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thepiedsniper · 6 months

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A huge review for A Curse For True Love (spoilers, obviously - all below the cut).

DISCLAIMER: I have read the B&N and Waterstones epilogues but not the OwlCrate one yet (I don’t think anyone has, to be honest). So possibly some of my questions will be addressed in that ending.

On the Kiss: there was a compelling theory that Jacks would turn human due to his love for Eva (per the rules established in Caraval) and that’s how they could kiss and be together without killing Eva. I thought this made a lot of sense (because if your universe has established that becoming human is the canonical consequence of an Immortal falling in love, this kind of definitely needs to happen for the prequel series readers to believe that he really loves Eva, right?). Except Jacks clearly never really became human - his tears were tears of blood and the story curse refers to him as a not-quite-human in the epilogue. This also means he's still ageless and will ultimately outlive Eva by A Lot. So, oof.

To that end - I know Jacks is a fatalist and Eva is an optimist, but did it never even OCCUR to either of them to be like "what if we just did everything together EXCEPT kiss for the rest of our lives?" I know Jacks is compelled to kiss (and it’s obliquely confirmed that the apples are his way to fighting that urge) so you'd have him struggling with that arrangement in the long term. But also, Eva seems convinced she's never been in danger of Jacks kissing her before, so why wouldn’t she at least float that idea and see if he goes for it? Why go for the kiss other than Extreme Belief in The Power of Love; i.e. the exact thing Eva found out was actually the one condition that would ensure the curse killed her, according to Aurora like five minutes beforehand. Which Eva Does Not Mention to Jacks, by the way. "Hey, you know that blonde from Valenda you thought was the one exception to your curse and caused you a tonne of angst and confusion ever since? Turns out you had your whole curse backwards these last several hundred years lol."

Eva still owes Jacks a kiss. If you even care.

No but forreal, at least address it. Do a cutesy "OK, then spend that kiss on me, right now, mwah!" bit in the epilogue, or even a juicy "I’m never cashing it in, because not only is it practical that we can still speak telepathically, but I like that you're still tied to me magically foreverrrr". But like, these three magic kisses were the main conceit of this series. Until they weren’t.

The book seemed to shy away from many interesting plot hooks and tropes. Not even subverting them, just...moving on and away instead of fleshing them out. The main one off the top of my head is The Hunt. This seemed like a really specific and interesting event, with a lot of potential tension and parallels to Jacks’ former life as a hunter, if things went wrong in interesting ways. Except we never see any of it, and instead Someone Tries to Kill Eva (turns out Petra had a lover? This plotline is Not Important and everyone quickly moves on despite the fact that I’m pretty sure Belleflower was never found or dealt with) and we get a slightly less satisfactory Hollow II with the Ye Olde Brick Inn. And even the Inn introduces the Only One Bed trope only to sort of fumble it. Jacks has some mystery gold sleep dust (providence unknown) which just kind of doesn't do anything until it knocks them both out at differently convenient times. Idk man, it felt kinda meh to me.

I love Lala. She should have been in this more because she’s honestly one of the more interesting things outside of the romantic tension (which is great, but a novel cannot live on romantic tension alone, lest it become one-note). But also, when she does appear and we finally get to find out what her reunion with her great love was like, it's just kind of glossed over and hinted that her love with Dane has gone sour. Where’s the actual development/exposition!! Who actually dumped who, and why? What did she actually see in him in the first place? The small amount he’s in this book he is a) not turning into a giant dragon (Chekov would be disappointed), and b) kind of a tool. Lala became The Unwed Bride for this guy!!! At least let her have a proper “I realised I was sabotaging all my engagements not because I still loved my unreachable First Love, but because I enjoy the idea of love more than love itself” moment and make her canonically aromantic or something.

Chaos likes/loves Lala? I guess? He also murdered a bunch of people from great houses, for Reasons. He’s around, more than many characters were, but I dunno. What’s his deal these days? Does he still hang out with his vamp friends? Was he killing all those people because his parents asked him to, or was it pure hunger, or personal vendetta? Is he like, Tight with his folks now?

Another wasted (in my opinion) trope is Aurora stealing Jacks' heart away from Eva. I thought we'd get a little juicy angst from Eva seeing the man she loves be manipulated into fake-loving another (which would have also been a little poetic justice for Tella, but that's neither here nor there I guess because the Caraval characters Do Not Matter and are in fact not mentioned At All). But instead, we don't even find out what Aurora wanted to do with the heart, because it's immediately stolen back by Jacks (which like, why didn't Aurora make him swear in blood not to immediately knock her out and steal it back if that was an option? Is she just super delusional?). Also, it was meant to seem really romantic and self-sacrificing that Jacks gave up his heart and possibly autonomy to Aurora to save Eva... except he never intended to let Aurora keep it, so it was just another selfish scheme and not a sign of actual growth/love.

The Valor children in general (aside from Castor and Aurora) were pretty much non-existent when I honestly thought they'd be more of a Thing. One of them has memory magic, but that's not important for some reason. Nah, the thing Apollo did to Eva was just a potion from Aurora or something (providence unknown). Yeah.

It’s unclear why Honora Valor couldn't have reversed Jack's original Archer curse if that's something she easily did with a bit of hair at the end of TBONA. like I guess that says more about that book than this one, but it seems kind of lame that this mythical healer is never even ASKED about Jacks' kissing curse (or anything related to healing ever again).

Cycling back to Aurora for a moment: what was her magical ability in the end? Just non-specific spellwork that seemingly anyone can do (based on the first two books)? They made a point of lamp-shading it and then never actually addressed it.

And speaking of witches/witchcraft, Marisol is one of the many characters that never reappear or get much (if any) mention at all. Eva wouldn't have remembered her stepsister while her memories were gone, which I would have assumed would make for some interesting retconning opportunities for the conniving Marisol. But no, she's just not important anymore, I guess.

Also Gone: Luc. Did he and Marisol run away together after hashing out their twisted histories? Did Luc eat Marisol and then fall of a cliff? Who cares!!!! Not Important Anymore!!!

Tiberius is also Gone (possibly because his existence would have reminded the audience that Apollo has people he Actually Cares About in his life that might have helped him back from The Dark Path). The whole Protectorate just stopped being a thing as soon as the Valory opened. Do they know, or care? Surely they monitor that sort of thing? Was someone from the Protectorate able to piece together the sudden arrival of the “Vale” family at least?

Phaedra of the Damned from the very first book (the girl who first discovered Apollo wasn’t dead after trying to steal his secrets, and also Havelock is there) never gets explained. I assume she’s one of the twins from the Vanished Market mentioned in the Caraval trilogy, but she really was just there for half a scene in the first book and then never mentioned again. OK.

Havelock, Apollo’s most loyal guard, is not mentioned after Chapter 13 (when Apollo really starts ramping up the Atrocities). Again, possibly his existence would have complicated Apollo’s evil villain speedrun, but it would have been interesting to see what he might have done (and if he decided to leave Apollo’s service out of condemnation for the monster Apollo had become, a sentence or two establishing that might have been nice).

Which leads me to Apollo. He went very evil very quickly. I actually really liked the self-delusion in his focalisation, and his whole backstory with the pressures put on him by his father made sense. But damn, dude went from No Murder to Child Murder pretty dang quickly!!! Also, his death was fairly predictable. Which I wouldn't have minded, because not everything needs to be a Surprise Twist, but it really felt like that scene was the climax/final conflict in a sea of other loose ends that got ignored, so I guess I wanted it to be More so that it could make up for all the plotlines whose resolutions got sacrificed for it.

The original fox from the ballad doesn’t matter. She doesn't ever get a name. It's Fine. She could turn into a freaking FOX, which seems like a very cool and rare ability, but sure, she was just Some Chick Jacks was forced to hunt (and then kind of fell in love with and got traumatised by killing). Why do you want to know about her?? Why do you want Jacks to address the ways his feelings for her (and Tella) are inherently interwoven with trauma, in ways that don’t specifically relate to Eva?

I’m not sure I’m explaining this properly (because on the surface, of course the original fox is an important part of Jacks’ backstory and the overall plot; but only in a “Jacks is scared to love because he killed this one girl one time, and that also makes Eva sad” kind of way. The same story could arguably have been told without the Archer ballad, and just keeping the original concept of Jacks from Caraval – he’s the prince of hearts, doomed to kill all but his one true love. He kills many ladies that he hopes he’s actually in love with, but they always tragically die instead.

Cool twist with Aurora’s involvement in the curse, even if it was somewhat predictable (again, not a crime for a plot twist by any means), but I don’t know. It just felt like one of many things that got “resolved” with a quick aside (Eva found an expository journal entry) and then everything quickly moved on because hey, the reader knows what happened now that Eva found that journal entry, so who cares if Jacks knows too? Telling him everything important that Eva learned since seeing him would just detract from the love confession!

It's never officially confirmed whether Jacks of the Hollow's family owned the Hollow? Or what happened to his family, or the original owners if it wasn’t his family. The Hollow doesn't seem particularly attached to Jacks, nor he to it (according to the epilogues).

Eva should have gnarly back scars from her secondhand flaying and it's pretty clear they're either not there or just forgotten in ACFTL. My understanding was that The Hollow allowed Eva to become "fully healed" due to the effects of several weeks passing in the space of a day or two. So Eva's body essentially got the chance to heal naturally over time, in a sped-up way (which still would have left hella scars). Apollo, on the other hand, was healed with vampire venom (which canonically removes scars; see: Luc) but he's still got his back scars for some reason. Both of them healed in different ways during the period when the mirror curse wouldn't have mattered. I personally think it would have been interesting to give Eva horrible back scars she can't explain due to her amnesia. But alas.

All in all, it felt like the kind of book that wanted to be third of four instead of third and final. It wanted to introduce new and interesting concepts, but still had to rush to put a conclusion (satisfying or otherwise) to everything that had come before. I had fun reading it, and all the usual romance/drama/angst with Eva and Jacks was still super fun, but pretty much every other element felt lacking (and even a lot of the EvaJacks stuff kind of just Happened and then Kept Happening without a strong plotline to run along). I look forward to reading a lot of fanfiction addressing all the missing bits. Or a new trilogy series from this rich universe, maybe (even though I doubt it would follow Eva and Jacks directly).

#a curse for true love #acftl #a curse for true love spoilers #once upon a broken heart #the ballad of never after #ouabh #tbona #stephanie garber #let me know if you agree with any of this or if I'm totally crazy #I want to talk to people #caraval #very mild caraval mentions and spoilers

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redflemmefoxy · 6 months

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Allow me to share my humble opinion of actfl

🦊Spoilers ahead🍎

Honestly I sobbed so much during the whole book:

💜 Evajacks reunion got me like:

💜Jacks pov were pure emotional damage and I absolutely digged it

💜Nothing could beat the phoenix three scene

🍎I just loved the romance, the angst, the pining, the ending for Evajacks. I was surprised to see people who weren't fan of Jacks pov - the way they were one of the best imo.

🍎We did get crumbs of his past, I actually was satisfied with that especially when you know he did it so castor/chaos wouldn't be alone🥺

🍎Honestly for me it was enough when it comes to backstory, we also learnt how strong Jacks feelings for Eva were. When I tell you the man did everything so that she would be safe even if it means he would never feel anything by burning his heart (literary) 😭

🍎Jacks was absolute menace in this book😂, I absolutely loved every time he made Apollo nervous even when he wasn't there. Him breaking Apollo nose was💯

🦊I absolutely loved Evangeline in this book, she annoyed me a little at the start of tbona as she was stubborn. But here she proved she has changed and learnt for her mistakes, heck she even had an amazing character development. I loved how confident she was even without her memories, she was strong🔥

🦊I loved when she slapped Apollo 10/10 moment (it reminded of Rosaline slapping Romeo in go away Romeo, great webtoon btw)

🦊🍎I am so glad they got their happily ever after, they way I was worried they wouldn't. Each time I was scared for them, they really deserved it🥺❤️

🤡Apollo, oh god he was such a clown from the start to finish. I actually found his povs interesting tbh, he really lost himself somewhere in the way. I actually had a good laugh when his plans failed, at the same time at times he was kinda psycho and scary. Overall not bad villain essence

🐉Okay but Lala was so cool, she had brief appearance but I loved all the scenes with her. Her and Eva going on a trip to retrieve Jacks heart was fire🔥

🐉Lala and Castor ??? Unexpected but not unwelcome, actually a spin-off of their story would be lit like the tension😳. Also I think Lala's story as the Unwed Bride would be interesting to explore

🐉Which leads me to a question of besties going on trips are need and don't get me wrong partners to lovers or enemies to lovers on a quest are my jam. But we need more bffs going on quests😍

💜Aurora was absolutely evil, now it was shocking to learn she was the reason for Jacks curse, but honestly I didn't mean it. Like she was the ultimate mean girl. I hope we will see more of the Valors.

🍎🤔Now we didn't get the apple lore, although I read somewhere that apples were used to calm Jacks urges, so I guess it makes sense. Perhaps we will learn more in the owlcrate alternative ending

💘The alternative endings were such a gems, a pity there are not part of the main story (btw they can be found in tumblr, the only missing one is from the owlcrate edition)

Overall, it was such a painful beautiful and fun ride. I enjoyed it a lot, I am looking forward to Stephan Garber's next books🥰

#a curse for true love #acftl #evangeline x jacks #acftl spoilers #once upon a broken heart #the ballad of never after #evajacks #evangeline fox #jacks of the hollow #prince of hearts #ariel merrywood LaLa #castor valor #chaos

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jackstheprinceofhearts · 2 years

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my very opinionated review of TBONA by Stephanie Garber

WARNINGS: I'm a person who rambles a lot and I will be trying hard not to in this review (and I'm using Grammarly lol) but I make no promises.

this review contains spoilers for tbona! (i am writing this review on Monday night {the 12th} the official release date is the 13th but I was lucky enough to get an owlcrate edition and I will be posting this review a few days after then.)

i will also be discussing my opinions on some debates I've been seeing about jacks's character in TBONA so if you can't handle my opinion then this isn't for you.

strap in because this'll be a long one lol

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first of all, i do have some criticism for this book so let's get that out of the way.

i felt as if tbona was incredibly fast-paced (just like the first one) and I'm a binge reader so it felt like getting thrown all over the place because of how fast I read it lol so I would recommend this book more for slower readers then I would binge readers if you want to absorb the plot more. but i honestly like how she gets straight to the point with it so that's why i love all of her books!

i also guessed a few of the plot twists from some theories I've made and discussed in the Magnificent North discord server but I do that a lot with books so it doesn't ruin much (it just makes me feel smarter than everyone lmfao)

another thing, I didn't really like how towards the end eva kind of gave off the "I can change him" vibes which I mean makes sense in some ways but still I'm not a huge fan of that BUT I like how Evangeline actually listened to him.

I also wasn't very happy that it wasn't really acknowledged that she made his heart beat??...we're ignoring this again??? homie???

and the scar wasn't really a plot point at all which I found to be a bit weird.

but besides that, i don't really have any more criticism for it.

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here were some of the things i liked a lot:

the ending was IMMACULATE it had so much emotional depth and feeling???? oh my god???

I also liked the backstory we got on Jacks because damn it all makes sense now! and it was interesting to see how he was connected to the north, but now I'm curious about how he got to Valenda and how he ended up in the card.

also, can we just talk about how beautifully tragic that ending was???? like yes it was sad but CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE IT FOR A MINUTE LIKE OMG

moment of silence for jacks......

honestly 5/5 stars. this is definitely my new favorite!

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alright now to get into the stuff about jacks's character that I'm seeing posts about a lot.

so i've seen a lot of people say that they "hate" him or that he's "toxic" or that evajacks is a toxic ship and honestly I disagree and here's why:

the entire point of jacks's character is that he's a heartbroken VILLAIN, not a hero. and he keeps saying that throughout literally every book he's in. he says to tella "I'm the villain, even in my own story." in Finale. we are told over and over again that he's not a hero. "I hurt everyone, little fox." there are a lot more quotes of him literally saying he's the bad guy in TBONA and OUABH 😭 "you need to stop holding me to human standards," jacks drawled. "I'm a fate." and then again with; "I'm not your enemy, little fox. I know you're still angry with me, but you've always known what I am. I never tried to pretend otherwise, you just let yourself believe I was something I'm not." and once again; "I'm not your friend. I'm not some human boy who will tell you pretty lies or bring you flowers or gift you jewels."

(collectors edition of OUABH) him saying he's a bad guy and he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

the entire point of TBONA and OUABH is people making bad choices because of their broken hearts.

also, i don't see how you guys aren't saying anything about LaLa when she betrayed eva as well, like where's the logic??? and what LaLa did was worse in my opinion because it put eva in danger of DYING jacks never did that.

and don't give me the whole "oh she's a fate she doesn't understand human emotions" BUT YOU WANT JACKS TO??? HOW IS THAT FAIR??? if you don't like jacks that's perfectly fine but let's be fair 😭i'm not saying jacks's actions were okay BUT HE'S A VILLAIN YOU CAN'T EXPECT HIM TO COMPLETELY CHANGE IN TWO BOOKS!!!

overall, you can't expect a character to completely change and I'm glad he didn't get some rushed redemption arc in this. you need to look into it a bit more before you just give it a bad review because "jacks was a bad guy"

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believe what you will about TBONA but that's my personal opinion on this book. i think Stephanie did an amazing job writing this and I'm excited to see what's to come next. thank you for reading my review/rant! have a good day!

also, the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie I was eating while writing this was really, really, good.

#tbona #tbona spoilers #jacks prince of hearts #evajacks #the ballad of never after #evangeline fox #jacks x evangeline #stephanie garber #ouabh spoilers #book review #just ranting #LaLa tbona #tbona ending #jacks #ouabh

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ljf613 · 3 months

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OwlCrate Unboxed (01/24)

I just got my first @owlcrate box, and honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect, or if this was really worth it-- I rarely spend more than $10 on a book, so the full charge of just one of these boxes (including shipping) definitely had me thinking twice. And what if, after all that, I didn't even like the book?

But one of the reasons I was willing to take a risk on this one was because the theme was clearly tailor-made for me specifically.

"Enchated to Meet You"? Regency-esque romance with magic and royalty? That soft, vintage aesthetic that I adore? Yes, please.

And I was not disappointed. While I still haven't read the book, so I can't say if I'll like it or not, what I can tell you is that before I even got particularly deep into the box, I already knew that the price I'd paid was more than worth it even without the book.

(To avoid spoilers, product images and reviews beneath the cut.)

First up, this canvas tote bag:

The design is based on a book called Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. (It's on my to-read list, I'm just waiting for my hold to come in!) It's got a sweet, elfish woodland vibe going on-- I half-expect to see a tiny winged fairy peeking out from behind one of those toadstools. This bag is also has great functionality. I am always in need of a sturdy cloth bag to carry my books, and I am positive this is one I'll be getting a lot of use out of. The material is thick and durable, and it's wide and deep enough to easily hold at least half a dozen books without any stress. An all-around cute and useful item!

Next up, a reusable cleaning cloth:

The design is based on a book called Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. (I'd never heard of this book before, but it looks intriguing, so I suppose I'll add it to the list.) It's kind of generic, but I do like the colors. And it does look like the kind of thing that would be perfect for dusting my desk and bookshelves. It's probably my least favorite item in the box, but I don't hate it.

Moving on to the metal bookmark:

The design is inspired by Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. (I just read it a few weeks ago, and the sequel is currently sitting on top of my dresser waithing for me to read it.) It's supposed to be Shadow, the dog belonging to the stories main character. However, my first thought upon seeing a large black dog in a forest, standing on a pile of skulls, was of Ruth from The Ancient Magus' Bride-- who just-so-happens to be one of my favorite characters ever. I hope no one minds if I continue to see it that way. (No hate to Shadow-- he's a good boy!) It's a very whimsical design and I like it a lot!

And now the coloring kit:

I definitely wasn't expecting this from a subscription book box, but I am absolutely not complaining. (I've been thinking I wanted to sit down with some colored pencils and coloring pages one of these days.) The quote on the left is from Pride & Prejudice (my beloved), the top-most is from Bridgerton (read the books and liked them well enough but have zero interest in watching the show), and the one on the right is from Outlander (I think that's a show based on some books, maybe I'll look into it one of these days). The quotes are lovely, I like the simple yet elegant floral designs, and I love the soft pastel color palette (and will absolutely be holding onto those pencils).

The last item (aside from the book) is the enamel pin:

The characters shown here are Sophie and Howl (+ Calcifer!) from Howl's Moving Castle (the book, not the movie, though I love them both!). I love enamel pins and happen to have a decent-sized collection, but I don't think I've ever seen a sliding design like this. This design is absolutely enchanting, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from this pin collection in future boxes. I included the envelope it came in because I think it's really cute, and it gives me some serious Violet Evergarden vibes. (The design on the backer card is also pretty! It's really evident that a lot of thought and care was put into every aspect of every item in this box.)

And, of course, there's the book:

This is A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft. I'm not going to take pictures of every single customization in this one, but suffice it to say that it looks really pretty and I'm hoping the story inside lives up to everything else in here.

All in all, I'm really happy with this box, and glad that I got it.

#owlcrate #enchanted to meet you #thoughts #product review #subscription box #i think i'm going to skip february's box because i just don't vibe with the 'treacherous love' aesthetic #but i'll do another review of whatever my next one is if y'all want #all queued up

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iconicharry · 6 months

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I saw you finished acftl and I was wondering what you thought!!! (A spoiler free review tho pls bc my book hasn’t delivered yet :(((()

uhmmmmm i loved it!!!!!! the vibes were very different. just as tbona vibes were different from the first one! i think the ending is well written and satisfying! i wished for more jacks povs and less apollos but i think his chapters were essential to the last bits of the plot. there were some aspects that i would have liked for to happen earlier in the book which happened too late for me. and there’s a few tiny things left unanswered that i was hoping to get an answer to.

it felt very much like a typical stephanie book. eva and jacks had so much character development i was like YEEESSSSS GIRL YOU FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU WANT although jacks did annoy me at one ☝️ single moment. as for apollo he gets the ending he deserves in my humble opinion.

i’ve read the b&n and waterstones epilogues and i’ll say that i like the non exclusive epilogue the best. the bonus ones are like stephanie said a cute addition, i’m just waiting for someone to post the owlcrate one finally because of the emoji it was described with.

i think people expected too much of this last book in regards to all the curses and backstories being linked and explained thoroughly with all these crazy theories, especially because it would’ve been always too much for one book, the final one at that! and in my opinion just unrealistic.

i loved it! it made me squeal, cry, stomp my foot on the ground and almost always that love-induced anxious shiver appear in my chest!!!!! i want to read it again immediately.

#mail

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cosettepontmercys · 6 months

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can you recommend sites where to get special edition books, please, with links? i'm a bit new to this and i saw some bad reviews about illumicrate and i trust your judgement 🩷

hi hi!! happy to do so — i want to preface this by saying that i've never subscribed to any book boxes long term (aside from a book box that my local bookstore was doing, but that wasn't any special editions and i stopped once my six months were up) but i do have a lot of friends who have, and i have done quite a bit of research into book boxes, etc and can tell you my experiences + what i know of them!

this ask got pretty long-winded, so please feel free to send any follow up asks if at any point i stopped making sense 🤍 answer is under the cut! x

also, if anyone else has opinions/thoughts/etc, feel free to weigh in!

okay! so to better answer your question, i'm going to assume you are trying to grow your book collection and just get more special editions! if you're looking for specific special editions, however, let me know, and i'll amend this ask 🤍

first, you have your big book box companies — illumicrate (including their romance spin off — afterlight), owlcrate, fairyloot are the ones that often come to mind when i think of special editions. most people i know who do subscribe to a book box are subscribed to one of those; they've been around forever, they usually have some fun covers. the downside to those is that unless you get a book-only sub (all of them do offer book only, i believe) you are stuck with a lot of ... stuff ... that you may not want. unless you're big on looking up spoilers for book boxes, you will have a chance of ending up with a book that you have no interest in / do not want / may have already preordered — you can always email to pause your subscription, miss a month, etc (a couple of my friends did that when a specific book came out that they didn't want to support). book box subscriptions can also get pretty pricey, especially once you factor in shipping costs, but like most things, are cheaper in the moment than during resale later. book boxes are a good way for growing your collection and being introduced to a lot of new books, as long as it's a book box in a genre you like. for example, i am not the biggest fan of fantasy, so there's no incentive for me to have a fantasy book box subscription despite their covers always being phenomenal. i think that book boxes can be great for a lot of people, but i personally do not have the space for book boxes, and would rather spend my money on books i know i'll want + book merch i want. if i really do want a specific illumicrate set, i'll usually wait for it to go on sale, or ask around to see if any of my friends have a subscription + do not want it and buy it from them! (more on this later)

then there are some other, smaller book box companies — fox & wit is one that i really like, although they take a really long time to ship (or they did, in the past, when i shopped from them — but they were also going through some stuff back then, i think something about a warehouse issue? it's been a while since i ordered from them). fox & wit specifically has some really beautiful dust jackets as well; i ordered their raven cycle/dreamer trilogy covers back then (through their mister impossible box). if i recall correctly, fox & wit's "alt covers" are just dust jackets that come with a copy of the book. there's also once upon a book club which i believe is mostly romance focused; i ordered a book from them once for a friend.

most book box companies have their own "shop", where you can purchase any leftover items (sometimes they have the full box, sometimes just the book, and sometimes the trinkets/merch/etc that comes with a book). some book box companies will also do special releases for books, which is outside of the monthly subscription but current subscribers will get early access — for example: illumicrate has done an emily henry set, the night circus, bridgerton, etc. owlcrate has done the raven cycle, etc. <;- i would recommend keeping an eye out on leftover stock & getting book-specific boxes over a subscription, but that is my personal opinion.

specific bookstores will also have their own special editions of books — barnes and nobles in the US, and waterstones in the UK are two big ones! sometimes this will mean sprayed edges, usually alt. covers, sometimes they'll come with an extra short story at the back.

a lot of authors tend to post about any special editions they've got coming — whether that's with illumicrate, or a smaller book box, or a bookstore! if you follow them on social media, you'll most likely be able to find out special editions that way — it's how i've found out about smaller book boxes. i'm still getting emails from illumicrate / fox & wit / etc., even though i've stepped away from book collecting unless it's a book i really really love (space, money, etc) — you could also sign up for their mailing lists if you want too!

there are also other special edition books, that are really just: collector's editions. these would include: seasons edition, books illustrated, easton press, etc. some of these are pricier than others, and are really just collector's editions.

i will also say that some special editions of books that i have that are truly just display items / collectables — my illumicrate bridgerton set is one of them; it's beautiful, the sprayed edges are gorgeous, but i hate the font on the interior, and the paper just feels weird to me. the same can be said for my seasons edition copies: it's so pretty, but i don't like the font on the interior, i don't think it's really meant for reading (if that makes sense), and it's pretty fragile. that's not to say that all illumicrate books are printed weirdly though — my night circus illumicrate is just fine! i am also just a bit particular about fonts, and layouts and such, which doesn't help. my friend just got me the sense & sensibility luxury hardback edition with gold-edged pages, and it's gorgeous! but i also think it is a book that i will never read because i have my own reading copy (which i want to annotate) and because the pages inside are very glossy! but that's okay, because all the books i have for display purposes (seasons edition classics, bridgerton, etc.) are books i usually have another copy of — or books i liked a lot, but may not see myself rereading again (for example: bridgerton series). will also add a note and say that sometimes sprayed edges (or stenciled edges) have a weird feel to them — it's a little thicker, pages can be a little stiffer, which makes sense because: paint.

i would honestly encourage you to shy away from ebay and other resale sites unless you are after something very, very specific, (in which case — tell me! because i may know someone trying to get rid of a copy/i can keep an eye out for you) because people do mark things up and there is a weird resale market for book collecting!

#post: answered #my brain turned to mush halfway through so i do not know if this made any sense!!!#i am going to maybe make a third coffee for today and then maybe will elaborate on this again #but PLEASE feel free to ask me more questions!#you can also come off anon if you want <3 always happy to help

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