The Book of the Month April 2021 selections are here! Decide which of the five books you want to add to your subscription box.
Book of the Month is my favorite subscription box. Every month, I choose between their five book selections, and voila! A blue box arrives at my door carrying one (or two or three) new books for me to read.
Every month, I highlight the five books chosen and let you know my thoughts on the chosen titles.
Even if you don’t have a Book of the Month subscription (yet), I think you’ll find value in looking at a curated list of new releases.
Take a look at the five books this month:
- A Friends-to-Lovers Romance
- Two Familes Overcoming Tragedy
- A Zesty Culinary Mystery
- An 1800s Coming-of-Age Story
- A Sizzling Texas Thriller
Keep scrolling to see all the details about the Book of the Month April 2021 selections and to find out which one I’m adding to my subscription box.
What is Book of the Month?
Book of the Month is a monthly subscription book service highly popular among the book community. Trust me, once you try it, you’ll be hooked.
How it Works
Each month, a panel of judges chooses five books for you to choose from. The Book of the Month selections cover different genres and are always special edition hardcovers. Often, the chosen books haven’t been published yet, so you get to be one of the first people to read them.
At the beginning of the month, you choose one book to add to your box and shortly thereafter the little blue box arrives at your door. If you aren’t loving any of the selected books, you just skip that month and your credits will just roll over to the next month. Or, after your third box, you can choose from five member favorite books for your month’s selection instead.
On the other hand, if you want more than one book, once you’ve chosen your initial book, you can add-on up to two additional books at a discounted rate. These add-ons can be from the current month’s selection, be favorites from previous months, or be new releases specially included in the add-on catalog.
Pricing
Book of the Month runs two different pricing plans. On the monthly plan, you get one credit a month for $15. If you are willing to pay upfront, the yearly plan gives you 12 credits for $150, which averages out to $12.50 a book. For a hardcover new release, both prices are a steal.
Even better, when you include additional books into your box, they are only $10 each!
Book of the Month also offers 3, 6, and 9-month gift cards if you are considering purchasing it as a gift.
For new subscribers, Book of the Month’s homepage almost always has a special offer to get your first book for $10. But I can do you one better. If you are interested in joining, you can use my Book of the Month Club referral link to get your first book for $5 right now!
Bonus Features
But wait, there’s more. Once you’ve chosen your 12th book from Book of the Month, you join the BFF club and get a special Book of the Month tote.
After that, you’ll get a free add-on every year for your birthday month. Plus, when the end of the year rolls around, you get one of the top 5 Book of the Month selections from the year for free. That’s an additional two books each year for no additional cost.
What are you waiting for? Join Book of the Month and get your first book at a discounted price!
April 2021 Book of the Month Selections
People We Meet on Vacation
Emily Henry
Poppy and Alex have been best friends forever even though she’s a wild child full of wanderlust and he’s an introverted bookworm. Although she lives in New York City and he still lives in their hometown, every year they take a week-long vacation together. Until two years ago, when their trip ended in a falling out. Now Poppy convinces Alex to take one final vacation with her in an attempt to fix their relationship … and maybe even fall in love.
What Comes After
JoAnne Tompkins
In a coastal Washington town, next-door neighbors Isaac and Lorrie are both struggling to cope with the recent deaths of their sons. When a pregnant teenager shows up at Isaac’s doorstep, she at first seems a blessing. As Isaac and Lorrie get to know Evangeline, their overlapping pasts threaten to derail the shared future they are building.
Arsenic and Adobo
Mia P. Manansala
After a bad breakup, Lila Macapagal moves back home to help save her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant. When her ex-boyfriend, a harsh food critic, drops dead in the restaurant immediately after a confrontation with Lila, she finds herself the prime suspect. Armed with a cadre of nosy aunties and her barista best friend, Lila sets out to solve the case and prove her innocence.
Libertie
Kaitlyn Greenidge
In Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson struggles to find her way as a freeborn Black girl. Although Libertie is drawn to music, her mother expects her to become a doctor so they can practice medicine together. When a young man from Haiti proposes to Libertie, his claims that she will be his equal don’t hold up in the patriarchal society. Now Libertie must figure out what freedom truly means to her in this story inspired by the life of one of the first Black female doctors in the United States.
The Hunting Wives
May Cobb
After Sophie O’Neill leaves her big Chicago career to settle down in a small Texas town with her husband and son, she quickly becomes restless. Then she meets Margot Banks, a socialite with a penchant for late-night target practice and heavy partying. As Sophie gets drawn into Margot’s group of Hunting Wives, she soon finds herself tangled in the middle of a murder investigation.
Not Feeling the April Books?
Sometimes, it happens. If none of the five April 2021 Book of the Month selections are calling your name, don’t despair. After your third box, you now have another option!
Previously, if you didn’t love the five choices, you would have to skip the whole month. Now, you can choose a member fave for your monthly box and then add-on up to two more books if you choose.
Member Faves:
April’s New Add-Ons
Recently, Book of the Month has started including a few extra releases on top of their five monthly selections. Once you have picked your main selection, you can choose to add-on one of these new books (or any past release) to your box.
April’s New Books:
My April Picks
To be honest, I wasn’t really feeling any of the April choices. At first glance, they all seemed either too light or too serious. Sadly, the alternates sounded even less appealing. However, there is no way I am skipping my little blue box this month, especially since I desperately wanted some of the add-ons!
I immediately struck out all of the lighter romance/mystery choices, though I have heard great things about People We Meet on Vacation. While Libertie sounds intriguing and I may pick it up in the future, I decided to opt for the more contemporary story What Comes After.
On the other hand, my add-on’s were not difficult to choose this month.
I was excited to see When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain among the options because it’s been on my list of upcoming books I want to read. I know she generally writes historical fiction, so I’m curious to see how well she can switch to a thriller. Also, I have a suspicion that either Reese Witherspoon or Jenna Bush Hager might pick it for their April book clubs.
Lastly, I’ve been planning to add Lock Every Door by Riley Sager to my box ever since I read his upcoming July release, Survive the Night, earlier this month. His books have such intensity that make them such fun reads. Fingers crossed I like Lock Every Door as much as everyone else seems to.
Which of the Book of the Month April 2021 Selections Are You Going to Pick?
What books can you not wait to get your hands on this month? Or are you skipping this month’s selections? As always, let me know in the comments!
More New Book Releases:
Ann says
Thanks for this article! I am waiting to see what Read With Jenna picks before I decide which BOTM to choose, because sometimes I get lucky and her selection is among their 5 choices.
What Comes After & When The Stars Go Dark both sound good.
At first glance I agree that BOTM did not grab me this month.
I still haven’t read last month’s BOTM. It was a Jenna pick, but I forget the title.
I am currently reading Gilead (Oprah’s pick) & The Sanatorium. The Sanatorium is not doing a thing for me!!!
Rachael says
Oh, I was so excited for The Sanatorium. It might fall a bit further down my to-read list. The Read with Jenna pick just came out today (Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney” and it is one of the April add-ons! They added it over the weekend, so I had to update the post to include it.
Deanna says
Thanks for your post. I was not really feeling any of the books either but after reading more into each book I decided on What Comes After. I added on When the Stars go Dark which I’m excited to read. I also added on The Mother’s. I still have the three selections from last month to read. Yikes! Hopefully I can start this weekend on those. The new books arrive later this week.
Rachael says
My unread Book of the Month books are starting to catch up to me, too! I’d love to hear what you think about The Mothers. It’s on my TBR.