Book of the Month is a monthly book subscription box. Each month, their editorial team picks out their favorite new hardcover books, and you can choose which one you want to receive on the first of the month for $17.99/month. You can also add up to two additional books for only $9.99 each. (This box was named one of the best subscriptions for avid readers in the 2025 Subscription Box Awards.).
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the editorial guidelines to learn more about how we review boxes.)
My BOTM Pick for March: The Sun Was Electric Light by Rachel Morton; (Not Yet Available for Retail in the US)
Back of Book Summary:
Disillusioned with her life in New York, Ruth returns to a lake town in Guatemala where she had been happy a decade earlier. There, in Panajachel, she meets two very different women: the calm and practical Emilie, and the turbulent and intoxicating Carmen. Deciding to stay and build a life at the lake, Ruth finds work first as a nanny to a wealthy local family, then as an English teacher at a village school. Meanwhile, she becomes increasingly infatuated by her friendship with Carmen, pushing away the stability of her connection with Emilie. As Carmen’s fragile relationship with the world splinters, the difference between being a visitor and truly belonging becomes clear, and Ruth is forced to act.
My Summary
Australian-born Ruth has been living in New York for five years when she realizes she's starting to feel fake. Desperate to feel again, she Marie Kondos her life — donating her furniture and most of her worldly belongings to the local thrift store — and takes off for Panajachel, Guatemala.
Located on Lake Atitlán — known as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world — the real-life city is the last place Ruth remembers being purely happy, and she's determined to regain that feeling.
Settled into a furnished home, Ruth becomes a regular at the cafe-by-day/bar-by-night El Nuahal, finds romance with the emotional distant Emilie, and forms a charged friendship with Carmen, a Pana native whose parents are American. Still, Ruth's former happiness and the sense of being real that she's been seeking seem always out of her grasp: "I realised that the lake would not solve my problems and that nothing would solve my problems. I gave up trying and giving up felt liberating, for about fifteen minutes at a time."
As a foreigner living in Guatemala, Ruth is forced to reckon with her understanding of what it means to belong and what it is to find meaning.
The Verdict
It's finally happened. In nearly two years with the BOTM Club, I finally hit upon a book that I just flat out did not like. I found myself hating Ruth, Carmen and Emilie as I pushed my way through Morton's debut novel.
In the author's defense, I seem to be very much in the minority here — among other plaudits, Morton's book won the 2024 Victorian premier’s literary award for an unpublished manuscript in her native Australia!
Value — Was This Box Worth It?
Now for the big question: Was the April 2025 BOTM Club subscription worth it?
Considering my dislike of the novel, you may be surprised to hear I'm still giving the overall subscription a thumbs up. Then again, if you're a voracious reader like me, you know the letdown is part of the thrill of the hunt for a new favorite author. And that's one of my favorite features of the subscription — BOTM is constantly putting new authors in front of me, giving me a chance to try out books I might never have found on my own.
When it comes to Rachel Morton, in particular, I really may never have found her. The Sun Was Electric Light is not available for sale in the United States yet, which means BOTM is the only way to get your hands on a copy!
So let's do the math ... the BOTM Club starts at $17.99, depending on your chosen subscription (the first month of a subscription is currently $9.99). Not a bad price to pay for a book you can't get anywhere else, huh?
The Cost: $9.99 (This price is only for your first month).
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To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this book if you sign up today? Yes! But you will need to order it as an add-on.
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