OwlCrate Book Subscription Box Review + Coupon – July 2016

OwlCrate is a YA book subscription box. Each month they send you a newly released YA book with some bookish goodies.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

The Subscription Box: OwlCrate

The Cost: $29.99 plus shipping ($6.99 to US, $10.59 to Canada, $19.99 Worldwide)

The Products: A new YA book and 3-5 book-related goodies.

Ships to: Worldwide!

Check out all of my OwlCrate reviews and all of our Book Subscription Box reviews!

Each box comes with a card detailing the items included. This month’s theme is Good vs Evil! Everyone gets the same box, but your items are either good or evil themed. I love this idea!

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab - Retail Value $17.99 (On Amazon for $10.36)

Book Summary from Amazon:

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from acclaimed author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books, This Savage Song is a must-have for fans of Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater, and Laini Taylor.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives. In This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab creates a gritty, seething metropolis, one worthy of being compared to Gotham and to the four versions of London in her critically acclaimed fantasy for adults, A Darker Shade of Magic. Her heroes will face monsters intent on destroying them from every side—including the monsters within.

This book was in my Amazon cart, and I'm so glad I didn't purchase it! I absolutely love Victoria Schwab (I highly recommend A Darker Shade of Magic) and I can't wait to read this book!

This book came with a letter from the author and a signed bookplate sticker:

Now, on to my "evil" items!

Draco Malfoy Funko POP - Retail Value $10

(Evil boxes received Draco or a Dementor, Good boxes received Dobby or Luna Lovegood)

Yes to all things Harry Potter! (I really wanted to get Dobby in this box, but any Harry Potter POP is a good POP!)

(If Owl Crate included a POP in every box, that would be OK with me!)

My husband, Eric, has already claimed this for his collection!

Vector Engraving Death Star Wooden Necklace - Value $16

(Evil boxes received the Death Star, Good boxes received the Millennium Falcon)

The detail on this pendant necklace is really impressive. And what a perfect addition for a good vs evil box!

Jane's Tiny Things Magnetic Bookmark - Value $2

(Evil boxes received the Queen of Hearts, Good boxes received Alice.)

I can never get enough magnetic bookmarks! They are so cute! (Even the evil ones!)

Drop and Give Me Nerdy Am I Not Merciful Sticker - Value $2?

This was made exclusively for the box. It's a quote from Illuminae (which is currently in my TBR pile). So, since I haven't read it yet, my first thought was that Owl Crate was quoting Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator!

And Owl Crate usually includes extra paper bookish goodies each month, too:

A promotional bookmark for Every Hidden Thing.

And an 8-page YA book cover coloring book:

Verdict: This box has a value of about $41 (using the Amazon sale prices and my estimates of some of these exclusive items). I think that's a good value for a book box, especially with the curation and bonus book extras that OwlCrate includes each month. (Plus I just LOVED how awesome the theme was this month - bonus points for OwlCrate!)

What do you think of the July OwlCrate box? Was your box good or evil?

Uppercase July 2016 Box Spoiler Alert:

Hi everyone. We've been receiving a lot of emails and comments about the fact that OwlCrate and Uppercase featured the same book for two consecutive months. We want you to know that your feedback is incredibly important to us and for those of you who received duplicate books, we understand your disappointment. The reality of this situation is that here at OwlCrate we plan our boxes 6+ months in advance of shipping. This includes selecting the book, choosing the theme, and finding the wonderful small businesses to work with on that box (some of whom require many months to create their product). Given the fact that we finalize our book pick early on (and set all the other wheels in motion) – if it later becomes apparent that another book box has selected the same book as us, this is something that is completely out of our control. There is no foul play or copying going on. With every box aiming to send out the best books being published, it is likely that if there is a highly anticipated title coming out, more than one box may pick it as their featured book. We reached out to the owner of Uppercase, because we wanted to find a solution that worked for everyone involved. We are both willing to give subscribers who receive duplicate books a 50% refund off the Amazon price of the book. When we both give this refund, these subscribers will essentially have received one of the books for free! If you would like to claim this refund for duplicates that were sent out in June and July, please email [email protected] with a photograph of the contents of BOTH boxes (OwlCrate and Uppercase) in the same photo, side by side. If you have sent emails to us about this prior to this announcement, please write in again so we can give you your refund. Photos will be required to claim refunds if this happens again in the future as well. We are so incredibly grateful for all of your support. It means a lot to us that you subscribe to OwlCrate. We want to thank everyone for their positive words, feedback and ideas. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you! ❤️

A post shared by OwlCrate (@owlcrate) on Jul 21, 2016 at 6:12pm PDT

FYI - Owl Crate and Uppercase Box are offering subscribers who subscribed to both boxes a refund in the amount of half the cost of the Amazon price of this book.

I totally understand that both of these book subscription boxes secure their books many months in advance, so there was nothing they could do about 2 months back-to-back of identical books, and I think this is really an impressive offering.