Unboxing | ShelfLove Crate | November Box 2019

It came in! My November box from Shelflove Crate, that I totally forgot about – came in today. So this was my first box from Shelflove Crate and probably my last unless that have some amazing book I want in 2020. This box is clearly very late – according to their instagram page, they’ve had a lot of problems with shipping. Instead of getting mad or annoyed, I basically forgot about it. Today when I checked the mail, I was like…what did I order?

Unlike the other book crate boxes I have subscribed from, this one came in a plain white box which left me even more confused. It was a pleasant surprise to see if was my Shelflove Crate order. So let’s see what’s in it!

The theme for the November box is called Reading the Restricted Section. I wanted this box mostly because of the book selection, plus I had never tried Shelflove Crate and wanted to see how good their boxes were.

Here is a Moste Potente Potions storage book. It’s from Harry Potter and I think it’s cool because it’s a storage book and you can put things in it. Not sure what I’d slip in there, but I’ll think of something.

Here is a Banned Books Bin which is collapsible because it is made from fabric. But it’s a cool design with the spines of banned books displayed.

In this photo is the leaflet that comes with the box explaining what all the items are plus a few bookmarks.

The Handmaid’s Tale Inspired Grocery Bag is a nice size reusable bag. Not sure if I’ll keep this or give it away but I always love a good reusable bag.

I see you Edward! Haha – this is a Twilight inspired pocket mirror. I think the design is cute and I can’t believe I don’t already have a pocket mirror in my purse.

Since this is my first Shelflove Crate, I will admit these acrylic chess pieces are SO super cute! This is Lazlo and Sarai from Strange the Dreamer. It makes me want to collect all the chess pieces from Shelflove Crate!

Here is the November BOTM – Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao. I look forward to reading this book very soon!

And I think this might be a bonus item because the boxes were late? Not sure, but this wasn’t listed in the leaflet. It’s a mini poster for A Court of Mist and Fury.

You know despite all the shipping problems and the wait, this was a really cute box with useful items like the bag and the bin. I really love the chess pieces.

And that’s all the boxes I’ve been waiting on for 2019! I think it was fun subscribing to different boxes but I don’t have the space to really collect and store this stuff. So in 2020 I’ll pick and chose which boxes to get based on the book. If you are a book crate subscriber – what is your favorite company?

Unboxing | LitJoy Crate | December 2019 Box

Here we have my final unboxing for this year and it is from LitJoy Crate. The theme was called Lost in Austen and since I love Jane Austen, I knew I had to get it.

Here’s a very cute tray! I love the design with the book spines showing us the titles of Jane Austen books. 😍

This is such a beautiful teacup with the matching plate. Unfortunately and it was bound to happen, the teacup came broken. But it’s totally okay because I emailed LitJoy Crate right away and then took care of the situation and I’m awaiting a brand new cup in the mail. Hopefully it ships intact!

And check out these cozy, soft socks! They say “Talk Darcy to Me”. 😂 I absolutely love it.

And here are some wax seal stickers which I don’t know if I’d use since I don’t write letters anymore. But we shall see maybe I’ll write someone a letter just to use these stickers. 😅

I have calendars all over my house, so I’ll find a place for this somewhere on my…messy…desk. Or maybe it can find a home on my bookshelf. It’s a desk calendar with quotes by authors. I love it!

More cards for the LitJoy Crate collection. These cards are always so well done – they have great detail.

This is the book! Look at the color of that cover – I love it!

And look at the inside of the dust jacket. Just gorgeous!

And that was the box (minus the teacup in the photo because I couldn’t hold it together while photographing). It was a lovely box and I look forward to reading the book.

So…I said this was my last unboxing BUT…I have been waiting – FOREVER – for my box from ShelfLove Crate. I wanted to try it, saw a book I liked they were doing for the November box and wow…nothing yet. I’ve been following their ig account and it looks like they’ve had lots of problems with shipment this month. Sad. Oh well supposedly all November boxes will ship this week? If I get it next week then THAT will be my last unboxing of the year.

Unboxing | YA Book of the Month

Hi everyone! Okay, I have a combined unboxing, meaning this is the unboxing for September, October and November and that’s it. Because I cancelled my subscription to YA Book of the Month. So quick, I know!

If you don’t know about the Book of the Month club, every month they feature five books you can choose from. The monthly subscription is $14.99 with shipping already included, so you get charged on a designated date, then you have a credit in your account. The first week of the month, they show the books you can choose from and then you make your choice and use up your credit. It repeats every month until you cancel, like me. But I do believe you can skip months as well.

This is the cute hot pink box the YA books come in. I think the adult fiction books comes in blue? Anyway, it’s a little bit beat up because I assume this box takes quite a journey to get to me. It takes almost a month to get to me and it’s the main reason I cancelled my subscription. 😞

My November book choice was When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis. Every box I’ve received had a blue bookmark that says Book of the Month, which is nice since I always need bookmarks.

All of the BOTM books have smilier characteristics. They all have the logo on the cover and when you take off the dust cover, the naked cover is embossed with the logo, month and year the book was featured as choices.

The books are a certain size, they are larger than the books from the publisher companies and the print I feel is larger too, which is nice!

These are the three books I have from BOTM. My first book was The Ten Thousand Doors of January which I haven’t read yet. I just finished The Beautiful this month and my newest book is Where the Stars Lead to You.

I think it’s a nice subscription if you live on the mainland USA. I think shipping out to me in Hawaii (still part of the USA but in the middle of the Pacific Ocean), shipping just takes too long. For other box subscriptions, especially the crates I’ve tried so far, it comes with priority shipping so it gets to me so quick. Shipping is included with BOTM and $14.99 for shipping and book is really good! But I’m just impatient waiting for it – so it’s not for me.

To cancel my membership for the subscription there is no feature on their website to do that – there is a number to call to cancel.

Anyway, it was cool to try it out! Are you a BOTM subscriber? How do you like it?

Unboxing | OwlCrate | November Box 2019

Another OwlCrate box but this time it is their monthly subscription box. Today I’m unboxing the November box.

Such a beautiful wood…bookmark or ornament? Well it’s an ornament now because my daughter added to our tree! 😂 I love the details on it.

Okay THIS is definitely a bookmark, a metal one with all this beautiful purple and black design. So pretty!

Another gorgeous collector’s pin. Lovely!

Super cute stickers I was going to use in the reading planner…but my daughter only took a few of them haha. I love the color palette!

My first reading planner and it’s so pretty! I love how you can start with any month and it has a section on the weekly pages where you can note down how many pages your read that day…but I never keep track of that. But cool if you do! I love the Book Reviews pages where you can write mini-reviews, that could definitely help me keep track of books I need to review. It also has a section for Favorite Quotes! Yay, I want to start collecting quotes but I get lazy about it. So hopefully this will help me. There is a Book Wishlist page and a Monthly TBR as well. I’m so excited to try this out!

They fit this blanket into that small box!! Like…what? I am so impressed with whoever packs their boxes. I need to take lessons. But the colors and design on this is gorgeous, and it’s only of my favorite fandoms so I am in love with it. My kids love it too because it’s soft and they kept rolling on top of it haha.

And the book!!! It’s gorgeous but I think I like the original black cover I’ve seen. This one is pretty too but I love a black background for anything thing with moons and stars. This edition is signed and I look forward to finally reading this book!

I love this box just for the book, blanket and reading planner alone. I don’t have another OwlCrate box coming after this because I went overboard on boxes for November. I am still waiting on The Bookish Box crate and Shelflove Crate. I hope we get some exciting book choices for 2020 because I have to say OwlCrate is hands down my favorite book crate subscription. They are good with communicating on their instagram account about box updates and reveals. Their boxes ship on time and gets to me quick! I love everything so far about their company.

I hope you enjoy these unboxing and stay tuned for more to come!

Unboxing | Owl Crate | The Queen of Nothing | Faerie Dwelling Box

Yes I am obsessed with The Folk of Air series by Holly Black, so in addition to buying the boxed set on Barnes & Noble, I ordered this custom box on OwlCrate. I can’t believe how much this little box packs in! Let’s see what was inside:

All of this was in this small box! Isn’t that awesome?

This OwlCrate version has this white cover, but naked, it’s a black book. The B&N version I have is a black cover, but naked, it’s a white book. I do think the original white cover being sold everywhere else is the prettiest cover because you can see the snake detail and crown. This one is okay but this is a signed copy which is awesome!

I love all the quotes that are printed on the items in the box. This is a little jewelry dish, perfect for rings or earrings.

And I love these coasters! I love the fonts, color and design – really beautiful.

Here’s a cute little mug and three decorative spoons! If I had a proper bookcase these would be featured on it but really, I have no space on my small bookshelf. Still, really cute items.

Here is a tray with another quote and beautiful design. I’d use THIS as my coaster or at least it’s big enough to hold a cup and maybe some snacks while I sit at my desk and type up my blog posts.

Decorative pins with lovely detail – what do you do with pins? I have a collection of them now from all these box crates but I don’t use them for anything. But they are super cute!

Aw, and star lights which I can use in my daughter’s room or since it’s Christmas time I can use it somewhere.

We have two print cards here and as you can see of the photo on the right, when you tilt the card a certain way it has this design where the print sparkles with color. So beautiful!

I’m listening to this right now and I’m totally feeling it! It’s a playlist for Jude & Cardan! 😍

I am so in love with this quote. Love love love this and I don’t know where to hang it up yet…I wish I had my own library at home that I could decorate at will haha, but alas I do not.

And that’s what was in my Faerie Dwelling Box by OwlCrate. I love it and I do have to say one of my favorite subscription boxes so far is OwlCrate – they are super organized and so far their boxes haven’t disappointed. I have another box coming tomorrow, their November box and I can’t wait to open it up!

Unboxing | LitJoy Crate | October 2019 Box

Hi everyone! We are at the end of October and for this month I only got one book box because I have a few coming for November. And my birthday is next week so it makes sense to treat myself during my birthday month right? HAHA…right!

This is the LitJoy Crate for October so let’s see what we got!

Here is everything that was in the box, so let’s break it down:

The book this month is Angel Mage by Garth Nix and I haven’t read anything from this author before. The card with the character photos illustrated by Stephanie Brown and it has a note from the author on the back which I always like to read. The book is signed and actually has a reverse dust jacket with a beautiful illustration by Lorena Lammer (just forgot to photograph it, sorry!). Every book from LitJoy Crate comes with a book sleeve and this time it’s pink, which is cute.

One of my favorite things in this book is these collectors trading cards and look at these villains! I LOVE Ursula and Maleficent, the past Halloween’s I’ve dressed up as one of them. 😂😍 The art on these are AMAZING.

Here’s a super cute Shadowhunter Rune bracelet. Very cute but probably going to give it away.

A Daughter of Smoke and Bone collector pin! Super duper cute! You know I’m not big into pins, what do you do with them? Wear them or just collect them? Trade them? I’ve been accumulating a lot from the different box crates I’ve purchased.

Another pair of fingerless gloves! These are so cute but I don’t need gloves in Hawaii, it’s too hot, so these will probably be given away.

And my least favorite thing in the box was this notepad. But I’m sure it’s the most useful thing in this box so…🤷🏻‍♀️.

Overall I can say it’s not my favorite box of LitJoy Crate I’ve gotten. I will be skipping their November box because they have the same book as OwlCrate coming out and I’m opting for the OwlCrate box this time around.

Stay tuned for more unboxing in November – I think I have 3 or 4 boxes coming in!

Unboxing | LitJoy Crate | September Box 2019

Hello fellow book lovers and bloggers, here we have another unboxing, but this time it’s for the LitJoy Crate September box. Let’s see what goodies were inside my box!

My daughter calls my book boxes the “treasure box”. She loves unboxing it with me and yes she plays with the box and shredded paper in it afterwards. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But look at this box! The theme is called Haunted Manor and I’m loving the purple color scheme. Very Halloween, don’t you think? I know most people do the orange and black for Halloween but I love the purple decorations too!

I love when my box has wearable items like these scrunches! Super cute!

This scarf is my favorite item in the box – look at that ombre purple color and the print! It celebrates the 50th anniversary of Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride! I’m definitely keeping this one for myself, even though it’s blazing hot in Hawaii during Halloween. 😂 Maybe one day when I make my way over to Disneyland for October I can wear it there!

Here we have the smaller items in the box: a ghostbusters patch, a Nightmare Before Christmas bookmark with Zero on the back of it (@brianamoraart), two collector’s cards (artwork by Niru Sky @niru.sky) and the cutest page flag set of the Addam’s Family!

And last but not least is this gorgeous signed copy of A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth. The card has a note from the author on the back and the inside jacket cover, like most LitJoy Crate book versions, is gorgeous. See below…

Gorgeous right? And I love these drawstring book bags LitJoy Crate puts their books in. This month it’s an aqua color but I think the first box I got from them it was blue like the LitJoy Crate box. Super useful and cute!

What do you think of this box? I thought it was a great box, and definitely love the scarf. I hope the book is good as well – review will be up for it as soon as I can get to it (life’s been crazy busy lately!). I look forward to next month’s box!

Unboxing | OwlCrate | September 2019 Box

I received by second OwlCrate box and I love it! The theme for September is called Fear the Night which is perfect since Halloween is around the corner. So let’s look at what I got!

So many goodies!

An excerpt of The Beautiful and this card with beautiful artwork.

Coffee in the flavor of Scare-Amel Corn from Bones Coffee! It smells so good, but I may be gifting this to some coffee lovers I know. I love coffee too – but usually the icy blended kine. 😂

Fingerless gloves, SO freaking cute! A jewelry dish that says “Beware for I am Fearless & Therefore Powerful” – Mary Shelley. And a pin!

A close up of the pin and it’s amazing details. Beautiful!

I had two books in the box, yes TWO! This is a paperback of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and it already looks scary. I mean, look at that cover…👀

And last but not least, this GORGEOUS signed copy of The Bone Houses, with a note from the author and this bookmark! This white cover is lovely but I kind of want a black copy to compare haha. I love the design of that skull so much. I can’t wait to read this book.

I think this was a pretty good box and I can gift a few things away, which is always convenient – I already have some of my Xmas shopping done because of these boxes haha. I am skipping next month’s OwlCrate because I’m not a big sci-fi fan, but I will be trying a new box hopefully.

Unboxing | Owl Crate | August 2019 Box

I’ve been dying to try Owl Crate for months now but I was waiting for a featured book I wanted to own and when I saw that the book for August was House of Salt and Sorrows, I bought it. I got the box last weekend and I was not disappointed!

This is what was in the box:

Just the theme alone I’m so in love with! I am an island girl and love all things ocean and the octopus? Love those tentacled creatures! The pin, bath salts, tea, wooden book mark and pencil case are so lovely! And that lantern? 😍 I’ll be using it as a prop for my bookstagram photos. I’m going to gift a few things but I’m definitely keeping the lantern and book. Isn’t it beautiful? This was a great box, glad I got it!

Now I’m looking forward to the September box and all the Halloween themed items coming! Love this box and I will definitely keep this subscription for now. Stay tuned for the next unboxing! 😘

Have you read the book House of Salt and Sorrow? What did you think? I’ll post my review once I get to reading it!

Unboxing | Fae Crate | July 2019 Box

I love book crate subscriptions, I’ve tried three of them now and am going to continue trying as much as I can. I’m in the shopping around stage but so far each box has been pretty awesome.

I decided to try the July Fae Crate box because I found a coupon code for it. So I thought, why not?

Here is what was inside it:

In the box:

Renegades Sorting Candle by SpideyScents
Steelheart Lanyard
XL Lunar Chronicles Pouch by. CatarinaBookDesigns
Hero Pop Socket
Mystery Hero Card Collection
Young Elites Collectible Coin
Carry On Collectors Polaroid by. @choink

The book is Collateral Damage by. Taylor Simonds with a super cute reversible dust jacket:

And the edges are sprayed black…

And it even comes with a free ebook download – the book is Deviation by. Christine Manzari

My favorite thing in the box is the XL pouch, looks like it can hold a laptop. What do I do with the rest of the items in the box? I gift them or will put them together for giveaways I do on my instagram account. I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ll get to it eventually!

I thought the box was some cute things, but it’s not my favorite of the three subscriptions I’ve tried. I do like that with Fae Crate you can do a one-time purchase. Some other companies is a monthly subscription and you have to go in a cancel if you don’t want the next box. The one-time purchase is so much more convenient when you are shopping around like I am. I’ll try it again when I see a theme I like. I kind of want to get all the Halloween themed subscriptions 😂 but I’d be super broke if I did that!