Book People Trust Fall Subscription Box Review – Jan 2015
Thanks to the wonderful suggestions from My Subscription Addiction readers, I have become obsessed with book subscription boxes! Trust Fall is a relatively new subscription box from Book People. Every quarter they send you a signed, first edition copy of a debut or break out book, plus a few extra items.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Trust Fall (ships once a quarter)
The Cost: $39.95 per quarter (or $35 a quarter if you pay the $140 annual cost up front).
The Products: “We’ll send you four debut or break-out books throughout the year that we absolutely do not want you to miss. You’ll also receive a couple of extra goodies in your surprise package as a thank you for taking a chance with us. If you don’t like the book, you can return it for a full refund and keep the extra gifts.”
The box comes with a letter detailing the items included and a little background on the book selected.
Descent by Tim Johnston – Retail Value $25.95 (Out of stock on Amazon for $20.62)
I listed the retail value of the book, but that’s probably not a fair representation of the value since this is a signed first edition:
The synopsis of Descent from Amazon:
The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines
or seen on TV.As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination.Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life?
Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller.
Taza Chocolate in Chipotle Chili – Value $5
The book also came with some chocolate (gluten and dairy free!), an essay from Tim Johnston on how he came to write Descent, and a Q&A about the book. (I’m waiting to read these until after I read the book).
Algonquin Reader Volume 4 Issue 1 – Value ?
Irish Girl Stories by Tim Johnston – Retail Value $12.95 (Out of stock on Amazon for $11.27)
The Algonquin Reader is a collection of excerpts from upcoming Algonquin books. (The publisher of Descent).
I also really like that they included one of Tim Johnston’s earlier works – it gets amazing reviews. Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:
Inside Tim Johnston’s Irish Girl (winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction) readers will find spellbinding stories of loss, absence, and the devastating effects of chance—of what happens when the unthinkable bad luck of other people, of other towns, becomes our bad luck, our town. Taut, lucid, and engrossing, provocative and dark—and often darkly funny—these stories have much to offer the lover of literary fiction as well as the reader who just loves a great story.
Verdict: I’m really happy with my first Trust Fall shipment. I was planning on buying Descent and then I saw it was out of stock in my Amazon cart. Now I’m glad Amazon is out of stock – otherwise this would be a duplicate copy for me! I also was surprised to see they included a second book with this box.
The value is a little difficult to nail down with this box since they’ve included very thoughtful exclusives an additions to the book. From a purely retail value perspective, it would cost me $37 to get these items (by sale prices on Amazon), and I paid $35 for this box (with the annual subscription), so I’m pleased. Of course, that’s not the only value to the box, and I really appreciate the thought and curation that went into this box. It’s also great to get a signed book!
What do you think of the January Trust Fall box?
Written by Liz Cadman
The information for the upcoming spring TrustFall shipment is on BookPeople’s website if anyone is interested in spoilers!
Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for reviewing this! This is definitely something I’ll try out in the future! What a lovely gift for reader friends too!
Thanks Suzi for posting that web site! I admit I don’t buy many print books anymore because I’m spoiled by the lack of weight to ebooks! I love the idea of the book subs, makes me think of being in a book club. I only wish that someone would come up with an ebook version. Hear that, person who is looking to start a new subby! 🙂 I have no idea where to start or I might.
wow sounds like an awesome book subscruption. Descent sounds like an awesome book!
Descent does sound super cool! I’m adding that to my library holds list right now.
This sub sounds really interesting! I love my Powell’s Indiespensible sub, and I think it’s fantastic to provide signed editions. That really helps bridge the value gap, along with excellent curation. Maybe I’ll I’d Trust Fall to my subs soon, too!
I don’t normally like book subscriptions because of the low value but this one looks really great. I love that they included a signed first edition and the books themselves are ones I would pick out. Very cool 🙂
I still wish subs like this were a bit less money though. I would be in for about 25.00/month tops comfortably. And I even think that’s a splurge.
I love the trust fall program so far. Those who judge it soley based on cost are missing both the point and the value of these types of programs. 1. It is a signed copy 2. You are paying for curation 3. Bookpeople is an awesome independent bookstore like Powell’s to support. It’s fine if you’re book purchasing is priced based, but don’t knock a great program like trust fall whose value paradigm and intrinsic joy production is rooted in far more than how cheaply books are procured.
Exactly! First: I was just in Barnes and Noble the other day and every single book I wanted (and the three I purchased) were sold at cover price. Second: I was only in B&N because I had a gift card and generally prefer to spend at independent booksellers… and at full price. Just like buying coffee at a coffeehouse instead of making cheaper at home or getting it in a drive-thru, I am paying the extra money for the experience of being in the store, learning from the sellers and supporting my local community. And anyway- you get chocolate with this! Books and chocolate… how could that be a waste of money?
I will say that other than this one and the Powell’s one, I think most book subscriptions are NOT worth it. The others I’ve seen just send the book… no author’s notes, no extras. It doesn’t make sense to pay more than cover price for just a random book that you may not even like.
$40 is simply insane for a book (or two). There is basically no bookstore on Earth that would actually charge the $25 or $30 cover price anymore, so I feel like they are way overcharging. I’m not one to complain about a $10 ebook, but I just don’t understand how $40 buys only two books. I have a hard time seeing value in any of the book subscriptions, because you’re paying so much for a book you may or may not like, that just isn’t worth nearly what you’re paying. (And this is from someone who reads hundreds of books a year.)
I agree completely! I read a LOT (1-2 books per week usually). TreeBooks are so cheap nowadays because of all the eBooks. Even at places like Barnes & Noble, there’s pretty much always a 30% off sticker on the books just because they know they’d never sell them at that $29.99 or whatever price. Plus, when you add in Amazon with their $0.01 used books that are usually in great condition…. well. Yeah, I can’t justify $40 for one book and a few essays/excerpts. :\
As an independent bookseller, I can assure that you that we do, in fact, charge the cover price for our new books. If we tried to price match Amazon or Barnes and Noble, we’d go out of business in a few months because we can’t make enough money to make rent at 25-30% discounts. Like this subscription box, the value we offer is in our knowledge of our wares, the unique author events we bring to the community, and the ways that our store gives back in donations of money, product and time to local schools and other charitable organizations. If that isn’t worth the cover price to you, that’s fine, but thankfully to many people it is so we are able to continue sharing our love of reading in our town.
You wouldn’t happen to be in Houston, would you?
I have been looking for a small bookstore to shop at since we moved to the US this summer. So far I only have Powell’s online. And now Book people:)
Alas, I’m in California. 🙂 I’ve heard that Murder by the Books (http://www.murderbooks.com/) is a great book shop in Houston, but I’ve never been.
A great website for finding indie bookstores in your area is http://www.indiebound.org – they include new and used books in their store database.
You should check out Blue Willow bookstore. It’s on the west side of Houston. Memorial Drive and Dairy Ashford area. Great indie bookstore!
Well said suzi
Descent sounds really good! I haven’t even heard about it till now. I love books, but still prefer reading them for free from the library.
I want to read that book!
I was so excited to find my TrustFall box in my mailbox this week! I loved the first box and looking forward to diving into this one. Like last month, it’s a book that I might not have picked on my own, but I suspect I’ll be glad that BookPeople picked it for me. Liz, you can read the last question on the back of the Q&A card without spoiling anything about the book. 🙂