The Book of the Month October 2020 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.
This year, I’ve decided to run a monthly Book of the Month post. I’ll highlight the five books chosen each month 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:
- Prequel to a Witchy Favorite
- Blackout in New York City
- Twin vs Twin Thriller
- A Complicated Romance
- A Cursed Immortality
Keep scrolling to see all the details about the Book of the Month October 2020 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 it.
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. On the other hand, if you want more than one 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 or be favorites from previous months.
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 of a 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 $10!
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 for $10!
October 2020 Book of the Month Selections
Magic Lessons
Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman returns with a prequel to her bestselling book Practical Magic. In the 1600s, Hannah Owens discovers a baby abandoned in the New England woods. Hannah chooses to raise Maria as her own and teach her about “The Unnamed Arts.” When Maria is abandoned by the man she loves, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts, and invokes the curse that will last generations. If your timid about choosing the third book in a series you haven’t read, you can read Magic Lessons as a standalone novel, or choose to add-on both Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic into your October box.
Leave the World Behind
Rumaan Alam
While vacationing at a home rental in a remote part of Long Island, a white couple is surprised when a Black couple shows up claiming to be the homeowners. They say they are fleeing from a mass blackout and disaster in New York City. Most reviewers found this genre-bending family drama thrilling. I could not force myself past the horrible walking thesaurus of an intro to even start on the suspenseful storyline. You’ll have to see for yourself if you choose this book for your October pick.
The Girl in the Mirror
Rose Carlyle
Twin sisters Iris and Summer are practically identical, though Iris has always been jealous of Summer’s good luck. When Summer invites Iris to help the family sail to the Seychelles, the two sisters are swept to sea and only one returns. Iris now has the chance to take over Summer’s perfect life and hopefully produce the first family heir to secure her father’s inheritance. How long can Iris deceive everyone in Summer’s not-so-perfect life? And what happened to Summer?
Ties That Tether
Jane Igharo
As a child, Azere promised her father on his deathbed that she would marry a Nigerian man. Now that she lives in Canada, she feels like she’s gone through the entire Nigerian dating pool. When Azere finally falls in love with a white man, she isn’t sure how to tell her mother or whether family loyalty and identity need to be sacrificed for love.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V. E. Schwab
To escape a forced marriage, Addie LaRue makes a bargain with the devil in 1714. She gets to live forever, but she will be forgotten by everyone she meets. After 300 years, Addie has become resigned to her fate until she meets a young man who remembers her name. I loved everything about Schwab’s clever adult fantasy novel, which has the fast pacing of a YA novel that makes it easy to read. Adeline and Luc (short for Lucifer) made excellent sparring partners, and Henry’s addition to the story worked perfectly. An all-around joy of a read that I wholeheartedly recommend for your October Book of the Month selection.
Not Feeling the October Books?
Sometimes, it happens. If none of the five October 2020 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:
October’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.
October’s New Books:

My Pick
If I hadn’t already read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I would choose it in a heartbeat. However, I like to choose new titles every month, so I’ll pass on the gorgeous hard copy.
I was tempted to read Ties That Tether because it really sounds like a sharp book, but I’m not in the mood for a romance.
In my mind, October is the month to read thrillers, so I’m going to load up my box with them. For my October box, I choose the soapy-sounding The Girl in the Mirror. I remember enjoying that Sarah Michelle Gellar tv show, Ringer, with the exact same premise, so fingers crossed I enjoy this novel.
I’m also adding two more thrillers to my box: Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects and Lisa Jewell’s Then She Was Gone. My husband just read Gone Girl, and right now we are halfway through the movie. I hated it when I read it, but that story has stuck with me over the years. I’ve heard Sharp Objects is just as good, if not better. Lisa Jewell is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine, so I’m excited to read another one of her books.
Which of the Book of the Month October 2020 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: