April Book Box Club: ‘Belles and Beasts’

When Book Box Club announced that their April theme would be Belles and Beasts, I was overjoyed. For starters, Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favourite Disney movie [not to mention I loved first few seasons of OUAT for Belle and Rumple] so I was totally thrilled with this news. Also, I had my eye set on Meagan Spooner’s Hunted, and I was almost one hundred percent sure this would be the book.

Yes, for once I managed to actually guess the book box club book 😀 Fairyloot does a lot of the most anticipated releases, but I love me some book box club because they often include books which I’ve either never heard of before, or which sound intriguing but I may not have bought in a store. Most of the time, they’ve proven to have excellent taste [IMO] so I’m more than happy to keep my subscription until I have to maybe embrace my poor student living reality and regress to longingly staring at unboxing pics on instagram. But for now, I am happily in the land of student loan head-burying, so we might as 33well spend it on something good, yes?

This was such a beautiful box. One of the other things I really love about book box club is how they actually personalize items, writing your name on tags and things. So the first item, a beautiful set of Beauty and the Beast postcards made exclusively for the box by Hax-Ahmet-Films included a little strip of paper binding the cards together with my name on it. There were three different designs: one with the rose inside its glass dome and an open book, one with a book and an antique key, and one with Belle reading a book. They were so cute, and I loved that they were so unique to other postcards I’ve received before.

The next thing in the box was a Beast sticker from Cirtolthioel. This one was just the sweetest, and it was a little Disney beast holding a pink helium heart balloon and looking all confused. I immediately crowed with delight after taking this picture and stuck it on my laptop, and it has drawn quite a few remarks when I’ve used my laptop at university. Along with this was a beautiful Belle coaster by Bird Illustration. I did use it as a coaster for a bit, but the design is far too nice to be marred by coffee rings, so I’ve found it a place on my shelf instead. It’s of Belle holding a rose with her hair fanned out, and there are bits of her story in her hair. The last two items in this box were probably my favourites though; an exclusive Beauty and the Beast quote flag by Fox and Lilly, and Belgian chocolate Mrs Potts and Chip lollies made by Maple Molly’s. Needless to say, I devoured the chocolate almost as soon as I took the unboxing pic [and it was only with great willpower that I resisted nibbling at them before the photoshoot]. The pennant flag was super-cute too. It reads: Until the last petal falls, and it is one of my favourite bookish items on my shelf at the moment because it’s just so simple but pretty, and I do like my book flags and bunting 😀

So the last item in the box [as well as Hunted, of course] is always a scrolled invitation. This includes a quick little interview with the author of the book, done by the book box club creators, and an invite to join the monthly book box club book group. Honestly, this is the best thing about this book box by a long mile. The ability to talk to both the author on a group chat [there’s a forum on the book box club site and you log on it at a specific date and time] and other members is just perfect. We always have a hilarious time, and it’s great to learn some insightful stuff about the book, and to have a good laugh with friends. You can ask questions too [usually we post them on a forum page beforehand] or even just sit back and relax with a drink and a cookie while you read through the chat.

So that’s it for this month. Next month’s theme is: Wizards at War.

You can sign up for book box club [or just find out more info] at their website here. They’re UK based, so ideal if you live in the UK or Europe and want to try it out 😀