Once Upon a Book Club Review September 2020
Once Upon a Book Club is a unique, interactive online community that offers a monthly subscription service where readers will receive a monthly box in the mail containing a newly released book to read for the month, along with 3-5 individually wrapped gifts. They kindly sent us this box for review.
Once Upon a Book Club is a favorite here at the AYOB office. It really is a wonderful book subscription box, and unlike any other book subscription we receive. It takes you on a journey, allows you to be part of the book, and it prolongs the unboxing experience. By opening the gifts as you read the book it allows you to savour each one and really appreciate the items you have been given.
Subscription Details
When you sign up for Once Upon a Book Club you have two options to choose from:
- Young Adult Subscription
- Adult Subscription
Both options start at $34.99 per month and you can choose a month-to-month subscription, 3-month subscription, 6-month subscription or an annual subscription.
Here’s a closer look at the September Adult Once Upon a Book Club…..
Note: Each box comes with a book and 3-5 individually wrapped gifts. To fully experience the box they remind us to only open the gifts once we reach the corresponding page numbers.
The Book of Two Ways – Jodi Picoult
Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.
Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, her beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, where she helps ease the transition between life and death for patients in hospice.
But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a job she once studied for, but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.
After the crash landing, the airline ensures the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways–the first known map of the afterlife.
As the story unfolds, Dawn’s two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried beside them. Dawn must confront the questions she’s never truly asked: What does a life well-lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices…or do our choices make us? And who would you be, if you hadn’t turned out to be the person you are right now?
Print & Bookmark
Each month we receive a print and a bookmark. The print this month reads “There’s really no such thing as a right or wrong choice. We don’t make decisions, our decisions make us.”
Page 41
On page 41 we are to open our first gift. The page speaks of a little hand mirror tweaked in a certain way so that a beam of light strikes one of the characters in the eye. So here we have a gorgeous mirror perfect for your purse, car, or travel bag.
Page 146
On page 146 we are to open our second gift. On this page the main character goes to visit a friend who surprises her with a piece of framed Egyptian art. This is one of the most beautiful items we have receive in Once Upon a Book Club to date.
Page 319
On page 319 we are to open our last gift. On this page it sounds as though the main character is somewhere she would rather not be so she goes to her room and finds a limestone flake with a hieroglyphic message sitting on her pillow.
Once Upon a Book Club Review September 2020 – Final Thoughts
The September Once Upon a Book Club is beautiful from beginning to end. It started from the moment we opened the box and were greeted by such a beautiful book, and packaging to match. From there we discovered that the September read has a wonderful storyline with the power to make you think. The bookish gifts are just as beautiful, if not more. The art print is among our favorite Once Upon a Book Club gifts to date. This is a subscription that appears to get better and better with each passing month. Something we love to see!