Decorated with hearts and florals, romance bookstore Lovestruck Books opened to an eager public reception last week, bringing not only books but a safe space free of the stigma that can come with being a romance reader.
Different shades of pink and red balloons adorned the entrance of the store, and with a line out the door, the grand opening celebration on Jan. 17 brought dozens of people from all around Boston together to celebrate. Inside the store lay book-themed merchandise that filled the white tables scattered throughout the store with aisles upon aisles of romance books with different subgenres like dark romance, contemporary romance, and romance fantasy (romantasy).
“I am so excited,” said Melanie Bellavance, lead bookseller at Lovestruck Books. “I have been an avid romance reader all my life.”
Located in Harvard Square, the bookstore offers a space for romance readers of all age groups to browse the shelves lined with romances of all types. Genres include fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books; popular titles like “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros, “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas, and “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller stick out.
Bellavance said she is most looking forward to connecting with the customers. “It’s so fun to have it [the book community] in a real, physical space,” she said.
“I love the concept,” said Maeve Stier, a social media influencer on Instagram who attended the celebration. “They did a beautiful job with the store.”
Kate Weiser, another Instagram influencer, wanted to have both a “daytime and nighttime” experience at the bookstore, citing her New Year’s resolution to read more. Weiser had already been to the bookstore the Sunday before.
While romance is popular for many readers, there are also some misconceptions surrounding the genre, and sometimes romance isn’t taken seriously as a genre, Bellavance said. Historically, the genre has been dominated by white authors whose audience was mostly women. WordsRated, a website providing industry reports on books and literature, found that 92.2% of romance novels in 2021 were written by white authors, and 7.8% were written by BIPOC authors.
Misconceptions about romance readers, including ideas like only women enjoying romance and that romance books are misogynistic, always erotica, and aren’t real literature, run rampant on social media. In an episode of the “Shelf Love” podcast, a romance novel discourse, a study was conducted in 2021 with readers who were reading the romance series “Bridgerton” by Julia Quinn. One part of the study was to write down three words associated with romance novels and of the responses, 15% used the word “cheesy” and 25% “indicated romance novels were unrealistic.”
“Our goal is to get rid of that stigma and make sure that all romance readers can come in and find a place where they can see like-minded people,” said Bellavance.
Statista, a platform that gathers data, reports adult fantasy sales grew 85.2% over the course of the first six months of 2023, which Publishers Weekly called “a huge increase in interest in romantasy.”
Furthermore, while WordsRated found that 10 years ago the “main romance-reading group” was women ages 35 to 54, today it is women ages 18 to 54.
Coffee chain George Howell Coffee opened their cafe inside the store, letting guests enjoy drinks and pastries while wandering the stacks or resting at a nearby table. The Coffee Connection, Howell’s first cafe, was located in Cambridge’s Harvard Square as well. “Lovestruck brings us back to our roots,” it states on the website. Coming soon, the cafe hopes to turn into a wine bar at night for guests to enjoy.
The opening event included a variety of activities for guests to enjoy like tarot card readings by psychic Zhana Levitsky and custom permanent jewelry by Spark by Simone. The store hosts similar events, often collaborating with authors that aim to bring people with similar interests together. An events calendar with programming up until the end of February is listed on its website.
By working closely with other bookstores in the area, Bellavance explained how if a customer at a nearby bookstore with a smaller romance section wanted a larger variety of romance books, they would be recommended to Lovestruck.
“It’s nice to have connections with other bookstores. We all want people to read and people to shop indie,” she said. “We’re new, so we don’t have every book that a well-established bookstore might have.”
At Lovestruck, if customers are interested in specific romance books, the bookstore can also order those on a “reserve system,” according to Bellavance, adding that the bookstore will “order a bunch of them if we know that people would love them.”
