Today's edition of Shelf Awareness features great news regarding three new or soon-to-open independent bookstores focusing on romance titles, in what has become a national trend. Here's a toast to them, and to all indie booksellers, on Bookstore Romance Day eve. Have fun tomorrow! (Feel free to send reports about your BRD festivities, with pictures if possible, to news@shelf-awareness.com.)

"Our community has welcomed us with open arms and really shown us that romance books are loved by all, and that a physical book in hand is still a major focus for most patrons," said Emily Ezell, owner of Blush & Bashful Romance Bookshop in Hopkinsville, Ky.

Located at 3012-B Ft. Campbell Blvd., Blush & Bashful held its grand opening on May 4. The store carries all-new romance titles with a particular focus on the fantasy, contemporary, rom-com, suspense, and dark romance sub-genres. While Ezell and her team do not stock books outside the romance genre, they will special order any title customers ask for.

Ezell reported that the store has already held several author signings since the opening, and Blush & Bashful has established a book club that meets once a month and so far has had a great turnout. An offsite story time with author Brittany Thurman is coming up, and last week the store held a special event tied into the release of the movie adaptation of It Ends with Us. Ezell plans to continue to expand the store's event offerings with tote bag decorating, bookbinding classes, and more.

Ezell said she's long dreamed of opening a bookstore as well as writing a book of her own, but in her younger years she was "terrified to commit to that" and chose to be a nurse. Then, she had a dream one night that was "so vivid, detailed, and otherworldly" that it gave her inspiration to start writing a novel. As she was working on it, she started thinking about opening a bookstore, under the assumption that it would give her more time to write. She added: "Ironically, I have less time now to read, much less to write."

On her decision to make it a romance-only bookstore, Ezell explained that she has always had a "deep-seated love" of romance, one that has its origins in being read fairy tales as a kid. "As I got older, romance books just always seemed to bring me comfort," she said, and they allowed her to "escape reality for a brief moment and read about love in all the many ways that it can be told."

Elaborating on the community's response to Blush & Bashful, Ezell said the opening day festivities had "such an amazing turnout" that she "immediately had to place another large stock order that same evening."

Just One More Chapter, a bookstore focused on romance and fantasy titles, will open in September at 14 Ridge Street, Glens Falls, N.Y., near Saratoga Springs and Lake George, the Chronicle reported. Owner Ashley Brownell, who grew up in Florida and moved to the area when she was 17, said she chose the store's name "because I always say I'm going to read just one more and then I'm up until 3 a.m."

Ashley Brownell outside her new storefront.

Brownell added that she hopes the store will be "a place where the community can come together." Her vision includes author readings and partnering with neighboring businesses for other promotions.

She gained business experience with "I Don't Have Time for That," a food blog on InstaPot cooking that she sold after 10 years. "So I was looking for a new project," Brownell noted. "I just love romance books. This is my passion. The world can always use a little more love."

Her husband, Mike Saville, is a carpenter and they are doing the build-out together. A fall opening is anticipated, with a target date of September 21.

In June, Brownell had posted on Facebook: "At Just One More Chapter, we believe in the transformative power of love stories to uplift, inspire, and comfort. Our shelves are adorned with tales of passion, resilience, and hope, penned by talented authors who capture the essence of human connection with grace and allure. From steamy romances that set hearts racing to tender stories that tug at heartstrings, our curated collection is a treasure trove for romance aficionados seeking their next literary escape."

Following a soft opening earlier this summer, Afterglow Books held a grand opening in Buffalo, N.Y., on August 3, Step Out Buffalo reported.

The new and used bookstore focuses on the fantasy and romance genres and is located on the second floor of the Hiraeth House, a women-owned business collective in Buffalo's Allentown neighborhood. Customers can donate lightly used books in exchange for loyalty stamps; 10 stamps can be redeemed for a 20% discount on their next in-store purchase.

The first meeting of the store's fantasy-focused book club, called the Enchanted Book Club, is scheduled for August 16; owner Kristina Muffoletto selected Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli as the opening pick.

Muffoletto is also running an adult reading challenge called Read It! in partnership with a local pizzeria. Customers can pick up or download a bingo board and fill in squares by reading a book that matches the square's description. Once they've completed a row, they can turn in the bingo card for a free personal pizza.

Before finding a permanent home for Afterglow Books, Muffoletto set up shop as a pop-up vendor at various locations in and around Buffalo. Looking ahead, she'll continue to take Afterglow Books on the road; she has pop-up appearances planned a yoga festival and a book festival later this month, and in October she'll appear at the Witching Hour Market in Buffalo.

Abby Bookshop

The recently concluded Olympic Games in Paris "may have been a greater success than expected, but for many of the capital's bookshops, they have been dismal or even disastrous," the Bookseller reported. Among reasons cited were traffic restrictions and the exodus of Parisians, which deprived many booksellers of their regular customers. 

Brian Spence, owner and manager of the Abbey Bookshop, said the problems began in May, when there was confusion over the traffic and public transport restrictions, as well as when the barricades would go up. "Paris was not the place to be for locals or tourists," he noted. "It was like a ghost town and was sort of depressing." 

In the week before the Games opened, the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la librairie française) said Paris members' sales were down by an average of 11% over the same period last year.

Librairie le Piéton de Paris described the situation as "dramatic," particularly during the run-up to the Games because of strict security measures, Livres Hebdo reported. Manager Frédérique Aubier said only 10 people visited the shop during those 10 days: "If I had known, I would have gone away on holiday."

For Abbey Bookshop's Spence, prospects for the Paralympics (August 28 to September 8) are less bleak: "I expect it to be like the World Cup--you gain a bit and lose a bit. In other words, it should be neutral."

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Canadian bookstore Livres Babar, Pointe-Claire, Que., was one of the casualties of last Friday's torrential rainstorm and is now dealing with the loss of hundreds of books due to flooding. Co-owner David Byers told CTV News that the beloved, family-run business, which opened in 1986, had never been flooded, but the record rainfall sent water rushing into the shop's basement. 

"I was faced with a sight that just completely didn't compute. It was like somebody had covered the entire floor in Lucite. It was crystal clear water it turns out. I stepped down into it and made a splash," Byers said. Pointe-Claire's volunteer rescue unit spent three hours pumping water out and found a drain under the carpet. "With a shovel I started pushing water towards the drain. By that time it was getting to be midnight," he added.

"It was a big surprise when I phoned on Friday night and David said we've got three inches of water everywhere and I sort of dashed over here," said co-owner Maya Munro-Byers.

Assessing the full extent of the damage will take time, but thus far they have had to throw out about 400 books. The owners don't know when they will be able to open shop again, but promise customers they will, and are" looking forward to turning the page and starting a new chapter," CTV News noted.

Despite the challenge, they are staying positive. "It's not as bad a disaster as many people I've seen recently living in basement apartments with all of their soaked belongings outside, so I put it into perspective that way," Byers said.

Babar Books posted on Facebook yesterday: "We really appreciate the outpouring of support and understanding from our community!! We look forward to opening our doors (with fresh carpet) in the next couple days. Please check back here for more updates!"

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Giles Armstrong (via)

Giles Armstrong, the longest-serving Foyles bookshop staff member, will retire after almost 60 years with the company, the Bookseller reported. Armstrong, who started working at Foyles on London's Charing Cross Road in 1965, is stepping down in September at the age of 82.  

His first job was sorting the mail, before moving to the history department. By the 1970s he was running the biggest English-language department in the U.K., accounting for 10% of U.K. sales in a single shop. 

During his career, Armstrong sold books to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, media mogul Robert Maxwell, and actor Robert Stephens, the Bookseller noted. Foyles is planning to host a "small but lively" retirement party for Armstrong on September 8 at Foyles Charing Cross Road. --Robert Gray

Shelf Awareness for Readers, our weekly consumer-facing publication featuring adult and children's book reviews, author interviews, backlist recommendations, and fun news items, is being published today. Starred review highlights include Willy Vlautin's novel The Horse, a "testament to hope amid a lifetime of adversity"; Anamely Salgado Reyes's "charming" debut, My Mother Cursed My Name, which documents one family's "second chances to fix what what's been broken too long"; and popular podcaster Paul Cooper's Fall of Civilizations, which "attests to humanity's resilience" throughout its historical survey of devastation. Plus, editor Alex Brown compiles a "compellingly horrifying" collection of stories about teens facing down nightmares, demons, and strange manifestations of mortality in the spooky YA anthology The House Where Death Lives.

In The Writer's Life, Alex Temblador, author of Writing an Identity Not Your Own, shares advice and maps out a creative process for writers who want to improve their ability to write convincingly and sensitively about people from dissimilar backgrounds. And rediscover the late American poet Stanley Moss, "who for seven decades evoked a troubled world of sorrows and sensual pleasures ruled by a silent God seemingly indifferent to the fate of humanity."

Today's issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers is going to more than 690,000 customers of 251 independent bookstores. Stores interested in learning more can contact our partnership program team via e-mail. To see today's issue, click here.

Serendipity Books, Chelsea, Mich., posted a video portraying "the tension between a girl and her book boyfriends. Bookstore Romance Day is this Saturday, 8/17! Come in and have your own special moment with the Romance section. (And don't forget to sign up for our new ROMANCE BOOK CLUB while you're at it!)."

Phoenix Books, Rutland, Vt., shared a photo of the store's Bookstore Romance Day display, highlighting four spicy "Scoville scale" levels of romance books to celebrate the day, including Muy Caliente, Spicy, Hot, and Warm and Cozy.

"We invite you to celebrate Bookstore Romance Day with us!" Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock, Ill., featured a pic of the BRD-themed sidewalk chalkboard in front of the shop, noting: "Win a prize when you purchase a romance book.... Stop by and shop our shelves to your heart's content."

Ingrid Paredes has joined Simon & Schuster's special markets team as manager, corporate & premium sales. Paredes was previously special projects manager at Scholastic.

Look and Cook Breakfast: A First Book of Recipes in Pictures by Valorie Fisher (Astra Young Readers).

Today:
NPR's Science Friday: Anthony Fauci, M.D., author of On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service (Viking, $36, 9780593657478).

BritBox International and UKTV have released a first look at the upcoming series Outrageous, based on The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family. Deadline reported that "the story of six aristocratic sisters who refused to play by the rules, their often-scandalous lives making headlines around the world."

The project stars Bessie Carter (Bridgerton), Shannon Watson, Zoe Brough, Orla Hill and Isobel Jesper Jones. Created and written by Sarah Williams, the show is produced by Firebird Pictures and will air next year.

The shortlist has been selected for the £25,000 (about $32,110) 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, which honors popular science writing and authors. The winner will be announced October 24. The shortlist:

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction by Gísli Pálsson
Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
Everything Is Predictable: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World by Tom Chivers
Your Face Belongs to Us: The Secretive Startup Dismantling Your Privacy by Kashmir Hill

photo: Lori Eanes

A writer of Uruguayan origins, Caro De Robertis is the author of The Palace of Eros (Primero Sueño Press/Atria, August 13, 2024), a retelling of the traditional Greek myth of Psyche and Eros through a queer and feminist lens, and five previous novels. Their books have been translated into 17 languages and have received numerous honors, including two Stonewall Book Awards, Italy's Rhegium Julii Prize, and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, which they were the first openly nonbinary writer to receive. De Robertis is also an award-winning literary translator and a professor at San Francisco State University. They are currently at work on a nonfiction book, So Many Stars: an Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color. They live in Oakland, Calif., with their two children.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

It's a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Psyche and Eros that recasts Eros, god of desire, as a genderqueer nonbinary lesbian goddess.

On your nightstand now:

Once, my kids counted the books on my nightstand: 58. Currently, the tower is topped by a book I'm excited to dive into, Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, and a gorgeous novel that recently stole my soul, Alex Espinoza's The Sons of El Rey.

Favorite book when you were a child:

When I was nine, I found Little Women by Louisa May Alcott--or it found me. Looking back, I see it as my first experience with a genuinely feminist text, which can be like water for a thirsty soul. Jo not only wants to be wild and free, but also a writer! When I was 10, and we immigrated to the U.S., my copy of Little Women was one of the treasures I brought with me. I lived in that book, and it helped me live in turn.

Your top five authors:

This hurts! Only five? To focus it down, here are a few contemporary writers whose work is inspiring me today: Angie Cruz, Jaquira Díaz, Julián Delgado Lopera, Louise Erdrich, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Book you've faked reading:

I won't admit it. I've mended my ways, I'm not that person anymore.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada. This utterly brilliant novel about trans women who live, love, do sex work, make community, and survive against the odds has been transforming the literary landscape in the author's native Argentina, and should be doing the same here in the U.S. The vision, the majestic sentences, the heart and grit, the wildly original approach, the raw honesty and tenderness--there's so much to say about how we need this book.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I don't think I've ever done this. But a cover I've recently adored is that of Justinian Huang's riveting debut novel, The Emperor and the Endless Palace. Its rich, color-saturated design reflects the queer, supremely erotic, riotously entertaining mythological romp within its pages--and had people stopping me in the airport to ask me about the book in my hands.

Book you hid from your parents:

Hear me out: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. At 13, I pulled it off the shelf and just started reading. Soon enough I'd hit sexual passages that stretched my rather sheltered imagination. That naked woman, on all fours in a bowler hat, did things to my queer-but-doesn't-know-it-yet mind that I could not yet articulate. I hid it from my parents even though the copy actually belonged to them.

Book that changed your life:

So very, very many. But to pick one: Loving in the War Years by Cherríe Moraga was the first book by a Latina lesbian I ever read. I was 19. My world exploded open. Suddenly there was more room for me to exist. For those of us whose truths are not sufficiently reflected in dominant society, finding books that speak to our experience with art and power can not only change our lives, but make our lives feel more possible. It's the most fabulous thing.

Favorite line from a book:

One current favorite is the last sentence of Jordy Rosenberg's trailblazing, transcendent, exquisitely written Confessions of the Fox. That novel would surely be a thrilling joy ride for anybody with a heart, but for queer and trans folks its subtext holds a hidden road map to inner freedom and belonging that is so beautiful to me, it's almost blinding, like the sun. I can't quote the sentence here, though. Its power has to be experienced by reading the whole book.

Five books you'll never part with:

I'd part with none! Why would you make me? But I suppose if I were forced to reach for only five in a fire, I might grab Toni Morrison's Beloved, Audre Lorde's Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Qiu Miaojin's Notes of a Crocodile, the Eknath Easwaran translation of The Bhagavad Gita, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues... Oh wait, I'm cheating...

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

I love rereading, the way each cycle through a book can sink you deeper. So, to be honest, I feel like I can always return to that experience with the books I connect to most--which is such a gift.

Susan Minot's Don't Be a Stranger is a penetrating, achingly honest novel of sexual attraction and self-discovery. In her early 50s, Ivy Cooper, a loving single mom to her son, Nicky, meets someone who upends her world and causes her to reflect on who she is and what she truly wants.

Ansel Fleming is a singer/songwriter and musician; Ivy is a writer. For him, songs come easily; for her, writing is a struggle. When Ansel asks her how she likes writing, Ivy thinks, "Writing filled up spaces she hadn't known were empty." But what she says is "she still didn't really think of herself as a writer, writing was just the thing she did." Minot uses no quotation marks, literally indicating on the page Ivy's ongoing struggle to decide how much of herself to reveal, and how much to keep hidden. As her obsession with Ansel grows, she sacrifices more of herself.

Their mutual friend Maira suggests that Ansel meet her and Ivy at Ivy's Greenwich Village apartment, and the three of them could then head to a dinner that other mutual friends are hosting in Brooklyn. Although Ivy does not often say what she's thinking, she notices everything. And when she observes Ansel that first night, "She saw something in him unusual, as if not touched by the usual things." This insight reverberates the more time she spends with Ansel. When Ansel plays one of his songs for Ivy, "[s]he thought of how music entered a person without your needing to think about it. Reading wasn't like that. You needed to give it all your attention." This is the ethereal presence Ansel occupies in her life. Ivy dispenses with the analytical and surrenders herself to the present moment. She longs to move through the world this way, but isn't sure she can.

Minot (Thirty Girls) creates a profoundly sympathetic heroine in Ivy, whose greatest priority is her son, eight-year-old Nicky. And two turning points come for Ivy when Nicky becomes very ill. Readers will root for Ivy both as she succumbs to her obsession with Ansel, and then as she tries to conquer it. The title is as much about meeting a stranger as it is about becoming one to yourself. Yet, in Minot's expert hands, the stranger inadvertently leads Ivy back to herself. The sexy scenes and piercing insights will have readers madly flipping the pages to see how this Ivy comes out. --Jennifer M. Brown, reviewer

Shelf Talker: Who is the stranger in Susan Minot's piercing, keenly observed novel of sexual obsession: Is it the man Ivy meets or is Ivy a stranger to herself?

Want to start an argument? Just create a list of the "Best U.S. Cities for Book Lovers" and release it to celebrate National Book Lovers Day (August 9). Yup, that's what happened last week.

Posted by Page 158 Books

The origin story for Book Lovers Day is lost in the mists of time. I first wrote about it three years ago, asking: "So, do you have more ambitious plans for National Book Lovers Day 2021 this coming Monday, August 9? No? What's that? You mean to tell me you've never heard of it?" But the day has definitely gained momentum in recent years, especially among indie booksellers, who never need an excuse to celebrate the reading life." 

The genesis of the Best U.S. Cities for Book Lovers list, however, is much easier to trace. Explore compiled it by "analyzing the 'Top 100 Best American Cities' list and tallying factors like the number of bookstores, libraries, literary tours, and landmarks in each one, we curated a list that highlights a handful of literary-rich destinations to inspire bibliophiles who want to combine their love of reading with travel." 

Using a "variety of sources and databases," Explore collected relevant data and then scored each city based on those factors, "giving extra weight to things like independent bookstores and literary landmarks." Here's the top 15:

1. Lancaster, Pa.
2. New York, N.Y.
3. Harrisburg, Pa.
4. Pensacola, Fla.
5. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
6. Portland, Ore.
7. Pittsburgh, Pa.
8. Birmingham, Ala.
9. Cincinnati, Ohio
10. St. Louis, Mo.
11. Washington, D.C.
12. Ann Arbor, Mich.
13. Portland, Maine
14. Minneapolis, Minn.
15. St. Paul, Minn.

Let the debates begin. Headlines showed that some cities were cool with the results ("NYC was just ranked second best city in the U.S. for book lovers"), while others... not so much ("How is Portland not ranked higher on this list of top 100 U.S. cities for book lovers?").

I guess that's just the true spirit of Book Lover's Day talking. As I mentioned earlier, there seems to be a full embrace of BLD among many indie booksellers now, as social media posts showed. Here are some highlights:

At Bards Alley Bookshop

Bards Alley Bookshop, Vienna, Va.: "It's National Book Lovers Day! Time to treat yourself--come shop our new display for all of your bookish needs!"

The Family Book Shop, DeLand, Fla.: "Today is National Book Lover's Day! Around here, it is every day. Thank you to the author Steve Berry for the reminder post today."

Lovestruck Books and Cafe, Cambridge, Mass.: "[W]e celebrate all kinds of lovers--book lovers, romance lovers, self lovers, forbidden lovers, old lovers, new lovers, and everyone in between. And the best part? There's a book for every type. Whether you're curling up with a steamy romance or discovering a new literary crush, today is all about indulging in your love for books."

Stories Like Me, Pittsburgh, Pa.: "It's #NationalBookLoversDay! Thank you to all the book lovers out there who help support indie bookstores! This day is for you. We love you."

BayShore Books, Oconto, Wis.: "Thank you to all the book lovers who help support Indie bookstores! This day is for you."

Alibi Bookshop, Vallejo, Calif.: "It's my favorite holiday, so come celebrate with us! (Well, I'll be celebrating at home, but Alex and Sarah will be there for all your book loving needs.)."

At Carmichael's Bookstore

Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky.: "Happy National Book Lovers Day!! We almost missed it because, let's be honest, we like to celebrate every day, but we're all for more reasons to show our love for books and the people who love them. Cheers to the book lovers out there! May your TBR stacks be tall without being overwhelming, your @louisvillefreepubliclibrary holds come in right when you need them, and your reading spots always be cozy."

Wyrd Bookstore, Edgewater, Md.: "Happy Book Lovers Day! It's a pretty good day to be working at a place FULL of them. I hope you find the opportunity to spend some quality time with your books. They look oh so lonely sitting on your shelf. If you're running out of material, you know where to find us."

Fiction Addiction, Greenville, S.C.: "Happy #NationalBookLoversDay!! To celebrate, we made a small list of some deep, beautiful quotes that come directly from books (both classic & modern) for you to look through!"

The Rabbit hOle , North Kansas City, Mo.: "There's no better way to spend National Book Lovers Day, National Rice Pudding Day AND Tove Jansson's birthday than at The Rabbit hOle, eating mush, and reading a Moomin book."

At Belmont Books, Belmont, Mass.

Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, N.C.: "It's a day meant for us! Happy National Book Lovers Day! We are thrilled to be a part of this wonderful community of readers and writers."

Bonsai Books, Cheyenne, Wyo.: "Come celebrate arguably the best day of the year, National Book Lovers Day! Buy a new great book and get a drink for free! If you're looking for suggestions on something amazing to read, we are always here to talk books."

Paper Pages Bookstore, Crescent, Okla.: "It's #NationalBookLoversDay! Thank you to all of our Book Lovers who support our Bookstore! We celebrate with you today!"

The Libros, Los Angeles, Calif., summed up the spirit of the day nicely: "We love books! We love to read. We love to learn about other people's lives and their adventures. We love to learn as we read. We like our minds to be blown because of what we read. We love to be transported to faraway places thanks to what we've read. Books are life!!"