Books and Remedies

Happy Saturday book lovers!

Step into the Book Box Club potions cupboard and get ready to have all of your ailments cured by our bookish remedies! With our brilliant featured read from our July Spells & Remedies box on our minds, we’ve been thinking how a little bit of reading seems to cure everything.

Our July read is set in a small town with a huge mystery at its core. It’s a novel about curses, memory, longing and very strange occurrences, which are all intertwined – but how? And why? As the mystery unfolds you’ll be swept away by the magic of it all, by the beautiful writing, the romance and the gripping narrative, which will make you want to bump this book right to the top of your TBR pile! And we hope you do, because then you’ll get to unpick all of the twists and turns alongside our other members and the book’s lovely author, who is excited to chat to you all in our online Clubhouse.

Sounds like a dream, right? If you want in on this gorgeous book and all of the other bookish goodies that come alongside it (including exclusive items from The Literary Omnivore and Holly Grace Illustration) head over to our website now, spots are limited so make sure you sign up soon to avoid missing out!

And whilst you wait for your July box to arrive here’s some remedial reading to sort out any other bookish bothers. OK, the book doctor will see you now.

Here are our book remedies to save you from…

That feeling when you just need a good cry
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

If you have a sister  If you have feelings you will cry whilst reading this book. The writing is beautiful. The main character, musician Lenny, leaves little poems around town as she struggles to come to terms with the recent death of her sister. I actually preferred this to (the also AMAZING) I’ll Give You the Sun just because of Lenny’s character, I’d love to chat to anyone who has read this so we can fangirl together!

A really (really) long train journey
The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Nothing like a hardcore fantasy novel to escape the humdrum of cross country rail travel. This series is one of my favourites; the world building is so richly described without being an info dump and I loved the court intrigue as Fitz, the royal bastard, trains to become an assassin.

A long day adulting
The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Is it just me or do you sometimes just want to disappear into another world? This book is beautiful inside and out. The cover is a delight, of course, but also the writing is lyrical storytelling at its best – complete with monsters, myths, magic and maps to follow on your quest. Now that I am looking at it, I think this is due a reread!

An epic book hangover
After the Fire by Will Hill

Aren’t book hangovers the absolute worst? That feeling when you’ve just finished something incredible and you don’t quite know where to go next. Problem solved. This gripping psychological thriller has to be one of the best books I’ve read all year. Based on a true story it’s about Moonbeam – a girl who has grown up in a cult and escaped, but now to truly gain her freedom she must tell her stories to outsiders, who she has always been told she must not trust…

Feeling like you are the biggest single pringle ever
The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater

The great thing about this book is you have loads of boys to choose a book boyfriend from. I am a big supporter of Team Gansey; his posh boy demeanour, charm and obsessive journal scribblings- I love him! Whose team are you on?

Melting in the current British heatwave
After the Snow by S.D.Crockett

Have you forgotten what a cool breeze feels like? This book will have you shivering in no time! Set in Wales during a modern day Ice Age it follows one boy’s journey across a snow ravaged landscape in a fight to survive the cold, the hunger and the political unrest. Decisively cool apocalyptic fiction that is for some reason massively underrated.

Feeling like a social outcast
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

If you often feel like the most socially awkward person on the planet you’re going to identify with the protagonist of this American boarding school novel, and she’ll probably end up making you feel quite a lot better about your own social faux pas. Lee Fiora is a painfully shy teen who’d rather read the school yearbook than chat to her classmates face-to-face. An old edition of this book had the most amazing tag-line: “George Eliot meets Sweet Valley High” – I was sold!

Do you guys have any bookish remedies that never fail, or would you like to argue over alternatives to our list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below or on our social media channels. Just looking through this pile of brilliant books has got us in the mood for rereading some of them!

Have a lovely Saturday, everyone!

Love, Libby and Kate