Book of the Month is the original mainstream book subscription box, and after a decade it remains the easiest recommendation in the category. The model is simple: every month BOTM picks five new-release hardcovers, you pick the one you want, and it shows up at your door for $16.99. No bookish merch, no candles, no theme. Just a hardcover book at meaningfully below retail.
Book of the Month review summary
BOTM is a curated hardcover book subscription that delivers one of five editorial picks per month for $16.99 (or $14.99/month on a prepaid annual plan). The editorial taste skews contemporary literary fiction with strong forays into thriller, debut fiction, and contemporary nonfiction. Picks are revealed on the first of each month, you have until the third or fourth week to choose, and your selection ships in the next few days. Add-ons are available at $9.99-$11.99 each.
Is Book of the Month worth it?
If you read at least one new-release hardcover per month, yes. The economics are favorable: hardcover retail is typically $26-$30, BOTM delivers it for $16.99 with shipping included. Over a year you save roughly $100-$150 versus retail. The editorial picks are strong enough that the catalog is usually interesting even if you would not have bought every selection at full price.
Book of the Month vs Aardvark Book Club
Aardvark is the budget competitor at $9.99-$14.99/month, picking three to five books per box, often paperback. BOTM is $16.99 for one hardcover. If price per book matters most, Aardvark wins by volume. If editorial curation and hardcover-quality matter most, BOTM wins. Both are defensible answers. Many readers do both: BOTM for the one book they want this month, Aardvark for backlist discovery.
Book of the Month vs OwlCrate
Different products entirely. OwlCrate is a YA fantasy / young adult subscription with bookish merch (candles, prints, bookmarks, tarot cards), exclusive editions with sprayed edges and special covers, and a heavy aesthetic focus. BOTM is a plain hardcover, no extras. For YA fantasy and bookish collectibles, OwlCrate is the right answer. For mainstream literary fiction at a reasonable price, BOTM is the right answer.
BOTM editorial taste
The selection committee leans toward contemporary literary fiction with one thriller, one debut, one nonfiction, and one wild-card pick per month. Recent picks we have seen include James (Percival Everett), The Wedding People (Alison Espach), Martyr! (Kaveh Akbar), Wandering Stars (Tommy Orange), and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (James McBride). The picks track well with the New York Times bestseller list but are not slavishly tied to it. The Spotlight pick of each month is usually a stronger title than the wild card.
How the monthly skip works
If none of the picks appeal, you can skip a month with no penalty. Skipping retains your membership but does not charge you and you do not get a book. You can also pause indefinitely. The skip feature is well-designed and BOTM does not penalize you for using it.
Add-on books and credits
BOTM lets you add extra books to your monthly box at $9.99-$11.99 each. Add-ons cover most BOTM picks from previous months (the backlist is searchable). You can also bank credits if you do not use a month and apply them later (with some limits). For readers who want more than one book per month, the add-on pricing is roughly equivalent to discount-channel hardcover pricing.
Gift subscriptions
BOTM has the best gift flow in the book subscription space. You can gift 3, 6, or 12 months at fixed prices, the recipient gets to pick their own books from each month's editorial picks, and the packaging is genuinely nice. For book gift recipients who are picky about what they read, gift subscriptions beat picking a specific book for someone.
Who should subscribe to Book of the Month
Subscribe if you read at least one new-release hardcover per month, lean contemporary literary or thriller, and want a curated selection rather than picking from the full new-release calendar yourself. Subscribe if you want hardcover quality at a meaningful discount versus retail. The skip-a-month flexibility means you can subscribe without commitment.
Who should look elsewhere
If you read mostly paperbacks, look at Aardvark or your library. If you want YA fantasy with bookish merch, look at OwlCrate or FairyLoot. If you want adult fantasy specifically, look at FairyLoot or Illumicrate. If you want to build a deep backlist library cheaply, daily-deal services like BookBub for ebooks are better value.
Final verdict
Five stars and the easy recommendation for the broadest set of readers. BOTM is the book subscription box we would suggest first to anyone who reads new releases and does not specifically want bookish merch or a niche genre focus.