Book of the Month Club October 2015 Review + 45% Off Coupon!

The Book of the Month Club is a bare bones book subscription. Each month you'll receive a hardcover book of your choice from a list of five selections. Since this is my first month, I'm not sure if there are always five choices or not but for me, there was. This one arrived with a note from the "judge" who chose the book and a cardboard bookmark with a quote on it.

The process is different than I was expecting. I didn't realize when I signed up that I would get a choice. I love that part! It's nice having options. You can also add books from their shop to your shipment, as well.

The Cost: $16.99/month or get 3-months for $38.97 ($12.99/book) or a 12-month plan for $107.88 ($8.99/book).

What You Get: Each month a panel of Judges selects a limited number of exceptional books to offer to members. New Selections are announced on the first of the month, and members have six days to decide which book (or books) you would like to receive.

I chose the book Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff.

Fates and Furies is a literary masterpiece that defies expectation. A dazzling examination of a marriage, it is also a portrait of creative partnership written by one of the best writers of her generation. 

Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.

At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed. With stunning revelations and multiple threads, and in prose that is vibrantly alive and original, Groff delivers a deeply satisfying novel about love, art, creativity, and power that is unlike anything that has come before it. Profound, surprising, propulsive, and emotionally riveting, it stirs both the mind and the heart.

Here are the the October selections:

I wasn't particularly enthused by any of the selections but that's only because there was nothing relating to dragons, magic and/or elves. However, I don't only read that stuff and both Fates and Furies and Gold Fame Citrus intrigued me. And that's the purpose of Book of the Month Club!

I haven't had a chance to dig in to my new book and read it yet because I have some books I need to read before they become overdue at the library. I think I have eight to read in the next 14 days. I can do it!

Here's the note from the Judge who picked the book this month. Her name is Leigh Haber and she is from the Oprah magazine. I totally agree with her about the "romance" thing but I'm not snobby about my books. In my opinion books are nothing to be snobby about. We all have our tastes and reasons we read and they vary so widely that it's just too much work to be snooty about.

While I'm not exactly a bibliophile (I don't really collect books-anymore), I definitely appreciate a gorgeous cover, the new book smell and the satisfaction of filling up another shelf in the bookcase. 

And I love to read. Love. It's the one thing I've loved to do without ceasing my entire life. I plan to read all the books that I consider the best forever. I'm pretty sure I'll never run out of them.  I haven't yet, anyway.

VERDICT: I signed up for three months of this service and so far I'm quite happy with it. I think it's fun to get out of my bookish comfort zones, get lost in new writing styles and stories and just generally think about a whole new set of life situations. I know I've been reading too much when I find myself spending time figuring out all the protaganists problems when I'm driving or doing a mindless task. I just started reading Divergent. Hooked. I also read a really good YA yesterday called Darkness Before Dawn. It's a vampire book which I'm normally not into but it's fun reading. I'll finish Divergent today and then I've got Prodigy to read as well. Then Court of Fives by Kate Elliot (I love her writing!), Alliance by Mark Frost, the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini, Silver Eve (a sequel I've been waiting for) and then I want to re-read the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas in preparation for Queen of Shadows. SO MUCH GOOD STUFF!

I need more time in my day. For sure.

If you want to sign up for Book of the Month Club, you can do that right here. Use code BOTM15 to get 45% off a 3 month subscription! That's better than the deal I found and makes your books $6.99 each. It's nice to see that even at a month to month price, they're competitive with Amazon hardbound pricing. With a 3-month subscription and that coupon code, you'll be saving quite a bit.

What do you think of Book of the Month Club? Have you read Fates and Furies? What did you think?

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