Want discounted access to the latest & greatest 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 coolest 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 January, February & March of 2020. 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 (+tax, if applicable) 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, January 2020
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!
These were the January 2020 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 there were 2 early releases (yay!) and 2 debuts.
“You’ve got great taste” – I know! Hahahaha.
I have always opted for the 12-month membership because I am a voracious reader, and I’ve never been disappointed!
The books came shrink-wrapped together with a cardboard bottom (to ensure their safe arrival), and a paper bookmark.
The cardboard bottom has a reminder to ‘Share the Love’, and how to use your referral link.
Here are my January 2020 picks. I got the maximum 3 books this time, which included my ‘BFF Rewards Program‘ perk of getting one of the ‘Book of the Year Finalist‘ selections for free, of which I chose ‘This Tender Land‘ by William Kent Krueger (Historical Fiction). The other two I chose were ‘Topics of Conversation‘ by Miranda Popkey (Literary Fiction) and ‘The Sun Down Motel‘ by Simone St. James (Thriller). Also included was a paper bookmark, and an informational card showing the 2019 Book of the Year Finalists.
I used one credit (required), one book was free, and then chose to pay $9.99 for the other 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.
I now have ALL of the 2019 Book of the Year Finalist titles in my collection!
‘Topics of Conversation: A Novel’ by Miranda Popkey – Retail Value $24 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $15.39. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Miranda Popkey’s first novel is about desire, disgust, motherhood, loneliness, art, pain, feminism, anger, envy, guilt–written in language that sizzles with intelligence and eroticism. The novel is composed almost exclusively of conversations between women–the stories they tell each other, and the stories they tell themselves, about shame and love, infidelity and self-sabotage–and careens through twenty years in the life of an unnamed narrator hungry for experience and bent on upending her life. Edgy, wry, shot through with rage and despair, Topics of Conversation introduces an audacious and immensely gifted new novelist.
Why I chose this book: Pretty much because I’m a 48 year old woman who’s been down a tough road, and the description of this book says it’s about “desire, disgust, motherhood, loneliness, art, pain, feminism, anger, envy, guilt” – that’s why! ‘Nuff 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 Sun Down Motel’ by Simone St. James – Retail Value $26 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $17.99. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.
Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.
Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.
Why I chose this book: Because who doesn’t like Simone St. James?!? I have this thing about motels – and spooky stories. Put them together with a great author, and BOOM, I’m gonna read it…
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.
‘This Tender Land’ by William Kent Krueger – Retail Value $27 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $24.30. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
A magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.
1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.
Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.
Why I chose this book: This isn’t necessarily a title I would have picked up on my own, but knowing that it was a finalist in the 2019 Book of the Year for BOTM, and then reading the description, I decided I needed to up my literary fiction game. This novel is compared to ‘Where the Crawdads Sing‘, and I loved that book, so I’m looking forward to digging into this one! *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.
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.
‘This is the good part.’ Each monthly box comes with a complimentary cardboard ‘Book of the Month’ bookmark, printed on both sides.
I absolutely 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 January 2020 box was $77 ($57.68 using current Amazon prices), and I paid $23.26 ($12.50 for 1 book credit used from my 12-month subscription + $10.76 for my add-on book (including tax), and then $0 for my member perk selection.) – 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, February 2020
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!
These were the February 2020 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 there were 2 early releases, a #READWITHJENNA selection, and an Oprah’s Book Club selection!
“You’ve got great taste” – Yes, yes I do! 🙂
I have always opted for the 12-month membership because I am a voracious reader, and I’ve never been disappointed!
My February 2020 selections were ‘You Are Not Alone‘ by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (Suspense), and ‘Salvage the Bones‘ by Jesmyn Ward (Literary Fiction), which was in their additional available titles section.
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.
‘You Are Not Alone: A Novel’ by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – Retail Value $27.99 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $16.42. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely.
Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better.
Shay would die for them to like her.
She may have to.
Why I chose this book: I thought this story sounded creepy and psychologically damaging, so of course I was all over it! It also gets really good reviews. It seems any time BOTM has a suspenseful thriller on the table, I order it without even thinking twice.
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.
‘Salvage the Bones: A Novel’ by Jesmyn Ward – Retail Value $24 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $22.08. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Winner of the 2011 National Book AwardA hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch’s father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn’t show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn’t much to save. Lately, Esch can’t keep down what food she gets; she’s fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull’s new litter, dying one by one in the dirt. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child’s play and short on parenting.
As the twelve days that make up the novel’s framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family-motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce-pulls itself up to face another day. A big-hearted novel about familial love and community against all odds, and a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, Salvage the Bones is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.
Why I chose this book: Jesmyn Ward’s ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing‘ was amazing, and I’ll now read anything she writes. The plot is intriguing to me, and I suspect I’ll love reading about kids surviving a hurricane in the South. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.
All BOTM books are specially labeled with the BOTM logo on the front & back of the book jacket.
‘All booked up right now.’ 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 February 2020 box was $51.99 ($38.50 using current Amazon prices), and I paid $23.26 ($12.50 for 1 book credit used from my 12-month subscription + $10.76 (including tax) for my add-on book.) – 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, March 2020
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!
These were the March 2020 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 there was 1 early release, a #READWITHJENNA selection, and 1 repeat author!
“You’ve got great taste” – Thanks! LOL!
I have always opted for the 12-month membership because I am a voracious reader, and I’ve never been disappointed!
The books came shrink-wrapped together with a cardboard bottom (to ensure their safe arrival), and a paper bookmark.
My March 2020 selections were ‘Writers & Lovers‘ by Lily King (Literary Fiction), and ‘A Good Neighborhood‘ by Therese Anne Fowler (Contemporary Fiction). 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.
‘Writers & Lovers: A Novel’ by Lily King – Retail Value $27 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $16.20. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with another instant New York Times bestseller: an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.
Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink.
Writers & Lovers follows Casey―a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist―in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.
Why I chose this book: It’s simple, I’m a woman who’s had her share of heartbreak, I’m a writer, and I lost my mother recently. I have a feeling this story will resonate with me, and that is what I look for in a good read! There has been plenty of buzz on the talent of Lily King, too, so I’m diving 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.
‘A Good Neighborhood: A Novel’ by Therese Anne Fowler – Retail Value $27.99 (NOTE: You can currently find it on Amazon for $16.24. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.)
Description:
In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son, Xavier, who’s headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans―a family with new money and a secretly troubled teenage daughter―raze the house and trees next door to build themselves a showplace.
With little in common except a property line, these two families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie’s yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers.
A Good Neighborhood asks big questions about life in America today―what does it mean to be a good neighbor? How do we live alongside each other when we don’t see eye to eye?―as it explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending love in a story that’s as provocative as it is powerful.
Why I chose this book: Suburbia drama is always fun, and honestly, I trust the BOTM curators! If they say they love it, chances are I will too. It also gets great reviews, and I’ve been on contemporary fiction kick lately, reading (and loving) ‘Little Fires Everywhere‘ and ‘Big Little Lies‘. *Commissions may be earned if purchased via link provided.
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.
‘Oh, hello again.’ Each monthly box comes with a complimentary cardboard ‘Book of the Month’ bookmark, printed on both sides.
These bookmarks are so great! 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 March 2020 box was $54.99 ($32.44 using current Amazon prices), and I paid $23.26 ($12.50 for 1 book credit used from my 12-month subscription + $10.76 (including tax) for my add-on book.) – 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!
TTFN, CrazyDogMama – XOXO Elbow-bump!
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