The State of Terror box is one of five boxes that I ordered back on July 23. One of the five was sold out and therefore refunded the next day. Despite being “ready to ship now” boxes, it took 3.5 weeks for the rest to be shipped. When they did ship, Sweet Reads only shipped half of my order. I am still waiting for the other two boxes almost 6 weeks later. They recently sent me a $20 gift card towards a future purchase, but after this experience I doubt I will make another purchase from them.
Sweet Reads Box Subscription Overview
Cost: $89.99 CAD + Shipping + Tax (Discounts & Free Shipping for 3-12 months)
Value: Unknown
Frequency: Monthly
Cancellation Policy: Cancel any time but if you have pre-purchased a subscription, you will be shipped the remainder of your boxes.
Payment: 1st of the month
Focus: “Each month you will receive a carefully curated box showcasing the novel of the month.” This includes a drink to set the mood and a sweet treat.
Ships From: Vaughan, Ontario
Inside the Box
At almost 500 pages, this book is a beast. I am very interested to know how these women came together and how this book came about. Though not high on my list, it will be higher on my TBR than The Women of Pearl Island.
This delectable delight unfortunately expired on February 27 of this year (2022). I’m still eating it because it’s not the worst thing, even if the colour is now off. Old chocolate is rarely inedible, unless it’s hot chocolate mix from Carnation. That was just bad, but has nothing to do with this box.
Camino is a Canadian company specializing in organic and fair trade food products. The metallic packaging says it’s biodegradable and made from sustainably-harvested wood, but I have a hard time believing that. If anyone wants to educate me on this topic, I’m all for it.
I’m not a fan of coffee, but I really enjoy coffee-flavoured products, so it might make sense that I can enjoy the smell of coffee. This coffee in particular smells quite delicious, apparently with notes of stone fruit, milk chocolate, and vanilla.
Keeping with the coffee theme, this 98.9% natural exfoliator is made with coffee. Apparently caffeine is an antioxidant and quite good for the skin. I’m learning new things all the time.
I find it interesting that this isn’t listed as a Canadian brand on the Sweet Reads card, but then again they spelled the company name wrong, so there’s that. This company is all about good things, such as funding safe water projects, planting trees, social enterprise, net negative carbon footprint… actually it’s best to read everything they do for yourself. I’m actually pretty stoked for this frother. I don’t own one and wouldn’t think to buy one. I guess that means I’ve never needed one, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy.
Two things I can’t have too much of: lip balm and hand cream. Unlike the stinky soap from this brand in the December 2021 box, this hand cream smells very nice and is making me look forward to pumpkin season. On a related note: this year, after however many years I’ve planted pumpkins and failed, I finally have many pumpkins growing and I won’t let the slugs eat them this time!
This is a very nice pin, but I’m not 17 anymore. What am I supposed to do with a pin? What do other people do with pins? Do you like pins? If so, what do you do with them? Please let me know!
Overall Impression
Overall I like this box better than The Women of Pearl Island one. The expired chocolate is a bit of a disappointment, but everything else seems pretty decent. The list says that there was supposed to be a “cozy bookmark” in the box, but I didn’t receive it. Suprise surprise. At least it’s a lower-valued item that’s missing? You can never have too many bookmarks though. I did only spend $46.62 on this clearance box, so I really can’t complain, but it’s still annoying. Without taking into consideration Sweet Reads’ bad customer service, I would recommend this box at this price. They’re still on sale, so if you’re interested click here.
wanderingfawn 