I am back for another OwlCrate unboxing! OwlCrate is a great, monthly book subscription box that comes with awesome bookish goodies and a signed, exclusive edition of a new YA novel (or sometimes two 😉 ) If you are interested in subscribing to OwlCrate, use my link and go check it out!

October OwlCrate: Lost in the Bookstore

The theme for the October box was Lost in the Bookstore, which gives me all sorts of cozy vibes. I had absolutely no clue what the book was going to be (and I often can figure it out beforehand #humblebrag), so I went into this completely blind.

I am always on the lookout for new socks, so when I pulled out this pair of bookish socks from Out of Print and Underlined, I was thrilled! Funny side-note: apparently the soles of these socks were supposed to say Book on one, and Nerd on the other. Mine says Book on both of them. I know at least one other blogger got Nerd on the bottom of both of theirs, so maybe we should do a swap haha

I absolutely love tea, so I was really excited when I pulled out this adorable, heart-shaped, silicone tea strainer from Team OwlCrate and designer Michelle Gray. And this choco-mint truffle tea from The Tea Spot sounds so good! I can’t wait to try it 🙂

This canvas clutch, designed by Bookworm Boutique, is so cute! I could see using this as a book sleeve, or as a carrier for my book journal, pens and stickies.

I love anything Harry Potter themed, so I am in love with this gorgeous art print of the Mirror of Erised by Michelle Gray!

This month’s box actually came with two books!! So exciting!! The first book was Pride by Ibi Zoboi! It is a Pride and Prejudice retelling (which just makes my heart happy 🙂 ) Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

In a timely update of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my all-time favorite books, so I am super pumped about this book!

The second book in this month’s box was Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

I had never heard of this one, but it certainly sounds interesting!

That was the October OwlCrate box! I thought it was a great box, and even though it had less goodies than usual, it totally made up for it by giving us two books this month!

If you are interesting in subscribing to OwlCrate, check them out here!

Announcement Time: 

I have decided, upon looking at my TBR bookshelf in my office and finding that I have over 100 books on it that I have yet to read, that I need to take a break from getting subscription boxes. I will probably go back to them at some point because it is fun to get signed, exclusive editions of books, but I need to at least attempt to read most/all of the books I’ve gotten from previous boxes before I dive back in.

So, this will be the last Subscription Box post for a while. I will likely be back at it sometime next year, but I’m not sure when that will be. In the meantime, be sure to check out the other posts I write here on Whit Reads Lit! 🙂

---

Did you get the October OwlCrate box? What did you think of it?

Have you read either Pride or Shadow of the Fox? Did you like them?

Are you bursting at the seams with books on your TBR pile? Let me know down in the comments! 

Love and happy reading,