Welcome back!

I wasn’t planning on posting BUT then i got book mail….
Today I received the April edition of The YA Chronicles and couldn’t resist doing an unboxing post!

For those who don’t know The YA Chronicles is an Australian Book Subscription Box. Basically, it’s a subscription service that sends you a box of surprise goodies once a month. Each month is a different theme and they base the items included around the theme. The items themselves are always a surprise but the theme is always announced publicly. If you don’t like the theme then you can simply skip that month. Each month the boxes will come with a book and 2-5 bookish/book related items. If you want to know more about subscription boxes or see unboxings you can join my Facebook group “Bookish Subscription Box Chat Worldwide” here.

Now back to the unboxing!

The YA Chronicles comes once a month and costs $29.99 AUD plus postage. Because im in Australia postage to me is only $9.99 AUD. Making the box $39.98 AUD a month. They also ship internationally, international shipping is $24.99 AUD making the box $54.98 AUD a month for international subscribers.

This months theme was “Volume Eight: Journal Junkies”.

Here is the unboxing photo:

So we received a hard hitting contemporary novel and 5 other bookish items (6 altogether). Which is a good amount and sticks to their promise of between 2-5 bookish goodies. I do feel this box was a bit flat for me. Besides the novel which i will read i feel the rest of the items are a bit lacking and unexciting. However that’s just my opinion. I’m not into journaling so knew this box was going to be a bit of a miss for me. I still purchased it though because i love getting a surprise book and love collecting the bookmarks that are included every month. I will post more info on the included items below.

1) The Contents Card.

Every box comes with a standard contents card. Every month it is a different colour with a matching bookmark. It lists the items that you’ve received and where you can buy them. The only thing missing is the RRP price for each item.

This months card says:

“What’s in the box?

Volume Eight, Journal Junkie

– Steel your heart and make sure you have a tissue box handy when you give this month’s book a read. This Is Where The World Ends by Amy Zhang tells the story of Janie and Micah. Best friends since elementary school, they drifted apart when they entered high school. Or so that’s what everyone thinks. Here’s the tale of a beautifully written and tragically toxic relationship.

– Decorate your journals and never lose track of what you’re reading with these colourful Currently Reading Stickers from The Sticker Alley on Etsy.

– With your new Get Shit Done Notebook, brought to you by the amazing MiGoals on Etsy, you will never forget to be productive and get that important item on your To Do List done.

– We heard you like books, so here’s a roll of Book Washi Tape so you can decorate your books with more books. Bookception.”

2) Currently Reading Stickers from The Sticker Alley.

The Sticker Alley is an Australia handmade business who sell on etsy. They make cute (and i mean seriously cute!) magnetic bookmarks and planner stickers. They have a whole range from Throne of Glass to Harry Potter and even Disney!

This 12 pack of currently reading stickers are available for purchase on etsy for $4 AUD.

You can view The Sticker Alley here.

3) Book Washi Tape

Next we received this book washi tape. It’s probably the only item in the box that I won’t use (even though i do think its cute). I’ve never used washi tape before and am a little unsure on how i would use it. If you have any suggestions please comment them below! I would love to hear them.

There was no listed seller on the contents card so I did a quick google search. I found these listed on eBay for $2.69 AUD each.

If you wish to purchase this, you can do so here.

4) The YA Chronicles “Volume Eight: Journal Junkies” Bookmark.

Every month we also receive a double sided bookmark from The YA Chronicles. It’s always a different colour and matches the contents card. One side shows the colour with “The YA Chronicles” printed on it. While the other side shows the white with the box volume number and theme. This month it says “Volume Eight, Journal Junkies”. I look forward to receiving this every month and have started to collect them. They’re practical and I get great use out of them. They’re also great quality.

These are custom made by The YA Chronicles every month, however you can buy a “I Love Young Adult” bookmark from their website for $3.99 AUD. So I’m going to assume that is what this cost.

You can buy it from here

5) Get Shit Done Notebook by MiGoals

MiGoals are another Australian etsy business. They make diaries, planners, to do lists and notebooks.

Everyone received different types given out at random. I received a red one with “Get Shit Done” written on the front. It also includes a little quote on the first page:

“There are two types of people in this world. The ones who simply talk and dream of success. And the ones who go out there, chase their dreams and get shit done.”

The rest of the inside is line with places to mark down your to do list, date and spot to tick off when it’s completed.

To be honest I probably wont use this as a to do list. I’m not great at to do lists, i never finish them. I do however think this would make a great notebook for my grocery lists 😝

This is available on etsy for $4.95 AUD.

You can view MiGoals here. 

6) Paperback Book – This Is Where The World Ends by Amy Zhang.

The final item was the book. We received a paperback copy of This Is Where The World Ends by Amy Zhang. It has been described as a hard hitting contemporary novel. I’ve seen some great reviews on goodreads so look forward to reading it.

Synopsis:

“Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how its been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivian moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship – as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his friend is coloured with doubt.”

There’s actually no RRP price on this book either so I did a quick google search and Harper Collins lists the RRP as $19.99.

This can be purchased at any book store.

Overall Value:

So by adding all the individual RRP prices together, the overall value of this box comes to $35.62 AUD. As mentioned earlier the box costs $29.99 plus shipping. The value its self is more than the price of the box. We’re getting about $5.62 more value then what we paid. While it’s not a huge increase in value we are still definitely getting our money worth (which is all we can ask really).

My Thoughts

I love this company because they are Australian and have always produced quality boxes with fantastic themes. They are one of the cheaper boxes available and we do get our moneys worth. Even though this box fell a little flat for me, I will still totally recommend this company to everyone. As mentioned above, the theme itself wasnt an appealing  one to myself as im not a journal junkie but i still choose to purchase the box. Therefore i believe the fault lies in myself not The YA Chronicles for how i feel about it.

They currently have the May box, which is themed “Summer Daze Driftin’ Away” availble for purchase now  here. 

Thanks for reading!

– AIMZ