Subscription market and is run by the lovely Mercedes – book vlogger on Youtube, and can also be found on Twitter at @MercysMusings.  She knows her books and this is a great service of finding lesser known books from independant publishers and I’m yet to have a box from her that I haven’t enjoyed!  It is normally sent out every 2 months but I’m not sure if she is looking to change this as it has proved so popular.  Check out the website at MothBoxBooks for  more information as I can highly recommed it as a great treat for all bookish folk!

 

 

The 2 books arrived beatifully packaged with free bookmarks that have a quote relating to the books inside on each which is a lovely touch.

 And the May books were these two….

Star-Shot by Mary-ann Constantine

Part fable, part mystery, Star-Shot is a stylish debut novel set in and around Cardiff’s National Museum in a time that is almost, but not quite, our own. As their paths cross in a circumscribed world of benches, parks and galleries, a handful of characters reveal their stories of obsession, loss and recovery, creating a fragile network of relationships which will help to resist the inexorable channels of silence eating into the city.

A brittle young woman sits on a bench in Gorsedd park, conscious of the powerful building behind her; a tall man carries a box full of a strange organic substance up the entrance steps; a young father explains the formation of stars to his tiny son. As university researchers try to map and understand the destructive silence snaking around them, it becomes clear that the linked lives of these and other marginal characters offer ways of countering its effects. Poignant and humorous, Star-Shot is an exploration of how objects and images can focus our grief and desire; it is also a meditation on the regenerative power of garden ponds, and the cosmic significance of frogs.

Beautifully illustrated with woodcut-style motifs by Clive Hicks-Jenkins, this is a subtle urban novel with a supernatural twist.

Ties by Domenico Starnone

 

Luminously translated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, Ties is the searing new novel by bestselling Italian novelist Domenico Starnone.

Ties is the story of a marriage. Like many marriages, this one has been subject to strain, to attrition, to the burden of routine. Yet it has survived intact. Or so things appear. The rupture in Vanda and Aldo’s marriage lies years in the past, but if one looks closely enough, the fissures and fault lines are evident. Their marriage is a cracked vase that may shatter at the slightest touch. Or perhaps it has already shattered, and nobody is willing to acknowledge the fact.

Domenico Starnone’s thirteenth work of fiction is a powerful short novel about relationships, family, love, and the ineluctable consequences of one’s actions. Known as a consummate stylist and beloved as a talented storyteller, Domenico Starnone is the winner of Italy’s most prestigious literary award The Strega.

Winner of The Bridge Prize for Best Novel 2015

BOOKISHLY

And then there is Bookishly!  I’m a recent convert to their Tea and Book Club, where they send you a different variety of tea each month alongside a fabulous vintage book and some rather gorgeous stationery which includes cards, bookmarks, notebooks etc…. Now what bookish fan doesn’t love the mix of books, tea and stationery??!! 

They also run a Coffee and Book Club for those of you who aren’t a fan of Tea – what is wrong with you people?! – and they also have an amazing website full of wonderful book related gifts that are well worth checking out if you are looking to find a present that is a little something different than you’d find in a shop!

This months parcel included some rather gorgeous sounding  Sunshine Orange Rooibos Tea, a gorgeous Peter Pan quote bookmark, 2 lovely greetings card and a Penguin copy of The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc.

Considered by Belloc himself, and by most critics, his greatest work, this classic book is the delightful story of the pilgrimage Belloc made on foot to Rome in order to fulfill a vow he had made to “…see all Europe which the Christian Faith has saved…” In his Life of Hilaire Belloc, Robert Speaight states: “More than any other book he ever wrote, The Path to Rome made Belloc’s name; more than any other, it has been lovelingly thumbed and pondered… The book is a classic, born of something far deeper than the physical experience it records.”

Do any of you subscribe to any of the book subcription services?  Do you have a favourite? Or one to avoid?! Would love to hear about anymore out there to check out!

HAPPY READING!!