Hey all, Sam here.
Based on the title of this post, it is very obvious that I am extremely behind in my posts. I had intended to at least do my book hauls and unboxings each month this year….but clearly that didn’t happen.
December 2021 was my final OwlCrate box, as I had already cancelled my subscription as soon as I made it off of FairyLoot’s wait list. Of course, what that meant was that I ended up getting both of their boxes for one month. Which is fine because it means opening more bookish goodies for me.
So I’m going to start with the OwlCrate “Beneath the Waves” box. Let’s get started.
I was really excited for the book in this one, and already had it on my to-buy list. I can also say that because I’ve really been struggling with my reading drive for the past 8 months or so, I still haven’t read it. Other than that, I think my favorite things in this box are the mug, the necklace, and the wooden ornament. I’m always a big fan of having lots of mugs around, and this one looks like it would be perfect not only for coffee or tea or cocoa, but also for soup or ice cream or cereal. I do love a versatile item. I have a few years worth of OwlCrate wooden ornaments that I hang on my Christmas tree each year, so this one will be a nice addition, and I love the spinning pendant necklace because it is inspired by the Darker Shade of Magic series by V.E. Schwab, which is a series I really enjoy.
I think this was a pretty good final box from OwlCrate, but I’m glad I made the switch over to FairyLoot. I primarily read fantasy with some sci-fi or historical or romance or contemporary if the story sounds good, so having a company that focuses a bit more on the wide world of fantasy is a bit more appealing to me.
Although, now that I’m packing everything up for the move, I’m seriously considering dropping down to just the book-only option from FairyLoot. Because as much as I love all the bookish items in the box, I don’t really use most of them, and so they end up piling up unless I can gift them to friends. But I dearly love the FairyLoot special edition covers.
All right, now let’s jump into the FairyLoot unboxing.
The December 2021 FairyLoot theme was “Dance with Death,” and it featured two books, which was a great addition to my first box with them, and honestly I loved this entire box. The collectible bookish tarot cards, the book sleeve, the letter opener…it was all just really cool. And again, I’m excited about this book (I had actually purchased the US cover edition as well), but I have yet to read it. I think I’m starting to maybe pull out of my reading slump, so we’ll see what happens. Between my anticipated releases and all the NetGalley reads I have, I think I’m going to be busy for quite a while.
Oh, and I’ll get better at my photography for the FairyLoot edition books. They deserve more than just one photo, because they usually get exclusive foil stamps or exclusive end papers, and typically sprayed edges on the pages. Their books are absolutely stunning, so I’m going to work to highlight them more in the future. I’m pretty sure I started doing more photos with…maybe the March box? I was taking the photos each month, so they’ve just been sitting in my image gallery waiting for me to post.
And since this post is five months late (since the OwlCrate was shipped late), I never asked, so I’m going to do it now, even though again it is really late…did you get any cool books or bookish items for Christmas? Let me know in the comments.
Free State of Geek 