Book of the Month Subscription Review + Coupon – July 2017

Book of the Month is a monthly book subscription box. Each month, 5 curators pick out their favorite new hardcover books, and you can choose which one you want to receive on the first of the month. You can also add up to 2 additional books for only $9.99 each.

We were sent this box for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

Check out all of our reviews of Book Subscription Boxes for more options, too!

The Subscription Box: Book of the Month

The Cost: $16.99 a month (less with 3 and 12 month subscriptions)

For a limited time, use this link and coupon code TOTALLY to get Book of the Month for $10 a month PLUS get a FREE TOTE! (Regularly $16.99 a month) This can be applied to a 2, or 3-month subscription!

The Product: Subscribers get to pick from a selection of hardcover books each month. Skip any month you aren’t interested in. Add up to two additional books for $9.99.

Ships to: US Only

Check out all of my Book of the Month reviews!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wish list!

For July, subscribers picked from the following 5 books:

I’m reviewing American Fire.

American Fire by Monica Hesse  – Retail Value $26.95 (On Amazon for $18.32)

Book Summary from Amazon:

The arsons started on a cold November midnight and didn’t stop for months. Night after night, the people of Accomack County waited to see which building would burn down next, regarding each other at first with compassion, and later suspicion. Vigilante groups sprang up, patrolling the rural Virginia coast with cameras and camouflage. Volunteer firefighters slept at their stations. The arsonist seemed to target abandoned buildings, but local police were stretched too thin to surveil them all. Accomack was desolate―there were hundreds of abandoned buildings. And by the dozen they were burning.

The culprit, and the path that led to these crimes, is a story of twenty-first century America. Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse first drove down to the reeling county to cover a hearing for Charlie Smith, a struggling mechanic who upon his capture had promptly pleaded guilty to sixty-seven counts of arson. But as Charlie’s confession unspooled, it got deeper and weirder. He wasn’t lighting fires alone; his crimes were galvanized by a surprising love story. Over a year of investigating, Hesse uncovered the motives of Charlie and his accomplice, girlfriend Tonya Bundick, a woman of steel-like strength and an inscrutable past. Theirs was a love built on impossibly tight budgets and simple pleasures. They were each other’s inspiration and escape…until they weren’t.

Though it’s hard to believe today, one hundred years ago Accomack was the richest rural county in the nation. Slowly it’s been drained of its industry―agriculture―as well as its wealth and population. In an already remote region, limited employment options offer little in the way of opportunity. A mesmerizing and crucial panorama with nationwide implications, American Fireasks what happens when a community gets left behind. Hesse brings to life the Eastern Shore and its inhabitants, battling a punishing economy and increasingly terrified by a string of fires they could not explain. The result evokes the soul of rural America―a land half gutted before the fires even began.

Nonfiction that reads like fiction? Yes, please! I love the true crime genre, and I this book is a great, fast-paced read. There were a few points in the book where I had to remind myself that I was reading about real people – not characters! I’m about halfway through the book, and I think I’ll finish it by the end of the weekend.

Verdict:  I’m very pleased with the value of my Book of the Month subscription. The prices are better than Amazon for new hardcover releases, and they always feature a good mix of popular new books.

And I love that you can skip any month you aren’t interested in, and you can also buy books from previous months as add-ons for $9.99.

What do you think of the Book of the Month subscription? Which book (or books) did you pick this month?