Fell for a 'premium' book club subscription that cost me $120 for just 3 months of weird romance novels nobody liked

I signed up for this fancy curated book club box that promised hand-picked literary gems, but all I got were three super niche romance books about time-traveling bakers that my group absolutely roasted me for at our meeting, so has anyone else tried one of those subscription clubs and actually gotten something good?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_holly1mo agoTop Commenter

Oh man, I read an article about how most of these book subscription boxes are just reselling unsold stock from publishers. I actually tried one last year that sent me a really well-reviewed sci-fi novel and a signed copy of a debut author's work, so maybe the gem hunting is just really hit or miss. Time-traveling bakers sound hilarious though, I might actually want that one for a laugh.

claire_ramirez1mo ago

I read somewhere that like 60% of the books in subscription boxes are leftover stock that publishers couldn't sell in stores. A friend of mine got a box that had a book from three years ago with a sticker slapped over the old price, so that checked out. But then she also got this WEIRD little novella about a haunted laundromat that was actually good, so maybe the trash-to-treasure ratio is just all over the place. I'd totally sign up for a box that promised time-traveling bakers just to see if they're hilariously bad or accidentally brilliant.