Lit Love Indulge Box – June 2024

Lit Love Book Box

June 2024 Indulge Book Box from Lit Love

Book boxes are always one of my favorite bookish items to indulge in, and I’ve had my eye on the Lit Love Book Boxes ever since they first started! Having followed along with all their beautiful photos and posts on Instagram for a few years now, this month I took the plunge and decided to pamper myself with their June Indulge Book Box!

*This box was not a gifted item. As always, all opinions and reviews expressed below are my own!

About the Lit Love Book Box:

Lit Love Book Box is a subscription-based book box out of BC, Canada. One of the things that appealed to me most about this box was that each month has 6-7 different book options (in a variety of genres) to choose from. While I still went with the “surprise me” option this month, I love that you can see and pick a specific book for your box.

Let’s take a look inside this June 2024 box:

A Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea

For this June Indulge Box, I went with the “surprise me” option. There were several other tempting books to choose from (including The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center, and If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay) but in the end, I was won over by the following hints for a surprise thriller:

• perfectly paced suspense
• incredibly likeable heroine
• missing child case
• forensic science investigation
• dual timeline

Opening the box, I was thrilled to find Charlie Donlea’s novel, LONG TIME GONE as the “surprise choice” for this June box. Long Time Gone is a 2024 release from Kensington Books and features the mysterious disappearance of a baby from almost three decades earlier.

I read my first Charlie Donlea novel last year and loved it. Book boxes with surprise novels are fun but can be a bit hit or miss depending on reader preferences, so I really appreciated the fact that Lit Love gave us some hints. The advance hints still kept a bit of surprise and mystery, but were perfect for helping gauge whether or not it was a book I’d be interested in. Long Time Gone fit the hints and my expectations perfectly, and I think all the book options for this month’s box were very strong selections.

Read more about the book, A Long Time Gone, on Goodreads, here!

Bookplate Signed by the Author

A signed bookplate really elevates any book box experience and I’m so glad that this is a frequently included item in the Lit Love boxes. With this box, we got a signed card by Charlie Donlea. I do wish this was a sticker rather than simply a card (as sticker bookplates are much easier to use) but I love being able to apply this bookplate to my hardcover copy.

Rainbow Keychain

One of my favorite items in this box is this adorable rainbow keychain. It’s soft and sweet and I love the aesthetic. It’s a simple item but one that is a lot of fun and easy to clip onto a bag for decoration.

Daisy Socks

The next item in this box was a pair of super cute, light brown socks with white daisies from Tiepology. Truthfully, as someone with larger feet, I have never had great experiences with socks included in book boxes. However, I was cautiously optimistic. This pair came in some lovely packaging and I thought the style choice was perfect.

Unfortunately, my unlucky book-box-sock-streak continues. These socks were too small for me and ended up being too tight around my calves to be comfortable. Sizing obviously won’t be an issue for everyone, however, it is one reason why I’m not a fan of socks in book boxes in general.

Liola Satsuma Body Butter

This tiny jar of Satsuma scented body butter from Liola is super cute and smells like a chocolatey orange. While the texture is a bit clumpy initially, it dissolves on the skin smoothly and has a strong but fresh, lasting scent. I do really appreciate that Lit Love chooses to celebrate and include so many small Canadian businesses in their boxes, and this is one of them. This body butter is handmade in Saskatchewan and handcrafted in small batches, and I enjoyed getting to test this product out as it’s a company I hadn’t heard of before.

Sweet Lounge Vegan Fizzy Cola Bottles

I have a massive sweet tooth and I love that book boxes often introduce me to new brands and treats. These Vegan Fizzy Cola Bottles from Sweet Lounge were the first things I dove into after snapping photos of this box, and they were a hit! (Don’t make me share!) These candy bottles were soft, squishy, and super sweet, and had a really strong cola flavor — delicious!

Hummingbird Peanut Butter Cups

Peanut Butter Cups are a weakness of mine. While I appreciated that this was from another Canadian company, unfortunately, this chocolate snack didn’t end up appealing to me or my family. The dark-milk chocolate felt overpowering and we weren’t getting the strong peanut butter taste we wanted. Since my family does lean towards sweeter treats, I think this product would work better for those looking for peanut butter cups that are darker and less sugary tasting than the common grocery store brands.

Sugar & Spice Strawberry Margarita Shower Gel

This Margarita Shower Gel comes from another Canadian small business, Sugar & Spice. I love that it is a local product and it was packaged in a clear zip-lock bag to prevent any leaks during shipping. While I appreciate the emphasis on clean and organic products (and Margaritas are a favorite of mine) unfortunately, I found the “gel” quite watery and didn’t enjoy the scent of this body wash. This is one item that I’ll be passing on to someone else to enjoy.

Final Thoughts:

One of the things I really love about the Lit Love Book Boxes is the overall aesthetic of each box. Having followed along with them on Instagram for the past couple of years, the boxes are always full of items that look both beautiful and tempting to try. They feel cohesive and fresh, with a wide variety of appealing items — and I think this makes for either a fun, bookish splurge on oneself, or a great gift item for a friend.

And while three out of the six items in this June box (not including the book, bookplate, or bookmark) didn’t work for me, I’m fully aware of the fact that this comes down to personal preference. (With the exception of the socks, perhaps.) And I’m okay with that. Part of the fun of a book box is getting to experience and try new books and items that I might not have otherwise heard of or picked up off the shelf. This Lit Love Box highlighted several different Canadian companies and that is something I’m happy to support.

I also really appreciate the variety of book choices offered for each of Lit Love’s monthly boxes. Rather than focusing on one genre or offering one surprise book, books span a range of genres and will appeal to a broad variety of readers. The book choices are also new and popular releases, making it difficult to choose just one!

So, to sum it up: While I didn’t love some of the individual components, I still really enjoyed the overall feel of the box. I was genuinely very excited when I opened this June Indulge box and saw what was inside. The surprise book choice absolutely met my expectations given the hints provided, and there was a good variety of Canadian-based items included. I had a lot of fun with this box, and I would definitely purchase another Lit Love Box in the future!

*Curious about other book boxes? You can check out all our other book box reviews, here!*