Over the weekend my May Illumicrate box arrived – yes it’s now June but because of supplier issues the box was late coming out, it was a lovely welcome back from holiday box though!  Illumicrate is another UK based book box which comes out quarterly, they also do one off special boxes throughout the year too.  After I pre-ordered I was a bit apprehensive as when the theme came out I didn’t know many of the fandoms that well, but that didn’t matter as the box was great! Firstly I love the way the box is packed, it’s the smallest box I have received but it isn’t padded out with a ton of paper curls, which I just find wasteful usually.  So the box is 100% content.

What was in the box?  The first item was a Black Panther inspired book sleeve by @risarodil and an exclusive to this box.  The quote is “It is Your Time”  This is a lovely book sleeve, it’s sized for a paperback which is great as my other one is quite large and the inside is fleecy which makes it feel like my book gets a snuggle!  Next is a beautiful box, which would be perfect as a lunch box for a tiny person or for swag storage, based on Fangirl (I’d not heard of it before) but the #quote of #prefersfictionalworlds was just utterly perfect for me, the image by @aliceoseman is fabulous – I love it!  It was also announced that there would be a Fable & Black pin in this box, I have never had one of their pins before, but I follow them on Instagram and I love all their designs.  This one was themed on Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson) and is a Pegasus pin – I adore the vibrant colours and great definition in this pin, but then I wouldn’t have expected anything less from them.  Next were some amazing page markers based on the 4 elements and taken from Avatar: The Last Airbender – these are ridiculously handy for me, I often have no ways of marking passages or quotes when I read and these will really help me to keep those places which will be great for reviews.  The final bookish item were some tarot style cards based on the Infernal Devices designed by @taratjah. I have to say I am struggling with the Mortal Instruments books and I have been told that the Infernal Devices series is better, i’ll try and push through with them though to move on to ID next.  The cards are fantastic though, really sturdy and great quality, I love the trend for these types of cards at the moment, I really hope for some based on The Lunar Chronicles to turn up soon!!

Onto the books!  The featured book this month is A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews.  To most of us in Bookstagram land we’ll know her as @paperfury and if, like me, you’ve been part of the community for a while you would have been following the story of this release.  Although I’m not a massive fan of contemporary works I have the feeling this will have quite an edge to it and I’ll actually really enjoy it!  It also comes with a signed book plate and a promotional book mark. The box also contained an Arc of a book not due out until October, it’s from the writer of the 100 and is called Light Years – it’s set at a boarding school in space, so I’m thinking futuristic Mallory Towers!  There was also it’s fair share of promotional bits and bobs too, i’m always a fan of a button badge 😉

So that’s my first Illumicrate box!  I love the more unique items inside and also the inclusion of an Arc – it was refreshing to not have a box padded out with a candle for once as well.  The box usually retails at £29.99 which put it as slightly more expensive than fairyloot at first blush, however, their pricing includes VAT and shipping is free in the UK so it actually works out cheaper.  I also benefited from a rep code this time round so I feel like I got such a bargain! It was a shame that the box came out late, but that can’t be helped, this is one subscription that I will be keeping up 🙂