Susan’s Book Blog

🚨  This post contains book box subscription spoilers. 🚨   Illumicrate’s May Afterlight box is here! 🌸 I was so excited to find out that they were doing Akwaeke Emezi’s You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty for their May box! I was sent an ARC of it a few months ago and I LOVED it. (Definitely one of the best books I’ll read all year, I highly recommend checking it out. You can find my review of it  here .) Although I prefer the massively different US cover to the UK cover, this edition is pretty special. The pages are sprayed purple and the book comes with a pink ribbon bookmark. 💖👌 Love that! And the paper bookmark they included (can never have too many bookmarks, amirite) matches the pattern on the spine/cover art. 🌺🌿 They also included an insulated lunch bag covered in exotic hibiscus flowers and a nice nail file. So overall a very thoughtful box. But the book choice was so unexpected and rather exciting!  Excellent job, Illumicrate. 👍🏼 

🚨   SPOILERS AHEAD  🚨  If you’re an Illumicrate subscriber and you’re still waiting on your box and don’t want to be spoiled, STOP HERE. 🛑 ✋🏼  Shhhhhh 🤫  Illumicrate’s January theme is Royal Secrets . This is my first monthly subscription box from them and I like the books they chose. They’re not ones I would have chosen for myself which I actually kind of like. And the editions are beautiful, especially the larger hardback.  Look at the sprayed edges. The foil embossing all over the whole book shimmers in the light and the print continues onto the page edges. It’s so gorgeous! The endpapers are a beautiful bright orange and display more of the cover pattern. The rest of the contents include: Socks (The Priory of the Orange Tree) Necklace (The Never Tilting World) Phone stand (The Prison Healer) Jigsaw Puzzle (We Hunt the Flame) And a small print (pictured above) came with This Woven Kingdom Here’s more info about each book: This Woven Kingdom Cla...

 I came across indie book box seller, Dark & Shimmer, on Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Instagram a short while back, when they were selling their Weather Girl themed box. I knew I wanted to read it and the box sounded really fun so I gave it a go. It arrived today and here’s some pics of the goodies inside: It came with a signed copy of the book. ⬇️ Gorgeous enamel pin by Azurose Designs ⬇️ Peppermint hot cocoa!! I LOVE this! ⬇️ Cinnamon Roll scented body butter. Too cute 😝  ⬇️ And Weather Girl now gets a place on the Blue & Yellow shelf - because it can! ⬇️ It was such a treat to open and I can’t wait to enjoy all the goodies! You can find the book box seller on Instagram at DarkandShimmer.