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!
For November, we have six books to choose from, plus two new add-ons.
For new members, you can get your first book for only $5 using using my affiliate link.
Here are November’s selections and which ones I’m planning on getting:
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 384
Publication: November 28th
“You may never stop loving the one you lost. But you can still find love again.”
My thoughts: I’m not much of a chick-lit reader so this just isn’t for me.
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 416
Publication: October 31st
“The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.”
My thoughts: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher and I didn’t love it.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak
Genre: Spy Thriller
Pages: 368
Publication: November 14th
“CIA agent Amanda Cole is thrust into an international conspiracy involving high-profile assassinations and Russian blackmail. It ’ s the case of her lifetime, but solving it might require her to betray another spy—who just so happens to be her father.”
My thoughts: I just don’t usually love this type of thriller trope.
Again and Again by Jonathan Evison
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 332
Publication: November 7th
“From one of America’s greatest, most creative novelists comes Again and Again , a poignant and endlessly surprising story about love lost, found, and redeemed”
My thoughts: I admit that the premise of this one does sound interesting. But I’m not typically a huge contemporary reader and I’d rather focus on giving other books my time that I know I’ll love.
This Spells Love by Kate Robb
Genre: Romance
Pages: 352
Publication: December 5th
“A spell for you to forget your ex, but what else might you lose?”
My thoughts: I’m such a mood reader and here recently I just haven’t been feeling romance. I’m also don’t typically enjoy contemporary rom-com type romances. But this is a super early release so yay for that!
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 320
Publication: October 24th
“From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.”
My thoughts: This is my selection for the month! Although I’m not a huge literary/historical reader, something about this one has just really got my attention and made me want to pick it up. I think it is because it reminds me so much of another BOTM pick from earlier this year River Sing Me Home that was a surprising five star for me. It is also an Oprah’s Book Club pick!
New Add-Ons:
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 368
Publication: November 7th
My thoughts: No surprise that this one is here as nearly all of Hazelwood’s books are available at BOTM. This is her young adult debut and actually does sound interesting to me, but not something I’m prioritizing picking up right now as I haven’t really been in the mood for reading romances.
The Future by Naomi Alderman
Genre: Dystopian
Pages: 432
Publication: November 7th
“From the award-winning, bestselling author of The Power comes a white-knuckle tour de force and dazzling exploration of the world we have made and where we are going.”
My thoughts: I considered getting this one as well. It is on my radar for November new releases that I’m interested in reading. I have not read from this author before but I love dystopian science fiction and I’m excited to see it here as BOTM doesn’t often choose fantasy or sci-fi books.
My honest thoughts on this month’s selections:
Wellllll…. I’m pretty disappointed.
There’s not many I’m all that interested in.
Every selection this month has an over four star rating for early reviews on Goodreads. I’m not saying they are bad selections. It’s just that none of them are particularly intriguing to my own personal tastes.
There are a lot of other good books coming out in November and I’d rather just save my money for those instead.
One book I was really surprised not to see is The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, the sequel to a previous BOTM selection, The Maid. I was really hoping to be able to get my hands on that one early and, as a repeat author, I had thought there was a high likelihood for it to be included.
I decided to go with Let Us Descend as well as another book from their backlist that I’ve been wanting to read, Kaikeyi.
I was also one box away from reaching their highest tier on the rewards program so I’m looking forward to that milestone achieved this month too.
I understand they can’t please everyone and so far this year I’ve been really pleased with their selections. I’ve had several months where it was difficult to narrow my picks to just five. I’ve only skipped one month this year so, overall, I’ll call that a win for the year at BOTM.
But this month, for me personally, is kind of a loss. I was really close to deciding to just skip this month.
Of course, we all have our own reading tastes and preferences, so if you see something you’d love to read, go ahead and sign up if you haven’t already! This may not be their greatest month of selections to date, but I think there is a good variety at least.
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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