Hand Me Down Book Club 

So far, so good!

I’ve just got my first pack of 6 classics and I’m very happy. Great mix of authors and lovely tea to enjoy with them!

Been with hmd for around 8 months and it’s been great for rejuvenating my reading!
books are always well varied and presented

Simple, yet great gift

Always thoughtful choices, had the two book subscription for 6 months now and it’s been a real treat

Excellent service, I’ve bought my mum a gift subscription twice now (once classics once romance) and she’s loved it. Not every book was 100% to her taste but I guess that’s the risk you take. On the whole, really happy

Reinvigorated my reading.

Was in the rut always defaulting to same authors/genres - got a suprise me sub for my Birthday and I’ve loved it so far

I signed up for my daughter who is five. The books she got aren't anything great. I know they're meant to be hand me downs but these looked like they came from the 1990s section of a charity shop. One even had a 75p price tag on it still. I was expecting modern hand me down books. Not stuff schools toss out. Cancelled my subscription. Two months of it still to go so if it gets better I might reactivate it.

One last thing, don't expect any form of customer service. They don't reply to emails or any social post. They took two weeks to send out the first order. I emailed them a number of times to ask where the order was and got no answer at all. Even to this day no replies to emails or social posts.

Hand me down books are an amazing company who have literally brightened my days, I am a bookaholic and I was so excited to receive these beautifully packaged books each month. It gave me a broader outlook as I read books I would not normally have chosen as I had three genre’s picked. I would absolutely recommend this service and have bought a six month subscription for a present and have recommended to friends who are now subscribers.
Keep up the amazing work Hand Me Down books!!!!

I originally took out a crime/thriller subscription for myself around 6 months ago and have loved it. The books are always well presented and varied.

I also bought, as a Christmas gift, a surprise me subscription for my brother. He's only had a few books so far but so far so good!

I signed up for a year's subscription in December as a Christmas gift for my grandma, the first shipment to arrive in January. The first payment was taken mid December and I received an email on the 15th saying some books were on their way.
I emailed immediately asking to stop the order as it meant spoiling the Christmas surprise (I had prepared a little voucher). Both this and my follow up email were ignored. Meanwhile the books were delivered and I had to make a hurried phonecall to my grandma explaining that it was actually a Christmas gift. It was a total anti-climax.
It's now 31st Jan and I've just been informed that no books have arrived this month. I've checked my account and it says payment was taken on 15th Jan and the order status is "awaiting delivery". So I'm only two months in and both deliveries have had issues. I have emailed again, hoping I get a response this time but based on my experience so far I'm unimpressed and would definitely not recommend.

I bought this as a three month subscription for my daughter as part of her Christmas present. I checked with the company that the first books would arrive in time. They assured me they would but that didn’t happen. When they eventually did arrive towards the end of the first week in January we were very disappointed. I had selected Classic books and one of them was Agatha Christie’s Poirot?? The second one was Great Expectations which was fair enough but the quality of both books was very questionable. The first two books were delivered to my home address, as my daughter who lives elsewhere was home for Christmas. She went into the account and changed the address so the next selection would be delivered directly to her. This did not happen. The books arrived with me and I had to pay the postage to send them on to her. She has just received them. Again the quality of the books is very poor. I think I probably could have bought both for under a £1 in a second hand book shop. I have emailed this company twice to express my disappointment and have had no response. At £34.17 for 6 poor quality second hand books this has to be the worst deal ever. Bitterly disappointed. Waste of money. Would not recommend.

Lovely monthly surprise, would recommend for all book lovers!

Excellent selections, well packaged, great service

Fantastic service! Beautifully packaged and a tea to go with it. Some very interesting reads. I would highly recommend getting yourself a subscription!

10/10 from me! ✅

Edit: HMDB's reached out via email and their customer service was really impressive. I cannot fault their reply and will update my review later when we have used the service for a little longer.

When I purchased this subscription I thought it would be perfect for my mum who is an avid reader, the website images suggest that the books would be good quality and popular/known books. The first books sent out were awful, a battered old copy of David Copperfield and a Readers Digest collections of stories you’ve never heard of, first printed in the 1970’s. I was so embarrassed by the selection and I could see that my mum was gutted and trying to be enthusiastic about them to save my feelings. Without her knowing I contacted HMDB to say that she had already read them hoping that a better selection would be sent out, in fairness to the company they quickly sent out another 2 books, but included a Christmas themed novel, in February.
In the hope of getting a better parcel this month I changed her selection to only include “General Contemporary Fiction”, but again the choice was disappointing, including a very old battered edition of Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy. I’m not sure you can class Hardy as “contemporary”.
The saddest part for me is my mum actually said she dreads the books turning up now because the selection has been so awful and she knows that we’ve wasted our money on them.
I understand there is an element of risk with a thing like this, and I realise that HMDB can’t cater to exact tastes, but the quality of the books is shocking and from what I can see there is no consideration put into what is being sent out.
I think the idea is brilliant, but the customer needs to be able to curate the selection more and tailor it to the person getting the books. Personally I also think HMDB need to consider the quality of the editions they are sending out, more than likely book lovers are going to subscribe to something like this, and cheap old editions of books don’t cut it with us.

Superb idea, beautiful packaging and lovely little touches with the herbal teabags.
Books are all in good condition and it's nice to have a surprise and try new books you perhaps wouldn't necessarily pick up.

Absolutely love my hand me down book subscription! It challenges me to read different genres but if you want a specific genre you can personalise it. It’s also packaged beautifully and includes a relaxing tea to enjoy with your reads! Can not recommend enough

Beautifully wrapped with the addition of a lovely herbal tea bag.
Really happy with my selection of books. One was my current read but that just made me feel that I will get what I like. Books are in good condition and will be fit to pass on to someone when I've read them.

A friend signed me up as a gift a while ago and it has been great at expanding my reading. The picks are great and I've enjoyed all the books I've received so far! I'll definitely be continuing my subscription. It's nice to know the books are not just being thrown away and I can enjoy them.

I’ve had 2 parcels now from Hand Me Down Bookclub and have loved both of them. The books have been very enjoyable to read and excellently packaged. Looking forward to next month’s!