This month’s book selections are here!
Book of the Month is one of my favorite subscription boxes for readers and book lovers. I get so excited seeing that blue box at my door! This is one subscription I’m hooked on and they also have a great rewards program too.
Every month they curate a selection of books for you to choose from. They are hardbacks, highly-anticipated new releases, from a range of genres. You can choose one or more from that month’s selections and from previous months, or skip that month and save your credit for later.
If you aren’t a member yet or want to learn all about how it works and if it’s worth it, here’s everything you need to know about BOTM!
This month we have five books to choose from, plus four new add-ons.
For new members, you can get your first book for only $5 using using my affiliate link.
At the end I will tell you my honest, real thoughts and opinions about this month’s selections.
June Picks:
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 416
Publication: May 30th, 2023
I’m excited to see a fantasy pick for this month! I wish they would do more fantasy and science fiction. It would bring in a whole new lot of readers if they did. This book is also the GMA book club pick for June. There has been a lot of hype for this one, but I’ve also seen many people say that it’s way too slow so I’m a little hesitant to get this one because I hate that. My local library will most likely end up getting this book so I may just check it out from there instead.
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 304
Publication: May 30th, 2023
I was blessed with an ARC of this book and WOW was I blown away! This is a must read and I can’t say enough good things about it. I absolutely loved this story and I am actually considering breaking my rule of not buying books that I’ve already read just because I really want a physical copy of this one because I loved it so much.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read my full review here!
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 368
Publication: June 6th, 2023
I have been seeing this book everywhere and everyone has been saying it is really good. It has really high rankings and is highly praised in early reviews. So if historical is your thing (it’s not really mine) then this will probably be a good choice.
She Started It by Sian Gilbert
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 352
Publication: June 13th, 2023
Ugh… I’m so disappointed in the thriller pick for this month. I’ll rant more about it below in my opinion section. But for now, I’ll just say that this is not what I was expecting. Catty housewives isn’t really my type of thriller trope. It has pretty good early rankings and reviews so I may give it a chance if my library gets it. But otherwise, I’ll be spending my book money elsewhere this month.
Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 336
Publication: June 27th, 2023
Imma be real with y’all… I’ve never heard of nor seen this book anywhere. So I really have nothing to say about it. I know they usually pick one lesser known book each month so I guess that is this one. And while I understand bringing fresh, new voices to readers is an admirable goal, I just think there are so many other choices that would be more popular. But definite kudos for giving these opportunities to lesser known authors.
New Add-Ons:
The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 384
Publication: June 13th, 2023
This is definitely an obvious choice for them, as this author is massively popular. It isn’t my reading preference but I think this will be a very popular add-on.
The Whispers by Ashley Audrain
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 336
Publication: June 29th, 2023
This book is by the author of The Push, which I didn’t realize at first and I didn’t know she was even coming out with another book. I’m surprised I haven’t seen this one talked about more considering the popularity of her first book. This is another that I will definitely consider checking out from the library.
The Spectacular by Fiona Davis
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 368
Publication: June 13th, 2023
This is the only other book besides The Wishing Game that I might actually consider getting. It is historical but the plot is centered around a mystery and investigation. It actually sounds quite exciting. And the music hall backdrop sounds like a really cool setting. This is a very popular author and everyone is raving about how good this book is. It is a little out of my reading comfort zone but I’m highly intrigued to read it.
My Murder by Katie Williams
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 304
Publication: June 6th, 2023
Another book that I’ve never heard of or seen anywhere. Take with that what you will. Sorry to anyone who is really anticipating this book but…. yeah. Again, I do love the intention of giving a platform to new and lesser known voices.
My honest thoughts about this month’s selections:
Firstly, why do we only have five choices???? They were doing so good for several months straight with giving us seven and I thought that would become more of the norm. But, sadly, no. We have again gone back to only five for who knows why.
What’s the verdict for me for this month? SKIP!
I’m not really feeling it this month and that’s okay I guess. I’ll be saving my credit to use for next month where they’ll hopefully have something I really want.
Of course I absolutely loved The Wishing Game. And if there were other add-on books I wanted too I would make that my pick for the month so I could have a physical copy.
But for me, meh… it’s just not worth it this month. There’s nothing I’m dying to read, nothing I’ve had my sights on. So I’m gonna save my money and spend it on books elsewhere for this month and get something that I have been dying to read.
Oh… and my rant about the thriller book…
Both Ruth Ware and Riley Sager have new books coming out this month. Why TF are those not picks for this month!? I have no clue.
BOTM has so many of their books already so I know that they are both authors that BOTM will get.
I understand maybe not making them a pick since they want to give us new/different authors to choose from, but why aren’t they add-ons???
The only thing I can think of is that maybe it’s because both their books are coming out towards the end of the month. But I just don’t see why this company that clearly has a long standing relationship with the authors’ publishers wouldn’t be able to get them early.
My only guess is that they might be available for next month? But that pisses me off too because this is supposed to be a subscription for the current month’s newest releases… not the previous month. I’ll probably have already purchased them elsewhere by that time. Ah, well…
Maybe I’m missing the point of this subscription. Maybe it’s supposed to push you out of your comfort zone and get you to expand your reading horizons. I honestly don’t know.
What I do know is that I expected better. I know they can’t please everyone but I just expect this subscription to be a curated list of highly anticipated releases like they say it is.
I mean, if these books were given to me, I would definitely read all of them.
But for ya girl on a budget, I’m gonna save my money for something else that I really want.
Anyways… enough of my ranting…
Let me know what you think about this month’s selections in the comments below!
Sign up for BOTM and get your first book for only $5!
Even if you didn’t like any of this month’s books, you can choose from any of their previous selections (there are hundreds) when you sign up.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links for referring friends and readers to a service that I use and love. By using my link, I receive one free credit from Book of the Month and you can get your first new-release, hardback book for only $5. It’s a win-win situation for us book lovers!
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