Hello all! Welcome to my new blog post on book box subscriptions! I’ve been wanting to put something together for awhile, but I needed some more time to try the boxes and get a feel for what they were offering. I’ve compiled my thoughts on the boxes I have gotten here. These are just personal opinions, so YMMV.
Quick Overview of Book Box Subscriptions
This is a quick overview of the book box subscriptions I’ve received.
- 2019
- August 2019: Storms & Seas
- September 2019: Fear the Night
- October 2019: Dawn of a New World
- November 2019: Through the Enchanted Forest
- December 2019: Tales of Trickery
- 2020
- May 2020: Rebels with a Cause
- July 2020: Date with Destiny
- August 2020: Written in the Stars
- September 2020: A Glorious Haunting
- October 2020: Legends & Lore
- November 2020: Growing Wild
- Other
- Call Down the Hawk Special Edition Box
- Addie LaRue Special Edition Box
- 2019
- December 2019: Defying the Odds
- 2020
- February 2020: Rulebreakers
- March 2020: Break the Curse
- November 2020: Enemies to Lovers
- December 2020: Thick as Thieves
- 2021
- January 2021: Greek Mythology
- 2020
- June 2020: Mythical Gods
- July 2020: As You Wish
- August 2020: Elemental Magic
- 2020
- September 2020: Thick as Thieves (no book)
- December 2020: Winter Solstice (no book)
Overall Thoughts on Box Subscriptions
I’ve gotten 20+ boxes overall, mostly Owlcrate at this moment.
Overall, I do have a preference. Despite the fact that I’ve only gotten six Fairyloot boxes I prefer it. Bookish Box is a close second. Owlcrate and Litjoy are tied. I really enjoyed Owlcrate in 2019 — however overall this year all the boxes landed rather flat for me. I did enjoy some of the cover changes, but overall I didn’t particularly really like any of the items in there. They went useful…almost too useful. For example, July and August I didn’t like at all. I thought the books were both gorgeous, but the office supply items weren’t for me. I liked September a little better, and then we had October…which was very lackluster for me again. The bowl cozy was a pretty item. November was a little bit better. I think the box was well designed, but once more, most of it wasn’t for me.
Variety
I feel like Owlcrate lost a lot of variety this year. They went from items about fandoms to “inspired by” and these items are apparently procured off of Amazon or Wish. Or at least it feels that way. And there’s nothing wrong with it, but there was so much of it, and those items I didn’t enjoy.
Whereas Bookish Box has similar things to that. However, they’re items I’d use. (see: jewelry). Again, this is very personal preference. I know some people HATE the Bookish Box jewelry, but I love it.
Litjoy was a very mixed bag for me, but overall I moderately enjoyed their items. I wasn’t a huge fan of their books, but with their new YA quarterly subscription I’m going to give them another chance! Whenever they have a theme I’m interested in at least.
Fairyloot seems to have the right mix of items for me. They also all feel fandom oriented and I really like that.
Shipping
I will admit Bookish Box shipping is…slow. Very slow. But I have liked what I’ve gotten. I’ll be getting the April 2021 box, so I’ll be excited to see if my opinions change.
Fairyloot has alternately used Fedex and UPS. I much prefer UPS because my boxes seem to come intact. The others use USPS which is just fine!
Book Reviews of Books Featured Here
- Crier’s War
- House of Salt and Sorrows
- Legendborn
- Star Daughter
- The Bone Houses
- The Guinevere Deception
- The Princess Will Save You
- Winterwood
- Wicked As You Wish
Past Boxes
I will admit I don’t have pictures of everything. But here is a gallery of photos! Click images to enlarge to see fully.
