A new smutty bookstore just opened on Queen West
If getting hot and bothered is your thing, this bookstore is for you
Enemies-to-lovers rejoice: a new bookstore specializing in steamy stories has just opened on Queen West.
Hopeless Romantic Books, founded by sisters Kearston Bergeron and Serena Goodchild, began as a throes-of-passion project in 2024 but quickly burst out of their small shipping container space at Stackt Market thanks to a booming audience of romance fans clamouring for steamy beach reads and bold bodice-rippers. Now, they’ve landed at a bright-pink store at 1080 Queen Street West.
The once-maligned genre has experienced a massive surge (or should we say “tumescence”?) in recent years, with the sales of romance print books doubling between 2020 and 2023. “It keeps publishing houses alive,” says Bergeron.
While readers unfamiliar with romance may think the genre is limited to stories of heaving bosoms and long-haired hunks told in laughable prose, Hopeless Romantic is stocked with contemporary titles that run the gamut from cowboy romance to romantasy to queer romance, including authors who have rewritten the genre’s reputation. The store carries titles by Carley Fortune, Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez—authors Bergeron says may have previously been shelved as “women’s fiction” but now proudly wear the badge of romance.
Related: How Carley Fortune is reinventing the romance novel
To help visitors find their perfect degree of steaminess, each book comes with a “spice level” stamp that bears a rating between one and five chili peppers. “One chili pepper would mean the book is suitable for young adults. In those, there are no explicit scenes whatsoever, and the focus is around a flirtatious plot,” says Bergeron. “Five chilis is centred entirely on smut. There could be a little plot, but that’s beside the point; it’s really all about the kinky—or even unhinged—content.”
The bigger space also means that Hopeless Romantic will be able to host events, such as a monthly book club, panels with authors, book launches and crafty gatherings like a bookmark-making workshop. But the biggest appeal for the shop’s loyal, lovelorn dreamers may be that all romance books come with a happily ever after. No matter the misunderstandings or messy drama along the way, love always wins—and it’s usually sealed with a well-timed smooch.
Related: Inside Little Ghosts, Toronto’s haunted indie bookstore for horror enthusiasts
