A New Book Box! | Books By Nature February 2021 | Alternate Realities

Today I am super excited to be sharing with you an unboxing of a new UK book box called Books by Nature! I found this book box on Instagram and bought their first box which arrived in February.

This book box is bi-monthly, so releases every other month. At present, you have to buy each box individually, although I think I’ll want to get every release of this box so I hope a subscription will be added in the future!

Something that really drew me to this box was the natural aspect of it. For every box, a tree is planted through the One Tree Planted Charity. The creator of this box, Chelsea, saw how many books were published each day and the environmental impact that was having on the environment, so donates a proportion of every book sale to the charity. I think this is a brilliant idea, and it really made me want to subscribe.

Okay, so now we’ve heard a little about the box, let’s dive into this month’s! February’s theme was alternate realities: think Alice in Wonderland!

What’s inside?

We received:

• Gold coloured washi tape (I received three, one “normal” tape and two “mini” tapes. There was 10 designs so it would have been random!)
• A double-sided book tracker print
• A vegan cookie
• A “Wonderland” trucker cap
• A “Northern Lights” ballpoint pen
• A packed of sunflower seeds
• A promotional bookmark of a new YA book

And of course, the book: Game Changer by Neal Shusterman, a paperback edition with a signed bookplate!

The trees this month were planted in Indonesia, and we also received a print/collectable card of this location.

The Book

At the time of writing, I have not read this book, but I hope to post a review once I have! Until then, make sure you are following me on Goodreads to see my star rating and mini-review.

The book follows Ash, who gets hit on the back of a head with a football. All of a sudden, Ash is sent into a different world: a little like his, but not exactly. But he doesn’t stay there, and soon Ash is experiencing worlds that are getting further and further away from his own.

Looking at the reviews, this book has had a somewhat mixed reception, but I’m really looking forward to reading it. It will be my first Shusterman novel, and although I really want to read the Scythe trilogy which he is most known for, I can’t wait to experience Game Changer.

My Overall Thoughts

So what did I think of Books By Nature’s first official box? I was BLOWN AWAY and I loved it! This is a really promising new box, and I have already bought April’s edition. Inside this box, the items were interesting and different to any that I have seen before – beyond the ordinary notebook and bookmark, that’s for sure!

My favourite thing about this box is still the environmental aspect of it, and I hope in the future to receive more products like the sunflower seeds. I did have one ironic criticism: a few of the items were wrapped in plastic which I thought kind of defeated the point. (Edit: the owner of BBN messaged me to say they had considered the plastic usage but decided to keep the packaging because it was shipped that way from the manufacturer so rather than getting new packaging they kept the old packaging. This makes loads of sense to me because why buy more packaging when it’s already well packaged? Also I would expect items like the cookie to be packaged in plastic too! Thanks to BBN for reaching out to me on this comment. 🙂 ps: how many times can I say “package” in 3 sentences?!)

The cookie was delicious and I ate it as soon as I took my pictures! I really enjoyed the trucker cap, too. I don’t wear caps anymore, but I think I’ll make an exception here (and who knows, maybe I’ll get more caps in the future!). The washi tape was a nice addition that lots of book lovers, me included, use on the daily.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this box, and you can click here to go to Books By Nature’s website. For £27, it’s a really great price for what you get and the fact you plant a tree too.

What did you think of Alternate Realities? Are you going to subscribe to BBN, or have you already?!