Visiting a Book Lovers Bookshop
I have been on a mission recently to start rebuilding my social life after numerous moves and life-changing events.
And, also after a self-initiated hibernation mode that I had put on myself during the last few years, whilst I was focusing on various work, study and house renovation commitments.I have moved many times in my life. So many, that I have lost count.
In the past, after a move to a new place, I had developed a pattern to start meeting new people, attend events and various in person activities, as soon as I could. Regardless, if at the time, I was a single person, married or was a parent. My social life was often full of excitement, new connections or re-connecting with those whom I already knew. After becoming a parent it was rarer, but it still existed. However, after moving to Edinburgh, I broke my own pattern and decided to prioritise other things, and socialising was not one of them. Thus, a few years after relocating back to Scotland, 2025 seems like a great year to get out of the hermit mode and start to rebuild my social life, again.
Luckily, I find myself living in another amazing city that booms with various social events, groups and activities to match any type of interest. One doesn’t need to go far out of the city to find something cultural, interesting to explore, fun or educational. What matters is a curiosity to enter a new place and be eager to discover something new. That’s how I found a Book Lovers Bookshop. On a random walk, on a street that I have visited before but somehow never walked in, until one day – when I did. There was something interesting about it, from the previous times when I have passed it by. This time, I noticed the sign above the door, a beautiful pink coloured shop exterior and a romance focused shop display. Later that day, I attended their One Year Anniversary event, and whilst standing in a long queue to get into the event, I overheard that the bookshop exterior has recently been repainted, and apparently the sign was not new. I just somehow did not notice it before.
The Book Lovers Bookshop in Edinburgh is not an ordinary bookshop – it’s the UK’s first brick-and-mortar bookshop that focuses on Romance literature. From the first foot stepping inside the shop, it can be felt that it is unique. It is located just outside the Meadows and has a big collection of books for romance enthusiasts. Considering I have not read a romance book since my teenage and ‘first’ university years, I was still enjoying my experience and a visit there. However, I was a teenie weenie lost in all the book choices. Luckily, there were a lot of people attending the One Year Anniversary event that evening, and it was not too obvious that I have no recent knowledge about romance literature. It was a well-organised event, and eventually, I explored all of the book shelves and found two romance focused books that stood out to me the most. I selected ‘How to romanticize your life’ by Sophie Golding and ‘I know how this ends’ by Holly Smale.
At the time of writing this, I have already read the first book. I feel very grateful that I discovered it, visited the bookshop and then attended their lovely first anniversary evening event.
Luckily, I find myself living in another amazing city that booms with various social events, groups and activities to match any type of interest. One doesn’t need to go far out of the city to find something cultural, interesting to explore, fun or educational. What matters is a curiosity to enter a new place and be eager to discover something new. That’s how I found a Book Lovers Bookshop. On a random walk, on a street that I have visited before but somehow never walked in, until one day – when I did. There was something interesting about it, from the previous times when I have passed it by. This time, I noticed the sign above the door, a beautiful pink coloured shop exterior and a romance focused shop display. Later that day, I attended their One Year Anniversary event, and whilst standing in a long queue to get into the event, I overheard that the bookshop exterior has recently been repainted, and apparently the sign was not new. I just somehow did not notice it before.
The Book Lovers Bookshop in Edinburgh is not an ordinary bookshop – it’s the UK’s first brick-and-mortar bookshop that focuses on Romance literature. From the first foot stepping inside the shop, it can be felt that it is unique. It is located just outside the Meadows and has a big collection of books for romance enthusiasts. Considering I have not read a romance book since my teenage and ‘first’ university years, I was still enjoying my experience and a visit there. However, I was a teenie weenie lost in all the book choices. Luckily, there were a lot of people attending the One Year Anniversary event that evening, and it was not too obvious that I have no recent knowledge about romance literature. It was a well-organised event, and eventually, I explored all of the book shelves and found two romance focused books that stood out to me the most. I selected ‘How to romanticize your life’ by Sophie Golding and ‘I know how this ends’ by Holly Smale.
At the time of writing this, I have already read the first book. I feel very grateful that I discovered it, visited the bookshop and then attended their lovely first anniversary evening event.
The Book Lovers Bookshop discovery has made a great start to a slow rebuilding of my social life in Scotland. It seems that they organise various events which are communicated in the shop’s events calendar.
I might be back again, one day. For another event or even another romance-focused book, as I don't have many of these on my book shelf.
