I don't often buy Hardbacks for several reasons. 1. Here in the UK, the majority of YA goes straight to paperback (though fantasy does seem to be published in hardback first more often than not). 2. I generally prefer reading paperbacks; they're kinder to my wrists, and not so heavy when in a bag. 3. For those that are published in hardback first, I can't afford to buy every book I want to read in that format, so I have to wait. But I do still occasionally buy hardbacks, when it's a book I can't wait for - and they tend to be US titles not published in the UK.

As I can't afford to buy a lot of hardbacks, you'll understand that I can't buy even more expensive hardbacks, like special editions, or subscribe to subscription boxes. So a lot of the time, the harbacks I get are just the normal, bog-standard hardbacks. But every now and then, the publishers sneak in a little surprise for us. I'm the type of person who only ever reads hardbacks after removing the dust jacket, because I will absolutely damage it either while reading or when taking it out and putting it in my bag. So it's always delightful to see the publishers have added something a little special to the case of the book when I remove them. And I thought I'd share with you the hardbacks with cool cases I have.



These are the only five I have with something special underneath; they are, in order they are shown in the photo above, Ship It by Britta Lundin, Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley*, Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger* The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith*, and The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin*. Aren't they so cool?! I think the foil blocking is really gorgeous, but the casewrap of The Nature of Magic is my favourite, with Elatsoe at a close second. I don't personally really like the casewrap for Ship It; I'm not a big fan of the illustrations, and I think it's too busy, but it's still really cool!





I just think they're awesome, and I love that publishers do this. I think I have some sprayed edged books, too, but I'm not as big of a fan of them, simply because the colour comes of on my hands, I don't think the block cover is particularly wow, unless it's in a photo of various hardbacks lined up in a rainbow. I follow the Production Controller for HarperVoyager and Avon Books, Robyn on Instagram, and she's always sharing gorgeous photos of various different editions, and here's one of her photos of rainbow sprayed edges that I think looks beautiful! I do love it when the sprayed edges have designs stenciled into them, though. I don't own any, but I would definitely buy them if they weren't more expensive special editions or from subscription boxes.

Do you own any hardbacks with very cool designs under the dust jackets? What are your favourites? Do you have any of the above? Let me know in the comments!