Sarina Bowen's Blog, page 2
July 4, 2025
Updated July 2025: Definitive List of Romance Bookstores
The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn is at the top of my list of 60+ romance bookstores in North America. Vi Keeland (left) and I had a fantastic event there in 2024.
Current Count: 60+ romance bookstores stores and growing!I keep a document on my computer of all the romance bookstores that have sprung up in North America. It’s a kind of bucket list—I’d like to visit them all.
Then I suddenly realized… why keep this great bounty to myself? Surely the rest of you would love to know about all these shops. Many of them opened within the last year.
SIGNED COPIES MAY CURRENTLY BE AVAILABLE AT:
PAGES AND GRAPES IN MICHIGAN (Lots of titles!)
EDEN BOOKS (Special editions)
LOVESTRUCK BOOKS IN MASSACHUSETTS (Call to check!)
Note: Did we miss one? Please write us at admin @ sarinabowen.com and we’ll add it!
Lovestruck Books in Cambridge is also at the tippy top of my list! Attending their opening night party was the highlight of my January. Pictured: Rachel Kanter, owner extraordinaire.
East Coast & Southeast
The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn - Brooklyn, NY - The east coast edition of the O.G. romance bookstore! I love this store with all my heart.
Lovestruck Books - Cambridge, MA - Geographically this one is closest to me. And it’s so beautiful! I love visiting Lovestruck.
Grump and Sunshine - Belfast, ME - I haven’t been able to visit yet, but this lovely store helped with the preorder campaign for Good Boy in 2024. Thank you!
Burn Bright Books - Rochester, NY
Afterglow - Buffalo, NY
Montgomery & Taggert - Chester, CT
Kiss and Tale - Collingswood, NJ
Cupid's Bookshop - Philadelphia, PA
The New Romantics - Orlando, FL
Wanderlust Book Boutique - Fort Pierce, FL
Steamy Lit Bookstore - Deerfield Beach, FL
Trope Bookshop - Charlotte, NC
Sweeter than Fiction - Charleston, SC
Novel Grounds - Chesapeake, VA
Romance Landia - Centreville, MD
Good Girl Books - Knoxville, TN
Shelf Love - Austell, GA
Friends to Lovers - Washington, DC
All the Tropes - Atlanta, GA
Under the Cover - Sumter, SC
Roaming Romance Books - Ronkonkoma, NY
Beach Read Books - Wilmington, NC
Sincerely Yours - Smyrna, GA
West Coast & Mountain States
The Ripped Bodice CA - Culver City, CA - This is the mothership of romance bookstores. I hope to visit someday!
Meet Cute Bookshop - San Diego, CA
Smitten - Ventura, CA
Knotty Novels - Sacramento, CA
Heartbound Book Shop - Anaheim, CA
In Bloom Bookery - Temecula, CA
The Fleuria (Book truck) - Los Angeles
Hardcovers Romance Bookstore - Mill Creek, WA
The Romance Era Bookshop - Vancouver, WA
It's a Love Story - Hayden, ID
Lovebound Library - Salt Lake City, NV
Beauty and the Book - Anchorage, AK
The Ivy Bookshop - Fairbanks, AK
Lagg - Lehi, UT
Spicy Librarian - Denver, CO
The Bookish Shop - Gilbert, AZ
Grand Gesture Books - Portland, OR
Good Girls Bookshop - Kalispell, MT
Midwest & Central States
Flutter - Austin, TX - Owned by romance author and friend Laurelin Paige! I hope to visit soon!
The Plot Twist - Denton, TX
Love's Sweet Arrow - Tinley Park, IL
The Last Chapter Book Shop - Chicago, IL
Under the Cover - Kansas City, MO
Blush Bookstore - Wichita, KS
Pages and Grapes - Wyoming, MI (SIGNED COPIES HERE! MANY TITLES)
Love and Other Books - Ferndale, MI
Alpine Pages & Peonies - Grand Rapids, MI
Mon Couer - Canton, MI
Read My Lips - Marquette, MI
Tropes and Trifles - Minneapolis, MN
The Well Red Damsel - Wauwatosa, WI
Thirst Books - Milwaukee, WI
Slow Burn Books - Garrett, IN
The Rose Romance Bookstore - Mooresville, IN
A Novel Romance - Louisville, KY
HEA book boutique - Marion, IA
Shelf Love DSM - Des Moines, IA
Bedpost Books - Republic, MO
Open Door - St Louis, MO
Love Stories - Warr Acres, OK
Flame and Fable - Lakewood, OH
Canada
Hopeless Romantic Books - Toronto, CA
Joie de Livres - Montreal QC
United Kingdom
Book Lovers Bookshop - Edinburgh UK
Online
Eden Books - Ebooks and Print
June 24, 2025
Ten Years Ago I Saw This Video
In 2014 I was working my way through the Ivy Years series. I’d crafted a rather diverse, cerebral hockey team, and I was proud of it. But then I took my child to a football game at Dartmouth College. And a halftime, I saw this video.
When that kid looks into the camera at the :53 mark and says: “but it shouldn’t take courage to go into your own locker room,” it hit me hard. I realized that my hockey team wasn’t as fully realized as I’d thought.
Who, exactly, was nervous walking into his locker room?
That’s how I found the character of Michael Graham. He and John Rikker arrived soon after as fully formed characters. (That never happens!) But even as I sat down to write this story, I felt like I already knew them. I already knew Graham’s struggle, and I knew Rikker’s weary, wary New Guy journey.
I will never write 95,000 words so effortlessly again in my life. But that’s okay with me. Because it gave me Graham and Rikker.
And if you need to know that the world will be okay, watch this video a couple of times. They’ll show you.
Download the bookJune 17, 2025
Signed Books in Stores: Adding so many locations!
Books-a-Million sent copies all over the Northeast
Readers, it’s been a busy season of book signing. Here are all the places I believe you can buy signed copies. Notice that Books-A-Million has sent signed books all over the northeast! So if you live in any of these locations (see list below) you can get a signed copy.
Please feel free to call ahead, though, to be sure the book you want is in stock!
Pages & Grapes, Wyoming MI: I signed so many books here! The New Guy, I’m Your Guy, The Last Guy on Earth, The Year We Fell Down, The Understatement of the Year, Brooklynaire, Good Boy & Stay
Schuler’s Books, Grand Rapids MI, Okemos Mi, West Bloomfield MI and Ann Arbor MI: Dying to Meet You, The Five Year Lie, Good Boy, Stay
Parnassus Bookstore, Nashville TN: Dying to Meet You, The Five Year Lie, Good Boy, Stay
The Yale Bookstore, New Haven CT: Dying to Meet You & The Five Year Lie in the “Thrillers & Horror” section
The Purple Couch Bookshop, N. Andover MA: Dying to Meet You, The New Guy, Top Secret, The Five Year Lie, Good Boy, Stay, Us
An Unlikely Story, Plainville MA: Dying to Meet You
The Norwich Bookstore, Norwich VT: Dying to Meet You
B.A.M. South Portland ME: Dying to Meet You, The Five Year Lie, Good Boy, Stay
B.A.M. in Bangor ME, Auburn ME, Concord NH, W. Leb NH, Rockaway NJ, Waterford CT, Scranton PA, Mays Landing PA
and Pottstown PA! Look for The Five Year Lie and Dying to Meet You in the Fiction sections.
Updated June 2025: Definitive List of Romance Bookstores
The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn is at the top of my list of 60+ romance bookstores in North America. Vi Keeland (left) and I had a fantastic event there in 2024.
Current Count: 60+ romance bookstores stores and growing!I keep a document on my computer of all the romance bookstores that have sprung up in North America. It’s a kind of bucket list—I’d like to visit them all.
Then I suddenly realized… why keep this great bounty to myself? Surely the rest of you would love to know about all these shops. Many of them opened within the last year.
Note: Did I miss one? Please write us at admin @ sarinabowen.com and we’ll add it! Lovestruck Books in Cambridge is also at the tippy top of my list! Attending their opening night party was the highlight of my January. Pictured: Rachel Kanter, owner extraordinaire.
East Coast & Southeast
The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn - Brooklyn, NY - The east coast edition of the O.G. romance bookstore! I love this store with all my heart.
Lovestruck Books - Cambridge, MA - Geographically this one is closest to me. And it’s so beautiful! I love visiting Lovestruck.
Grump and Sunshine - Belfast, ME - I haven’t been able to visit yet, but this lovely store helped with the preorder campaign for Good Boy in 2024. Thank you!
Burn Bright Books - Rochester, NY
Afterglow - Buffalo, NY
Hopeless Romantic Books - Toronto, CA
Montgomery & Taggert - Chester, CT
Kiss and Tale - Collingswood, NJ
Cupid's Bookshop - Philadelphia, PA
The New Romantics - Orlando, FL
Wanderlust Book Boutique - Fort Pierce, FL
Steamy Lit Bookstore - Deerfield Beach, FL
Trope Bookshop - Charlotte, NC
Sweeter than Fiction - Charleston, SC
Novel Grounds - Chesapeake, VA
Romance Landia - Centreville, MD
Good Girl Books - Knoxville, TN
Shelf Love - Austell, GA
Friends to Lovers - Washington, DC
All the Tropes - Atlanta, GA
Under the Cover - Sumter, SC
Roaming Romance Books - Ronkonkoma, NY
Beach Read Books - Wilmington, NC
Sincerely Yours - Smyrna, GA
West Coast & Mountain States
The Ripped Bodice CA - Culver City, CA - This is the mothership of romance bookstores. I hope to visit someday!
Meet Cute Bookshop - San Diego, CA
Smitten - Ventura, CA
Knotty Novels - Sacramento, CA
Heartbound Book Shop - Anaheim, CA
In Bloom Bookery - Temecula, CA
Hardcovers Romance Bookstore - Mill Creek, WA
The Romance Era Bookshop - Vancouver, WA
It's a Love Story - Hayden, ID
Lovebound Library - Salt Lake City, NV
Beauty and the Book - Anchorage, AK
The Ivy Bookshop - Fairbanks, AK
Lagg - Lehi, UT
Spicy Librarian - Denver, CO
The Bookish Shop - Gilbert, AZ
Grand Gesture Books - Portland, OR
Good Girls Bookshop - Kalispell, MT
Midwest & Central States
Flutter - Austin, TX - Owned by romance author and friend Laurelin Paige! I hope to visit soon!
The Plot Twist - Denton, TX
Love's Sweet Arrow - Tinley Park, IL
The Last Chapter Book Shop - Chicago, IL
Under the Cover - Kansas City, MO
Blush Bookstore - Wichita, KS
Pages and Grapes - Wyoming, MI
Love and Other Books - Ferndale, MI
Alpine Pages & Peonies - Grand Rapids, MI
Mon Couer - Canton, MI
Read My Lips - Marquette, MI
Tropes and Trifles - Minneapolis, MN
The Well Red Damsel - Wauwatosa, WI
Thirst Books - Milwaukee, WI
Slow Burn Books - Garrett, IN
The Rose Romance Bookstore - Mooresville, IN
A Novel Romance - Louisville, KY
HEA book boutique - Marion, IA
Bedpost Books - Republic, MO
Open Door - St Louis, MO
Love Stories - Warr Acres, OK
Flame and Fable - Lakewood, OH
United Kingdom
Book Lovers Bookshop - Edinburgh UK
Online
Eden Books - Ebooks and Print
June 7, 2025
Updated: Definitive List of Romance Bookstores
The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn is at the top of my list of 60+ romance bookstores in North America. Vi Keeland (left) and I had a fantastic event there in 2024.
Current Count: 60+ romance bookstores stores and growing!I keep a document on my computer of all the romance bookstores that have sprung up in North America. It’s a kind of bucket list—I’d like to visit them all.
Then I suddenly realized… why keep this great bounty to myself? Surely the rest of you would love to know about all these shops. Many of them opened within the last year.
Note: Did I miss one? Please write us at admin @ sarinabowen.com and we’ll add it! Lovestruck Books in Cambridge is also at the tippy top of my list! Attending their opening night party was the highlight of my January. Pictured: Rachel Kanter, owner extraordinaire.
East Coast & Southeast
The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn - Brooklyn, NY - The east coast edition of the O.G. romance bookstore! I love this store with all my heart.
Lovestruck Books - Cambridge, MA - Geographically this one is closest to me. And it’s so beautiful! I love visiting Lovestruck.
Grump and Sunshine - Belfast, ME - I haven’t been able to visit yet, but this lovely store helped with the preorder campaign for Good Boy in 2024. Thank you!
Burn Bright Books - Rochester, NY
Afterglow - Buffalo, NY
Hopeless Romantic Books - Toronto, CA
Montgomery & Taggert - Chester, CT
Kiss and Tale - Collingswood, NJ
Cupid's Bookshop - Philadelphia, PA
The New Romantics - Orlando, FL
Wanderlust Book Boutique - Fort Pierce, FL
Steamy Lit Bookstore - Deerfield Beach, FL
Trope Bookshop - Charlotte, NC
Sweeter than Fiction - Charleston, SC
Novel Grounds - Chesapeake, VA
Romance Landia - Centreville, MD
Good Girl Books - Knoxville, TN
Shelf Love - Austell, GA
Friends to Lovers - Washington, DC
All the Tropes - Atlanta, GA
Under the Cover - Sumter, SC
Roaming Romance Books - Ronkonkoma, NY
Beach Read Books - Wilmington, NC
Sincerely Yours - Smyrna, GA
West Coast & Mountain States
The Ripped Bodice CA - Culver City, CA - This is the mothership of romance bookstores. I hope to visit someday!
Meet Cute Bookshop - San Diego, CA
Smitten - Ventura, CA
Knotty Novels - Sacramento, CA
Heartbound Book Shop - Anaheim, CA
In Bloom Bookery - Temecula, CA
Hardcovers Romance Bookstore - Mill Creek, WA
The Romance Era Bookshop - Vancouver, WA
It's a Love Story - Hayden, ID
Lovebound Library - Salt Lake City, NV
Beauty and the Book - Anchorage, AK
The Ivy Bookshop - Fairbanks, AK
Lagg - Lehi, UT
Spicy Librarian - Denver, CO
The Bookish Shop - Gilbert, AZ
Grand Gesture Books - Portland, OR
Good Girls Bookshop - Kalispell, MT
Midwest & Central States
Flutter - Austin, TX - Owned by romance author and friend Laurelin Paige! I hope to visit soon!
The Plot Twist - Denton, TX
Love's Sweet Arrow - Tinley Park, IL
The Last Chapter Book Shop - Chicago, IL
Under the Cover - Kansas City, MO
Blush Bookstore - Wichita, KS
Pages and Grapes - Wyoming, MI
Love and Other Books - Ferndale, MI
Mon Couer - Canton, MI
Read My Lips - Marquette, MI
Tropes and Trifles - Minneapolis, MN
The Well Red Damsel - Wauwatosa, WI
Thirst Books - Milwaukee, WI
Slow Burn Books - Garrett, IN
The Rose Romance Bookstore - Mooresville, IN
A Novel Romance - Louisville, KY
HEA book boutique - Marion, IA
Bedpost Books - Republic, MO
Open Door - St Louis, MO
Love Stories - Warr Acres, OK
Flame and Fable - Lakewood, OH
United Kingdom
Book Lovers Bookshop - Edinburgh UK
Online
Eden Books - Ebooks and Print
June 1, 2025
Australia 2026!
Dear readers,I’ve been wanting to visit Australia for years, and it’s finally happening in 2026! The Australian Romance Readers Association is bringing me to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth next March.
You can see all the details on their blog post here.
Want to stay in the loop about my visit? Let me know if you’re hoping to come! Name * First Name Last Name Email * I hope to see Sarina in: * Brisbane March 21 Sydney march 22 Melbourne March 28 Perth March 29Thank you!
May 30, 2025
The Definitive List of Romance Bookstores
The Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn is at the top of my list of 47 romance bookstores in North America.
Current Count: 47 romance bookstores stores and growing!I keep a document on my computer of all the romance bookstores that have sprung up in North America. It’s a kind of bucket list—I’d like to visit them all.
Then I suddenly realized… why keep this great bounty to myself? Surely the rest of you would love to know about all these shops. Many of them opened within the last year.
Note: Did I miss one? Please write us at admin @ sarinabowen.com and we’ll add it!East Coast & Southeast
The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn - Brooklyn, NY - The east coast edition of the O.G. romance bookstore! I love this store with all my heart.
Lovestruck Books - Cambridge, MA - Geographically this one is closest to me. And it’s so beautiful! I love visiting Lovestruck.
Grump and Sunshine - Belfast, ME - I haven’t been able to visit yet, but this lovely store helped with the preorder campaign for Good Boy in 2024. Thank you!
Burn Bright Books - Rochester, NY
Montgomery & Taggert - Chester, CT
Kiss and Tale - Collingswood, NJ
Cupid's Bookshop - Philadelphia, PA
The New Romantics - Orlando, FL
Wanderlust Book Boutique - Fort Pierce, FL
Steamy Lit Bookstore - Deerfield Beach, FL
Trope Bookshop - Charlotte, NC
Sweeter than Fiction - Charleston, SC
Novel Grounds - Chesapeake, VA
Romance Landia - Centreville, MD
Good Girl Books - Knoxville, TN
Shelf Love - Austell, GA
Flame and Fable - Lakewood, OH
Friends to Lovers - Washington, DC
Hopeless Romantic Books - Toronto, CA
West Coast & Mountain States
The Ripped Bodice CA - Culver City, CA
Meet Cute Bookshop - San Diego, CA
Smitten - Ventura, CA
Knotty Novels - Sacramento, CA
Flutter - Austin, TX
Hardcovers Romance Bookstore - Mill Creek, WA
The Romance Era Bookshop - Vancouver, WA
Love Story Books & Café - Hayden, ID
Lovebound Library - Salt Lake City, NV
Beauty and the Book - Anchorage, AK
The Ivy Bookshop - Fairbanks, AK
Lagg - Lehi, UT
Spicey Librarian - Denver, CO
The Bookish Shop - Gilbert, AZ
Grand Gesture Books - Portland, OR
Midwest & Central States
Tropes and Trifles - Minneapolis, MN
Love's Sweet Arrow - Tinley Park, IL
The Last Chapter Book Shop - Chicago, IL
Under the Cover - Kansas City, MO
Blush Bookstore - Wichita, KS
Pages and Grapes - Wyoming, MI
Love and Other Books - Ferndale, MI
Mon Couer - Canton, MI
The Well Red Damsel - Wauwatosa, WI
Thirst Books - Milwaukee, WI
Slow Burn Books - Garrett, IN
A Novel Romance - Louisville, KY
The Plot Twist - Denton, TX
May 17, 2025
Signed books in stores: the May update!
I’ve been out on the road, signing books and meeting readers! Here’s where you can find signed copies available for sale.
4 Bookstores in 5 days, and I’m still standing! Please clap.
The Purple Couch, N. Andover MA: Dying to Meet You, The New Guy, Top Secret, The Five Year Lie, Good Boy, Stay, Us
B.A.M. South Portland ME: Dying to Meet You, The Five Year Lie, Good Boy, Stay
An Unlikely Story, Plainville MA: Dying to Meet you
The Norwich Bookstore, Norwich VT: Dying to Meet You
May 12, 2025
Dying to Meet You is Here!
From the author of The Five Year Lie comes a new twisty thriller that probes how well we actually know the men in our lives.
Photo by Chandra Wicke
Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she’s a mess. She knows that stalking her ex’s avatar all over Portland on her phone isn't the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she’s out of ice cream and she's sick of romcoms.
Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He's dining out while she's wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car.
Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder—and the primary suspect.
But Rowan isn’t the only one keeping secrets. As she digs for the truth, she discovers the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past.
Struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him.
Will she be the next to die?
Now available everywhere books are sold!
Digital: Amazon | Apple Books | Nook | Kobo | Google PlayPaperback: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Angus Robertson | Barnes & Noble | Blackwell’s | Books-a-Million | Booktopia | Indigo | Target | Walmart | WaterstonesAudio: Audible | Libro.fm | Apple Audio | Spotify
April 1, 2025
Reviews Matter! Thanks for all you do!
“An author’s career can be made or lost in hundreds, not millions, of reviews. And in thousands, not millions, of sales. ”— Sarina
Dear Reader,
We live in a world of “review exhaustion,” me included. I was just asked to review… a toilet seat. (Keep it classy, Home Depot!") I laughed out loud when I got this email:
Did I rate it? (Five stars! Would pee again!)
Well, no. I didn’t. Nobody owes anyone a review. As long as I paid cold hard cash for this toilet seat, I can delete these emails guilt free.
I just want you to know that for books, it’s the same…but still appreciated. Do you owe an author a review? Heck no!
And yet I also want you to know that your review is 100% appreciated. When you take the time to rate or review a book, that author always benefits. There’s a real person at the other end of that work. And, more crucially, the number of units that any book sells is fewer than any toilet seat. An author’s career can be made or lost in hundreds, not millions, of reviews. And in thousands, not millions, of sales.
So thank you again for every rating or review you have ever gifted me. I appreciate each one, especially because I understand that each one is a gift, not an entitlement.
Thank you!
🩷
