PageHabit is a book subscription box that sends a title in the genre of your choice with annotations from the author, a bookmark, and other book-related goods. Choose between the monthly genres: Literary Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Horror, or Historical Fiction, and quarterly genres: Literary Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, or Cookbook.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
This review is of the PageHabit Horror genre, $29.99 a month, box.
About PageHabit
The Subscription Box: PageHabit
The Cost: $29.99 a month + shipping
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Use coupon code MSAREADS to get a FREE bonus bundle when you sign up for a monthly subscription! The bundle includes a bonus book and a bookish good. Plus, free shipping in the US! ($5 off international shipping).
The Products: 1 hardback book annotated with notes by the author, a bookmark, a blank notebook, a letter from the author, and a book light.
Ships to: the US for $4.99, Canada for $14.99, and Everywhere else in the world for $19.99, plus any local taxes that may be applied.
PageHabit May 2018 Horror Genre Review
Each PageHabit purchase goes to supporting children’s literacy across the world, and for April, PageHabit is working with Books for Africa to donate books to children and youth in and around Khayelitsha Township, which is outside of Cape Town. The card gave some information on the resources for the region, while the opposite side of the card shows you every book chosen for May in all the genres they offer.
Each PageHabit box has a letter from the author, which makes these boxes extra special. This month’s letter might be my favorite so far from any author; he is so sincere in his address to us readers, and he gives us insight on how this novel, his first, came to be. He talks at length about his grandmother and how she’s the reason he’s a writer because she was such a good storyteller in her own right. These details were really touching and made me even more excited to read the book.
PageHabit Bookmark
These boxes always include a bookmark, and this month boasts a quote from Nikola Tesla, along with an appropriate illustration.
The Ones Who Remain, by John Sollitto
We’re back to a short story this month! This short story had an interesting premise and was designed with a plot twist. I couldn’t find much background information on the author, or this particular work, but I thought this offered promise and I’ll be curious to see how works from him further develop.
Two Way Color Changing Pull Light - Retail Value $5.76
This is one of the most unique items I’ve received in a PageHabit box so far! I actually love this; the cord is nice and long (46 inches), and I think the color-changing aspect is cool. However, it required three AAA batteries, which weren’t included. Bummer! I actually might try to use this in one of the closets in my new house - our coat closet has no light, so maybe this would help illuminate things.
Shoemark Bookmark - Retail Value $6.00
What a clever take on the bookmark! Even though it’s plastic, this is well-made and sturdy, and I love its little feet. I like any bookmark that can take a beating in a purse or bookbag without getting bent, and this will certainly do the trick!
The Dead House by Billy O’Callaghan - Retail Value $24.99 (found here for $18.47)
I was thrilled to see an Irish author this month (my favorite horror author of all time is fellow Irish native Tana French)! This book is 224 pages long and was released on May 1st, 2018. Summary from Amazon:
Sometimes the past endures—and sometimes it never lets go.
This best-selling debut by an award-winning writer is both an eerie contemporary ghost story and a dread-inducing psychological thriller. Maggie is a successful young artist who has had bad luck with men. Her last put her in the hospital and, after she’s healed physically, left her needing to get out of London to heal mentally and find a place of quiet that will restore her creative spirit. On the rugged west coast of Ireland, perched on a wild cliff side, she spies the shell of a cottage that dates back to Great Famine and decides to buy it. When work on the house is done, she invites her dealer to come for the weekend to celebrate along with a couple of women friends, one of whom will become his wife. On the boozy last night, the other friend pulls out an Ouija board. What sinister thing they summon, once invited, will never go.
Ireland is a country haunted by its past. In Billy O'Callaghan's hands, its terrible beauty becomes a force of inescapable horror that reaches far back in time, before the Famine, before Christianity, to a pagan place where nature and superstition are bound in an endless knot.
The only way to describe this book is haunting; from the landscape of Cork to description of Maggie, this novel is ethereal and at times downright eerie. The setting of Ireland is beautifully described, making it almost a secondary character of the book, and the descriptions by the author of Ireland’s famine years are achingly detailed. This book is not for the squeamish - starving to death is a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone after reading about it in this piece. To that point, I’d also warn anyone triggered by domestic abuse to stay away since it’s a fairly important point early in the novel. Maggie’s character and her deterioration is well-told for the most part; her abuse backstory is certainly one that has been told before, but I felt that O’Callaghan stayed away from tropes and cliches for the most part, and made it seem pretty authentic. An interesting point of this novel is that there’s a love story at its very core; the main character falls in love with his wife during the events of the story, making this aspect of the plot a bright point, like a tiny, colorful painting wrapped inside the cobwebs of its more sinister elements. This book isn’t scary so much as it is dark; it explores elements of the mind and what it’s like to be really and truly haunted in a way that won’t let go. The author’s annotations also augmented the experience greatly; he offered up tidbits about his process of writing the piece, mentioned the parts that were pulled from his own life, and gave background on the history of the settings and his personal experiences with them. Overall I thought it was a bittersweet read; obviously it wasn’t a happy story, but O’Callaghan’s style was lyric and I thought this was a solid first novel.
Verdict: I thought this month the items were a bit more thoughtful than in month’s past, but the fact that there were fewer items in the box was a bit disappointing, I must admit! I liked the light, but it would have been better if I was able to use it right out of the box with included batteries. A picky thing I will note is that this month’s author’s annotation post-its were somehow incorrectly printed and they were blurry and hard to read. But I really enjoyed this month’s book! The best thing about this subscription is that I receive books that have just been released that I might not know about to read on my own.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Sadly, no. You will receive the June box!
Coupon - For a limited time, use coupon code MSAREADS to get a FREE bonus bundle when you sign up for a monthly subscription! The bundle includes a bonus book and a bookish good. Plus, free shipping in the US! ($5 off international shipping).
Value Breakdown: This box cost me $29.99 + $4.99 shipping, which means that each of the 3 items (not including the author’s letter and paper bookmark) in the box has an average cost of $11.66.
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