What is BOTM bringing to us this spring?
March 2023
I had a 100% prediction rate last month…. just not in the correct month and/or not in the right subscription box.
Last month I tried to predict the selections for Aardvark Book Club as well as Book of the Month. I think adding the second prediction post threw me off because I was trying to equally balance selections. As a result, I predicted that The Writing Retreat, River Sing Me Home, and The Last of the Flower Bride (BOTM add-on) would be Aardvark selections. I correctly guessed that Someone Else’s Shoes and Maame would be BOTM February picks, and I had Georgie, All Along as a BOTM January prediction. So, I was 2/5 if I’m being totally honest.
This month was HARD because there are SO many repeat authors releasing books. I don’t think BOTM will pick all of them….so who makes the cut?
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:
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Contemporary Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.34 |
| Pages: | 416 |
| Publication Date: | March 28, 2023 |
From the Publisher: "From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes an emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household.
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?
Vibrating with tenderness, Hello Beautiful is a gorgeous, profoundly moving portrait of what’s possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.”
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
| Genre: | Gothic Horror |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.15 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Publication Date: | March 28, 2023 |
From the publisher: "A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.
“Mom seems off.”
Her brother’s words echo in Sam Montgomery’s ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.
She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam’s excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.
But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.
To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.”
The Angel Maker by Alex North
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Goodreads Rating: | 3.67 |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Publication Date: | February 28, 2023 |
From the publisher: "A dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.
Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.
Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.
Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.”
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
| Genre: | Historical Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.32 |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Publication Date: | March 28, 2023 |
From the publisher: "Blue skies, empty land—and enough room to hide away a horrifying secret. Or is there? Discover a haunting new vision of the American West from the award-winning author of The Changeling.
Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear…
The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can cultivate it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.
Told in Victor LaValle’s signature style, blending historical fiction, shimmering prose, and inventive horror, Lone Women is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—and a portrait of early twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen.”
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley
| Genre: | Mystery |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.32 |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Publication Date: | March 28, 2023 |
From the publisher: "Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it.
One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Never mind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon. Bottom line — Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one.
The two start off their living arrangement happily ignoring each other until Tanner starts to notice things—weird things. Like, why does Louise keep her garden shed locked up tighter than a prison? And why is the local news fixated on the suspect of one of the biggest jewelry heists in American history who looks eerily like Louise? And why does Louise suddenly appear in her room, with a packed bag at 1 a.m. insisting that they leave town immediately?
Thus begins the story of a not-to-be-underestimated elderly woman and an aimless young woman who—if they can outrun the mistakes of their past—might just have the greatest adventure of their lives.”
The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
BOTM REPEAT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Historical Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 3.89 |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Publication Date: | March 21, 2023 |
From the publisher: "From the author of the sensational bestseller The Lost Apothecary comes a spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.
1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.
Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…”
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
| Genre: | Greek Mythology |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.34 |
| Pages: | 448 |
| Publication Date: | March 2, 2023 |
From the publisher: "For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen.
As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best…
You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.
But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.
Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods’ hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.
If power isn’t given to you, you have to take it for yourself.
A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece for fans of Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love, and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.”
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin
DEBUT AUTHOR
| Genre: | Historical Fiction |
| Goodreads Rating: | 4.38 |
| Pages: | 240 |
| Publication Date: | March 21, 2023 |
From the publisher: "A luminous, boldly imagined debut novel about three Vietnamese siblings who seek refuge in the UK, expanding into a sweeping meditation on love, ancestry, and the power of storytelling.
There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies—everything in between is speculation.
After the last American troops leave Vietnam, siblings Anh, Thanh, and Minh begin a perilous journey to Hong Kong with the promise that their parents and younger siblings will soon follow. But when tragedy strikes, the three children are left orphaned, and sixteen-year-old Anh becomes the caretaker for her two younger brothers overnight.
In the years that follow, Anh and her brothers resettle in the UK and confront their new identities as refugees, first in overcrowded camps and resettlement centers and then, later, in a modernizing London plagued by social inequality and raging anti-immigrant sentiment. Anh works in a clothing factory to pay their bills. Minh loiters about with fellow unemployed high school dropouts. Thanh, the youngest, plays soccer with his British friends after class. As they mature, each sibling reckons with survivor’s guilt, unmoored by their parents’ absence. With every choice they make, their paths diverge further, until it’s unclear if love alone can keep them together.
Told through lyrical narrative threads, historical research, voices from lost family, and notes by an unnamed narrator determined to chart their fate, Wandering Souls captures the lives of a family marked by war and loss yet relentless in the pursuit of a better future. With urgency and precision, it affirms that the most important stories are those we claim for ourselves, establishing Cecile Pin as a masterful new literary voice.”
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 