Two things I love in the world come together in this great monthly subscription box.
I can't remember exactly when I first heard about Sweet Reads Box, but it took me a while to finally decide to place an order and now I can't figure out why I waited so long!
Sweet Reads Box gets delivered once a month, usually pretty early in the month, and always includes a new novel, something to drink, a sweet treat and two or three other items that go along with the theme of the book. You can buy a single box, three months, or six months, and periodically they have a special box as well. In the time that I have been subscribing there has been a Young Adult (YA) and Christmas themed box. I've just been sticking to the basic box for now though and here are my thoughts on the experience.
- Novel (usually paperback) are recently published titles and for the most part are general fiction. I haven't seen any science fiction, thrillers, horror or non fiction. There has been a pretty good mix of easy to read mystery, some historical fiction, and a couple of titles that border on romance/chick lit. Nothing too heavy, just good light entertaining reads.
- Mix of Canadian and non-Canadian authors. It's nice to see the box, which is Canadian, also support Canadian authors every couple of months. December's box featured, Starlight by Richard Wagamese. Wagamese was an Indigenous Author from Kamloops (just North of where I live) and the book featured many locations that I am familiar with. I really loved the book (although it was unfinished due to his death) and how everything was carefully curated to reflect the book.
- Drinks: The beverage choices alternate (more of less) between coffee and tea. I love that the coffees that have come so far have been from small Canadian companies, mostly Ontario based, but since the box is shipped from Ontario I'm ok with that.
- Sweet Treats - is it wrong to say that this is probably my favourite part of the box? I love seeing what treats get included every month and then seeing how they match the theme of the box. Chocolate gets featured heavily in the box and I think that is just fine!
- Everything else - the additional small gifts that get included are super fun as well. I love it when the box has socks included (I'm wearing a pair right now) but my all time favourite is the turtle tea steeper that came with the February box. I took it to work and everyone always comments on how cool it is - the tea gets placed in the egg part and the top is a baby turtle body, the turtle flippers hold the tea steeper on the side of the cup and the tea steeps trough the egg. It's adorable!
- Facebook Group - there is a private FB group for subscribers and it is slowly picking up in activity, I think the idea is to have it as kind of an online book club, which is a great idea for all of us who just can't get it together to organize or make it to a real life book club. I'm a bit behind right now in my to-read list so haven't been able to participate fully in the discussions yet, but the most recent book, The Gown, is one that I am really excited to read so I might put down my current book (The Music Shop - might have been the November book?) to start that one.
- Canadian Pricing - this is terrific, so many times I have found a box (even Canadian) that uses US dollars as their pricing. Although this is a bit pricy (see below) at least there is no extra surprise when the currency conversion happens!
- Downside....it is expensive. Boxes are between $52 and $59 plus shipping (ouch) so it's definitely a luxury, but if you like books and getting things in the mail, like I do, it's worth it. If you subscribe to their email list or follow on social media they sometimes run a discount code which helps reduce the price, occasionally as well they engage bloggers to write about the box and they will have a discount code as well, so do some research before your subscribe the first time. Subscription rates are found here.
I just resubscribed which will take me through the summer - if you subscribe, let me know, we could start up our own book club!
Happy Reading!
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