08/15/2026
It’s Romance Bookstore Day!! Come check out the swoony collection at Belonging Books…Centering underrepresented romance stories everyday. 💕
Reel Review / me not shutting up about kennedy ryan:
I always call Kennedy Ryan my soul author because there’s something about the way she writes people that just gets me every 👏🏽 single 👏🏽 time 👏🏽 !!! Her characters are so real and raw, her prose is stunning, and her stories are completely addictive!!!
I’ve read 60+ books this year, and Reel is one of only three five-star reads! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Does that tell you how much I adored it????
And bonus points: the audiobook is an absolutely incredible, all-around listening experience. REMEMBER: You can listen through Libro.fm Audiobooks and support Belonging Books while you do it!!
Reel Review cont.
REEL HAS SO MANY OF MY FAVORITE THINGS I like to see in books:
♡ mental health + chronic illness representation
♡ Black history woven throughout the story
♡ Dual POV
♡ complex, deeply human and flawed characters
♡ love stories that are so much more than romance !!
♡ thoughtful explorations of memory, grief, survival, art, creativity, and what we leave behind
♡ complicated family dynamics. all handled with tenderness and care!
One of my Favorite quotes from REEL:
—> “We are artists… When there is no joy to be found, we have the power in our hands, the will of our souls, to make it.”
MORE ROMANCES I’VE LOVED ♡
And because one romance recommendation is NEVER enough… here are a few more of my favorites you can find in-store or online at Belonging Books! 💌📚
♡ The Missed Connection by Tia Williams
♡ The Last Page by Katie Holt
♡ How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
♡ Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
As a certified lover girl, I was MADE for bookstore romance day! 💖
Danielle Allen’s Curve series changed my life! The trilogy follows three best friends, with each book telling one woman’s story over the course of the same summer. The series centers on fat Black women navigating friendship, body confidence, dating, s*x, love, and all the messy s**t in between. In interviews, Allen has specifically talked about centering fat Black women as romance heroines, particularly women
