Crate Curator is a book discovery subscription service with an emphasis on books published by independent presses and authors. When you sign up, you will create a reader profile that includes your book preferences, so Crate Curator can select perfect reads. There’s a $10 curation fee per order, charged at the time of shipment. You can choose whether to receive 3 or 5 books per crate. Upon delivery, you’ll have 3 days to review the books and decide which to purchase, then you’re free to return any book you don’t like by using the included return shipping label. If you decide to keep 3 or more books, the curation fee will be deducted from the total price of the books, and if you decide to keep all 5 books, an additional discount awaits!
DEAL: Get $10 off your book order! Use coupon code DISC10.
The books were neatly stacked inside the box.
As we opened the box, there’s the familiar smell of new books! We were so excited to take them all out immediately!
They also included a copy of the order summary. It lists the books along with their prices, and it also shows the discounts that you can get when you decide to keep some or all of the books!
If you wish to return some of the books, they provided a return shipping label.
There’s also a bookmark that contains the crate’s mission.
Our mission is to earn your trust in book recommendations and improve your book discovery experience.
Everything in my box!
Feral, North Carolina, 1965 by June Sylvester Saraceno ($8.99)
A Powerful and Poignant Coming-of-Age Tale
A NOSY YOUNG GIRL IS ON A QUEST to learn her family’s hidden truths no matter who it upsets. Ten-year-old Willie Mae doesn’t just live near the town of Feral; she’s a bit feral herself. Spending her days eavesdropping, exploring on her bike, and avoiding her brutish big brother, she’s determined to uncover the secrets adults are clearly trying to keep from her. Raised in a Holy Roller family, Willie discovers bleak realities and heart-wrenching lessons that shake her to the core of her soul. A finalist for the 2018 Southern Fried Karma Novel Contest, this splendid collage will reconnect readers with stirring memories of their own adolescence.
The back of the book doesn’t just introduce us to the heroine of the story, Willie Mae, but also gave us a brief introduction to the author, June Sylvester Saraceno.
This is a good coming-of-age tale, where Willie Mae’s curiosity about the lives around her will lead to some discoveries that will leave a lasting impact on her.
If you’re looking for a quick read, this one is a good book to pick up. Each scene is richly atmospheric and it also gave us a sense of nostalgia!
The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter ($11.99)
A surreal exploration of one woman’s life and death against a landscape of meat, office desks, and bad men.
The Book of X tells the tale of Cassie, a girl born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot. From childhood with her parents on the family meat farm, to a desk job in the city, to finally experiencing love, she grapples with her body, men, and society, all the while imagining a softer world than the one she is in. Twining the drama of the everyday — school-age crushes, paying bills, the sickness of parents — with the surreal — rivers of thighs, men for sale, and fields of throats — Cassie’s realities alternate to create a blurred, fantastic world of haunting beauty.
The story is about woman empowerment, and it is a well-loved novel according to the brief reviews that you can find at the back cover of the book itself.
The dust jacket included more insight form other people who love the story as well!
The story is written in the first person, from the point of view of Cassie, a girl who was born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot.
The story explores Cassie’s life, from childhood to adulthood, including the struggles that come along with her condition and more. It tackles heavy themes and it’s quite depressing, but nevertheless a well-written novel.
Preparation For The Next Life by Atticus Lish ($11.01)
In post-9/11 New York, Zou Lei is an illegal immigrant from northwest China. A Muslim with a Uighur mother and a Han soldier for a father, she’s a pariah even within the Chinese community. Forced to work fourteen-hour days and live in squalor, she nevertheless embraces the many freedoms her adopted homeland has to offer.
Damaged by three tours in Iraq, veteran Brad Skinner comes to New York with the sole intention of partying as hard as he can in order to forget what he’s seen. Impulsive and angry, Skinner’s re-entry into civilian life seems doomed. But when he meets Zou Lei they discover that new beginnings may be possible for both of them, that is if they can survive homelessness, lockup and Skinner’s post-traumatic stress disorder.
Set in the underbelly of New York, Preparation for the Next Life exposes an America as seen from the fringes of society in devastating detail and destroys the myth of the American Dream through two of the most remarkable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic and raw, this is one of the most ambitious – and necessary – chronicles of our time.
The back of the book introduces us to the characters of the story and the author, as well as the awards that it received!
It’s a contemporary tale about an illegal immigrant in New York, Zou Lei. She fell in love with a young man with PTSD, Brad Skinner, and the story shows their struggles to see another day.
The story is really interesting, as we don’t usually read about these kinds of characters in most novels. The story may be flawed, but it still brilliantly made, and it’s a story that you cannot put down once you’ve started reading it.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon ($7.99)
Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.
Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot–if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.
It’s a sci-fi novel tackling social and political concerns, no wonder it has many good reviews!
This story has diverse characters. Aster, for one, is queer and also a person of color. We found her character an admirable one!
The author masterfully set the landscapes and we’re all for it. Her world-building is simply incredible.
The overall feel of the story may be heavy, but it’s still a good read overall. If you’re up for a sci-fi book that defies traditional elements, this one is worth a shot.
The Lost by Natasha Preston ($6.70)
It’s a fight for survival in a building designed to ensure that no one makes it out alive.
In Piper’s hometown, teenagers keep disappearing, and everyone assumes they’re just a bunch of runaways. But when yet another person vanishes, Piper and her best friend Hazel suspect something more sinister is going on.
So they decide to investigate, determined to learn the truth. Their search for answers leads them to the source of the missing…and their captors. Piper and Hazel suddenly find themselves locked away in a secluded property in the middle of a privately owned forest.
But the building isn’t only meant to keep them imprisoned; every room is a test to see if they can make it out alive.
And failure means being lost…forever.
A high stakes thriller for readers of One of Us is Lying and The Cheerleaders!
The sneak peek of the story included at the back cover is really intriguing, and there are other books by the same author which look interesting as well!
It’s an intriguing horror-thriller, where teens go missing all the time in a small town named Aurora.
The author didn’t disappoint with the concept. It’s crazy how she described what happens to the missing teens. Her storytelling style is quite addicting.
It’s really nice to get a set of books tailored to my taste! This quarter, Crate Curator sent me 5 great books in different genres, including a coming-of-age tale, a sci-fi novel, and a thriller. What sets this service apart is that you don’t have to keep everything they send. You have the option to send back the books which are not up your alley. If you keep 3, your curation fee will be deducted from the total price. If you decide to keep them all, you even get a discount! That’s such an awesome deal for bookworms who want to grow their book collection!
What do you think of this month’s box?
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