Illumicrate - May 2016

First of all, I didn't have the slightest idea what would be inside since the box has no topic. That's a letdown right there. 

When I opened the box I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in there but when I took a closer look at that I realised it wasn't that hot after all. 

So what was in there? I refused to take pictures of all the cards in there which were somehow connected to the book and pretended to be postcards (which would have been awesome) but there was no space on them to write anything so that was downright stupid. The same goes to the card with a recipe. If it had been a really cool new muffin recipe then yes, it would have appeared in the picture you see but it was good old muffins we all know so that's a no from here. But those were just the extras. Not the main stuff.

So, the book When We Collided sounds promising and you'll have to check out my Instagram for it. But what I can't wrap my mind around is the author's signed sticker. Why didn't they give us a signed book? Why do we have to stick it in ourselves?

Next there is the "What happens in book club stays in book club" mug. I'm a tea lover and nothing makes my day more than a lovely new mug, except this one is plastic and I just don't enjoy drinking from plastic things. My 1,5-year-old nephew sips his toddlery stuff from plastic. That's exactly where plastic should end. With kids. 

The bookworm pin/badge was nice though. I pin a lot of stuff on my denim jacket so this one will look cool. The same goes for the lame colourful badges. They say stupid things but I'll make it work on my clothes.

The bookworm bookmark looks cute but again it's something one can hardly use. I won't abuse my books with it. If you take a look at it you'll see that this will leave dents in the pages and I can't live like that. 

Next there is a see-through stamp with a stack of books and a deer head. I like it. And I even know how to use it so this one is a win.

The TO BE READ LIST notebook looks cute as hell too but it's too short for the stuff I'd like to write down. But design-wise it's pretty. I'll try to make it work. Somehow.

And last and unfortunately least, there is this preview of Taylor's upcoming novel. Such a waste of resources! It's just a couple of chapters. If they gave us a link where to download it but no they have to print it out. It really doesn't sit well with me. Why would someone print out unfinished novels everyone will throw away? That really infuriated me.

Price (in Euros and including shipping): 51.50 (way too high for the eco-disaster)

The book: again, it'll appear on my Instagram once I'm done with it

Knick-knacks: a cup, a pin, a stamp, a bookmark, some badges, funny TBR notebook, a signed sticker, a preview of a new novel (on the whole it's a lot but how many of these can we put to use?!)

Overall impression: since it's pricier and I don't appreciate the bookish stuff as much as in the other box I have to lower the score for this one