Bookstore Romance Day might just be your perfect match
You know the feeling. Your heart swoons for them, you squeal in excitement as companions come together in love, whatever it is, you’ve found it between the pages of a book. True romance to light a fire in your heart.
Held every August, this delightful celebration brings together two of life’s most irresistible pleasures: independent bookstores and the romance genre. It’s a day where book lovers gather to celebrate the cozy, quirky, fiercely passionate indie bookshops that make discovering those romantic tales feel like magic.
Bookstore Romance Day is your excuse (not that you needed one) to support a local business, shop small, and maybe fall in love with a book, a bookstore, or even both. Buying from a local independent bookstore makes the whole community better!
It’s time to go on a date with your town’s Indie bookstore!
Independent bookstores are the heart and soul of their communities, championing local voices and fostering meaningful connections between readers and authors. They also provide an unrestrained avenue to books that can be overlooked by a curated algorithym that threatens to overlook great, but unknown, books.
The space a bookstore inhabits is an intimate expression of the community itself. Every shelf reflects the personality and passion of the booksellers who hand-pick each title based on the desires of the readers they serve. It’s a great way to validate the diversity of your community through their varying interests in reading material.
Support Your Local Bookstore and Indie Authors!
Frequenting an indie bookstore and supporting indie authors comes from the connection, passion, and joy of storytelling shared between themselves and their community. When a reader chooses to shop local, attend readings, or simply spread the word about a favorite new release, it’s like slipping a love note into the hands of those who pour their hearts into every page and every recommendation. These small gestures create ripples—helping authors find their readers, bookstores to keep their lights on, and neighborhoods to become rich with imagination and soul. It’s a romance rooted in reciprocity: when we show up for our bookstores, they show up for us, again and again, with stories, romance and all genres, that make us laugh, cry, and believe in happy endings.
Show Your Love of Bookstores and the Romance Found Inside
Next time you stroll down to your corner independent bookstore, take a moment to think about the amazing relationship your favorite bookseller has with your community and pick up a romance to fall in love with as you celebrate Bookstore Romance Day!
Fall in love with the romantic streaks from these Chanticleer authors!
Vermilion Harvest
By Reenita M. Hora
Overall Grand Prize CIBA winner!
Reenita M. Hora’s Vermilion Harvest weaves love and liberation into literary gold.
“Why do love and freedom have such a complicated relationship?” This haunting question pulses through every page of Vermilion Harvest, Hora’s breathtaking debut that creates, in one of history’s darkest moments, a luminous testament to the power of love in transcending boundaries.
A star-crossed romance sparks against the backdrop of empire.
Set in 1919 Amritsar, Vermilion Harvest introduces readers to Aruna Duggal, a nineteen-year-old Anglo-Indian schoolteacher caught between worlds—too brown for British acceptance, too white for Indian belonging. Born from violence, raised in the shadows between communities, Aruna navigates life’s margins until she meets Ayaz Peermohammed, a passionate Muslim law student from Lahore. Ayaz’s dreams of Indian independence ignite something revolutionary within Aruna’s heart.
The Third Act
By Kathleen Brehony
The subtitle “A Spicy Lesbian Romance” belies the true emotional depth of Kathleen Brehony’s The Third Act. This story is a testament to the unbreakable connection between a “Tribe” of 60ish lesbian women, and the unexpected possibility of love appearing even in the darkest of times.
The story opens as Shannon, a member of the Tribe, witnesses her lifelong best friend, Linda, pass away after a decade-long battle with breast cancer.
Shannon has been by Linda’s side during the last part of her battle, and now she’s the friend who sends the rest of The Tribe the simple message “She’s gone.” They make a plan to come together on Labor Day weekend to celebrate Linda’s life at Shannon’s family’s beachside resort on the Jersey shore in the hopes that the closeness and comfort they’ve shared as friends all these years will help them begin to heal. When they arrive at the coastal cottage, they toast their friendship with a quote from Rumi, “Friend our closeness is this: anywhere you put your foot, you feel me in the firmness underneath you.”
It is here, with the gathered Tribe, that we begin to understand the long, complicated history between Shannon O’Connell and Elizabeth Mathews.
Back to One
By Antonia Gavrihel
Antonia Gavrihel shows off superb storytelling and narration skills in her audiobook, Back to One, where passion, family, and, most importantly, friendship clash in an emotionally intimate slow-burn romance.
When Catherine Leigh meets famous actor Kyle Weston at a Hollywood party, an unbreakable bond snaps into place. But, while Cate and Kyle each acknowledge this intense connection, their life situations make a courtship impossible. Cate is happily married, and Kyle’s career leaves him with little time for any personal ties.
The two vow to take romance off the table and love each other as best friends—or at least try to.
Cate and her young family help reinvigorate Kyle’s strained relationship with his son Scott, while Kyle revives Cate’s acting career. This surprisingly wholesome romance focuses on the support that two true friends can give each other, and how it forms a strong foundation to lean on during difficult times.
Back to One, Gavrihel’s debut novel, was quickly followed up with three additional books in the series of the same name. This audiobook version brings even more vibrancy to her work.
Spruce Harbor Possibilities
By David A. Stone
Spruce Harbor Possibilities, the second book in David A. Stone’s Spruce Harbor series, pulls an independent bookstore owner and a savvy tech billionaire into an improbable whirlwind romance, but each with their own reasons to be guarded about love.
Romantic Maggie Bennett’s last breakup diminished her self-confidence, and she’s since put all her energy into running her cozy literary shop in the small community of Spruce Harbor, Washington. Her best friend and co-worker Bobby wants her to get back in the dating game, but for the moment Maggie contents herself with the solace of her bookstore and her Golden Retriever, Mr. Darcy.
That is until Jason Porter arrives in town.
Handsome and extremely wealthy, Jason was co-founder of the Lifestar Gaming Company, recently and unceremoniously sacked by the Board of Directors and his business partner.
Though they come from different worlds, there’s an undeniable attraction between Maggie and Jason.
Occhi Belli
By Tim McDonald
Luca Lucchesi had it all—a successful restaurant, a loving wife, an adoring mother. Then it all came crashing down. Occhi Belli by Tim McDonald explores the depths of Luca’s despair, his battle with alcohol, and ultimately his journey back to life—and love.
Luca hadn’t planned to work in the restaurant industry but eighteen years later there he was, what one would call a “lifer.” Time flows differently in the lives of restaurant people, and it flew by for Luca. He was coming up on Occhi Belli’s tenth anniversary but felt like he’d opened it just yesterday. Luca’s vision had been a simple one—to build a great restaurant with great food and great characters. With that goal in mind, he built Occhi Belli into a hugely successful neighborhood gem in north Seattle. He’d poured his life into it and truly loved it, but at what price?
He knows he drinks too much, but it is part of the world in which he lives. So far, he’s been lucky and has never been caught driving after drinking. Then his luck runs out.
He totals his car, is hit with a DUI, and his life begins to unravel. His wife, Lillian, announces she’s had enough and files for divorce. After nine years of watching Luca put his restaurant and alcohol before her and their marriage, she chooses her own well-being over his. But suddenly single at thirty-six, Lillian wonders what she will do next.
Find more love between the covers with these Chanticleer articles!
- For the Love of Romance Novels – A celebration of booklovers
- VALENTINE’S DAY SWEET READS with ALL THE LOVES from CHANTICLEER
Celebrate the Romance Genre with Professional Recognition
Romance is one of the most beloved and marketable genres today, and a little romance goes a long way in making any book more appealing to readers. Professional recognition helps your love story stand out in this competitive but rewarding market.
Got a great romance read? Chanticleer Editorial Book Reviews provide the professional third-party validation that romance authors need to build credibility with readers. Our comprehensive reviews serve as powerful marketing material, giving you polished content to share with romance readers who are always hungry for their next great love story.
Confident you’ll get a great review? Consider submitting to the Chanticleer International Book Awards Chatelaine Romance Division. Whether you’re writing contemporary romance, historical love stories, romantic suspense, or steamy sensual fiction, the Chatelaine Awards recognize outstanding romance across all subgenres.
Award recognition adds prestige to your romance novel while providing ongoing marketing material that resonates with romance readers—one of the most loyal and enthusiastic reading communities. Romance readers trust recommendations, and professional recognition signals quality they can count on.
The romance market rewards authors who invest in professional credibility. Give your love story the recognition it deserves.
Explore Editorial Review services to add professional credibility to your romance writing.
Submit to the Chatelaine Awards and join the ranks of professionally recognized romance authors.
The old adage “You can’t go home again” is often very real, but for Vera Eastman, it is a massive understatement. Vera left home eleven years ago after losing her mother to breast cancer, changed her name, and began a very successful career as a porn star. Her seven-figure salary and multimillion-dollar, female-owned porn business might be acceptable in SoCal, but in her hometown of Grenadine, Michigan, she is a pariah. After a breast cancer scare, Vera goes back home to fulfill her mother’s bucket list. With an estranged father, a grandmother she believes is dead, and a sexy ex-boyfriend who haunts her dreams, Vera wants to get in, keep a low profile, and run back to her best friends and fellow porn stars, Jasmine and Payton. But when she discovers her grandmother is still alive and her ex is now an even sexier fireman, Vera knows leaving may be easier said than done.
Owen Haskins is returning to his childhood home on fictional Cedar Island (which has an uncanny resemblance to Whidbey Island for those readers in the know) with his seven-year-old son Ian so they can have a new start. Ian has had trouble being bullied in his old school, and Owen is worried that new teacher, Faith Russell, may not be up to the job of helping his vulnerable son. Of course, Faith and Owen clash, while simultaneously being attracted to each other, but painful experiences in their past initially keep them from acting on their growing feelings for one another.
Two software developers, Max Taggart and Zoe Bunsen, want to create the perfect artificially intelligent companion. Zycorp needs this project to be successful, or their floundering AI department will be dissolved; however, while Max is a man with a plan, Zoe is a woman with a serious book crush on the character chosen to embody their AI.