Now in Books: Books & Music Subscription Box – Jackal by Erin E Adams Book Review

A few months ago, I was searching Cratejoy (a website that sells exclusively subscription boxes) to see if there were any fun boxes I could make videos and blog posts on.

I came across Now In Books – Books and Music subscription box. This combines a newly released title by an a diverse author, along with discussion questions and a curated playlist based on the book!

I love reading, and one of my favorite little activities is making a curated playlist based on whatever I’m reading. I think this is SO much fun! I’m super proud of my Evelyn Hugo playlist. It’s so intense.

Anyway, once I saw that there’s a curated playlist for the book, I knew I had to try it and make a video and blog review!

Watch the Video

Now in Books: Books & Music – What’s in the Box

The box itself is a beautiful shade of blue, and says “Books and Music” on it. When I opened it up, the book, discussion guide, and Spotify QR code were wrapped beautifully in blue “Now in Books” tissue paper.

Here’s what the discussion guide includes:

• An overview of the book
• Author biography
• Cast of characters
• Stream next – music, tv show, and movie reecommendations
• Discussion questions
• Recipe
• Word search

Jackal by Erin E Adams Book Review

The October Books & Music pick was Jackal by Erin E Adams, a thriller/horror story that takes place in Johnstown, PA.

The cover of the book is captivating, and I was excited to dive in immediately!

Writing Style

Overall, I enjoyed Erin E Adams’ writing style, but I thought the book reached a lull towards the middle, and the end was a little odd and just different from the rest of the book.

Characters

I liked the main character, Liz, right away, and the cast of characters were all interesting, with different motives and viewpoints. Some characters were very loveable, others I disliked, and others still were morally gray. They felt very real and three dimensional.

Themes

Erin E Adams wove the themes of racism and classism into the story in a real-world way that didn’t feel preachy. It opened my eyes to read a story about Black girls going missing from a Black woman’s point of view.

Jackal is advertised as thriller, mystery, suspense, and horror. It also contained some supernatural elements, but they seemed to spring up on me towards the end of the story, and I wasn’t really expecting that. It was a little odd to me, and, from what I read online before writing this, it seems like some Goodreads reviewers felt the same way.

Story Pacing

The beginning of the book set up the characters and setting really well, and the action started pretty soon in. While the book was interesting the whole way through, there was a bit of a down period towards the middle to two-thirds where we learned important information, but not much action happened. So, the book kind of went from plot-driven to character-driven, to both plot and character-driven at the end.

My Rating

Overall, I gave the book 4/5 stars. I really enjoyed the story and the characters, but the shifting of the writing and pacing threw me off just a bit. I think this would make a great short tv series!

The Curated Playlist

The playlist created for Jackal by Now in Books is exclusively on Spotify. I switched from Spotify to Apple Music last year, but you can still access the playlist and listen to it on shuffle with a free account.

When I make curated playlists for books, I like to choose songs with lyrics that describe the characters thoughts, the adventure/overall plot of the book, or has similar themes.

From listening to the playlist a couple times, it seemed to me like the song choices were more based on vibes and less lyrics that match the story. This is totally okay, and artistic choice! It’s just a little different from how I make my own playlists.

I wish I’d listened to the playlist more while actually reading t/he book. I was afraid the playlist might give away spoilers, so I waited to really listen to it until I was finished with the book and was answering the discussion questions.

The Discussion Questions

I personally love to answer discussion questions and journal about the books I read. I enjoy dissecting the writing just a little bit, in the hope that it’ll make me a better writer. I’d love to write fiction one day, but I never have any ideas.

The discussion questions included in the booklet were good! I’ve never really reviewed or rated discussion questions before, but I think they were good, because they got me thinking deeper about the story. I enjoyed journaling my answers.

My Thoughts on the Now in Books – Books & Music Subscription Box

Overall, this is a fun monthly subscription box to receive, especially if you love checking out newly released books! The price is comparable to buying the hardcover book on Amazon (by the way, please avoid doing that—Amazon kills bookstores by under-pricing books), plus you get bonuses!

Subscribe on Cratejoy or on the Now in Books website!

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Would you like to see more book reviews? More Now in Books – Books & Music box reviews? Let me know, and I’ll plan more! I love reading, and would love to make more bookish content.