Tag: romance

creativity

The Ripped Bodice bookstore shines a light on romance

Christa Avampato
The Ripped Bodice bookstore. Photo by Christa Avampato.

Yesterday, I went to the Brooklyn romance indie bookstore, The Ripped Bodice. I went to brunch to celebrate my dear friend, Ashley, and we decided to stop in as we passed by since I’d never been before. From the moment we arrived, it felt like we left the world behind and entered into a world built, nurtured, and protected by love in all its forms. From the boho color scheme to the books curated with humor and spice to the friendly happy staff, the store feels like a joyful, knowing hug. Started by sisters Bea and Leah in LA, the Brooklyn store celebrates its 1 year birthday this month. (Of course, it’s a Leo!)

I think of romance as a macro genre of literature that spans many other genres as a theme to drive characters and plots. Whatever genre a reader loves, romance can be part of it. At The Ripped Bodice, readers can find romance books within history, historical fiction, comedy, mythology, young adult, fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, literary fiction, suspense, mystery, and the list goes on. The Ripped Bodice also has a fantastic card and gift selection that induces smiles and giggles with tea, candles, chocolate, coffee, stickers, bookmarks, canvas bags, and more.

I’m so glad The Ripped Bodice bookstore exists. It’s putting love front and center in a world that needs more of it. Yesterday was my first visit, and it will definitely be a place I visit again and again.

The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn is located at 218 5th Avenue in the Park Slope neighborhood.

creativity

My second novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, launches today

Christa Avampato
My new novel is available now everywhere books are sold

Today’s the day! My second novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, is available now everywhere books are sold including Amazon (Paperback and eBook), Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and Books-A-Million.

Synopsis:
It’s New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Just as Emerson Page is about to celebrate the start of her 15th birthday, she comes face-to-face with a family friend-turned-traitor. They begin a dangerous race against time, both willing to give their lives for the lost treasure her mother died trying to protect: an ancient book authored by the Greek muses, Emerson’s ancestors, that contains the secrets to unlimited creativity. Its wisdom is both a powerful tool and a dangerous weapon.

To find the book, Emerson, her friends Skylar and Truman, and her service dog Friday, have to entrust their lives to a series of mythological creatures to usher them deep below the streets of Dublin, Ireland into the land of the faeries. There, they’ll have to convince the faeries to give them the book by exchanging it for a priceless gift of their own.

Can Emerson and her best friends finish the work her mother began and protect the power of human imagination forever, or will her enemy capture the book to boost his own power?

Two notes:
Local bookstores and libraries can order the book with ISBN: 978-1-958901-80-9. The book is distributed by Ingram.

Though Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads is a sequel to my first novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, readers don’t have to read the first book to enjoy the second.