A couple of months ago, I didn’t think I would be able to meet the cost of this box and I sadly had to cancel my subscription.  However when the theme was revealed with a particularly heavy hint at the book that would be included I took a decision – I had the hinted book on pre-order from Waterstones so I tentatively cancelled my order to use that money towards the box and hope beyond hope that the book was what everyone thought it would be!

So in light of that I’ll start with the book which I am very relieved to say was Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J Maas.  I had to do a trade off with this, the Waterstones copy was the same gorgeous hardback edition but with a signed bookplate, the Illumicrate one has sprayed edges but not signed.  I’m kind of sad that I don’t have the signature but the edges are just beautiful.  The hardback edition also has a cute cat motif on the spine under the dust jacket – I love it!!

Back to the unboxing though.  Illumicrate have changed up their boxes which you can see from the cover image are now yellow and also bigger – thankfully they still don’t feel the need to pad their boxes with half a forest of paper swirls. There were no less than 8 exclusive items this quarter.  The first was a “Villains Are My Bag” tote from KDP Letters It’s really thick quality fabric and the straps are really sturdy looking, the quote is in their trademark style and it’s wonderful! The “Sirius Snacks” Coaster is probably one of my favourite items, the art is from Katie Abey and has an Azkaban Sirius Black and Buckbeak, it’s super cute. Next up was a Nail file (in case your villainous ways need to you escape from prison) It’s probably one of the more random items I have had in a box before based on Darkdawn, it’s from a series I want to read eventually.  For all it’s randomness, it is again a really quality item from Hey Atlas Creative. Who doesn’t love a lanyard!  I love them to take to cons, I put my pins or badges I collect during the day on them, this Six of Crows design by Fable and Black will give me all the squad goals feels too!

The cutest item is a comic book inspired Protagonist/Antagonist necklace by Down the Rabbit Hole perfect for those days when you can’t decide whether you want to save the world or take over the world! No book box would be complete without a candle and I was excited that this one featured a candle by Elven Wick Candles – I have been looking into getting their Legendary candle and I’m happy to say that on the basis of this “Perfect Heist” candle, I’ll likely be getting more from them. The scent is really subtle but it looks so pretty and sparkly, the attention to the design on the label is fab too, like a heist map! The scent is Lime, Sweet Melon, Water Lily and Must and this thing is full to the brim! The “The Easiest Lies to tell are the one’s we want to be true” mirror is based on a Holly Black quote – I’m not really a Holly Black fan I have to say, but the design of the quote by Reverie and Ink is lovely and will be amazing to use in bookstagram posts.  The final main item is a Gotham Sirens Print featuring Catwoman (natch), Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.  Little Miss Playground is a huge fan of the DC Superhero Girls and Harley Quinn so this will be winging it’s way off to her room soon no doubt (I expect she’ll snatch the mirror too given half a chance!)

There were some other promo bits in there too which is to be expected.  All in all I was amazed at just how much stuff was in the box this quarter, everything is amazing quality and all really useful stuff (yes I class bookstagram worthy items as useful lol) I’m so glad I managed to get the funds together to get this box and I’m excited to see what the next quarter brings!