Book Box Subs

Normally I’m a bit earlier with my book subscription skips/renewal recap but sometimes life gets busy or you lose yourself in a good book, literally. Anywho, this coming month is thankfully a rather quiet one after how crazy the last few have been. A bunch of my subs are on an off-month for one reason or another which will hopefully give me time to catch up on my physical and ARC backlog. Confirmed Book Picks: Surprise Book Picks: Off Months / No Renewals: Recap: No going to lie, I’m quite relieved that August is a more relaxed and chill month after the how many subscriptions I renewed in July on top of sequel book sales and books bought secondhand (I was thrilled to find a copy of Inkstone’s The Red Winter for sale which was a favorite read earlier this year). Three SE renewals plus a single book box from Aardvark is a very manageable amount which will help balance out June and July. Looking ahead, September is a similar month with not very many renewals planned so I think we’re doing good! The wallet is happy, the bookshelf space is dying, and my physical TBR will hopefully stop growing-

Remember how I said June was the start of the summer season when many publishers tend to push their bigger titles? Truer words have never been spoken, because July’s book‑sub lineup is stacked. The suffering and middling picks of January through April are gone! The shelves are filling, the wallet is emptying, the TBR list is growing, but the book blog and love for reading are thriving. Confirmed Book Picks: Surprise Book Picks: Off Months / No Renewals: Recap: Needless to say, July is a great month for books and a horrible one for my wallet and overgrowing TBR. But I’m not mad at all as some of the books selected were my top to-read picks for the year. It’s still early and can change in the common weeks, but the silver lining is August’s picks are not quite my thing with far more renewals skips which will balance out this month’s craziness slightly. I’m still so thrilled to finally be able to add Inkstone to this monthly list and am eagerly awaiting for their first book from quarter 2 to arrive soon!

Hey all, this is my book box sub renewal breakdown for June 2026! This month marks the start of the summer season, which is traditionally the publishing industry’s peak period where they push many of their biggest titles. While last month had a lot of decent but forgettable picks outside of the ongoing series, this month has some great standalone picks that I’m really looking forward to! Confirmed Book Picks: Surprise Book Picks: Off Month / No Renewal: Recap As expected for the summer season, June’s lineup is stacked and required me to be selective. I ended up renewing and keeping five books, selling one, and skipping four. In addition to limited bookshelf space, skipping OwlCrate and Fae Crate—which could’ve gone either way—was also preparation for July, which is looking even better (aka worse for my wallet). Spoiler: I’m renewing the trio of TBB subs plus the FairyLoot combo, which already matches the number of June books kept—and there’s even more I’m keeping. What a time to be alive.

Intro: “Hey all, it’s been a while since I’ve done any book blogging since I’ve been marathon reading and trying to get my physical TBR and ARC reviews under control (spoiler: he’s still fighting a losing battle). While a bit late for May, I thought I’d start a new book‑blogging series where I discuss my many book box subscription services and which subs I’m planning to renew vs. skip. Since early last year, I fell down the book box subscription rabbit hole, innocently starting with Aardvark Book Club and somehow expanding to 10+ subscriptions; I fully blame my book box and fellow reading friend Rachelle for this. With that many subscriptions and limited bookshelf space, I have to be quite selective about what I keep, so each month I’ll be walking through my internal thought process and ramblings. Note: Many of these book box subs are considered “surprise book boxes,” where the book title and customized designs (if applicable) are not revealed ahead of time. These blog entries will contain spoilers as a warning. Other subs do not, and some even reveal the full designs of their books ahead of time. I’ll be linking and including the digital mockups for…