Cozy Reader Club Review, November & December 2016

If you have been here before, you already know that the Cozy Reader Club is my favorite book box in terms of quality. Every month I am absolutely GIDDY when it arrives! If you want to peruse my previous reviews on this subscription, go here.

The Cozy Reader Club is what I consider a “Luxe” (luxury) Book Box. They curate a truly beautiful subscription box with high quality items that I am consistently impressed with. It is one of the more expensive book boxes out there, but totally worth it IMHO. The cost is $64.95 per month (+ 9.99 shipping US), with a slightly lower cost for longer subscriptions. They also ship to Canada. You can skip a month, too, if you wish! Each month you will receive 4-6 items including a recently released hardcover women’s fiction novel, artisan beverages such as coffee, tea or hot chocolate, beautiful handmade items and delicious gourmet handcrafted treats. The boxes feature handcrafted, artisan goods from small businesses throughout the USA. Additionally, they host a blog called the “Cozy Reader Connection” with great ‘Me Time’ articles; which is their motto.

The reviews today are for the November and December 2016 Cozy Reader Club boxes. I am not a Cozy Reader Club affiliate, but I AM a Cratejoy affiliate. I pay for my subscription. Please note that I *never* accept compensation in exchange for a positive review. All of my reviews are my honest, personal opinions and contain my own photography (unless otherwise stated).

For $5 off your first box, go here!! Note: If the Cozy Reader Club is hosting a higher value (temporary) discount code, it will automatically show up in this link.

Cozy Reader Club Review, November 2016

You like my autumn leaf props? I got them in one of my Once Upon a Book Club boxes, and am now using them for all of my Autumn reviews! 🙂

Most subscription boxes do seasonal themes and items, and the Cozy Reader Club is no exception. Fall (and the entire holiday season) is my favorite time of year, so I was loving all the ‘cozy’ stuffs!

My eyes usually glaze over at first sight of the contents…it just makes me so happy…

Looky at the pretty Leaves again! I’m digging photo props. Gotta start upping my game.

Their insert cards are lovely, and have a lot of good information on them, so be sure to peruse! The total retail value for this month’s box is $89.25, which is quite a bit above the price of the subscription. Book boxes are sometimes lacking in high value, but not this book box! For a few items (like the book), Amazon has cheaper prices, but if you consider tax & shipping for separate purchases, you are still getting a great deal for the mix of items, not to mention the curation. I would never find (or even think of) these things on my own.

“Faithful” by Alice Hoffman – Retail Value $26 (Amazon $18.49). This recently released book has received a lot of hype and some phenomenal reviews. It also won the ‘Cozy Reader Club’ vote. Here is the description on Amazon:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers comes a soul-searching story about a young woman struggling to redefine herself and the power of love, family, and fate.

Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt.

What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor, filled with emotion—from dark suffering to true happiness—a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls—including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.

Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing, that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap.

Alice Hoffman’s “trademark alchemy” (USA TODAY) and her ability to write about the “delicate balance between the everyday world and the extraordinary” (WBUR) make this an unforgettable story. With beautifully crafted prose, Alice Hoffman spins hope from heartbreak in this profoundly moving novel.

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, but it is definitely a must-read. I judge a book on it’s ability to ‘move’ me in some way, and this book doesn’t disappoint.

Townsend’s Tea Company’s Pumpkin Spice Chai Loose Tea – Retail Value $8.25. I’m kinda picky about tea. I don’t care for overly fruity or bitter teas. That being said, this tea ROCKS! YUM! Seasonally appropriate and super tasty. I also like that it is loose tea (not in a bag) because I get to use my tea infuser! I am kind of tea newbie, so I need the practice.

Pumpernickel & Wry Vintage Silverware Spoon – Retail Value $16. Really nice! I do sometimes put cream or honey in my tea, so I now have a fancy-ass spoon to stir with! I display it on top of my espresso machine with all of my other tea/coffee paraphernalia. It makes me look cool. Ha. Plus, I’m all about “Me Time”. In every way.

I love the little cup design in the middle. Totally cute.

Max & Melody Knit Hat – Retail Value $35. This is my favorite thing in the box! I do not have a hat like this, so I was happy to finally receive one! It’s really soft and nicely made.

Stylin’.

Vermont Brownie Company “Apple Blondie“ – Retail Value $4. Love the packaging! This treat feels special.

I pretty much had to eat his right away. You know, for review purposes…Bahahaha!

Look at the gooey goodness…

It was as good as it looks. 😛

The Cozy Reader Club knocks it out of the park every friggin’ month! What do you think of November’s box? You agree? You Jealous? BAM!

Cozy Reader Club Review, December 2016

I was SO ready for my Cozy Reader Box this month! The best time to read (and eat, and drink, and be lazy…) is when it is cold outside!

I am impressed that the Holiday box even has the right colors for the season! Red & green! That’s some nifty curation…

The full Retail Value of this box is $85.99 – not as good as last month, but there is still a decent (added) value for a book box.

“Moonglow” by Michael Chabon – Retail Value $28.99 (Amazon $17.39). This book also won the ‘Cozy Reader Club’ vote, and is apparently winning awards and shit according to what I’ve seen. I’m excited to read it! I don’t have any book even close to this genre in my current collection, so yay! I’m gettin’ out of my comfort zone!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Wall Street Journal’s Best Novel of the Year

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year • A Washington Post Best Book of the Year • An NPR Best Book of the Year • A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year • A Slate Best Book of the Year • A Christian Monitor Top 15 Fiction Book of the Year • A New York Magazine Best Book of the Year • A San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year • A Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year

“This book is beautiful.” — A.O. Scott, New York Times Book Review, cover review

Following on the heels of his New York Times bestselling novel Telegraph Avenue, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon delivers another literary masterpiece: a novel of truth and lies, family legends, and existential adventure—and the forces that work to destroy us.

In 1989, fresh from the publication of his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon traveled to his mother’s home in Oakland, California, to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, memory stirred by the imminence of death, Chabon’s grandfather shared recollections and told stories the younger man had never heard before, uncovering bits and pieces of a history long buried and forgotten. That dreamlike week of revelations forms the basis for the novel Moonglow, the latest feat of legerdemain from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon.

Moonglow unfolds as the deathbed confession of a man the narrator refers to only as “my grandfather.” It is a tale of madness, of war and adventure, of sex and marriage and desire, of existential doubt and model rocketry, of the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American technological accomplishment at midcentury, and, above all, of the destructive impact—and the creative power—of keeping secrets and telling lies. It is a portrait of the difficult but passionate love between the narrator’s grandfather and his grandmother, an enigmatic woman broken by her experience growing up in war-torn France. It is also a tour de force of speculative autobiography in which Chabon devises and reveals a secret history of his own imagination.

From the Jewish slums of prewar South Philadelphia to the invasion of Germany, from a Florida retirement village to the penal utopia of New York’s Wallkill prison, from the heyday of the space program to the twilight of the “American Century,” the novel revisits an entire era through a single life and collapses a lifetime into a single week. A lie that tells the truth, a work of fictional nonfiction, an autobiography wrapped in a novel disguised as a memoir, Moonglow is Chabon at his most moving and inventive.

I love the photography on the inside of the book jacket – cool moon effect.

This book sounds so interesting to me, and I look forward to reading it soon!

‘Jacki Bean’ Blanket Scarf – Retail Value $28 – I absolutely LOVE the colors in this scarf! It is also super soft and luxurious.

I have to work on my ‘scarf skillz’ – I don’t know all the fancy ways of wearing/wrapping them.

I think I like it this way best. Perhaps paired with a silver choker necklace.

It’s pretty big! “Blanket” scarf is right – you could have a picnic on it!

‘The Tiny Collection’ Oatmeal Cookie Soy Candle – Retail Value $6. This cute little candle smells EXACTLY LIKE A DAMN OATMEAL COOKIE. I totally had to make oatmeal cookies after smelling it.