Want discounted access to the latest hardcover books? For the best of the best in newly released titles, Book of the Month is probably the most popular book box out there regarding price, quality & variety. However, the BEST part of this club is that you get to CHOOSE the book(s) you want, and quite often they offer titles before their official release date! I’ve subscribed to pretty much every book box out there, and this is the one that I’ve had the longest commitment to because I love it so much! Today I’m here to show you the books I selected from BOTM for November & December 2019. In the spirit of efficiency, I thought I would combine a few months for you since I’m still catching up!
BOTM Membership costs just $14.99/month for (1) book credit, or less with longer subscription commitments. Each box includes YOUR CHOICE of (1) newly released hardcover book out of their (5) monthly selections, and you can also add up to (2) more books to your box for only $9.99 each. If you have additional credits on your account, you can choose to use those to purchase add-on books instead. The add-on books can be from the current month OR from previous months (as supplies last). You can skip a month whenever you wish and you won’t be charged; and your credit(s) will roll over to the next month. Shipping is always free! Gift memberships are available to purchase as well.
All new monthly titles are available to start selecting on the 1st of the month, and you must also select when to ship your box. You have until the 6th to make your selection(s), or, if you don’t choose a book and ship your box by the 6th of the month, you will be renewed $14.99 for a credit to redeem the following month.
There are a variety of genres offered each month that may include (but are not limited to): Thriller/Horror, History, Historical Fiction, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, YA (Young Adult), Mystery, Romance, Domestic Suspense, Dystopian, Satire, Non-Fiction and Memoir.
Once you have received a year (12 boxes) of Book of the Month, you become part of the BFF Rewards Program, and here are the perks:
Welcome Tote – Reading looks good on you. Once you get your 12th box, you’ll get a stylin’ tote with a special pocket just for your BOTM.
Birthday Gift – We love a BFF b-day. Get a free add-on during your birthday month and treat yourself.
The Best of the Best – Every winter when we announce the five Book of the Year Finalists, you’ll get to choose the one you want for free.
COUPON: If you would like to join and get your first month for only $9.99, sign up at this link!
Book of the Month also has a subscription available for all the Young Adult (YA) genre fans! The Book of the Month YA membership is similar to the regular Book of the Month Club, except that subscribers get to choose from (5) YA books each month. NOTE: If you are a regular BOTM subscriber, you can add any of the YA books to your box as well!
I am not a Book of the Month affiliate, but I do use their referral program which is available to all members. I pay for my subscription, but there may be other affiliate links within this post. You can read my full disclosure statement here. Please note however, that I *never* accept compensation in exchange for a positive review. All of my reviews are my honest, personal opinions and contain my own photography (unless otherwise stated).
To see my other Book of the Month reviews, go here. If you’d like to see what I think of all the books I read, you can go to CrazyDogMama’s Book Reviews here. You can also come be my friend (or stalker) over at Goodreads.
Book of the Month Review, November 2019
Starting on the first day of each month, you can make your book selection online and ship when you are ready. I always choose to ship right away (which is generally the same or next day), and it takes about a week to get to me in California. I look forward to seeing the new choices available each month, and I have started checking for them a few days before the first of the month, because SOMETIMES they post them early!
Photo courtesy of bookofthemonth.com
These were the November 2019 choices, chosen by 5 different curators to ensure a diverse selection. On the BOTM website you can read the summaries, and the reason why each was chosen by it’s curator. This month they had one repeat author, and a #readwithmc title, which is a selection from the popular Marie Claire’s Online Monthly Book Club.
“You’ve got great taste” – Duh! Of course I do! 😉
I have always opted for the 12-month membership because I am a voracious reader, and I’ve never been disappointed!
The books always come shrink-wrapped together with a cardboard bottom, and a paper bookmark. My books have always arrived in perfect condition – no damage at all – even if the box gets beaten up in the mail.
Here are my November 2019 picks; I got the maximum 3 books, because you know, I had to! ‘Ninth House‘ by Leigh Bardugo (Fantasy), ‘The Giver of Stars‘ by Jojo Moyes (Historical Fiction), and ‘The Family Upstairs‘ by Lisa Jewell (Thriller).
I used one credit (required), but then chose to pay $19.98 ($9.99 each) for the add-on books instead of using additional credits, because that is the best deal price-wise. You can choose to use credits on add-on books if you like, though.
‘The Family Upstairs’ by Lisa Jewell – Retail Value $ 27 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $16.87. Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Be careful who you let in.
Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.
She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.
Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.
In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.
Why I chose this book: An old mansion, a baby and three dead bodies with a note. What’s not to like here?!? LOL! I love thrillers and mysteries, and I already need to know what is going on in this story. Lisa Jewell is a great writer, and a repeat author for BOTM. Enough said!
All BOTM books are specially labeled with the BOTM logo on the front of the book jacket, and also on the back with the month/year the book was featured.
‘The Giver of Stars’ by Jojo Moyes – Retail Value $28 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $16.80. Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Amazon Description:
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.
Why I chose this book: Well, first, it’s Jojo Moyes. That really is enough to select this title, but when you add 5 strong, extraordinary women making history (with books!) in the depression era in Kentucky, it’s an easy sell for me. My mother’s side of the family is from Kentucky, and lived there during this time period, so I’m looking forward to seeing what life may have been like for them. I typically do not choose books in the historical fiction genre, but the storyline spoke to me, so I’m stepping out and giving it a try!
All BOTM books are specially labeled with the BOTM logo on the front of the book jacket, and also on the back with the month/year the book was featured.
‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo – Retail Value $27.99 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $16.78. Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?
Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.
Why I chose this book: This one is WAY out of my comfort zone! I think I’ve read one fantasy book in my whole life. That being said, something about it called to me. A troubled California girl with a sordid past is invited to attend Yale University for free by mysterious benefactors. Yeah, nothing sounds fishy about that! Secret societies, tombs and sinister occult activities – what’s not to like? I’m in!
All BOTM books are specially labeled with the BOTM logo on the front of the book jacket, and also on the back with the month/year the book was featured.
‘To be continued.’ Each monthly box comes with a complimentary cardboard ‘Book of the Month’ bookmark, printed on both sides.
I love these bookmarks! They are simple, functional and are the perfect size & weight.
So what do you think of Book of the Month? The total retail value of my November box was $82.99 ($50.45 using current Amazon prices), and I paid $32.48 ($12.50 for 1 book credit used from my 12-month subscription + $19.98 for my add-on books.) – so this is an excellent deal, even over Amazon prices! If you are bookworm like me, and want to be in the loop on the latest releases, I highly recommend this box – you just can’t go wrong! I love being introduced to new authors, and titles I may not have even known about. I’m also more inclined to try new genres I wouldn’t consider otherwise, so I’m expanding my horizons, too!
DON’T FORGET THE COUPON! If you would like to join and get your first month for only $9.99, sign up at this link!
Book of the Month Review, December 2019
Starting on the first day of each month (sometimes a day or two earlier!), you can make your book selection online and ship when you are ready. There has only been one month in almost 4 years where my box was delayed a week or so because of them running out of one particularly popular title. I would say that is pretty damn good!
Photo courtesy of bookofthemonth.com
These were the December 2019 choices, chosen by 5 different curators to ensure a diverse selection. On the BOTM website you can read the summaries, and the reason why each was chosen by it’s curator. This month they had THREE early releases, and a debut!
“You’ve got great taste” – Yes, yes I do! 😉
I have always opted for the 12-month membership, and I’m certain I will be a BOTM-lifer!
The books always come shrink-wrapped together with a cardboard bottom, and a paper bookmark. My books have always arrived in perfect condition – no damage at all – even if the box gets beaten up in the mail.
This is the cardboard bottom of the wrapped books with instructions on how to refer friends and get free books!
Here are my December 2019 picks; one from the current month’s selections, and one from their additionally available titles. ‘The Wives‘ by Tarryn Fisher (Domestic Suspense), and ‘American Predator‘ by Alex North (True Crime). I used one credit (required), but then chose to pay $9.99 for the add-on book instead of using an additional credit, because that is the best deal price-wise. You can choose to use credits on add-on books if you like, though.
‘The Wives’ by Tarryn Fisher – Retail Value $27.99 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $24.99. Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, and because of this unconventional arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. But you love him so much you don’t care. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself.
But one day, while you’re doing laundry, you find a scrap of paper in his pocket—an appointment reminder for a woman named Hannah, and you just know it’s another of the wives.
You thought you were fine with your arrangement, but you can’t help yourself: you track her down, and, under false pretenses, you strike up a friendship. Hannah has no idea who you really are. Then Hannah starts showing up to your coffee dates with telltale bruises, and you realize she’s being abused by her husband. Who, of course, is also your husband. But you’ve never known him to be violent, ever.
Who exactly is your husband, and how far would you go to find the truth? Would you risk your own life? And who is his mysterious third wife?
Why I chose this book: OMG.THIS.BOOK. Once I picked it up, it was all over. I didn’t put it down until I was finished. The premise sounded odd to me, but intriguing nonetheless. But let me tell you, I’ve never read anything quite like it. Not only was it completely enthralling, but it sucker punched me right in the head! Holy Mindfuck, Batman!! I’ve now put every Tarryn Fisher novel on my TBR list. I mean, WOW. Loved it! HOWEVER, this isn’t a fluffy HEA kind of tale. You’ve been warned.
All BOTM books are specially labeled with the BOTM logo on the front of the book jacket, and also on the back with the month/year the book was featured.
‘American Predator’ by Maureen Callahan – Retail Value $27 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $18.99. Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. The names of notorious serial killers are usually well-known; they echo in the news and in public consciousness. But most people have never heard of Israel Keyes, one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Described by a prosecutor as “a force of pure evil,” Keyes was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried “kill kits”—cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools—in remote locations across the country. Over the course of fourteen years, Keyes would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a stranger’s house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home to Alaska, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter.
When journalist Maureen Callahan first heard about Israel Keyes in 2012, she was captivated by how a killer of this magnitude could go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. And so began a project that consumed her for the next several years—uncovering the true story behind how the FBI ultimately caught Israel Keyes, and trying to understand what it means for a killer like Keyes to exist. A killer who left a path of monstrous, randomly committed crimes in his wake—many of which remain unsolved to this day.
American Predator is the ambitious culmination of years of interviews with key figures in law enforcement and in Keyes’s life, and research uncovered from classified FBI files. Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and to the limitations of traditional law enforcement.
Why I chose this book: True Crime is one of my favorite genres, so when I saw this available at BOTM, I grabbed it right away. It’s a good thing, too, because it’s sold out now! I majored in Criminal Justice in college, with a minor in abnormal psychology, and did my final thesis on American serial killers. Israel Keyes hadn’t surfaced yet when I was studying (I’m old), so this is an absolute must-read for me. American Predator gets excellent reviews too, and I can’t wait to dive in!
All BOTM books are specially labeled with the BOTM logo on the front of the book jacket, and also on the back with the month/year the book was featured.
Each monthly box comes with a complimentary cardboard ‘Book of the Month’ bookmark, printed on both sides. There was also an insert included for the holidays this month, inviting members to receive a free add-on book when gifting BOTM for 6 or 12 months to their favorite peeps.
I love these bookmarks! They are simple perfection!
I’m in love with this cover!
I consumed many BIG cups of coffee, because I pulled an all-nighter to read this one! If you are crushing on my ‘Dog Mom’ mug by Rae Dunn, you can get one here! Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.
So what do you think of Book of the Month? The total retail value of my December box was $54.99 ($43.98 using current Amazon prices), and I paid $22.49 ($12.50 for 1 book credit used from my 12-month subscription + $9.99 for my add-on book.) – so this is a fantastic deal, even over Amazon prices! If you are bookworm like me, and want to be in the loop on the latest releases, I highly recommend this box – you just can’t go wrong! I love being introduced to new authors, and titles I may not have even known about. I’m also more inclined to try new genres I wouldn’t consider otherwise, so I’m expanding my horizons, too!
DON’T FORGET THE COUPON! If you would like to join and get your first month for only $9.99, sign up at this link!
TTFN, CrazyDogMama – XOXO!
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