Visiting My Favorite Pittsburgh Bookstore

Hey! So this past weekend I went on a little mini trip to Pittsburgh! This was my third trip there and since my first visit, I have gone to this bookstore (well, technically it's a gift shop) and I absolutely love it! It is so eclectic and has such a wide variety of weird, fun things!

Kards Unlimited is a small, family-owned business on Walnut Street. They have all kinds of stickers, fun merchandise based on TV shows and music artists, greeting cards, jewelry, and of course, a decently-sized selection of books. The bookshelves line this elevated narrow hallway, which gives that magical, mysterious bookstore feel. It has uneven hardwood floors and some of the aisles are slanted, which I love. It is just so cozy and I am always surprised by the unique stuff I find there.

This time I visited, I bought a book titled The Fragile Threads of Power written by V.E. Schwab. I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue last year and it was my top book of 2023, so I thought maybe I would try another one of Schwab's works. I knew that this book was part of a series, but what I did not realize is that it takes place within the world of another one of Schwab's series, A Darker Shade of Magic. From my understanding, The Fragile Threads of Power takes place seven years after the this series, and that you do not necessarily need to read Shades of Magic beforehand to understand The Fragile Threads of Power. It seems like the only people who believe otherwise are the people who read Shades of Magic beforehand. This is just what I've researched, but I may have my hands full with this one...

Anyways, this experience kind of encompasses what I love most about Kards in a way. I always go in there not knowing 100% what I'm coming out with. Last visit, for example, I bought Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries thinking it would be a cozy winter read, which it definitely was, but now I am fully immersed in this entire Faerie realm that I know way too much about to probably be healthy, with both books in the series on my shelf as I impatiently await the third. I just love to go in there with an open mind and chose a book I am completely blind about and see what happens, so you should check Kards out if you are ever in Pittsburgh!!