I have a problem, and honestly, it’s the best type of problem to have.
The problem is…I work in the cutest little (I said what I said) bookshop and have a direct line of sight to the gorgeous special editions that come through the door. Seriously! I've put away over 160,000 products in the last year, so I really have seen them all 🤯
Now, you're probably asking yourself why this is a problem, I mean, what more could I ask for? Well, the thing is I'm a bit like a magpie and if I see the shiny, I have to have it.
The biggest example was probably my sister Amelia’s birthday. Her request was simple. She had a list of special editions she wanted and I could choose which one to get her. Naturally, I got her the whole list plus a couple extra, because what's hers is mine and it was an excellent excuse to get the shelf trophies.
The list included:
Of course I used my judgment and included:
One Dark Window & Two Twisted Crowns (I mean, it’s a duology so obviously she needed both, right?)
You’d think that would be it for a while, but then my sister-in-law’s birthday came around and since she already had the special edition of Lightlark, she needed the special edition of Nightbane… and also Skyshade when it came out a couple of months later.
Now we should’ve been done! They both had their pretty books and we moved onto puzzling and board gaming. However, there was a little voice in my head telling me that our collection wasn’t anywhere near complete - we only had half a shelf full of sprayed edged books! So as I walked up and down the aisles putting away thousands of books, I tried to be good and just take photos of the ones I wanted. We all know that didn’t last long though and eventually the pretty books just started making their way through to the bookshop to be bought (I don’t know how they got there!)
Slowly the collection began to grow. We got the special editions of books like Blackthorn, and Silver & Smoke, Wings of Starlight and Songbird of the Sorrows. And honestly the list just keeps going. (Seeing the problem yet?)
I feel like that brings us straight to one of the biggest parts of the problem, which can be summed up in two words: Fourth Wing. I read it and immediately fell in love, which meant I had to get a matching set. Since I couldn’t get the ANZ version of Iron Flame, I turned my sights on the Wing and Claw editions, aaaand bought them all together. While I’m itching to get my hands on the Wing and Claw edition of Threshing Day, I couldn’t stop myself grabbing a copy of the ANZ edition so I could jump back into the series (I may have resembled Gollum obsessing over the One Ring just a smidge).
You’re probably thinking to yourself, “well hey, at least all these books are being read, right?” and you would be… wrong. They are called shelf trophies for a reason and of course we have to get standard versions to read so we don’t damage the shinies! (we have once again found the problem).
All jokes aside, I love my shinies and am so glad I get to see them as soon as they make their way into the warehouse.