Hello Book Lover is a monthly book subscription box. With this subscription, subscribers get to pick from one of two books selected for the month. You will be sent an email with the book choices for the upcoming month on the 15th of the preceding month. You have 3 days to choose, or you can opt to be surprised.
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The Subscription Box: Hello Book Lover
The Cost: $28 plus shipping
The Products: Each month your box will include one book (your choice out of two), and two or three surprise items. The types of items you can expect to receive include: stationery, office supplies, beauty supplies, candles, specialty food items and more!
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This month's theme is "Spread Cheer". The card promises items that'll add some fun to your holiday gifting, as well as a wintry read.
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - Value on Amazon $9.23 (retail price $15.00)
Book Summary on Amazon:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
This book is so charming. I'm a fan of historical fiction—I love getting a glimpse of life in a different time period through literature. And the way this story blends fantasy and reality is really lovely. It makes for a great winter-time read, with its themes of finding light and hope in the bleakest of settings.
The cover art is neat, isn't it? It looks almost like pieces of cut paper collaged together.
Two Mini Cookie Cutters - Value $2?
These silvery metal cookie cutters are just a little smaller than average ones. They'd create the perfect two-bite sugar cookie! I think the snowflake is my favorite, but having two will be nice for creating festive little assortments.
I appreciate that these designs aren't super Christmas-specific, as some box items can be. I can use these cookie cutters for a number of wintertime celebrations.
Christmas Tree Washi Tape - Value $2.85
Washi tape isn't the best tape for packing gifts since it's not that tacky, but it is a great way to decorate your packages and cards!
I like this simple, graphic pattern. I would use it to seal my holiday greeting card envelopes.
16 Christmas Tree Stickers - Value $1?
There are more holiday embellishments in this box, including this sheet of tree stickers. I know they're intended to be Christmas trees, but again, I could see using these in a bunch of wintertime or forest-themed crafts or scrapbooking projects.
6 Wintertime Stickers - Value $0.50?
These stickers have the look of brown craft paper, which gives them a rustic appeal. I like the old-timey feel of the illustrations and the nature theme. I could see using these across seasons. They feel more camping/nature-related than holiday-focused.
8 Coffee Cup Gift Tags by A Paper Paradise - Value $5.33
A Paper Paradise is an Etsy shop that seems to make these clever coffee-themed gift tags for a bunch of different occasions. These are perfect for labeling holiday presents for coffee-lovers (and if you're me, you know LOTS of coffee lovers!).
I've got Gilmore Girls on the brain a lot lately (hooray new episodes!), so I can't look at these cups without thinking about Luke's Diner!
If you didn't use them as tags, I think they'd actually make adorable ornaments for a little tabletop tree! Just tie little loops in the strings.
Verdict: I liked this Hello Book Lover box! I think the book is great. I did notice that unlike some other book boxes, this one featured special items that weren't particularly related to reading or the story itself. That's okay by me, especially as the items are cute and timely. The estimated value, however, was only about $21.00 (using the current sale price of the book on Amazon), which is $7.00 short of the price of the box. That's not counting shipping either. While I like all the crafty ephemera in the box, I do wish there was more in the box that bumped up the value.
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