I would first like to state that I am not one of those people who buy into sponsored Instagram stories that somehow weasel their way into your feed. Maybe I was being impulsive or my thumb accidentally slipped up, but whatever the case, I found myself falling for a strategic Instagram ad. I soon fell down the rabbit hole that is Book of the Month, and it’s everything that I didn’t know I needed.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to start reading in my free time again. I’ve always loved to read. When I was little, I would fly through chapter books, and my poor mother would have to limit how many books I could buy during the school’s book fair.
When I entered high school and later college, I pushed reading to the side. I was bogged down by textbooks I didn’t want to read but needed to. I started associating reading with stress, and I ultimately felt as if reading meant being tested on my comprehension.
However, Book of the Month found its way into my Instagram feed, and I bought into it. No, seriously – it was just too tempting.
Book of the Month is technically a book club, but it’s more like a subscription service. Yay for no awkward book club meet-ups! Much like Birchbox or Fab Fit Fun box, you receive a book once a month in the mail. I’m not about “surprises” so I was wary of someone selecting a book for me, but that isn’t the case. You choose five books from a list, and then you select your book that month based on what you chose previously.
It’s $15 a month, which is pretty reasonable given the prices of most books these days. And if you are a bookworm like me, you’ll appreciate the fact that they are almost all hardback.
Back to the important stuff –– I signed up back in February and have received two books so far (currently waiting on my third!) Something important but often overlooked is that Book of the Month does a really great job of giving just enough information about the book to make sure you pick the best one, but they make sure not to give away any plot twists
If you’re curious, I’ve read The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs and Still Me by Jojo Moyes. I’ll be honest, I probably would not have picked up either book if I was just browsing Barnes and Noble. That’s the beauty of the subscription –– you discover so many interesting options! Book of the Month takes the stress out of selecting books and I’m grateful for it.
If you love reading or wish you would read more (but can never justify searching through thousands of books on Amazon), then I highly recommend Book of the Month. If you don’t like the selections that month, you can decide to skip it. You can also add extra books if you feel like one book isn’t enough for one month, but I’ve found that one is just enough in between school and everything else on my plate.
So, yes, I did join a book club, but I’m definitely not sitting around on a Wednesday night with a bunch of middle-aged women discussing plot twists over a glass of wine. (Maybe one day, though.)