Give Love a Chance: A Visit to The Ripped Bodice Bookstore, Brooklyn

By Nancy Merritt Bell

It's February and we're creeping out of the dead of winter into the adoring arms of Valentine's Day. Time to cuddle up with someone or a good book, and I'm thinking romance. But why think of one book of love literature or two, when there is an entire bookstore to look over.

The Ripped Bodice bookstore (or TRB for short) is deeply devoted to romance books — all of them, from the tried and true Dame Barbara Cartland to the new queen of romance, Colleen Hoover, to the latest in amorous aliens. The bookstore was quickly embraced by its neighbourhood in Park Slope, Brooklyn, since it opened its pink shop on August 5, 2023. It's the second shop owned by Leah Koch and Bea Hodges-Koch, sisters who are devout romance readers.

When their first TRB store opened in their hometown of Los Angeles in 2016, it was the very first bookstore in North America dedicated to romantic fiction. Romance is out of the slipcover and rocks the bestseller list. In 2022, romance novels accounted for nearly 19 million books sold in the US — a 52.4% increase from 2021.

TRB parties with all of the new romance literature's subsets, be that romantasy, historical romance, classics, erotica, contemporary, YA, LGBTQIA+, and even paranormal passions. When I came to trawl the shelves, I was given a glass of wine and chocolate. I immediately apologized, thinking I had crashed a launch party. No — it was just another Friday afternoon at TRB.

The charming staff and TRB's excellent website will help you find books from favourite authors like Austen, Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, or whatever your heart desires. Romance books all have an enchanting home in TRB to heat up the cold February nights, and all through the year.

You can support The Ripped Bodice by visiting them in person or using their online store at Bookshop.org: https://www.therippedbodice.com/