Top Ten Tuesday: Special Edition Books I Loved This Year

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

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It’s officially December and to kick off the first TTT of the last month in 2023 is a freebie of our choice! This year has been the crazy year I’ve fallen more and more in love with special edition books…(help me, I think it’s starting to become a problem). But nonetheless, I wanted to highlight some of my favourites I’ve seen this year.

Do you have any favourites of the ones below? I want to know and fangirl over them with you!

1. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (Owlcrate or Fairyloot editions)

I read the ARC for this book and didn’t realize it would blow up the way it did. I absolutely love both editions but I’m still hunting down the Owlcrate version on the left. If you know someone selling for reasonable price, let me know 😭

2. Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao (Illumicrate edition)

I love the brightness of the cover and the matching page edges. This book is high on my TBR (so happy Asian-inspired stories are becoming more prevalent in YA) and hopefully I’ll get it it early in the new year.

3. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett (Fairyloot edition)

I definitely prefer the UK cover to the North American cover. The mushrooms are such an appropriate element to add on the page edges too. I almost got this one but my seller backed out of a deal after making me wait for 2 months.

4. Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare (Illumicrate edition)

While Cassie Clare’s adult book is so popular it has been featured as multiple special editions, this is my favourite. I love the beautiful sprayed edges and keeping the cover simple.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Juniper Books dust jackets)

I talked about this on a previous post, but I absolutely am a sucker for continuity between spines in a series. There’s no one more iconic in Narnia than Aslan. I love this version of him spread across all the Narnia books. It’s a shame I don’t have the hardcovers to just buy the dust jackets otherwise I’d already own this beauty for my bookshelf.

6. The Study series by Maria V. Snyder (Bookish Box edition)

One of my favourite series growing up, I fell in love with this rendition of the original Study trilogy. From the redesigned covers to the sprayed edges, it is such a unique edition for books I’ve loved for so long.

7. The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab (Owlcrate edition)

I much prefer this redesigned cover over the original cover, and the beautiful sprayed edges make the book look even more gorgeous. I wished I had the funds to get this copy as it’s still in stock on their website. Maybe in the new year *fingers crossed*

8. Shadow & Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (Litjoy Crate edition)

I’m still reeling with sadness that Shadow & Bone won’t be picked up for season 3 on Netflix (my poor Malina heart!) and neither will they green light a Six of Crows spin-off. You know how much I adore this series. This BEAUTIFUL set with some annotations in book 1 by Leigh is the absolute best birthday present my husband got me.

9. The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston (Fairyloot edition)

I wasn’t too sure about the green edges at first, but after reading the book and falling in love with it, this gorgeous version has me looking hard to add to my shelves. I was lucky enough to have a matching version of The Dead Romantics so I really need to find this one.

10. Cursed Crowns by Katherine Webber & Catherine Doyle (To Bee Read edition)

Perhaps an odd choice to single out just book 2 in this trilogy, but I love the colour scheme and pattern on this version of Cursed Crowns. It’s by far the best one out there.

Do you have any special edition books you love? Or are you newer to all the special edition books and companies floating out there? Tell me all about it in the comments below! I’d love to share and discuss tips and tricks.