Unboxing: Review of LitJoy Crate April 2019

With all unboxings my intention is to help you determine if the box is worth your money. I go through each product included in the box first and assign a rating at the end. Each item is rated out of 3: usefulness, quality, and do I personally enjoy it? Often I will give bonus points for extra items/ exceptional covers/ exceptional pins … etc. 

April’s LitJoy was all about rebellion and featured many literary rebels from numerous fandoms!

So let’s dive in …

First up is this lovely Percy Jackson charm bracelet. LitJoy has recently begun a quarterly charm bracelet collection – this is the second in that series. I think these bracelets are really well done and I like the look of them. Having not read Percy Jackson (I know, I know), I was a little worried about this item. But I like it!

Snake handle makeup brushes! Ok, so I have been getting book boxes for a long time folks and I have never gotten makeup brushes before … so that is really cool. These are Harry Potter inspired (Nagini) and pretty decent quality, at least for my limited makeup routine!

Aladdin magnetic bookmark set. These are adorable and I am always so excited to get Disney characters that bring me back to my childhood. These are well done bookmarks with full back magnets. As with all the LitJoy exclusive bookmarks I would love to know who designed them.

Throne of Glass felt book sleeve. I actually haven’t gotten a book sleeve yet and was quite excited to finally receive one … that said I’m not really sure if this felt pouch counts as a true “book sleeve”. It is a heavy felt with a velcro flip closure at the top. It holds fairly large hardcovers but getting my hardcovers into the sleeve just simply ripped the dust jackets as they kept sticking to the felt rather than sliding in.

Leia art print. This was an extra “add-on” item that I chose to pay an additional $6.00 US for. It does not come with the regular crate. This is a really well done black and white rendering of Leia by Rob Bruno and is fantastic. It is signed by the artist and numbered. Highly recommend this for Star Wars/Leia fans.

Sticker and Product card. This Shadowhunters inspired “fearless rune” was created by LitJoy. It is a transparent decal that would work well on windows or laptops.

The artwork by Tara Spruit this month is one of my favourites and truly must be seen to be appreciated. Her artwork is featured on the front of the product booklet and the reversible book dust jacket.

The book pick this month was The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala. LitJoy places all their books in cloth, reusable mini pouches … a nice touch! But I haven’t figured out yet what to do with them …

The trading cards this month were: Will Herondale, Jim Carstairs and Tessa Gray from the Infernal Devices.

Overall Rating: B

1. Percy Jackson Charm Bracelet 2/3: I really like these charm bracelets! I was so happy this was still wearable if you aren’t a Percy Jackson aficionado … however for some reason LitJoy made this set of charm bracelets much, much larger than the past two. For me it is unwearable.

2. Snake Handle Makeup Brushes 3/3: These are just fun but still good quality. As I said I am not a makeup artist by any means, but they’ve held up for my uses.

3. Aladdin magnetic bookmark set 2.5/3: I really like this set and they feel sturdy with a full magnetic back … but I would really like to know who the artist is that created these?

4. Felt Book Sleeve 2/3: I like the quote, I like the cover, and I was really happy to get a book sleeve! But I feel a little let down by this one … the material catches most dust jackets and rips them, kind of the opposite purpose of a book sleeve!

5. Rune Sticker 1.5/3: This isn’t the highest quality sticker I’ve gotten in my book boxes, it is transparent rather than vinyl. I’m also not a Shadowhunter fan so it isn’t as appreciated by me.

6. Bonus! 1 point for the amazing art work this month … just wow!

Note the Leia Art Print is a definite 3/3, however, I can’t include this in my overall rating score since it is an add-on item, but I highly recommend it if you are a fan of Star Wars.

This was a pretty decent box. It would’ve been a slam dunk for me if the Percy Jackson bracelet wasn’t so large to be unwearable and if the book sleeve worked nicer. But I appreciated getting some unique items this month like Aladdin bookmarks and makeup brushes! The Leia art print is fantastic as is the reversible dust jacket.

Note on Rating: I rate each item out of 3 possible points: 1 for quality, 1 for usefulness, and 1 for if I personally liked the item/fandom. I then assign an overall letter rating for the whole box.