April 2018 OwlCrate Unboxing

Hello Again!
Once again I've gotten myself behind on the blog posts so I'll be posting several days in a row for the last week or so of April. So here's two OwlCrate unboxings in a row. We had the previous box I'd purchased separately yesterday and today we have this month's box. The theme was Shadows and Secrets and I was very excited since it included items from Harry Potter and the Six of Crows duology (which EVERYONE probably knows how much I love Six of Crows by now) as well as an exclusive coffee from Bones Coffee Company, whose coffee I LOVE. So I was very excited for this box. Without further ado here's April's OwlCrate box!

Like almost every month the spoiler card and button were right on top. I love this month's button with the little shadow animal owl on it. I think the design is very clever and I like it a lot. I collect these kinds of buttons so I really enjoy getting one every month.

Next (after getting rid of all the crinkle crap) there was a little package with three pencils inspired by the Harry Potter series. They have quotes on them: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good", "Mischief Managed", and "Property of the Half Blood Prince". I'm not really someone who uses pencils much and I don't EVER use wooden pencils you have to sharpen but I like them. I'll put them in the coffee cup I use to display all my bookmarks and keep them kind of on display as well. The spoiler card says these were designed by the people at Jubilee Designs exclusively for OwlCrate.

Next, we have a bar of soap. It's made by Three Sisters Apothecary by Soap Cauldron and is based off of the Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare. It's a wild berry scent and seriously smells so good. I will definitely be using this in the future. In fact, this soap made the entire box smell like berries which was very nice. Plus the packaging is adorable.

Next was the coffee. It is a sampler size of ground coffee by Bones Coffee Company. It's not based off of any particular book or anything but it is an exclusive flavor created especially for OwlCrate. It's a Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt coffee, which sounds heavenly. I have gotten their coffee before (the Strawberry Cheesecake coffee is AMAZING) and I'm really looking forward to giving this flavor a try.

Underneath the coffee is a little sticker. The spoiler card says it's based off of the Illusionist Adelina from The Young Elites by Marie Lu. I've never read The Young Elites books but they sound pretty interesting and I do like this sticker and the quote on it so I might give it a try. The quote says, "Everyone has darkness inside them however hidden", which is a pretty great quote whether I've read the book or not. The sticker was made by artist Jamila Mehio.

Finally there is a pillowcase with a quote from Crooked Kingdom the second book of the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. I'm pretty sure it's no secret that I LOVE Six of Crows and everything by Leigh Bardugo. This pillowcase is an OwlCrate exclusive made by Stella Bookish Art. It's also going straight on a pillow to put on my bed forever. It's currently my favorite item I've ever received from any book box. The quote says, "When you can't beat the odds, change the game." 

Finally there's the book which once again is what I suspected it would be (I get Barnes and Noble's newsletter which has the new releases in my favorite genres every month which is how I can usually predict the book). It's Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody. It's about a girl named Enne Salta whose mother has gone missing, leading her into the city of New Reynes which seems to be a Las Vegas style city. There she has to navigate casinos, the mafia and the city's underbelly to get her mother back. It's the first book of a series called The Shadow Game and I'm looking forward to reading it already. 

Here's the cover with the dust jacket on. 

Like always the book is an OwlCrate exclusive cover. The original cover instead of red lettering for the title, the lettering is white and the background is red instead of grey. I REALLY like the exclusive cover. I think it's very cool looking. Also like recent months this book was signed by the author. 

Here's the naked book/spine. Which is a nice plain black book with red lettering on the spine. Emma was very curious about the book, as evidenced by her paw on the TV tray I was unboxing on as she sniffed at things. 

This book came with a letter from the author like every month and the extra item was a set of postcards based on the book and quotes from it which are pretty cool. If I like the book I might put one or a couple of them up on my wall with the rest of my bookish things. 

After the book and it's goodies in its pouch I thought that it would just be the little booklet and teaser card for next month's box but to my surprise this box also included an exclusive preview for another book. It's the first three chapters of Legendary by Stephanie Garber which is the sequel to Caraval which is the book I am currently reading. Legendary comes out at the end of May so it was pretty exciting to get this exclusive preview in my box. 

Finally all that was left was the booklet with the author interview and other little tidbits along with the preview card for next month. Next month's theme is Fight Like a Girl and it will include items from Children of Blood and Bone, A Court of Wings and Ruin, Harry Potter, and Six of Crows. I haven't read Children of Blood and Bone but I love all those other things so I'm very excited about this box. Plus it says that there will be a bath bomb from Whipped Up Wonderful which is always fun. 

All in all this was a great box as always. The pillowcase from Crooked Kingdom is my favorite item I've ever received in a book box and is going immediately on a pillow on my bed. I especially like that it's for a normal pillow rather than a throw pillow so I don't have to go buy a pillow before I use it. I'm already looking forward to the book and it's definitely going on my TBR pile for May. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma