Have you guys heard about BOTM (Book of the Month)? I’ve been signed up for years, but the recent changes they have made have resulted in me getting pretty hooked, to say the least. For those that don’t know: BOTM is a subscription service that offers five (see below) selections each month. Readers get to choose the book they want – plus two extras. There are a bunch of add-ons for readers to choose from as well.

Or rather, I should say that they used to offer five selections. Now they offer between five and seven, giving readers a better chance to find the perfect book for them. I love this, as I have relied on BOTM to help me find new books/authors to read. Plus, it’s a new hardcover for a decent price. Win-win, right?

March’s BOTM choices are:

-The Cartographers (Fantasy)
-Dating Dr. Dil (Romance)
-The Paris Apartment (Mystery)
-The Unsinkable Greta James (Contemporary Fiction)
-Tell Me Everything (True Crime)
-The Verifiers (Literary Fiction)
-The Book of Cold Cases (Thriller)

New Spotlight Books for March include:

-Pieces of Her (Thriller)
-Blacktop Wasteland (Thriller)
-The Love of My Life (Contemporary Fiction)
-One Italian Summer (Contemporary Fiction)
-Booth (Historical Fiction)

Interested in signing up for BOTM? Use this LINK to get a discount (and give me a free book credit – goodness knows I’ll use it).

My Picks:

Because I have zero shelf control, I ended up picking six books for my March BOTM selection. Though truth be told, I’m already regretting not grabbing Pieces of Her. I’m going to have to grab that one next month!

The Cartographers – A Disgraced mapmaker has to run off on an adventure in order to solve the murder of her father. While investigating, she’ll finally get the answers she’s always had about one old map in particular.

One of the reasons I was really excited for this BOTM change is that I was hoping I could more consistently find several of my favorite genres, including thriller and fantasy. The Cartographers is a fantasy book with a heavy cartography influence (duh), and it looks like it’s going to be a fantastic (pun intended) read. Check back later for my review!

The Paris Apartment – Jess is in need of a fresh start. Her half-brother is missing, a fact she only discovered upon arriving at his place with the hope of couch-surfing. Only…it’s not like he’s just gone off on vacation and forgot to tell her. There’s something more going on here.

“From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide…”

This is the latest novel by Lucy Foley, author of The Guest List. In other words, it was all but guaranteed that I would have this be one of my picks. I consider Foley to be one of my ‘BOTM authors’- meaning that I plan on BOTM having her books, as they have been pretty consistent on this front.

The Verifiers – Claudia Lin is an amateur sleuth living in the 21^st century. She loves murder mystery books and avoiding the obvious path in life. So you can imagine how quickly she jumped on a potential case when one of her clients goes missing.

“Introducing a sharp-witted heroine for the 21st century: a new amateur sleuth exploring the landscape—both physical and virtual—of New York in a debut novel about love, technology, and murder.”

I just cannot resist a good mystery, and it looks like The Verifiers is going to be exactly that. It also looks like it’s going to have a lot of personality, I can’t wait!

The Book of Cold Cases – Claire Lake, Oregon has a few famous cold cases. One true-crime blogger is looking at two of them in particular – but she’s about to learn what it means to kick the hornet’s nest, as she finds herself in the thick of things.

“A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.”

I first fell in love with Simone St. James’ when The Sun Down Motel was released. So the second I saw this BOTM pick, I knew I had to grab it. It’s absolutely going to be the first of the books I read when my box arrives.

Blacktop Wasteland – From Goodreads: “Beauregard “Bug” Montage: husband, father, honest car mechanic. But he was once known – from North Carolina to the beaches of Florida – as the best getaway driver on the East Coast. Just like his father, who disappeared many years ago.

After a series of financial calamities (worsened by the racial prejudices of the small town he lives in) Bug reluctantly takes part in a daring diamond heist to solve his money troubles – and to go straight once and for all. However, when it goes horrifically wrong, he’s sucked into a grimy underworld which threatens everything, and everyone, he holds dear . . .”

Though Blacktop Wasteland was released in 2020, this is a new spotlight for BOTM. This will make the second S.A.Crosby novel I’ve read. I didn’t love that first novel I tried, unfortunately. However, I want to give his writing more of a chance, and I really hope I like this one!

I Must Betray You – Set in Romania, 1989, this historical fiction novel delves into the life of Christian Florescu. He wants to be a writer, but the Communist regime taking apart his country has other plans for this youngster.

“A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the number one New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.”

Okay, so admittedly I Must Betray you is not a super new release, nor was it just added to BOTM. It was released in February, but I recently decided that I just can’t pass this read up. Plus it’s perfect for one of my PopSugar reading prompts.