 Hi everyone and a big welcome back to my channel. So today I'm coming at you with a totally new type of video. I have never done one of these type of videos before. Today we're going to be doing a book subscription box unboxing. And there will also be some perks for you guys too, if you're interested, you'll see. So I don't know about you guys, but I have never actually received a book subscription box before. For those of you who don't know how they work, they are typically monthly subscription services where you pay a monthly fee and you get a box sent to your house monthly with surprise books inside. They are something that's been on my radar for the past couple of years basically exclusively because of Booktube. And I've always thought they seemed pretty cool. A really fun way to discover new books that you may not necessarily pick up yourself. I really just like the idea of getting the box through to your house each month and the surprise element that comes with it. They just seem like a really nice treat for yourself or other book loving people in your life. But for whatever reason, I've never actually done the thing, invested the money and actually signed up to one of these things. I guess I've just never heard of a subscription box that really seemed worth the money to me. I genuinely be interested to hear your guys' thoughts on this. Do you use book subscription boxes? Do you think they are worth the money? Please let me know any thoughts you have down below in the comments. I would love to hear. Recently I was contacted by the monthly book subscription service A Box of Stories who asked me whether I'd be interested in receiving a free box from them and opening it for you guys on camera. This video isn't sponsored, they haven't paid me to make this video but I just thought why not? Let's just give this whole thing a go and we can see how we feel together. A Box of Stories is a pretty new baby UK company I believe in each of their boxes. They send you four different books and the main thing that genuinely attracted me to A Box of Stories is the fact that they specialize in undiscovered or under the radar authors. They actually have this really shocking stat on their website that each year 77 million books do not make it onto shelves. They are not given the marketing budget, they don't get the attention and they are destroyed before people can even access them. So A Box of Stories searches through thousands of reader reviews to find the best books that are going unnoticed and then brings them to the attention of other readers through this box. Pretty cool. Another great thing about A Box of Stories from what I can see is that they have a few different types of book boxes depending on your preference. So they have a fiction box, a historical fiction box, and a YA box among others. So today I have with me one of their fiction boxes to open for you guys and... and I've also kindly been given a discount code for you guys. So if you like the sound of A Box of Stories and the books that I get, you can go and order yourself a box with some money off. And you can, I believe, just buy yourself a one-off box as well, which is really cool. You don't have to tie yourself into a subscription if you don't want to. Information on how to get money off your very own box will be down below in the description box. And for anyone who does make a purchase using my discount code, I will actually receive a small commission which would be amazing, very much appreciated, but no pressure, obviously. So let's do this. So this is the box. It just says A Box of Stories on the front there. I now need to try and get into this, so bear with me. Why is opening parcels so fun? So it says here inside the lid that 77 million books are destroyed in the UK every year. 83% of those books are pulped before they have been read. We want to save these amazing books from being lost in time forever. Every box you get saves four amazing books and you discover four incredible authors, so thank you for helping us on our mission. Very sweet and also kind of shocking. So inside the box we just have some paper for protection, very good, and I'm seeing this on the top. So this says congratulations. You've discovered four hidden gems. Your box gets you access to our private group of book readers. Scan to join them now. Oh I didn't realize that. I guess there's some kind of private book group that you can join once you become a member. And then on the other side it says subscribe for superpowers, save 10% on every box. So there's some kind of code you get there. Oh and it also says swap across boxes anytime. So one month I guess you could get a YA box and then the next you could get a historical fiction box depending on what you're craving. Pause anytime as many times so you're not tied into a subscription. Choose your box frequency and unlock a surprise gift with every third box. That's pretty cool. I'll just show you that. I hope you can see. So now into the good stuff, the books. I'm genuinely excited for this. I don't know if many of you will relate but I very rarely get sent surprise books. I get sent books from publishers but they're typically books that I have okayed or requested. I also buy new releases and backlist books for myself but I very rarely get gifted books that I have no idea I'm going to get. People just know that I acquire books at such a mad rate and they're scared of getting me something that I already own I guess. So this is very exciting. I'm loving this air of mystery. So the first book on top here is this one. I thought I Knew You by Penny Hancock. So I'm immediately getting crime thriller vibes here. It's published by Mantle, Pam Macmillan, and I think what I'm going to do is just read the blurb aloud so we can figure out what these books are about together. So this one says who do you know better? Your oldest friend or your child? And who should you believe when one accuses the other of an abhorrent crime? Jules and Holly have been best friends since university. They tell each other everything, trading revelations and confessions, and sharing both the big moments and the small details of their lives. Holly is the only person who knows about Jules' affair. Jules was there for Holly when her husband died, and their two children just three years apart have grown up together. So when Jules' daughter Safi makes a serious allegation against Holly's son Saul, neither woman is prepared for the devastating impact that this will have on their friendship, their families, and everything they believe in, especially as Holly refuses to accept her son is guilty. Okay, okay, this seems pretty intriguing. Those of you who are more familiar with my channel will probably know that I don't read a ton of crime, thriller-y style novels. Every now and again I massively crave them and just get in the mood for something darker and more plot-driven and more page turning. And the fact that this one centers around friendship and families is a huge tick for me. I always like a good dose of character and relationship exploration. And on the front here as well, I'm just noticing it says two families, one accusation, countless consequences. It sounds pretty good. I think when I'm craving this kind of thing, this could be a good one. And it's pretty nice to receive one as well actually, because it's not the kind of thing I would typically buy for myself. The next book in the box is this one, which is called, if I'm reading it correctly, Okay, Mr. Field by Catherine Killily. Now this one immediately looks more like my kind of thing because I've noticed it is published by Faber. I'm kind of getting historical fiction vibes from this cover. What do you think? Place your bets below and now we shall read the blurb and hopefully find out. Mr. Field, a concert pianist traveling back from a performance in London, suffers a fractured wrist in a train crash. On a whim, he uses his compensation money to buy a house he has seen in a newspaper, a replica of Le Corbusier's villa, Savoy, on the coast outside Cape Town. But when Mr. Field moves there with his wife, Mim, he finds that the house has a disturbing and unexpected effect. Dwelling in the gaps within conversation and the distances between people. Okay, Mr. Field is a powerful story of obsession, disintegration, and loneliness. Okay, so not exactly what I was expecting from the cover. I'm not really sure what to expect from this one now but it sounds as though it's going to be pretty character focused, which is obviously my jam. Also it is pretty short and I do tend to love a short impactful literary novel so we'll see. Next up we seem to have another one published by Faber and Faber and it's called The Zone and it's by Christopher Wilson. I really like this cover by the way, this is the kind of cover that would have me intrigued if I was browsing. And on the back it says Meet Yuri Zippit, a boy who's had a bang on the head in a collision with a Moscow milk truck. He has a kind face, makes friends easily, and likes to help. People want to tell him their secrets, including the great leader himself who takes a shine to Yuri and employs him for his natural talents. In his new job Yuri will witness it all, betrayals, body doubles, buffoonery. Who knew that a man could be in five places at once, that someone could break your nose as a sign of friendship, that people could be disinvented. The Zoo is a brilliantly cutting satire told through the voice of one incredible boy. Okay so it sounds as though this one is going to be more historical. I don't tend to read satires, they aren't the kind of books that I typically gravitate towards or really connect with. But every now and again I love giving one a go and when they do work for me I think they can be pretty brilliant. I like the idea of the setting in here and also the main character. I'm quite intrigued by him already. Again this one seems like a pretty short book so it shouldn't take me too long to get through. It also seems to be blurbed by quite a few cool people. The literary review said a timely and well-crafted satire about hope in an age of fabricated truth. So again pretty intrigued by this one, I look forward to seeing what it has to offer. Also a quick observation before the final book. I think it goes without saying but I haven't heard of any of these books that I have seen so far. I was hoping they would all be new discoveries for me so so far so good. And the final book in the box is this one, The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka. And again this one is published by Faber and Faber. That is super interesting. I wonder if they work with them a lot. This one is also clearly giving me crime vibes. It is blurbed on the back as being this summer's must read crime debut but what crime book isn't really. And I think the blurb must be inside. So the blurb reads what really happened to Sarah Cook. Sarah Cook, a beautiful blonde teenager, disappeared 15 years ago the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton, black and from the wrong side of the tracks, was convicted of the murders and sits on death row though he always maintained his innocence. With his execution only weeks away his devoted sister, insisting she has spotted Sarah at a local gas station, hires PI Roxanne Wary to take another look at this cold case. Reeling from the recent death of her cop father, Roxanne finds herself drawn to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she suspects a link between Sarah's disappearance and one of her father's unsolved murder cases. Despite her self-destructive tendencies Roxanne starts to hope that she can save Brad's life and her own. So again crime is not something I read a ton of but it's something that I really enjoy reading every now and again. This one sounds pretty good I'd say it sounds like a pretty generic synopsis. I do like the idea of it exploring life on death row and perhaps it will explore race as well. So yes we will just have to see on this one. So there we go those were the four books in my box. I don't know how well you can see that I'll just put it down. So as for my overall thoughts I genuinely liked this. Receiving a box full of four surprise books is definitely as fun as you would think it would be. I genuinely like the mission of a box of stories. It's really cool to save these books. Also receive highly rated books that you probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise. I think that's really cool. I love that you can order one-off boxes and not be tied into a monthly subscription thing. I love that there are different types of boxes and that you can switch between them whenever you'd like. This is all definitely something I will look into for gift ideas for people in the future I think. And I'm excited to give these books a go and see how I get on with them. A big thank you again to a box of stories for sharing these titles with me. And again for anyone who wants to treat themselves or anyone else to a one-off box or a subscription then please use my link down below and get some money off. I know we could all do with some of that at the moment. Thank you so much to everyone who's watching. Thank you for joining me on this little journey. I'd love to chat to you all down below in the comments. Tell me how you feel about book subscription services. Tell me what you thought of this box. Can't wait to chat to you all as always. I hope you're doing really well and I will see you soon in another video. Bye everyone.