Every month, Book of the Month has five new books up for offer. You choose the one that's of the greatest interest to you, and they ship it. That's it! You can choose your book between the first and the fifth of the month, and if you don't choose a book, your subscription will automatically skip the month and you won't be charged. For the past few months, one of the books they have available is one that's on pre-lease exclusively for Book of the Month members. For January, this book was Lucky You by Erika Carter, which is due out in March 2017. For the box, prices range from $14.99/month if you pay monthly to $11.99/month if you pay for a year up front. All of the books are hardcover copies and have special Book of the Month branding on the covers and spines, something that they started earlier this year--it makes them look really nice all lined up on a shelf next to each other. The genres vary greatly because the "judges" for the books change each month. There's usually a mystery or thriller of some variety, because they're quite popular these days, and the other books vary. For January, the books were Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (featuring an older woman reflecting on her life and the times she's seen in New York City), Lucky You (about three young twenty-somethings going "offline" and looking for purpose), Girls in the Moon (a beautiful young adult novel about music and finding yourself), The Most Dangerous Place on Earth (another young adult novel, but with a darker side about bullying and suicide), and Homesick for Another World (a short story collection).
Additionally, you can add up to two extra books to your box each month for $9.99 each. They can be books from the month of selection (I got Girls in the Moon and Lucky You for January), books from previous moths, or books from Book of the Month's "Other Favorites" page, which currently includes works by Jillian Flynn, Neil Gaiman, and Anthony Bourdain among others. $9.99 is a pretty good value for a hardcover book even by Amazon standards, so I get the extra 2 books every month and am slowly working through their previous months. I don't want all the books they've offered, but a good deal of them seem interesting to me, so I'm picking them up two at a time. They also tend to include a little "something extra" in each box. One month it was a magnet, another a crazy straw, another a pair of sunglasses. This month it was a little, individually-bound copy of Gillian Flynn's ghost story "The Grownup." If you're interested in discussing the books you read, they also have some social media components worked into the site, but I can't really speak as to how active or informative they are, as I haven't used them personally.Overall, I love my Book of the Month subscription. It's a great value and, more than anything else, has forced me to read outside my typical genres. I've gotten several books through here that, while I thought they just looked "meh," I really ended up enjoying. Even the books that I haven't loved have always provided an interesting perspective, setting, character, or plot. I've never felt the urge to abandon a book I got through Book of the Month. I've even re-arranged a few shelves in order to line up all of my books right next to each other, and they look very handsome there indeed.
If you have any questions about Book of the Month, I'd be happy to answer to the best of my ability, though I don't work there so I can't speculate as to what they might have planned or what their inner workings might be. And again, if you'd like to sign up, I'd appreciate it if you'd use my referral link here.
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