When I got my Her Campus Finals Survival Kit, I was pretty excited for all the free stuff- Rimmel makeup, Yogi Teas, and 5 Hour Energy. #blessed. But nothing excited me quite as much as a coupon for a free book from the Book of the Month Club.
BOTM is one of those subscription monthly boxes like Birchbox or Fabfitfun, except instead of tiny sample sizes of things you don’t really need, you get a complete, hardcover, best-selling book.
At first, I thought the coupon for a free book had some strings attached- surely I’d still have to pay for shipping, or I’d be entered into a monthly charge practically impossible to get out of. Not so. In fact, I didn’t even have to enter any credit card numbers. Yay hassle free coupons!
BOTM lets you enter in info about yourself, then gives you a recommendation on book you might like, but doesn’t limit what book you can pick as your “BOTM.” They offer about 5 to choose from each month. I literally spent about 30 minutes looking at all the titles, gazing at the cover arts, researching plots, and looking at reviews for all the books. They all looked so good, picking my free one was hard!
In the end, I settled for The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. I’ve heard it’s a must read for anyone who likes YA authors like John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) and Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor and Park). I’ve been wanting to read it, but I’ve been waiting for it to come in at my library because I hate to spend too much on books. Thanks to BOTM, I don’t have to wait. And even if I didn’t have BOTM’s free coupon, each book each month is only $9.99. BTW, The Sun is Also a Star is currently $18.99 at Barnes and Noble. Now that’s a steal.
Other options I considered for my free book included topics like interracial love and a mystery book about a woman who writes letters to her dead husbands. One of November’s selections included Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, which has been named one of the best works of literature for 2016, even by newspapers like The New York Times. BOTM doesn’t just offer inexpensive books, they offer a wide range of must-read bestsellers.
So thank God for my #HCSurvivalKit. I didn’t know BOTM was a thing until I got my free coupon, and now I can get a bestseller for an inexpensive price every month. And that’s going to come in handy, especially since ResNet and Netflix are NOT getting along these days. When Fuller House just can’t seem to buffer, I’ll have BOTM to fill my procrastination time.