Unboxing A Box of Stories.

Hello!

It has certainly been a while since I’ve felt like blogging and talking about books but today I am back with an exciting unboxing! I’ve not had a book box for a while as I kinda fell out of love with them for a couple of reasons, but I’m stoked for this one and it certainly brightened my morning when it arrived.

For me, this book box is relatively new. I heard about it a couple of weeks ago through Lucy at LucyTurnsPages and on finding out that it is solely about the books, I had to try it for myself. From what I’ve found out from their website, they want to promote the underhyped books, those that don’t often get the big promotional budgets and are kinda pushed to the sidelines. All the boxes are curated from reviews, recommendations and done completely randomly via an algorithm. Each box is a surprise to whomever orders one. Also, there is no un-recyclable packaging (it is literally just the cardboard box and another little bit of plain, protective cardboard) and a percentage of the profits go to charities working to promote literacy. It’s the type of book box I am certainly happy to support!

There are a variety of different boxes to choose from, some of which run on a subscription basis and some you can purchase as a one off. The one-off boxes are genre specific to YA, Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Historical Fiction and Crime/Thriller/Mystery. I chose a one-off YA box as I didn’t want to commit to a subscription just yet and I feel as if I’d be more likely to read the YA books, especially with how my reading has been lately.

With that long ramble out of the way, here are the books I received!

The Nearest Faraway Place by Hayley Long

Griff and Dylan are driving into Manhattan with their parents when the worst happens. There is a terrible car accident and Dylan and Griff’s parents are killed.

The boys are suddenly orphans with nowhere to go, until a kind aunt and uncle give them a new home in Wales. Now Dylan and Griff have everything they need ­ love, a happy home and a future. But Dylan is worried about Griff: whether he is OK, whether he is coping with his grief. He doesn¹t seem to want to speak about it or really acknowledge the loss of their parents.

But Dylan needs to be even braver than Griff, because there is something very important he needs to face up to before he can move on.

I don’t tend to read YA Contemporaries anymore but I did always like the sibling stories and those that centred around deeper subjects so this could be promising and surprising read.

Wild Blue Wonder by Carlie Sorosiak

There are two monsters in this story. One of them is me.

Ask anyone in Winship, Maine, and they’ll tell you the summer camp Quinn’s family owns is a magical place. Paper wishes hang from the ceiling. Blueberries grow in the dead of winter. According to local legend, a sea monster even lurks off the coast. Mostly, there’s just a feeling that something extraordinary could happen there.

Like Quinn falling in love with her best friend, Dylan.

After the accident, the magic drained from Quinn’s life. Now Dylan is gone, the camp is a lonely place, and Quinn knows it’s her fault.

But the new boy in town, Alexander, doesn’t see her as the monster she believes herself to be. As Quinn lets herself open up again, she begins to understand the truth about love, loss, and monsters—real and imagined.

Reading the blurb on the back of the actual book, I wasn’t convinced this would be the book for me. It read a lot differently than this synopsis, which has a bit more mystery involved than I initially thought and has tempted me to certainly give it a shot.

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

Every winter, Wren Silke is chased through the forest in a warped version of a childhood game. The boys who haunt her are judges, powerful and frightening pursuers, who know nothing of her true identity. If they knew she was an augur, their sworn enemy, the game would turn deadly.

But Wren is on the hunt, too. Sent undercover as an intern to the Harkness Foundation – enemy headquarters – her family’s survival rests on finding a secret meant to stay hidden. As the enmity between two ancient magics reaches breaking point, Wren is torn between old loyalties and new lies. And trapped in the most dangerous game of her life.

A book that gave me one heck of a surprise when I saw this in the box because I have heard of it, and I have an original edition of this in an unhaul box in the spare bedroom. It was one of those pre-2018 YALC books I didn’t get around to reading and brushed it off as one I’d probably not pick up. Now I’ve been given a second copy, I’m willing to give a chance but I’m not 100% sure if I will like it.

Prudence: The Custard Protocol by Gail Carriger

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances – names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier’s wife, and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone’s secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones?

I remember hearing about Soulless by Gail Carriger when I first came across the online YA book community and whilst it sounded like something I’d enjoy, I never read it. From what I have looked up, this book and subsequent series is a spin-off from that. I remember loving most of the paranormal YA I read at the beginning, not so much now, but I do intend to read this so it could be a fun jaunt down YA memory lane.

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And those are all four books!

If you think A Box of Stories is something you would like to try, I have a £4 off referral code you can apply to your first purchase!

Honestly I think this is probably one of the better book boxes out there and worth looking into if the books are all you want out of a box!

Have you heard of these books? If so, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading and have a brazzle dazzle day!
xx