OwlCrate is a YA book subscription box. Each month they send you a newly released YA book with some bookish goodies.
FYI - COVID-19 Updates: You can find OwlCrate shipping updates right here.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About OwlCrate YA
The Subscription Box: OwlCrate YA
The Cost: $29.99 + shipping. Save with longer subscriptions.
The Products: A new YA book and 3-5 book-related goodies. Recommended for ages 14+.
Ships to: The US for $7.99, Canada for $9.99, and worldwide for $19.99
OwlCrate YA "Written in the Stars" August 2020 Review
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Each box comes with a card detailing the theme and the items included. This month’s theme is “Written in the Stars."
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We received this booklet featuring an interview with the author, a word search, and an interview with one of our vendors for this month. They also included some information about their monthly photo challenge and a link to a "Stories and Stargazing" playlist!
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Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar - Retail Value $17.99 (found here for $16.19)
What a beautiful book design! I love the purple sprayed edges and the sparkly silver accents. It's really gorgeous and so fitting for our story this month, plus it's signed by the author!
From Amazon:
The daughter of a star and a mortal, Sheetal is used to keeping secrets. Pretending to be “normal.” But when an accidental flare of her starfire puts her human father in the hospital, Sheetal needs a full star’s help to heal him. A star like her mother, who returned to the sky long ago.
Sheetal’s quest to save her father will take her to a celestial court of shining wonders and dark shadows, where she must take the stage as her family’s champion in a competition to decide the next ruling house of the heavens—and win, or risk never returning to Earth at all.
I loved how our story began as more of a typical YA book with Sheetal being a somewhat traditional teenager blushing over her first boyfriend, Dev, and enduring some playful teasing from her best friend, Minal. Although there is a bit of a twist, as Sheetal is actually half star, as in her mother is a full star from the sky, which is also where she currently resides after leaving her and her father when Sheetal was just 7 years old. She doesn't know much about her star status, but lately, her silver hair has been harder to disguise and she is hearing the stars calling to her. While she tries to just focus on her feelings for Dev, she soon learns that she knows very little about being a star and the tragic history of them being muses for humans. She feels deceived by her father and abandoned by her mother, but all of that is forgotten when her father has a heart attack and isn't doing well. She knows that the only way she can heal him is to find her mother, which means she needs to go to the sky and do something brave and dangerous.
The author created a believable fantasy with Sheetal living in the ordinary real world with just a few elements of magic before we delved into the fantasy side of things. I really enjoyed the way this was written and I'm excited to dive into the rest of this magical world to see how this likable character navigates through this unknown world in the stars.
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I love hearing the author's thoughts behind the story from the included letter.
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OwlCrate Exclusive! Book Sleeve
Our first item is a beautiful book sleeve designed by Quirky Cup Collective and was inspired by The Starless Sea. While I haven't read the book, I can certainly appreciate this magical design and the great quote on it, "we are all stardust and stories." It really is so fitting for this month's story as well! This sleeve is generously sized (swipe to see it with our book inside) and will protect your current reading selection while looking stylish.
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OwlCrate Exclusive! Mini Clipboard
This month we have a great desktop theme with a few of our items. This small clipboard is such a nice size for taking notes on and it even has a little hole that pops up so you can hang it up if you wanted to. I love the fun design and quote which are inspired by Aurora Rising, but which is again very fitting for this month's story. The design comes from Daphna Sabbane and I have already put this beauty to use!
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OwlCrate Exclusive! Push Pin Bottle
Our next desk item is super cute and looks so great on display! This simple star-shaped glass jar with a cork stopper is filled with round silver push pins that make such a great looking accent to a corkboard that is incredibly useful as well! They recommend adding some cute fairy lights when your push pins are gone to make for an even cuter display!
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OwlCrate Exclusive! Metal Star Pen
Our last desktop item is very simple, but a much-needed item! This silver pen with a small star on the end is a fun writing utensil that twists open and writes with smooth black ink.
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OwlCrate Exclusive! Bandana Scarf
I actually love the way this design looked all rolled up and tied, but of course once open, you get to appreciate all of the other beautiful details in this design from Fern & Ink. This bandana is made of soft, silky satin, and the color is this gorgeous midnight blue that makes the white details really pop. This is inspired by Strange the Dreamer and I love the versatility of this piece! They recommend using it as a hair accessory or a fabric necklace or bracelet, but I think I'm going to tie this to my library bag for a fun accent!
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OwlCrate Exclusive! Monthly Enamel Pin
Each month you'll receive an enamel pin to go along with your book. I love when their designs include sparkles and this one designed by Band of Weirdos is especially sparkly and beautiful! I could see wearing this one on a jacket!
Verdict: This month's OwlCrate book is shaping up to be one of my favorites and the star theme to go along with it made for such a beautiful and fun box! Since back to school is coming up for a lot of people, I think that these desktop accessories were perfectly timed and I loved the gorgeous book sleeve and scarf. This was another great month of fabulous exclusive designs that I thoroughly enjoyed!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, but you can join the waitlist for the September box here.
Value Breakdown: This box costs $37.98 ($29.99 + $7.99 shipping), which means that each of the 7 items in the box has an average cost of about $5.43.
Check out all of our Owl Crate reviews and more of our best book subscription boxes!
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What did you think of OwlCrate this month?
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