ABOUT ME

Ianthe discovered a love for reading in the fourth grade, when the school year ended before her teacher could finish reading “Het ei van oom Trotter” to the class. Not being able to live without closure, she was forced to visit the library to find out the ending.

After devouring countless Marc De Bel, Dirk Bracke, and (probably) a couple hundred other books, her favorite hobby had to be put on the back burner for a bit due to her studies and busy schedule.

However, about five years ago, Ianthe fell in love with reading all over again thanks to #booktok. She discovered that getting book recommendations from random strangers on the Internet was life-changing, and realizing that there was a whole community of people out there who liked reading the same books as her, blew her mind. Obviously, the switch to reading in English had to be made… If you know, you know.

Life was perfect again, except for the fact that she couldn’t find the books that #booktok was telling her to read in her local bookstores. Out of frustration, a dream was born: a “perfect” bookstore. A place, where the #booktok community could come together to meet each other, discover new authors and - of course - buy books. All of it, in the most beautiful, magical and slightly whimsical setting.

Ianthe’s dream has now taken shape in the form of Purple Petals Bookstore and though the idea was born out of frustration, it is positive vibes only from here on out. She hopes you’ll come experience the magic of Purple Petals for yourself. After all, the bookstore was built with readers like you in mind.

THANK YOU

Building Purple Petals Bookstore was a long journey and I did not do it all by myself, so I want to thank a few people, who were important along the way.

Thank you to “juffrouw” Annemie for reading “Het ei van oom Trotter” to me and the rest of the class in the fourth grade, and for making me want to go to the library.

Thank you to Julie Kagawa for writing “De IJzerkoning” (“The Iron King”) and making me fall in love with romantasy books long before #booktok was even a thing.

Thank you to my friend, Tine, for going to the library with me countless times in high school and for being just as excited about reading as I was, even though it wasn’t considered a cool hobby back then.

Thank you to Edward Cullen for being the first vampire I had a crush on, and thank you again to Tine for introducing me to him.

Thank you to all the people on #booktok for giving me endless book recommendations and creating such a positive community.

Thank you to my friend, Eva, for giving me the gift card with which I bought “A Court of Thorns and Roses”. This book was crucial to my #booktok journey, and Rhysand is still my favorite book boyfriend to this day.

Thank you to Luka, Robyn, and Bram for taking me to Boektopia a few years ago and for sharing my frustration about the lack of English books. This was a real tipping point for me. But more importantly, thank you for being my unofficial book club in the past couple of years and loving the same books as I do.

Thank you to everyone I told about my dream of opening a bookstore and who didn’t say it was a stupid idea. (You know who you are.)

But most of all, thank you to my parents for encouraging me to follow my dreams, for believing in Purple Petals when I showed you my business plan, and for building the store with me. I honestly could not have done this without you.

Love you all, Ianthe.