Welcome to another edition of Shelf Awareness Extra!, which are special issues that focus on a particular subject and appear once a month. This edition focuses on the seventh annual Bookstore Romance Day, set for Saturday, August 9. For a lot more about it, keep reading!

The popularity of Bookstore Romance Day, which takes place this year on Saturday, August 9, has grown almost as fast as the romance category itself.

Celebrating romance authors and readers, the event was founded by Billie Bloebaum, a bookseller at the Book Nook in Canby, Ore. The first Bookstore Romance Day was held in 2019, when some 150 independent bookstores participated. Since then, even during the pandemic, more and more bookstores have kept the date every August, with the numbers of participating stores increasing every year, to about 550 last year. Some 600 are expected this year.

The stores are primarily in the U.S. but include some in Canada, the U.K., and Australia. The stores have a variety of specialties, and include, of course, many of the fastest-growing type of specialty bookstore: romance bookstores. They account for about 10% of participating stores. The rest are general stores that have connected with customers who love romances. And the participants comprise all kinds of stores: bricks-and-mortar, mobile, pop-up, online, and more, all of which celebrate Bookstore Romance Day in many creative, heartfelt ways. (See story below.)

Besides in-store events, Bookstore Romance Day will include virtual programming that will be set soon. Last year's programming ran the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Bookstore Romance Day, beginning with a Friday Kick-Off Party featuring a panel of five romantasy authors. On the Day itself, panels focused on romance set outside of the U.S. or Western Europe; sports romance; road trip romance; romance with protagonists in STEM; and Queer romance. Sunday's panels focused on "lower-heat" romance; romance featuring protagonists in the arts; and YA romantasy.

There is still time for bookstores to sign up as official Bookstore Romance Day participants, which will allow them to be included on the participating bookstores map. The site also offers marketing and promotional assets, which will be updated soon.

Bookstore Romance Day has a striking origin story. In 2019, as the first Bookstore Romance Day was being planned, Bloebaum said that the idea for the event did not exist until early that year. As recounted by Shelf Awareness, "In March [of 2019], a romance author started a 'bit of a Twitter kerfuffle,' during which she 'got down' on indies for not being romance-friendly. Bloebaum, who is actively engaged with many other booksellers about the romance genre, knew this wasn't the case, and decided it was time for a more public show of support. 'Bookstore Romance Day was an offhand suggestion that took on a life of its own,' recalled Bloebaum."

The romance book market has been growing since 2021, and "the volume for romance books has more than doubled compared to four years ago, with 51 million units sold in the past 12 months," according to a June 4 report by Brenna Connor, industry analyst, U.S. books, at Circana BookScan.

So far this year, "romance stands out among the adult fiction subjects showing the most growth in 2025," Connor continued. "In fact, romance is the leading growth category for the total print book market thus far in 2025. Fastest growing romance subjects include romantasy and sports romance, each experiencing triple-digit growth, as well as suspense romance and contemporary romance."

Connor cited readers' passion for Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, published in January by Red Tower Books, which sold 2.7 million copies in its first week after publication. It was "the fastest selling adult title in its opening week in the 20-year history of BookScan." But the romance category has expanded beyond Onyx Storm. "Even when excluding Yarros from the romance market, the category is still showing double-digit growth," Connor wrote. "H.D. Carlton, Rina Kent, and Elsie Silver are among the top growing romance authors this year. One key similarity among them is that their stories explore dark romance, including paranormal and anti-hero themes. A desire for dark subjects is surfacing within the romance book market. This trend aligns with other growing segments in adult fiction including psychological thrillers (+29%), dark fantasy (+23%), and horror (+13%).... These subject matters provide an outlet for readers to safely explore negative emotions such as sadness, anger, or anxiety--allowing them to feel connected and perhaps even comforted. I expect to see continued interest in these darker subjects in the year ahead."

---

By other measures, romance has struck a strong chord among readers and the industry. Bookstores specializing in romance are opening at a heart-warming pace. At Shelf Awareness, romance bookstores are the single-largest category of our new bookstore stories, so many that sometimes we space out the stories about new romance bookstores to give each its own moment in the limelight.

In addition, for years, of course, bookstores have been the setting for romance, from meet-cutes to dates. Increasingly they're also the setting for proposals and marriages. At Shelf Awareness, we regularly run pictures of proposals made in bookstores as well as the occasional marriage. These have been so prevalent that in February, Brandeis University Press published Bookstore Romance: Love Speak Volumes, a book about 24 couples who got engaged or married in bookstores. By Judith Rosen, a former editor and correspondent at Publishers Weekly, with a foreword by Jeffrey Mayersohn, co-owner of the Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass., the book includes photographs of the couples, interviews with them, and more.

Many booksellers express deep affection for Bookstore Romance Day. Katie Garaby, floor manager and Between the Covers Romance Book Club coordinator at Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., says, "It's honestly my favorite day of the year."

Celebrating Bookstore Romance Day last year at Blue Willow Bookshop

Likewise Cathy Berner at Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, Texas, says, "We have loved celebrating Bookstore Romance Day every year. It's one of our busiest days of the year and it's so much fun."

Stores go all out for Bookstore Romance Day. As founder Billie Bloebaum notes, "Every store celebrates differently with everything from author events to sales on romance titles to blind date with a book, giveaways, champagne toasts, and more. One year, there was even a bookstore that did a pet adoption event."

Among stores' plans for this coming Bookstore Romance Day and events last year that booksellers, authors, and readers adored:

Meghan Molinari, event coordinator and self-proclaimed "romance lover" from Lark and Owl Booksellers in Georgetown, Texas, is thrilled to gather the local romance community: "We have a wonderful community of romance readers here in Georgetown/Austin so it is always so great to have an excuse to bring them all together for an evening celebrating our favorite genre."

In past years, Lark & Owl Booksellers has hosted a masquerade ball. This year, Lark and Owl plans "a craft night with some of our local romance authors! We will also be giving away romance ARCs throughout the night and having blind dates with a romance book available for purchase. This event will take place August 8, the night before Romance Bookstore Day."

Paul Swydan, owner of The Silver Unicorn in Acton, Mass., commended the publishing community's support for Bookstore Romance Day. Swydan says, "I think it has been important for the indie bookselling community and their embrace of romance, and I think that has trickled up to the publisher level, which has been fantastic to see." The store has hosted author panels, and Swydan notes, "We're open to any idea, as long as we celebrate the day."

Hannah Oliver Depp of Loyalty Bookstores in Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Md., notes that "D.C. has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to local romance authors so we often ask them to be a bookseller for a day and they get to handsell their faves as well as sign copies of their own books." The store also has an unusual romance author connection. Depp explains, "We are also deeply blessed to have romance author Susie Dumond on staff who will have just had her third book come out, so we'll be featuring it heavily." The book is Bed and Breakup, which Dial Press will publish June 24.

Also for Katie Garaby at Parnassus, the many local romance authors help spice up Bookstore Romance Day festivities. "We are so fortunate to have so many great romance authors in the Nashville area (Jenna Levine, Lauren Kung Jessen, Melissa Collings, to name a few), and I love to partner with them to plan cool off-beat events," Garaby explains. Last year's Bookstore Romance Day was a sleepover-themed extravaganza: "We came in our jammies, made bracelets, played MASH and crafted bad poetry out of old bodice-rippers," Garaby says. The evening culminated with "a Dear Diary Open-Mic where attendees could read their old journals, bad fan-fiction or love letters they never sent. It was hilarious."

This year, Garaby has day and evening planned: "We have a whole host of events during the day with a special love-themed story time, a rom-com-inspired piano concert and tarot readings. As well as beautiful trope-inspired displays and lots of signed stock. In the evening, we'll be hosting a half dozen authors in a rousing game of Battle of the Tropes, where our authors will be divided into teams and forced to debate hotly contested tropes. Judged by our romance-loving audience the losing team will be asked to partake in silly consequences. We were inspired by an event at Love Y'all in Atlanta and thought this would make such a great event for Bookstore Romance Day. I cannot wait for August!"

Last year, eight bookstores in Minneapolis, Minn., organized a Bookstore Romance Day indie bookstore crawl that included book bundle prizes and a grand prize of $20 gift certificates from each of the eight stores. The crawl returns this year, with more prizes, an exclusive enamel pin, and ARC giveaways. 

Love's Sweet Arrow, a romance bookstore in Tinley Park, Ill., is focusing on food and film this year. According to Roseann Backlin, "We are working with a local ice cream shop to come in and offer ice cream. And we had a romantic short filmed in our store last fall, we are hoping it will be ready to be viewed." In recent years, the store has hosted live podcasters.

In Bookselling This Week, the American Booksellers Association gave advice in preparation for last year's Bookstore Romance Day that still pertains. Stores celebrating the Day should, the ABA wrote, "create an atmosphere of romance. Transform your bookstore or pop-up with romantic decorations. Think fairy lights and cozy reading nooks. This will set the perfect mood for browsing romance novels. If setting up displays in the window or on tables, make an effort to include titles that showcase diverse relationships and authors. This inclusivity can attract a wider audience and promote the richness of the genre."

The ABA also recommended using social media "to share romantic book recommendations and engage with your audience. Encourage customers to share their own love stories or favorite romantic moments. Display these stories in-store or on your social media platforms to create a sense of community." --Coco Zephir

Bookstore Romance Day has a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise $5,000 to "help Bookstore Romance Day Continue & Grow." Billie Bloebaum noted, in part, "As Bookstore Romance Day has continued to grow, so have expenses and, unfortunately, donations and sponsorships have not increased accordingly. I don't want to decrease the amount of programming offered, nor do I want to have to start charging for event attendance, knowing that even $1 can be a barrier to attendance for many. I would also like to offer even more programming throughout the year, to increase the number of participating bookstores, to offer swag for bookstores to give away, and to implement some plans that have had to be kept on the back burner."

Donations will help fund "continued and expanded virtual programming, free admission for everyone to all virtual programming, outreach to bookstores and publishers, operating expenses such as postage, internet service, newsletter service, virtual events platform, etc."