What a Night! Inside Book Hero's Whirlwind ACOTAR Midnight Release

What a whirlwind the last 24 hours have been! I'm writing this running on approximately an hour and a half of sleep, far too much coffee and an enormous amount of excitement. But WOW, what an experience!

After months of planning, countless conversations, a few logistical headaches and a LOT of excitement, 'A Court of Splintered Harmony' is finally here! And what better way to celebrate than throwing a midnight release party with some of the biggest ACOTAR fans in New Zealand?

It's honestly hard to believe how much has happened in such a short space of time. From transforming Book Hero HQ into our own little slice of Velaris, to appearing on TVNZ Breakfast, to watching thousands of books head out across New Zealand, it's been an experience I'll never forget.

So, while it's all still fresh in my very sleep-deprived brain, here's a little look at our last 24 hours!

4pm: Let the preparations begin!

We kicked things off at 4pm on Monday, getting everything ready for our midnight release party. Our wonderful team had been working incredibly hard behind the scenes, and seeing everything finally come together was so exciting. 

We transformed our patio with sparkling fairy lights and candles, bringing a little hint of Velaris and Starfall to Book Hero HQ.

And the food! We had a gorgeous table of treats made by our wonderful team and customers, with a MASSIVE shout-out to Lizzy and Sunita, who completely outdid themselves. Honestly, the spread was incredible!

Of course, no ACOTAR celebration would be complete without a little spiced faerie wine and some bubbles to toast the release. Alex stepped up as our bartender for the evening and kept everyone well looked after.

10pm: Welcome to Velaris!

At 10pm, the doors opened and our guests started arriving!

And it wasn't just Auckland fans joining us! We had people travel from all over New Zealand to celebrate, including Christchurch, Taupō, Whangārei and Hamilton! How incredible is that?!

The fact that people were willing to travel so far to be part of this special night just shows how much these books mean to people. It was such a joy to bring everyone together, all united by their love of ACOTAR!

We also had some very special goody bags waiting for our guests on arrival! Inside was a mystery romance or romantasy book, an adorable little rose clicker from Turtle Creations, a limited-edition ACOTAR ticket, a bracelet, stickers, a bookmark and a gorgeous themed candle (pink or green, of course!). We had so much fun putting these together, and it was lovely to see everyone opening their little treasures!

We had DIY craft stations where everyone could make their own bookmarks, and some of the creations were absolutely beautiful. There was also a board where guests could pin up little notes about their favourite ACOTAR characters, which was so much fun to read. Then came the quiz, which got VERY competitive! I absolutely loved being surrounded by so many superfans who really knew their stuff. The knowledge in that room was seriously impressive.

And can we talk about the OUTFITS?! Everyone looked incredible, but our best-dressed prize went to Amy, who arrived in the most STUNNING blue gown. She looked absolutely magical and was a very deserving winner!

One of the highlights of the evening was having TVNZ come along to cover the celebrations and interview our guests. Enya, you are an absolute ray of sunshine! It was so special having someone who genuinely loves these books helping tell our story. You could see how much she cared about the series, and I was so grateful she was there to share the excitement with us.

Our wonderful Book Hero ambassador Jade, aka NZBookTokGirl, was also there celebrating with us and became one of the first people in the world to post about the new book. How special is that?!

But my favourite part of the evening was simply looking around and seeing everyone having such a wonderful time. People chatting about their favourite characters, comparing theories, making new friends and bonding over their love of these stories. That is what makes the book community so incredible.

11:45pm: The countdown is ON!

By 11:45pm, the excitement had reached another level. Customers were lining up down the side of our building, with the queue snaking around the car park, all waiting to get their hands on their copies.

The embargo on this release was incredibly strict. We weren't allowed to open a single box until 12:01am on publication day, so naturally, we decided to lean into the theatrics! We carried the first box into the shop covered in beautiful floral tulle fabric, ready for the big reveal.

Then came the countdown.

Just like New Year's Eve, everyone counted down together until the clock struck 12:01am. We opened the boxes, fired off rose petal cannons and the celebrations officially began! The shop was buzzing, everyone was so excited, and we couldn't get the books into people's hands fast enough. At one point, Alex was literally running boxes through the warehouse to the shop to keep up with demand!

And in possibly the most ridiculous twist of the entire evening, after MONTHS of planning this launch, Lizzy and I realised we'd both forgotten to pre-order our own books.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?!

Thankfully, once things had quietened down, we finally managed to get our copies too!

12:01am: The packing marathon begins!

While we were celebrating in the shop, Dom and Tim were getting straight to work in the warehouse. The moment the embargo lifted at 12:01am, they opened the pallet and got packing. And when I say they got packing, I mean they REALLY got packing.Between 12:01am and 3:30am, the two of them packed close to 500 books! Absolutely incredible.

We also had NZ Post arriving to collect the first orders, which was the culmination of months of planning. Because of the strict embargo, we couldn't send books out the day before release as we normally would. We knew how important it was for readers to get their copies on publication day, so we worked with the wonderful team at NZ Post to arrange something special.

Together, we were able to upgrade eligible customers in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch to same-day delivery through NZ Post's Evening Express service, at no additional cost to our customers.

From securing stock to planning the party and figuring out how on earth we were going to get these books out to everyone as quickly as possible, this launch has been months in the making. Seeing everything come together, the books being collected, orders heading out the door and so many happy customers, was such an enormous relief. We finally wrapped up at around 3am, almost 11 hours after we'd started setting up!

6am: Good morning, New Zealand!

After a very quick pit stop at home and approximately an hour and a half of sleep, my alarm was going off again. By 6am, I was back up and on the road with Dylan, heading into the TVNZ Breakfast studio!

After a much-needed coffee (which, ironically, was decaf, so apparently the placebo effect is VERY real!), I joined Tova O'Brien and Chris Chang at 8am to chat about ACOTAR, Book Hero and the incredible phenomenon that romantasy has become. And it was SO much fun!

I absolutely love talking about books, and being able to share that excitement on national television was such a special experience. To be part of such an incredible moment for the book world, and to share a little of what we've been doing at Book Hero, was something I'll remember for a very long time.

9am: Back to Book Hero HQ!

After another quick coffee, it was straight back to Book Hero HQ, where the packing operation was in FULL swing. And WOW, walking into that warehouse was one of the most amazing sights I've seen.

We had five packing desks lined up, with the team absolutely powering through orders. And every single desk was packing ACOTAR! Walking down the aisle, all you could see was a sea of pink and orange books, ready to make their way to readers all over New Zealand.

It was quite extraordinary.

There's something really special about seeing one book become such a huge shared experience. Not just here in New Zealand, but all around the world. Thousands and thousands of people, all excited about the same story, all waiting to return to a world they love.

The vans were chocka block, and the team was working at an incredible pace. And remember, this was all happening straight after a long weekend, so our warehouse crew already had a mountain of orders to get through!

By the end of the day, we'd shipped close to 4,000 books, over a quarter of which were ACOTAR. I honestly don't think I'll ever get over how amazing that is.

11am: Back on the news!

Just when I thought the day couldn't get any more exciting, TVNZ's 1News arrived to cover the release for the 6pm news. And once again, we were lucky enough to have a reporter who was a genuine superfan!

Aziz was absolutely wonderful, and it was such a joy chatting with someone who really understood the excitement around this release.

One of my favourite things about the last 24 hours has been discovering just how many people love these books. From our customers and team to the journalists covering the launch, the enthusiasm has been infectious.

Romantasy really is having its moment, and I LOVE seeing it!

2:30pm: Almost 24 hours later...

And that brings us to now! It's 2:30pm on Tuesday, and I'm sitting here writing this blog, putting together our wrap-up reel and trying to process everything that's happened. I'm absolutely exhausted, but in the best possible way!

What started as an idea to celebrate a book release became something so much bigger. We brought people together, watched new friendships form and helped get thousands of books into the hands of readers across New Zealand.

And NONE of this would have been possible without our extraordinary Book Hero team! To Shirl, Lizzy, Roopa, Alex, Dom, Tim, Dylan and every single person who helped with the decorations, food, activities, customers and everything in between, THANK YOU! And an enormous shout-out to our warehouse team, who tackled an absolute mountain of orders after a long weekend and worked tirelessly to get everyone's books out the door.

A huge thank you also to NZ Post, TVNZ and, of course, our wonderful customers. I'm so incredibly proud of what our independent New Zealand bookshop has achieved!

Until the next one...

These last 24 hours have reminded me why I love books so much. Stories bring people together, spark friendships and create these incredible shared experiences. Seeing so many people come together over their love of ACOTAR has been something I'll never forget.

I CANNOT WAIT for the weekend, when I'll be switching my phone to Do Not Disturb, curling up somewhere comfortable and FINALLY getting stuck into 'A Court of Splintered Harmony'. 

And of course, there's only 79 days until 'A Court of Forgotten Melody' releases. But who's counting...?

Thank you for the most magical 24 hours, Book Hero community. What a night. What a day. What a BOOK! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with my pillow... And then Prythian.