Have you ever subscribed to any sort of book subscription box? I see them all over social media, and while I’ve been tempted a few times, I’m generally not a fan of them. That said, I actually just subscribed to one, which is what prompted me to write this post.

I think they can be great for people who maybe don’t know what to read next and like the convenience of having a book sent to them each month. Plus I’ll admit, it sounds really fun to get a box of books and bookish goodies in the mail on a regular basis.

But I have a list a mile long on my Goodreads of books that I want to read, not to mention all of the books currently hanging out on my shelves. I really don’t need more books added to the mix, especially when I have no say in what the book is. The risk is too high that it will be something I’m not interested in or that turns out to be a dud.

While I think there are some very real benefits to signing up for some of these subscription boxes — like advanced copies of books, exclusive covers, and exclusive author content — the reality is that I’m not consistently interested in the books that a single subscription sends out, and they usually include a lot of stuff in subscription boxes that I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy. Sure, some of the candles and socks and stuff look fun, but a lot of the goodies included are really just clutter to me.

Plus they’re expensive! Fairy Loot is one of the boxes that I’ve had an eye on because I’m usually interested in the books they send out each month, and the bookish goodies they send with the box seem to be interesting. But it’s $35 a month! For that price, I’d rather skip the goodies and just buy the book on Amazon, if not just borrow it from the library for free.

So while I’m interested in book subscription boxes and I’d like to buy one, they just don’t make sense for me.

But as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I actually just took the plunge and subscribed to Book of the Month (this post isn’t sponsored, btw). I’d heard of this subscription before and thought it sounded promising since you get to pick one of five books per month and you can skip if you’re not interested, but I looked at it and decided it focused too much on literary fiction, especially since I was in the market for more of a fantasy- or romance-based subscription box.

But then I watched Rincey’s 17 Favorite Books of 2017 video and noticed that almost half of them were from Book of the Month. (Side note: I really like Rincey’s channel and definitely recommend checking it out! She reads from a lot of genres and is interested in a lot of the same nonfiction as me, and I think she does a great job reviewing books.)

So I started poking around on Book of the Month’s website. And it turns out that they’ve featured a lot of books in the past year that I’m interested in reading. That combined with the $15 price tag for new release hardcovers and ability to pick your book and skip when you’re not interested made this subscription service really appealing to me.

I think what ultimately sold me on this subscription service is that I’ve been trying to make an effort to read from more diverse genres and more diverse authors, and Book of the Month fits perfectly with that goal. For my January box, I picked the thriller The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, which is a genre I rarely read from and that I listed in my 2018 Reading Goals post. And for an extra $10 a book (which I think is a pretty good deal), I bought Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Read, both books from genres I wouldn’t normally read but that I’ve heard good things about. I’m thinking next month I’ll pick up Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

So yeah, I’m pretty excited about finding a subscription box that works for me, since I’ve been wanting to try one for a while but haven’t been able to find one that really makes sense for my lifestyle. I’ll check back in in a few months and let you know my thoughts on the service and if it’s as good of a fit as I think it will be. If you’re interested in signing up for Book of the Month with me, feel free to use my referral link. You’ll get your first box for $9.99 plus a free tote.

What do you think of book subscription boxes? Do you think they’re a waste, or have you found a few that tempt you? Have you ever signed up for one? What do you think the perfect book subscription would look like? Let me know in the comments!