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Distributed for Brandeis University Press

Bookstore Romance

Love Speaks Volumes

From proposals to “I do.” Book-lovers find their perfect match at bookstores they love.

What is the most romantic place to get engaged? A bookstore, of course. The perfect wedding venue? A bookstore! Book-loving couples from all over America agree, and Bookstore Romance celebrates not only a couple’s love for each other, but also their love of books and bookstores.

Bookselling journalist Judith Rosen interviewed twenty-four couples who tell their stories about how they planned and celebrated their engagements and weddings in independent bookstores. And of course these perfect occasions could not have been orchestrated without the help of willing booksellers who slipped rings into books, made special displays of handmade volumes, and hid behind bookshelves to snap photos.

A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.


120 pages | 87 color plates | 5.9 x 8 | © 2025

Art: Photography


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Reviews

“A bibliophile’s time capsule and an enduring record of love and literary obsessions, Bookstore Romance is a swoonworthy coffee table book about couples who formalized their relationships in bookstores.”

Foreword Reviews

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction

Proposals and Engagements
Bart’s Books (Ojai, Calif.)
Boulder Book Store (Boulder, Colo.)
Brookline Booksmith (Brookline, Mass.)
City Lights (San Francisco, Calif.)
Friday I’m in Love: Date Night at the Bookstore
City Lit Books (Chicago, Ill.)
Kramers (Washington, D.C.)
The Last Bookstore (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Northshire Bookstore (Manchester Center, Vt.)
Old Town Books (Alexandria, Va.)
Where Romance Comes First: The Ripped Bodice
The Ripped Bodice (Culver City, Calif.)
RJ Julia Booksellers (Madison, Ct.)
Shakespeare and Company (Paris, France)
Texas Book Festival (Austin, Tex.)
Vroman’s (Pasadena, Calif.)

Weddings and Receptions
Beacon Hill Books (Boston, Mass.)
Brazos Bookstore (Houston, Tex.)
Housing Works Bookstore (New York, N.Y.)
Island Books (Mercer Island, Wash.)
King’s Books (Tacoma, Wash.)
Matrimony Mondays
More Than Words Bookstore (Boston, Mass.)
Novel Bookstore (Memphis, Tenn.)
Parnassus Books (Nashville, Tenn.)
Penguin Bookshop (Sewickley, Pa.)
Women & Children First (Chicago, Ill.)

Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author

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