Have you been thinking about trying our a bookish subscription box? Fortunately there are a load more options in UK than there used to be, meaning shipping costs won’t break the bank. Here are the four I’ve tried so far.

Illumicrate


Frequency: Quarterly
Price: £29.99 (free UK shipping)
Genres: Usually YA SFF, sometimes contemporary and occasionally adult SFF.


What you can expect:
Often includes two books, the featured title plus an ARC (sometimes with an exclusive cover). The additonal items are usually from Etsy sellers, often with exclusive designs. Past items have included mugs, candles, pouches, cushion cover, coasters and notepads. The box usually has samplers, bookmarks and postcards for recent or upcoming YA titles.

Verdict:
I trust Daphne’s choice of books and have found some new favourites among her choices. I like the quarterly frequency too, so it’s not one I feel I have to put on hold. In fact, I’ve received every single standard box so far.

Illumicrate also do one off super boxes for specific fandoms.

@illumicrate

Wildest Dreams


Frequency: Monthly
Price: £18 (free UK shipping)
Genres: YA


What you can expect:
A paperback book, a Geeky Clean product (or occasional candle) and hand-blended tea.

Verdict:
The cheapest on this list and I love that it includes consumables rather than stuff that’s likely to get shoved in a box and forgotten about. Again, I’ve really not had a chance to read the books yet and I’ll probably have to take a little break as monthly is just a bit too often for me.

@wdbookbox

Ninja Book Box


Frequency: Quarterly
Price: £29.99 (free UK shipping)
Genres: Varies


What you can expect:
An independently published book plus items from small businesses, often handmade. Each box includes a themed charm which you can add to a bracelet or chain and a recipe card.

Verdict:
Full disclosure, I adore Bex and I love that she’s doing so much to promote smaller publishers. I’ve not managed to get round to reading any of these books yet (although the box I skipped was because I’d already read and enjoyed Dragon’s Green). If you want a subscription to help steer you in a different direction, I would recommend this one, even if it’s not quite right for me.

Ninja Book Box also offers mini box subscriptions for the book without the additional items.

@ninjabookbox

FairyLoot


Frequency: Monthly
Price: £26 + £3.95 UK shipping
Genres: YA Fantasy


What you can expect:
A recent hardback book, sometimes an exclusive edition, which comes in a FairyLoot book bag and a generous number of items based on a theme. Past items have included jewellery, tea infuser, scarf, hot chocolate, candles, notebooks, magnetic bookmarks and hat. The box also includes some promotional materials from publishers.

Verdict:
One of the most professionally put together boxes with plenty of quality items. I’m pretty bad at reading the books though, and monthly is just a bit too often. They do offer one off purchases though. Sign up for their newsletter for hints on what will be included and then you can decide if you want it.

@fairyloot

So basically, I like all these boxes but just don’t have time to read all the books on top of my mahoosive TBR. I am trying to cut back a bit, but out of all of these, I think Illumicrate is my favourite, for book choices, frequency and contents. Do you know of any other British book boxes I should try?