Walking through the fluorescent shelves and orderly storage room at The Ripped Bodice in Park Slope, Brooklyn, no conversation was considered NSFW. Proudly woman- and queer-owned, The Ripped Bodice celebrates a diverse selection of romance fiction in both stores and online. She’s a woman who has devoured romance novels, sometimes multiple a day, for as long as I can remember. When I was a teen, we gleefully began to read romance novels together. Despite how society attempts to degrade the romance genre and romance readers, I was and am committed to celebrating freedom of expression, not to mention the broad spectrum of sexuality and gender on display in the modern romance genre.

Source: Huffington Post May 12, 2025 13:42 UTC