Love in the Stacks: One Year of Romance on the Rocks

Something remarkable is happening in Milwaukee — a renaissance of dedicated romance bookstores creating vital community spaces where readers connect over shared literary passions. As we celebrate our one-year podcast anniversary, we're thrilled to spotlight two visionary women transforming the local literary landscape.

Meet Natasha Meyer from The Well Red Damsel, who transitioned from pop-up to permanent space after seeing hundreds line up at her very first event. "I look around at our events and see people talking like they've been friends for years when they actually met at one of our events a few months ago," she shares. Her bookstore has become more than a retail space—it's a community hub where readers find belonging, connection, and validation for their romance reading habits.

Then there's Kerrie Berg from Thirst, who left a corporate interior design career to create what she lovingly calls her "pink palace" — a space celebrating both femininity and inclusivity. "Romance is for everyone," she emphasizes, delighting in how couples shop together and strangers become friends among her carefully curated shelves. Located in what she's dubbed "Milwaukee's Romance District," Thirst exemplifies how specialized bookstores contribute to neighborhood revitalization alongside other passionate small businesses.

Both stores offer imaginative programming beyond merely selling books — from hockey game partnerships and overnight adventures to after-hours release parties and waitlisted book clubs. They represent a powerful antidote to post-pandemic isolation, filling the gap of diminished "third spaces" where people once gathered.

We're witnessing the beautiful collision of entrepreneurship and community-building through these romance-focused havens. As Nicole and Meghan prepare to visit both stores (by the time you're hearing this, they'll have already been!), join us in celebrating -- not just our podcast milestone -- but the flourishing of spaces where romance readers can proudly discuss, discover and delight in the genre they love.

Meghan's Cocktail:  Dirty Shirley

Nicole's Cocktail: Vodka Iced Tea with lemon slices

Transcript

Celebrating One Year Anniversary

Speaker 1 0:09

I'm Nicole Donnell and I'm Megan Lee , and this is Romance on the Rocks , where two bookish bitties imbibe and talk about the romance novels that they have been reading for the last year . Yes , it's officially our one year anniversary . Woo , look at us . I know I'm proud of us . That's pretty impressive . I'm very proud of us .

Speaker 1 0:38

So we thought we would celebrate our one year anniversary by talking to some bookstore owners from the Milwaukee area . Yes , and we're specifically doing the Milwaukee area because , first off , I grew up in the Waukesha area , nicole and I both lived in Milwaukee for quite a while and actually we are going to be spending some time getting to rub elbows with some romance novel writers and actually visit these two stores coming up very shortly . So we're excited to delve in and talk to these bookstore owners , you know , prior to us actually getting to visit their stores . Yeah , they are really cool stores that just opened up recently . Yeah , I'm so excited for this movement of bookstores that are just devoted to romance , absolutely . You know , they've talked about the fact that with , you know , covid happening in the last few years , we've lost a lot of the third spaces , places that people meet , like folks don't really go out to bars the way they used to . They don't really go to restaurants the way they used to and we're not as good at socializing as we used to be , and so having these kinds of places start to emerge and give us more of these third spaces where we can hang out and talk to people who have , you know , similar interests or maybe not similar interests , but something that they can spark something in us that we didn't think that we were ever interested in before . Like I think this is very , very cool , agreed , megan ?

Speaker 1 2:04

What's been your most favorite moment in the past year during the podcast , before we dive into these lovely bookstores ? I don't know that I have a specific favorite moment , but I will say that we've had plenty of times when we laughed until we cried yes , because of something ridiculous in the books . Like it comes to mind with your book , the Princess by Jude Devereaux , the Lanconian raisins . I don't think I'll ever be able to let go of Lanconian raisins and you know , for whatever reason , me just being like raisins for allies , like I don't . That just about killed me , and that was pretty early on . Yeah , that was one of our very first episodes in season one .

Speaker 1 2:48

Yeah , I don't know , man , I would say I've got that . The fact that I discovered that I actually enjoy Malort as a mixer there's that . That was a newfound discovery . You do you that ? That was a newfound discovery , you do you . Well . And that was mixed with the worst novel I have read for the whole podcast , which was Laura yeah , by Bertrice Small , and I feel like that episode , you know , without the Malort probably would have been pretty terrible . The fact that Malort was not the worst part was pretty impressive .

Speaker 1 3:23

And how about you ? What are your favorite moments ? My favorite moments , honestly , you know , what I've really enjoyed is when we've actually had those rare opportunities to be together and either read our books together and talk out loud about what we're reading , or when we've been able to record the podcast together , because we do so much other fun stuff around that , like book hunting and all the adventures , and so I'm really looking forward to seeing you soon , even though by the time this episode airs I will have already seen you . But yes , yeah , as my bestie , I really enjoy your company and that's been the funnest part of the podcast . I agree , we get to hang out more than we had before

Favorite Podcast Moments

Speaker 1 4:07

because we do have such a distance between us it's almost like forced proximity . Oh my gosh , I love the analogy and the book . I don't know that we're a grumpy sunshine or anything like that , though I think we take turns being grumpy sunshine .

Speaker 1 4:21

There we go . What do you got going on for a beverage tonight ? You know I wanted to do something celebratory for our one-year anniversary , but you know what I got , megan . What do you got ? Iced tea with vodka and lemon slices . How very Southern of you .

Speaker 2 4:38

It is very Southern of me .

Speaker 1 4:39

Are you drinking a beverage this evening ? Yeah , however , I did not have a whole lot of time prior to us pushing record . I was in Green Bay sorting through books because that is my life and I love it , but best I could do was throw on a clean shirt and feed the dog and then grab what was my leftover beverage from yesterday that was still in the fridge . So this is half a glass of whatever I was drinking with dinner last night that I did not finish , which I think is vodka , bubbly water and a little bit of simple syrup .

Speaker 1 5:18

I would say that's a classic Megan move , because you like to do your own little mixer concoctions out of your mama sipping cup , which , for those who are not familiar with mama sipping cup , tell us what mama sipping cup is . Well , well , first off , we got to get it right it's mama's drinking cup . Oh , yeah , drinking cup , sorry , yeah , mama's drinking cup , which is basically any sort of enormous glass with a handle I prefer , like the mason jars , with a handle . And it's enormous . It is bigger than anybody needs for any sort of beverage . So it's usually two servings . So I would say where I'm at right now with this , that's about one drink in this drinking cup . So , yeah , I can't waste things . So , like last night , I was drinking this , wasn't feeling , it threw it in the fridge , it's not whatnot Exactly , I think I have on occasion used my little silicone reusable covers to like cover hard cider cans and beer cans .

Speaker 1 6:21

Absolutely , absolutely , we do not waste beer cans . Absolutely , absolutely , we

Meet Natasha from Well-Read Damsel

Speaker 1 6:28

do not waste , we really don't . So joining us now is Natasha from the Well-Read Damsel . Natasha , are you drinking a cocktail this evening ?

Speaker 2 6:32

I did . I made one just for this . I normally like to spend so crazy with the bookstore . I have not been drinking a ton , but I was like you know what . This is going to be the time I'm going to do it . Yay , I made myself a little gin and tonic , oh I love that .

Speaker 1 6:46

That's my favorite , my kind of girl . What brought you to opening your bookstore ? We'll just dive right in .

Speaker 2 6:55

Yeah , I love it . So I started the Well-Read Damsel as a pop-up bookstore last year in Milwaukee . I've lived here for a long time . I kind of only read romance and I just kept thinking like I wish somebody would open a romance-only bookstore here . We have a ton of great indie bookstores but because they're selling everything like their romance sections are limited and I wanted something outside of like Barnes Noble to go look for books and I just kept waiting and waiting and it didn't happen .

Speaker 1 7:24

So I thought well , I guess I'll be the one to do it . Very cool , yeah . That kind of answers my next question of why you chose to focus your store on romance novels .

Speaker 2 7:33

Yeah , I'm like , I'm a lifelong reader . I've the idea of having a bookstore like who doesn't dream of that when all you do is read ? But I always joke that I can't give you a recommendation on , like , a book about World War II , but I can recommend you a book about cowboys . For me it was like do what you know and I know romance , but I don't know anything else and that's okay . So just kind of stick with that . How ?

Speaker 1 7:59

did you come up with the name for your shop ?

Speaker 2 8:02

I wish there was like a cool story . It was a lot of me bothering my friends endlessly for a few weeks while I was toying with like what I wanted it to be . I wanted it to be like unique . I think there's like a lot of bookstores that have very , very similar names . I wanted it to feel me because , like the store is like everything you see in the store is literally just like me , exploded into 1500 square feet .

Speaker 2 8:26

I wanted it to feel romance like so well read , I kept getting drawn to because it was a fun plan words I'm a redhead , you know , the color red is like fun for being a romance bookstore . And then the word damsel I just kept getting drawn to it . But like I think my friends and I were like well , everyone's going to think of like a damsel in distress , which I think is kind of what most people think , but by definition a damsel is literally just a single woman . And I was like you know what ? Let's take it , let's flip the script Like we're not damsels in distress , but if you want to read a book about a damsel in distress , that's cool too . And so just kind of take that word back and put a little , empower it a little bit more , and the two just kind of fit well together . I love that .

Speaker 1 9:09

Very cool Thanks . And there's that newer movie Damsel .

Speaker 2 9:14

Yes , yeah , I actually haven't seen it , but it is very empowering for women .

Speaker 1 9:18

I love it . Yeah , what was the process like in starting your bookstore , natasha ?

Speaker 2 9:29

Yeah , I wish I could say it was like super exciting , but it was just many months of planning and figuring it out . I mean , there are courses you can take on how to open a bookstore but they're expensive and you know I was a girl on a budget . I opened the Wal-Mart Damsel like all on my own and so it was a lot of just going down the rabbit hole of YouTube , of social media , reaching out to other local booksellers and booksellers internationally to figure out , like , how do you even start this ? And then , yeah , I started as a pop-up in November of last year and the pop was my way of . The bookstore was always the goal , but the pop up was a way of doing it like much more , like accessibly . I could start that on my own . I could see if I even liked doing it . You know I could grow , see if Milwaukee even wanted me to be there and do so with a much smaller financial footprint needed . And so that's kind of how the pop up began and it just kind of blew up pretty quickly from there .

Speaker 1 10:26

Very cool . What excites you about owning your own bookstore ?

Speaker 2 10:31

I think originally for me it was the books . I mean , like what you know , to spend all day like in a bookstore just sounded so dreamy . But I think from like day one of the pop-up it's quickly became like just like being able to spend more time with , like the readers here in Milwaukee . I think it's been a very unique opportunity to kind of help foster a community of people who are looking for bookish events , who are looking for that connection and love books . And so , yeah , my favorite part of the bookstore really has been all of the people who have supported me from day one . I look around at our events and I see people talking and it looks like they've been friends for years and they met at one of our events , you know , a few months ago . So just really cool .

Speaker 1 11:17

That is very cool . I love that I had mentioned to Nicole actually before you popped on here , how you know , we've lost a lot of those third spaces where people can get together and find those like interests and whatnot , and I feel like a bookstore like yours is helping to fill that gap and you've just basically confirmed exactly that .

Speaker 2 11:38

And I think here , especially in Milwaukee you know it's a big , we have so many breweries here , it's a big drinking city and state A lot of people , especially like my age millennials , looking for activities that don't just involve sitting in a bar and drinking and you know what . There's time for those , a time and place for that . You know some people still want to go do that , but I think there's a lot of us who were looking for something else to do too , and I think books are such an easy way to connect with people because it's literally like what are you reading right now and boom , the conversation just like naturally takes off from there . So I think the bookstore kind of in a way like helps sponsor that , just because books are fun to talk to and easy to talk about . So if you're anxious about coming to an event alone , it's one question and you can kind of go from there , Absolutely .

Speaker 1 12:24

Natasha , what would you say your favorite romance genres are ?

Speaker 2 12:27

It's a tough one for me

Creating Community Through Romance Books

Speaker 2 12:29

because I'm a big mood reader , so I really bop around depending on what mood I'm in Summer . Right now it's a lot of contemporary romance Also , not going to lie , we opened the bookstore storefront in June . Things have been crazy , so like my brain doesn't have the capacity to take on like a romancy world right now . So it's a lot of just like light , fluffy and fun , because I can't handle anything else , but I do . You think I kind of lean more towards just like contemporary anyways and sprinkle a little bit of everything else along the way awesome .

Speaker 1 13:04

And who would you say some of your favorite romance authors are ? That is a tough one for me .

Speaker 2 13:09

I'm sure I don't like picking favorites ever . I feel like my friends will always laugh at me when somebody goes what book should I read in the store If they haven't read Done and Dusted by Lila Sage ? That's the one I'm going to say . This is the one for you . I love Lila Sage . That's the one I'm going to say . This is the one for you . I love Lila Sage . I love that series . She has a new series coming out in September that I'm really excited about and I just think it's cowboys , it's small town and they're just really like , beautifully written . So I love her .

Speaker 2 13:37

And then there are a few local authors here in Milwaukee . Katie Michelle is one of them , who I absolutely love . Her newest book just came out last month . And then Morgan Keelish I always say it wrong , so if I say it wrong again , morgan , I'm sorry , but she is a fantasy author here in Milwaukee . Her first book , awakening of the Gods , came out last year and the second book in the series comes out this month . And for being like a debut indie author , like I think most people that read it are like how Like it's so good . The story is just really unique . It's really well written and we did it for our book club a few months ago and , like across the board , everybody loved it .

Speaker 1 14:15

Very cool . I know it's early on because you just opened the brick and mortar , but what future plans do you have in store for the well-read damsel ? But what future plans do ?

Speaker 2 14:24

you have in store for the Well Red Damsel ? That's a good question , I think , because we just opened our doors . I am pretty like in the weeds with all that comes with . So in terms of the future , I guess we'll see . We do have a lot of exciting events coming out , and we have events right now that we have not announced going all the way through 2026 , which is exciting . So events for me as a pop-up were always some of my favorite things because they're easy ways to connect with readers , and so we're keeping the events going like in the store . Out of the store we still do pop-ups and we have some maybe overnight experiences coming up , things like that . So , yeah , I think right now it's just store fun and seeing what that turns into .

Speaker 1 15:05

I love the idea of the overnight adventures .

Speaker 2 15:08

Stay tuned .

Speaker 1 15:09

I can't say too much but yeah , are there any events that you can talk about coming up that you would like listeners to know about ?

Speaker 2 15:18

We have an event with Emily Rath October 7th , so tickets will be out by the time this happens . It's going to be a Q&A and signing with her . I'm really excited about that . And then , continuing on with the hockey genre , last year we did an event with the Milwaukee Admirals , a hockey team , and we brought 220 romance readers to the game , and this year in February , we will be bringing authors to the game as well . Readers will have a chance to come see the game , and this year in February we will be bringing authors to the game as well . Readers will have a chance to come see the game and also meet some of their favorite hockey romance authors .

Speaker 1 15:52

That is really fun . Nicole and I have been trying to plan what we're going to be doing for our upcoming episodes and I know for sure we've got a hockey episode coming up . We have a hockey episode , yeah . Oh , this might be really fun for us to try and figure out if we need to also be attending your hockey event with our hockey books .

Speaker 2 16:13

So I'm excited . That's great . I love that . So those are like the two that I can kind of think of right now that I think will be fun .

Speaker 1 16:21

Where can listeners find your store or how can they shop with you if they're like me and stuck outside of the Milwaukee area and outside of the Wisconsin state ?

Speaker 2 16:31

Yeah , so we're on all the social medias Instagram , Facebook , TikTok , all under the WellRidDamsel there . And then we do have our website , WellRidDamselcom . We have an online store . That's kind of the best way you can shop books in our merchandise and we ship nationally . And then you can always shop on our affiliate link with bookshoporg , which you'll find on our website , and then , if you're an audiobook listener , you can always go and select the Well-Written Damsel on Librofm , which is an audiobook platform Similar to Audible , but it supports an indie bookstore instead of a big corporation but it supports an indie bookstore instead of a big corporation .

Speaker 1 17:06

That's something new .

Speaker 2 17:06

I've never heard of that before , so that's going to be exciting . Oh , yeah , yeah , it's Librofm . I should say I always forget the dot . And yeah , it's the same . It's a monthly subscription . You can also buy extras on top of that . Pricing is pretty similar . But yeah , they give a portion of the proceeds to an indie bookstore of your choice . That's great . Yeah , that's great . Yeah , it's cool . That's awesome . We have a lot of readers that do that here and around the world , so I'm totally down for like a digital book .

Speaker 1 17:28

I know Megan prefers the tangible . I need the paper .

Speaker 2 17:32

I get it . I would . I won't lie , I probably do about 50 . Especially as things have gotten busier . I don't leave the store often and so when I'm doing stuff it is nice to have like an audio book with me . But I get it . It's not for everybody , and that's okay . It is a little bit unique , especially with romance Some of the spicier ones it does take a little bit of getting used to what you're listening to .

Speaker 1 17:52

Yeah , I get a match . Yeah , megan , do you have any other questions for Natasha ? Well , so I wanted to ask , maybe , what is the thing that has surprised you the most with opening the store ? Yeah , what have you taken away from this and gone ?

Speaker 2 18:08

wow , I think like I knew that myself and my friends wanted a space like this , but I just didn't . And of course , in starting and I was like hopeful that there were other people out there . But from day one of the pop up we had like several hundred people show up to the bar that I was popping up with and I had a line and for me I was like , okay , I'm going to be able to check everybody out . I brought a ton of books just because I wasn't sure it was my first one , but like I'll be bringing all of these home and like I sold I had like 10 books left at the end of the night and there was a line for the entire time . And for me and my friends were downloading the POS software on their phones . My friend's parents were like manning bookshelves just to like . And the bar they were amazing , it's Ray's Bar in La Botosa , they were . They just took a chance . They were like this sounds cool , we can give you our backspace . And they they had to call more staff to come in earlier for the night .

Speaker 2 19:02

So I just it was so unexpected . I knew that there would be people out there . I just didn't think we'd find them so quickly and I think just from the first event it really just blew up from there and I tried to do a lot of like unique events and I think that just kind of grew our audience pretty quickly too . So then on our grand opening , we had over 800 people come out , which was insane , and it was a 95 degree day with a heat advisory , so much so that I was like , do we not open today ? Like it was , it was so hot . It still surprises me that we're two months into this and the store is packed every day . Yeah , definitely unexpected . I think that's great .

Speaker 1 19:39

Yeah , it's been amazing , having support for a small business first of all , but you know , a small business that's geared toward women , you know , I think yay that's great .

Speaker 2 19:50

We are queer-owned , so I think it's been really amazing to kind of get to be a part of the queer community here in Milwaukee and have a lot of people feel like it's a safe and inclusive space and so just want to keep that going Absolutely and having a variety of books available where people can come in and know they're going to find something that speaks to them and how they want to connect in the bromance world .

Speaker 1 20:17

I love that .

Speaker 2 20:18

Yeah , that is kind of why I started it and why I keep doing what I do every day . A lot of people are surprised that our stock changes so frequently , and I think it is just because I'm always on the hunt for more love stories to reflect what other people are looking for , whether that be just what they want to read or what they'd like to experience in real life . We always say that we celebrate love in all forms .

Speaker 1 20:42

My other question I had jotted down here was how many people are involved in your book clubs ? Yeah , is it monthly or are you running that if somebody wants to get involved ?

Speaker 2 20:55

Yeah , so right now we just have one book club , and we had that since we were a pop-up . We are in the process of launching several others that will run monthly . We have a book club that runs once a month with another local business called Nourish . We call it the Well-Nourished Book Club . That one we kind of bop around to all different types of romance genres . Tickets on that are on Eventbrite . It's free to attend , but it's usually 15 to 20 people at a time . We just limit it because of the space , and all of our future book clubs will also be run through our Eventbrite . So think like a good way if you want to stay informed on our events is to follow us on Eventbrite . If you just look up our name , we'll be there and it'll email you every time one of our events goes live , including our book clubs . Again , they're free to attend , but we just have to kind of make sure there's space for everybody , and those will start in September and October .

Speaker 1 21:46

Perfect timing .

Speaker 2 21:47

Yeah , I think so . Summer's a busy time for me and for Milwaukee .

Speaker 1 21:55

So I think it'll be good to kind of have those then .

Speaker 2 21:57

I think in Wisconsin everybody wants to be outside as much as possible during the summer , so we'll have a fantasy book club . We'll keep the well-nourished book club going because I think a lot of the people that come to that really like it . We have a queer book club and then we have a book club that we're calling Yee Hockey , which is cowboys and hockey , and the reason being is one of our like longtime damsels and customers who comes to our regular book club . She was like I don't really like to read a book unless it's about cowboys or hockey . And I said you know what ? Do you want to lead a book club ? Because I think a lot of people like that . So she's going to be leading one of our book clubs and I'm excited about that .

Speaker 1 22:36

That's great . Nicole has said she's having her summer of cowboys . Yeah , I'm having my cowboy summer , yeah exactly .

Speaker 2 22:42

I feel it's like cowboy summer , hockey winter , and you know what ? We're going to combine the two because we can .

Speaker 1 22:53

I love it . Is there anything else that you would like to mention about your bookstore , natasha , before we sign off ? For you , I don't think so .

Speaker 2 22:58

No , just come check us out if you're ever in Milwaukee .

Speaker 1 23:02

We'll be there .

Speaker 2 23:03

Yeah , you guys are going to be there , yeah .

Speaker 1 23:06

By the time this episode drops , we will have been there We've already been there Exactly . It's going to be great . Well , thank you so much for joining us , natasha . We really appreciated having you as a guest . I think what Natasha was just saying actually about how people will be reading something and then they'll just start hitting off a conversation . True Books are just a great way to connect in general , and I'm so glad that what I do for a living is book-related . For those of you who don't know , I'm an online bookseller , secondhand whatever . I find , I freaking love books . I love that . Well , next up , we have Carrie from Thirst joining us . Are you drinking a cocktail in the store ? I have wine , and that is something Thirst always has rosé , for sure . I put a wine fridge in the back so , as we were installing bookshelves , we also installed a wine fridge like a commercial wine fridge . I love that .

Speaker 1 23:57

I feel like with a name like Thirst that double entendre , you absolutely need a wine fridge . That's a good call , it's true , and that's how kind of Thirst got its name . We were in a wine bar with some friends and we were talking about this project that I had been talking

Meet Carrie from Thirst Books

Speaker 1 24:11

about so much and then I came up with like a lot of really , really , you know , below average names and no one liked them , no one was liking my names , and thirst kind of came up like drinking wine , and we knew it was the right thing . I think I felt my own people's dilate right and I'm like that's it . We knew , we knew we had landed on it , or I knew I had landed on it and and it's . It was always kind of meant to lead , not only lean into like the winking part of what that could be , but like someday I could actually have a wine bar and thirst could . Thirst could be in a wine bar . That was kind of the goal love that yeah that's very cool .

Speaker 1 24:45

Well , what brought you to opening your bookstore , Carrie ? I well , I had desired to make a change for a long time . I had thought about a bookstore , maybe even as soon as 2007 . Like that's when I was . It would put down a book and say I should open a bookstore , and then I'd read another book and I'm like I should do that . Like it was something that I had always wanted to do , since my 20s , I think . My friends said you need to do it or stop talking about it . I had one person give me an ultimatum about it . She's like I kind of don't want to hear about it anymore unless you start doing something about it . So , bless her heart . And so that's kind of it brought me to really starting to okay , what are the things I would need to do to make that happen ?

Speaker 1 25:27

Right , you go , you get a brand , or you come up with a name . A name come out of the ether and there and thirst was created , right . And then you get a concept of what you want that brand to look like . And then you have a glass of wine . And then you kind of go from there and then you start taking over those steps , like , okay , I should get an LLC right , or I should know . I've heard of accounting software . Right , I should know something about that . And then you get to just the fun stuff , which is reading books .

Speaker 1 25:56

Megan , do you have comments about Ether ? Oh yeah , Carrie , you can see us right . Yes , I can . So when you said Ether and I don't know if you saw the excited face I made with my little jazz hands , but I say it all the time , I'm always like you know , it's just out there in the ether and Nicole makes fun of me for that , because I do say it so frequently so when you said it , I just felt a little kindred spirit thing there . So I just was very excited . That was very validating for you , I feel like it was .

Speaker 2 26:26

You're welcome , I love it , but it's true , it's how it happened , Absolutely .

Speaker 1 26:31

And then why did you choose Carrie to focus your store on romance novels particularly ?

Speaker 2 26:37

Sure .

Speaker 1 26:37

So when you think about opening up a bookstore , it's a really daunting thing , right . You go to some of these larger bookstores , and even I'm thinking independent bookstores , and you go to a generalist bookstore . It's really daunting . I knew the direction . The direction towards niche bookstores was absolutely happening and we're in this moment . That's like I mean , I grew up in the nineties , right , and we saw like mom and pop stores and generalist hardware stores disappear from Main Street America , right . And so there's this unique moment now where we're seeing that kind of Main Street America get reborn and I think I'm seeing it with like craft stores . Right , you're seeing all kinds of other types of smaller shops kind of coming and gift shops and kind of coming out of the ether Sorry , I did it one more time , I won't do it again . No , that's great kind of come , coming out of the ether . Sorry , I did it one more time , I won't do it again . And and so niche bookstores were also that and for me , I knew that . I felt that I could be successful doing one thing and and and do it really really well .

Speaker 1 27:43

Romance has always been a passion of mine . It's always , it's always been part of my reading , my reading practice and people who say they read right big readers , people who are readers . I always ask them if they're reading romance as well , because I think a well-read person would also read a little romance , right ? So anyway , but I was always reading romance along with all the other things and along with my nonfiction . I was always squeezing in romance and so I knew that I wanted to then do a niche romance bookstore . Very cool , along those lines , what would you say your favorite romance genres are to read ? So I really like all of the subgenres I have , very purposefully and specifically . I read from almost all of them that I have and then , as new ones get made , I know like I'm a little newer to a megaverse and so I devoured that as soon as I learned about it .

Speaker 1 28:36

But I mean , I absolutely read heavy romanticism in paranormal books . I read heavily into historical . I read heavily into contemporary . There isn't anything I'd prefer over another . Do you have ? I know it's difficult , especially as a bookstore owner , but do you have any favorite authors ?

Speaker 1 28:52

I absolutely have beloved writers , right , some of it is , I think . I'm just I'm glad I'm lucky enough that I came across them to read . I know Victoria Abilene is one of my favorites . She's sci-fi and her Cochranea series is for me just for me was top tier and I really enjoy her world , the universe of Clothenia . I really enjoy her world building and I enjoy obviously her wonderful . I love her characters as well .

Speaker 1 29:21

I like Zoe York a lot too . She's a Canadian writer . She writes wonderful small town some of them like small town military romances . Kennedy L Mitchell writes fantastic romantic suspense that I find really fascinating . And then a local woman , shane Rose . She's from Milwaukee and she writes very hot billionaire romance and she has so many billionaires around . I just wonder where they keep them all . They're so plentiful , right , and they're all between the ages of like what you know , somewhere between hot 25 and hot 55 . And they're all single and they're just looking for a plucky woman . You know those , those billionaires , and she does that well and her tension is great . Her , her character tension is really fun , very cool , and that's a smattering too Like that was all the many different subgenres too .

Speaker 1 30:15

Yeah , what excites you most about owning a bookstore ? So for me , on some level I've created a physical TBR . Right , I come in here and I just go , I need to read everything here and that's so I always . I kind of laugh that I just created , like , like a personal library , just that I have to be in all the time . So my , but on a serious note , so I didn't . It's more than just a physical TBR .

Speaker 1 30:37

I think what I found to be the most amazing thing was this co -creation of a store with my readers that come in right when my , when my customers come in and they know more than I do , they nerd out on books and I thought I read a lot and turns out I might be an amateur compared to some of my clients . I love that appreciative reader and those conversations that I have with appreciative readers blows my mind . That's been the coolest part of the creation of this store . Having that space where women specifically can meet together and share ideas and , you know , bounce things off each other and give recommendations

Building a Romance Bookstore Community

Speaker 1 31:25

and talk about what's really inspired them , I think is so important . So I'm really , really glad to see these kinds of places popping up . I agree and I'm enamored with the customers that come in and I'm so excited I'm so lucky to have I have regulars , right . I have people who come every week on the same day and buy the next book in the series or they're looking for what's new to shelf and I love that interaction and I'm kind of , I'm really touched by it . That was , it was actually it shouldn't have been surprising , but it was . It was surprising how amazing and how many new people I've met that are going to be in my life for a long time . I'm blown away by how many friends I've met and how many people I now engage with outside of the store , right Outside of the relationship of selling a book to them Incredible .

Speaker 1 32:18

I have so many ideas that I'm throwing around . One is I do have I have lots of pop-ups coming up . I kind of didn't expect to be doing pop-ups after I opened , but I'm asked to come to a lot of places and I'm there for it . I'm really lucky to be engaging with the community as I am . I've been asked to go to a coffee shop for like a mom's event , like calling it . It's not mom's day , but it's like a mom event for moms to come and hang out Friday night .

Speaker 1 32:47

And I'm heading to QWERTY Fest , which is a . The typewriter was invented , I think , in Milwaukee . Yeah , oh , I did not know that . And so there is a . It's called QWERTY Fest and so there's a festival for it . There's actually a QWERTY ball and they've asked Thirst to come to that ball in October , and so there's wonderful intersections in the community that I wouldn't have expected to be making . And also in October it's Banned Book Week , right , and maybe surprising or unsurprisingly , how are you going to look at that ? Romance books are on some banned book lists , right , and so I am doing an event with a local , very local to me , somebody in my immediate neighborhood community to acknowledge the banned books within romance . And then we are doing a fundraiser to help people within this community get the funds they need to get their GEDs . So it's a literacy fundraiser during Banned Books Week to draw attention to not only banned books but literacy in the immediate neighborhood that I live in . So will that be advertised on your website ? Where else can people find those ?

Speaker 1 33:58

Instagram is really the strongest place for me and advertising . It'll be on my calendars on Instagram , so , but I also have two world premieres in October for authors , new books and also two pop ups at places I've been to already . Two bars I've been to already that want me to come back , and we're announcing a Romantasy Ball that's going to be done next year at one of these pop-ups .

Speaker 1 34:22

That is fantastic , yes , and so I've been asked to come support Venn and be at this Romantasy Ball that is happening in Milwaukee next year . So people should follow you on Instagram At First Books . I love it , and this particular episode for our podcast will be premiering the very end of the month of September , so that seems very timely for all of your October events . Yeah for sure , everybody listening to this go check out Thirst on Instagram and then just to kind of do some more questions where is the shop located and how can people shop with you , especially if they're not necessarily in Milwaukee ? Where can they get to you and get some books from you ? So we are shortly going to be e-commerce .

Speaker 1 35:09

We're not quite there yet , so we will have the whole store to include our merch as well as books online . Right now , you can go on to thirstbookscom and click through our bookshoporg to support indie bookstores , and if people are not familiar with bookshoporg , it is another amazing method to buy books through a web dealer that only deals with indie bookstores and they have the selection of some of the big boys that are out there . And then also Librofm . Again , you could go through thirstbookscom and click on Librofm for the audiobook choices as well , and then you can support independent bookstores that way as well . Very good . And then do you have any sort of weekly events or book clubs ?

Speaker 1 35:54

or book readings or anything that people who are local to the area could join . So we do have book clubs . I do sponsor three book clubs right now . They are kind of full at the moment and we are working on just having more facilitators too for each of these book clubs so that we can maybe have more sessions . I also host private book clubs while I'm open in my first loan and I have a couple of regular book clubs already that I've met , and so I love that engagement as well . So I have book clubs . I do every few weeks . I do an after hours , so I do something on Tuesdays which is release day for books , right , so that people can come after work and get books late in the evening . Excellent , I do like that like an after-hour social . It was like a great idea . Do you find that you've got quite a few people who show up on those Tuesdays ? Yes , absolutely , absolutely . I'm always blown away by how quickly the store will fill up with people wanting to see and , like I said , I have two of those in October are going to be pre-sale exclusives for new books that are coming out for local writers . I'm very , very excited about that . Great , I think .

Speaker 1 37:06

For me , my last question was going to be you had mentioned very early on that you were looking to make a change . Where are you coming from , like ? Where is this originating that ? You were like it's time to go A corporate job in interior design working , working in and with interior designers , and I made a change from that . So now here I am and I did design this space here at Thirst and I'm very , very glad that took a lot of gumption , right for me to make that change and then to have the confidence in myself and the confidence in romance too , to really create thirst and then make it .

Speaker 1 37:46

This is my baby , right . This is a beautiful , my little pink palace and it's a tribute to femininity , but also inclusivity . Right , it's for everybody . I do say romance is for everyone and I have it on a lot of my things because I really want to be as inclusive as possible . In addition to , like all of the other sub-genres , I do have a very strong LGBTQIA section and also one of my favorite things is when I see couples come in together and people choosing books together and I get get a lot of . I mean , I have some chairs I call them the husband chairs , but so people you know you can take your load off while someone shops , but there's actually delighted to see how many people come in with their partners and shop together , and so it's as much as a temple to women getting together and talking and being a part and also being proud about what we read and showing what we read and displaying in our living rooms what we read . Right , I'm finding that there's even a larger engagement here .

Speaker 1 38:50

Has anything surprised you in this whole process ? What was the most surprising thing that has happened with setting up this store ? You know , I think everyone thought I was just creating an elaborate office with lots of books in it . My friends did not . I don't think they thought it was going to be as big of a deal as it was and that I would be reading all week . But it's rare where there's not an active customer in the store , so I'm not reading the whole time while we're open because we're busy , because we're actually busy , and I wasn't naive . I knew people would come , but we were surprised , maybe , and so surprised and delighted at how many people are coming to Thirst .

Speaker 1 39:31

Romance is really important and it's really important to a lot of people , so I think people are coming from far and wide . I mean I get people coming in from out of town all the time . I get people chasing in before they go to a Brewers game because I'm not far from the stadium and so there's like a quick jaunt . I think some agreements had been made , like I get 15 minutes at Thirst and then we'll go . Well , then we'll do this . Or I get people coming when they leave a daytime game . I get a lot of all of a sudden . I'm looking up and I'm like everyone's in a sports jersey . What do I don't know . What am I not understanding here ? I'm just going to put out there . My next blog post is going to be about why baseball is the most romantic sport . I didn't even tell Nicole that yet , but that is my next blog post , so just saying Well .

Speaker 1 40:16

I'm shouting distance from the Brewer Stadium . It's a quick jaunt on a highway spur , and so it's been like this past weekend . There was a game , I think on Sunday , and I think Milwaukee sat after the game at the moment .

Speaker 2 40:31

Yeah , but there was a lot .

Speaker 1 40:33

But it was Uke Day , so it's OK . We had a big celebration for Uker . I was told that as well , and I actually I'm like I know that reference actually . Right , I actually know what you're saying , so that was pretty cool . So that's actually . I love that . I love my connection to the city .

Speaker 1 40:51

This is I'm in a vibrant part of Milwaukee and it's growing and it's filled with wonderful small businesses . Right , it is , and it's people's . It's growing and it's filled with wonderful small businesses . Right , it is in its people's . It's people's like heart and soul . I'm next to a wedding florist . I'm next to a bagel shop . I'm next to a non-corporate coffee shop . Right , and I've . It's been dubbed Milwaukee Romance District and I have that on , I have that on my Instagram , because it's beautiful and many beautiful things are happening and it's really . This corridor of Milwaukee is really revitalized and it's I think it's done again with . This is a small business working really hard and people who live in this area working hard to do something amazing within the neighborhood they live , live Fantastic .

Speaker 1 41:41

Anything else you want to leave us with Keri ? Oh , my gosh , I'm just . I'm so delighted that you contacted me . I'm so excited to be on this podcast . I love talking about romance and I talk about romance books all the time , and so it is such a pleasure to speak with other people about romance books at all times . Well , we're going to come see you very shortly . It'll be , yeah , it'll be before . This podcast , actually , you know , is out in the ether , but by the time this drops , we will have met in person and have gotten to talk about romance novels , and I'm very much looking forward to it .

Speaker 1 42:17

You guys don't know , but I'm fist pumping in the air romance novels and I'm very much looking forward to it . You guys don't know , but I'm fist pumping in the air . I'm excited about that . Love it Well . Keri , thank you so much for being on the episode and we look forward to seeing you shortly or , you know , before this episode actually airs . But whatever , I cannot wait to meet you guys . Yay , I'm so excited to check out your store . Come

Supporting Local Small Businesses

Speaker 1 42:45

to Thirst . Yes , we plan to . All right , thanks , keri .

Speaker 1 42:46

Megan , I'm so proud and excited that we have completed one year on the podcast and I think what better way to celebrate one year of the podcasting than to have interviewed some really awesome bookstore owners . That was really fun . That was really fun and I am very excited . Like I mentioned a couple times when we were discussing with them , we will have seen them before this actually airs . So you know , I'm excited that I get to meet them , but when this airs we will have met them . So both the ladies from Well-Read Damsel and Thirst in the Milwaukee area just very , very pumped to meet them . Yeah , very cool people , very cool .

Speaker 1 43:21

We've been doing it a year . We've had it , yay . Yeah , that's kind of amazing and I am very , very proud of you because for almost all of this , you are the technical person . Almost all of this , you are the technical person . You have gone through , you've learned all the software and the cords and the connections and I am not that person . I show up when you tell me to show up . So thank you for doing all of the technical stuff . Well , thank you for supporting me and being patient as I learned all this crap . I'm proud of you . I really am Like this is amazing stuff , yeah . Well , thank you for joining us today for Romance on the Rocks . Please like , subscribe and follow , and if you're a hopelessly romantic fellow bookish bitty like us , think about giving us a review on Apple , itunes , spotify , youtube wherever you catch your podcasts . Your support really means the world to us truly . So until next time , stay safe and know that you are loved . Thank you , I'm , I'm , I'm , I'm .