What gifts await us in BOTM’s December Box?
December 2022
It’s that time again!
Book of the Month is making a list and checking it twice because bad book picks will not suffice…
I’ll be super honest– many new releases coming out in December aren’t catching my eye. There are several new series books, but BOTM tends to veer away from those. Several books don’t have 4+ star ratings, and most BOTM selections do. Finally (and most importantly), the plot of the book does not “sound” like something BOTM would pick up.
With the lackluster December releases, I think this could be a month where you either see BOTM offering a selection that is already published or looking ahead to January for an early release. Several January releases sound like potential BOTM picks to me. I am also repeating two of my predictions from last month because I still believe they have the potential for BOTM to choose them.
For those of you who are new here, Book of the Month is a subscription box where you get to pick a new release hardback book to be sent to you every month. There are five choices (called picks), often representing different genres. You choose one out of the five picks, and Book of the Month will mail it to you. While only one book is included in your subscription plan, you can “add-on” an additional book for $10.99. Sometimes, Book of the Month will include addition books as add-ons, but you have to choose from the main picks before you can choose one of those add-ons. In addition to offering new releases, Book of the Month will often work with the publishing companies to offer early releases, so you can get the book a few weeks (or even a month or two) before the general public! Best of all, Book of the Month ships to APO/FPO addresses, which is a requirement for our familiy these days. If you’re interested in subscribing, follow my referral link here: https://www.mybotm.com/2j8z5ybfh29h33di?show_box=true
For those of you who are new here, Book of the Month is a subscription box where you get to pick a new release hardback book to be sent to you every month. There are five choices (called picks), often representing different genres. You choose one out of the five picks, and Book of the Month will mail it to you. While only one book is included in your subscription plan, you can “add-on” an additional book for $10.99. Sometimes, Book of the Month will include addition books as add-ons, but you have to choose from the main picks before you can choose one of those add-ons. In addition to offering new releases, Book of the Month will often work with the publishing companies to offer early releases, so you can get the book a few weeks (or even a month or two) before the general public! Best of all, Book of the Month ships to APO/FPO addresses, which is a requirement for our familiy these days. If you’re interested in subscribing, follow my referral link here: https://www.mybotm.com/2j8z5ybfh29h33di?show_box=true
Here are my top 9 guesses about what could be coming to a blue box near you:
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.33 |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Publication Date: | January 10, 2023 |
From the Publisher: "A totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past.
One year ago, Isabelle Drake’s life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.
Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.
Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.”
Wade in the Water by Nyaneba Nkrumah
DEBUT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Literary Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.14 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Publication Date: | January 17, 2023 |
From the publisher: "Resonant with the emotional urgency of Alice Walker's classic Meridian and the poignant charm of Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, a gripping debut novel of female power and vulnerability, race, and class that explores the unlikely friendship between a precocious black girl and a mysterious white woman in a small Mississippi town in the early 1980s.
Resonant with the emotional urgency of Alice Walker’s classic Meridian and the poignant charm of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, a gripping debut novel of female power and vulnerability, race, and class that explores the unlikely friendship between a precocious black girl and a mysterious white woman in a small Mississippi town in the early 1980s.
Set in 1982, in rural, racially divided Ricksville, Mississippi Wade in the Water tells the story of Ella, a black, unloved, precocious eleven-year-old, and Ms. St. James, a mysterious white woman from Princeton who appears in Ella’s community to carry out some research. Soon, Ms. St. James befriends Ella, who is willing to risk everything to keep her new friend in a town that does not want her there. The relationship between Ella and Ms. St. James, at times loving and funny and other times tense and cautious, becomes more fraught and complex as Ella unwittingly pushes at Ms. St. James’s carefully constructed boundaries that guard a complicated past, and dangerous secrets that could have devastating consequences.
Told in two voices, Ella’s and Ms. St. James’s, and set around richly developed characters, this riveting, page turning coming of age story will keep readers entranced until the last shocking revelation.”
The Key to My Heart by Lia Lous
| Genre: | Romance |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.34 |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Publication Date: | December 6, 2022 |
From the publisher: "A heartwarming novel about hope after loss as a young widow receives mysterious messages of love from the “must-buy author” (Jodi Picoult) of Eight Perfect Hours.
Sparkly and charming Natalie Fincher has it all—a handsome new husband, a fixer-upper cottage of her dreams, and the opportunity to tour with the musical she’s spent years writing. But when her husband suddenly dies, all her hopes and dreams instantly disappear.
Two and a half years later, Natalie is still lost. She works, sleeps (well, as much as the sexually frustrated village foxes will allow), and sees friends just often enough to allay their worries, but her life is empty. And she can only bring herself to play music at a London train station’s public piano where she can be anonymous. She’s lost motivation, faith in love, in happiness…in everything.
But when someone begins to mysteriously leave the sheet music for her husband’s favorite songs at the station’s piano, Natalie begins to feel a sense of hope and excitement for the first time. As she investigates just who could be doing this, Natalie finds herself on an unexpected journey toward newfound love for herself, for life, and maybe, for a special someone.”
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Fantasy/Thriller |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.59 |
| Pages: | 496 |
| Publication Date: | January 10, 2023 |
From the publisher: "Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo's Hell Bent.
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.”
A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Contemporary Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.43 |
| Pages: | 301 |
| Publication Date: | November 29, 2022 |
From the publisher: "From the author of A Little Hope—a Read with Jenna Bonus Pick—comes an enormously powerful and life-affirming novel about three individuals whose lives intersect in unforeseen ways.
Set in a close-knit Pennsylvania suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief.
Chuck Ayers used to look forward to nothing so much as his annual trip to Hilton Head with his wife, Cat—that yearly taste of relaxation they’d become accustomed to in retirement, after a lifetime of working and raising two children. Now, just months after Cat’s death, Chuck finds that he can’t let go of her things—her favorite towel, the sketchbooks in her desk drawer—as he struggles to pack for a trip he can’t imagine taking without her.
Ella Burke delivers morning newspapers and works at a bridal shop to fill her days while she anxiously awaits news—any piece of information—about her missing daughter. Ella adjusts to life in a new apartment and answers every call on her phone, hoping her daughter will reach out one day.
After the sudden death of her father, Kirsten Bonato set aside her veterinary school aspirations, finding comfort in the steady routine of working at an animal shelter. But as time passes, old dreams and new romantic interests begin to surface—and Kirsten finds herself at another crossroads.
In this beautifully crafted and profoundly moving novel, three parallel narratives converge in poignant and unexpected ways, as each character bravely presses onward, trying to recover something they have lost. Emotionally riveting and infused with hope, A Quiet Life celebrates humanity in the midst of uncertainty.”
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman
| Genre: | Coming-of-Age |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.04 |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Publication Date: | December 6, 2022 |
From the publisher: "For readers of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and My Brilliant Friend, Bushra Rehman's Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is an unforgettable story about female friendship and queer love in a Muslim-American community.
Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city.
When Razia is accepted to Stuyvesant, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, the gulf between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be, widens. At Stuyvesant, Razia meets Angela and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is discovered by an Aunty in the community, Razia must choose between her family and her own future.
Punctuated by both joy and loss, full of ’80s music and beloved novels, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a new classic: a fiercely compassionate coming-of-age story of a girl struggling to reconcile her heritage and faith with her desire to be true to herself.”
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
| Genre: | Literary Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.30 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Publication Date: | December 6, 2022 |
From the publisher: "Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds to search for them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness. “
The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights by Kitty Zeldis
| Genre: | Historical Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.27 |
| Pages: | 452 |
| Publication Date: | December 6, 2022 |
From the publisher: "For fans of Fiona Davis, Beatriz Williams, and Joanna Goodman, a mesmerizing historical novel from Kitty Zeldis, the bestselling author of Not Our Kind about three women in 1920s New York City and the secrets they hold.
Brooklyn, 1924. As New York City enters the jazz age, the lives of three very different women are about to converge in unexpected ways. Recently arrived from New Orleans, Beatrice is working to establish a chic new dress shop with help from Alice, the orphaned teenage ward she brought north with her. Down the block, newlywed Catherine is restless in her elegant brownstone, longing for a baby she cannot conceive.
When Bea befriends Catherine and the two start to become close, Alice feels abandoned and envious, and runs away to Manhattan. Her departure sets into motion a series of events that will force each woman to confront the painful secrets of her past in order to move into the happier future she seeks.
Moving from the bustling streets of early twentieth century New York City to late nineteenth-century Russia and the lively quarters of New Orleans in the 1910s, The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights is a story of the families we are born into and the families we choose, and of the unbreakable bonds between women.
Five Survive by Holly Jackson
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Young Adult/Thriller |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.06 |
| Pages: | 400 |
| Publication Date: | December 8, 2022 |
From the publisher: "The brand new unmissable crime thriller from Holly Jackson, best-selling, award-winning author of the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy.
Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.
A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night.”
Want to try Book of the Month Club? Click on my referral link!
https://www.mybotm.com/2j8z5ybfh29h33di?show_box=true
Baking Through Book Club 