The Book(ish) Box is done by Appraising Pages. The Book(ish) Box is the monthly subscription box, while Appraising Pages, the company, also puts out individual one time boxes through their site. This is an important distinction as this review is on their monthly box, while the one of the next reviews that I will post is on one of their one time boxes.
That being said, they offer several different subscription options, all with upgrade options, so finding out what you want can get a little tricky. I ordered the Woman's size Bookish Box for my first month.
These are all the different box options that you can choose from when you subscribe:
Goodies and YA Book: Includes the goodies, and a newly released, first in a series, young adult book
Goodies, Shirt, and Ya Book :Includes the above mentioned items, and shirt in your selected size and style.
Plus Size Monthly Bookish Box: Includes the goodies and shirt only, in 2x + sizing.
Woman's Monthly Bookish Box : Includes the goodies and a woman's style fitted tee in XS-XL sizing.
Unisex & Woman's Bookish Box: Include the goodies, and either a unisex , or Jr. fitted tee in XS-XL sizing.
Gimme Just a Shirt: Includes only the shirt, in any size or style selected, mailed in a poly bag to save you on shipping costs.
All the Goodies, But No Shirt : Includes 3-5 home, beauty, and fashion items designed around the theme.
As of this next month, they will also have an adult book option. YA is good every now and then, but what is the typical subscription box aversion to actually having a book with more substance than "oh, I'm a teenage girl who is going to have issues dating/have to save the world/kill people." It's like the Song that Never Ends in book form. I can't be the only one thinking this.
Anyway - mini-rant aside, next month I get the adult book option, this month, however, I just did the woman's monthly bookish box because I did not want a YA book.
This was my first time trying out this box, and it runs $29.99 with $7.50 shipping to TN. They're sent FedEx SurePost (FedEx does the first half of the delivery, USPS finishes it up).
It's a bit pricier than I normally go for, but I've been stalking their reviews online for about six months and I wanted to finally give it a shot. I mistimed my order, so I ended up starting a month later than I wanted, but oh well.
On to the box!
The box is the same whether you are getting a one time box or the subscription box. It's durable, it's sturdy, and it holds far more than I expected it to. The person boxing these up has some next level Tetris skills, I'm sure.
Upon opening the box, you get the info card. The front tells you the theme, the name of the box, and the company putting it out. There's also a quote to go with the box theme.
On the back of the info card not only are the contents of the box that you receive listed, but also the other contents that could have been included if you picked a different option. This way, if you decide that you want to grab something else later, you have information on what to look for. I thought this was a really nice touch. In my case, for the subscription option I picked, the only one that was not included was the YA book.
The first item in the box was a diverse books pin. In little rainbow print at the bottom of the pin it says "read diverse." I think this is really neat, and I have a book bag that I'm planning on putting all my book themed pins on... as soon as I have some spare time. This one will go on there too.
I must admit I did somewhat of a double take on this one. It's "unicorn poo Epsom salt." Yup - you read that right. Basically it's a normal bath soak that smells sort of like cotton candy that's dyed different colors. It's a pretty neat concept, and as long as the little one doesn't see it, I will definitely use it for myself. Maybe tonight. It's been a loooong day.
Next in the box was an adjustable bracelet. It's got some stars, some beads, and a sun on it. The info card says this one was "inspired by the beautiful cover of The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon." (Well, it says that minus the underlining, but if I have the ability to, the book title's going to be underlined, and I can here, so I did. I can't not underline it. That would be just plain improper.) Back to the item - this one is not a hit for me. I am not into this type of stuff. I would not use it, and so I did not take it out of the package.
The second to last item was a shirt. It says "The way their freckles create a map of the stars." I like the quote. I like the picture. I can think of several things that this reminds me of, mainly involving markers or pens and the arm of another human. One must find the designs in freckles after all. The info card says that this was based on the book Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven. I looked it up. It's a book about fat shaming/ takes the plot of that Freddie Prince Jr. movie from the 90s where the jock takes the "ugly" girl and shows everyone that she's actually pretty..... naw, I'll pass. I barely survived that movie as a teen. I don't want to read it in book form with fat being the new "wears glasses and comfortable clothes." As I haven't read the book, I don't have that association with the shirt, but I do like the shirt. I've already worn it. It's very soft. (For the record - the wearing was on a day trip that involved two hours in a car, both ways, with two children, and a day of constant walking. I was sweating by the end of it and it didn't show in this shirt. Very high quality.)
And the final thing in the box was a vinyl(?) pouch. It's quite large. The info card calls it a "large pouch" but that doesn't really begin to describe it. I could fit a Stephen King hardback in here and still have room left over on all sides it's that large. I've got no idea what I am going to use it for yet, but I am definitely going to use it. It's got a Harry Potter quote on the front, "We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. - Albus Dumbledore"
The back.... has cacti on it. Why? Who knows? Not me! What this has to do with the theme of the box or even the quote itself - I'm sure you could do some long obscure derailed thought train to get there, but I'm blanking at even that much. Very random, very weird. I almost considered not keeping it because of the cacti, but I actually happen to like cacti - if not associated with salmon pink - and I do like the bag, and the quote, so that's why the second picture is out of the bag and the first is not. I was debating between shots.
Not included in my box: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli - a story about a seventeen year old who thinks she knows all about true love..... If this is your thing, go for it. As the '90s saying goes "ewww... like gag me with a spoon." So very glad I went with the non-book option on this box!
Okay - so I know I've been down on the YA genre more than normal in this review, but looking at this box objectively - $37.49 was the total with shipping. There were five items in the box. Roughly $7.50 each if all things are equal (which they aren't, but go with me on this). While there are no retail prices associated with the items in this box, let's do some rough guestimation. Custom made shirts go from $18-22, so let's go with the low end, $18, for the purposes of this calculation.That leaves $19.49 for the rest of the items. Say $5 for the bath salts because they're custom made (leaving $14.49). Pins run about $3, leaving $11.49, and bracelets on etsy run about $5 on average, leaving $6.49 for the pouch that could fit a change of clothes and even a small pair of fold up shoes but probably not tennis shoes and a change of clothes - unless they were maybe Keds.
Would I have paid these prices for these items if I was in a store? Probably not. Do I like them in the subscription box form? Heck yeah. It's like a book themed grab bag. Is the value there? It's probably there for some more than others, again, I am not a fan of the more juvenile jewelries that often come in these types of boxes, but I'm all about utility, and there's a high amount of utility in this box. I will get use out of these items, and that's what I care about. It's not something that I'm going to go "oh, that's neat," and then set it aside to collect dust.
As I mentioned, they're starting an adult book option, and I'm so very pleased about that, so next month will be month two with the new box option! Remember - if the first box is worthwhile, I go for three months before deciding whether or not to keep it going.
And as always, I buy all the boxes I'm reviewing, unless otherwise stated. If you've got a subscription box you'd like to send me in exchange for an honest review - or if you see a product that you would like me to review that isn't on the Amazon wish list linked somewhere on the page - get a hold of me and we will see what we can do!
