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. (This box was named one of the best subscriptions under $15 by MSA readers in the 2021 Subscription Box Awards.)
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About this Box
The Subscription Box: Book of the Month
The Cost: $14.99 a month
The Product: Subscribers get to pick from a selection of hardcover books each month. Skip any month you aren't interested in. Add up to two additional books for $9.99 each.
Ships to: The U.S. for free
Book of the Month March 2021 Review
These are the five book choices offered to subscribers this month. I was really looking for a light read so while Too Good to Be True and The Lost Apothecary both intrigued me, I ended up picking In A Book Club Far Away.
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In A Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo - Retail Value $16.00 (found here for $12.89)
Book Summary from Amazon:
Regina Castro, Adelaide Wilson-Chang, and Sophie Walden used to be best friends. As Army wives at Fort East, they bonded during their book club and soon became inseparable. But when an unimaginable betrayal happened amongst the group, the friendship abruptly ended, and they haven’t spoken since.
That’s why, eight years later, Regina and Sophie are shocked when they get a call for help from Adelaide. Adelaide’s husband is stationed abroad, and without any friends or family near her new home of Alexandria, Virginia, she has no one to help take care of her young daughter when she has to undergo emergency surgery. For the sake of an innocent child, Regina and Sophie reluctantly put their differences aside to help an old friend.
As the three women reunite, they must overcome past hurts and see if there’s any future for their friendship. Featuring Tif Marcelo’s signature “enchanting prose” (Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake) and the books that brought them together in the first place, In a Book Club Far Away honors the immense power of female friendship and how love can defy time, distance, and all old wounds.
I am somewhat familiar with military life having lived on a base when I was a teenager, attending a DoDD school my sophomore year, and having lots of military brats as my close friends, so I was intrigued by the premise of this book. While it may seem like these women bonded strongly rather quickly, one of my best friends to this day is a result of our short time together overseas, so I am familiar with just how close you can become when you are acclimating to a new post without friends or family nearby. Base life can be so isolating and these women whose husbands are deployed for months at a time were able to be there for one another when their husbands couldn't. While I understood that bond, I still really struggled to get into this book at first. It just did not hold my interest and while I appreciated how the author was trying to immerse the reader into the world of being a military family, I didn't feel that the military jargon and explanations were done very organically, resulting in a choppy feel instead of adding to the authenticity of the character's lives. I also felt like it hindered my ability to really get to know these women and their personalities.
I think one of the things that bothered me was that there was really not much emphasis on their book club and even their first book club meeting was a bit stilted and didn't really show them bonding much. The author didn't seem to spend much time diving into these ordinary moments that I think are just as pertinent to developing a strong friendship.
About halfway through, things started to pick up as the theme focused more on the storyline and their interactions with one another, so it became an easier and more enjoyable read for me. I do feel like the whole mystery of why these women had a falling out was the only thing that held my interest at the beginning, and once it was revealed, I was a little disappointed in how anticlimactic it all really was. The resolution was also done very quickly and almost rushed. At the same time, I guess this more trivial conflict was more true to real life and wasn't some unbelievable betrayal (although, that would have been a bit more exciting), which I can appreciate.
I did love the themes of friendship in this story and the idea of dropping everything to help each other when you're needed most, but mostly the story just fell a bit flat for me. It didn't have enough heart nor the right amount of action to make it a feel-good story or a dramatic read for me.
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Verdict: After last month's depressing (but good!) Book of the Month book, I was looking forward to a light read and while this one fit that category, it wasn't quite as entertaining as I had hoped. I was hoping for a really heartwarming tale, but I had a lot of trouble getting into this one and while it definitely picked up a bit in the second half, at that point, I just didn't find myself as vested in the characters as I could have been. This book was just an average one for me. I think that a military spouse may appreciate some of the great nuances of military life that this book hit on, but I find myself wishing I had chosen differently this month. What did you pick this month? I'd love to hear from anyone who read The Lost Apothecary!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this book if you sign up today? No, but you may be able to choose this book as an add-on. March 20th is the LAST DAY to sign up for Book of the Month to receive the March selections – learn more about the options here.
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