The Ripped Bodice — Local services in Los Angeles

I always make it a point to visit local bookstores when traveling, it’s my favorite kind of souvenir! After seeing the Ripped Bodice on TikTok I knew we had to stop by during our cross-country road trip. Immediately upon arrival, we were met with exactly the same kind of enthusiasm and passion we have for romance novels, and reading in general. The store was organized by romance book lovers for romance book lovers, from the color-coded shelves to the layout and bookish merch. The amazing bookclerk, Taylor, matched our energy and made us so excited to be in the store and to buy books. It was so heart warming to be able to talk to her about what we both love, and to get some incredible recommendations!!

I talked to Taylor about some of the books I’ve read and loved, as well as some of the ones I didn’t love as much, and she walked a few laps around the store pulling about 15 different books she thought i’d like. She immediately had my trust because about half the books she brought over were ones that I had either already read and loved or already owned and was waiting to read. How did she know!? It felt like she had read every book in the store, and I really trusted her reviews. She was able to give me summaries of the books I was interested in, her personal recommendations, and I ended up buying 4 of the books that she chose for me. The friend I’m traveling with also bought 4 books, which she had chose but Taylor affirmed as great choices.

The entire experience felt like talking to a friend, and it was so obvious the entire time how much Taylor loves her job and meeting people at the store. It would have been easy for me to walk into the store and buy everything — we left with new books, t shirts, stickers, pins, a tote bag and seriously wishing this store was on the east coast!

Will definitely stop again if visiting LA in the future! And Taylor, if you’re reading this, you truly made our day! I hope we’re able to talk about books again...

I was so excited to bring my extended family (mother, aunt and SIL) to see the store while we were all visiting from different parts of the country. I checked the hours and plotted the trip with activities for the kids and uninterested parties nearby. And they were closed for a wedding. Which sucked for us—they did not share this closure on the website or on Google Maps. It was in an Instagram reel or story idk and their newsletter, which feels a little niche to me, so I hope they do a little more publicizing for their next private event.

I came back with a subset of that group and less prepared in terms of childcare. My kids were not well-behaved and I am so apologetic for this. It truly sucked for everyone involved so I tried as quickly as I could to find the handful of titles I was interested in. I struggled in this endeavor as it was unclear if it was by genre or authors last name. All the books on the shelves are binding-out, which is fine, but I really loved how Brooklyn’s location had certain books facing out so you can easily understand the subgenre or easily discern the authors.

I also didn’t want to leave this review but I saw another posted just a week ago with the same complaint—the staff behind the counter were more interested in their conversation than inquiring if I, the sole patron in the store, might need help navigating the shelves. While I felt the staff was a little too cool for me at the Brooklyn location, I was in a really spectacular mindset so it failed to ruin my visit. And like I said, my kids were probably a huge turn-off for them to engage with me, but I hope they consider what books mean to parents of small children as a form a mature media you can enjoy in their presence without feeling the cellphone guilt while your preschooler enjoys Unicorn Academy for the 900th time or play in the park.

I 100% love these spaces and really hope the owners take my feedback to heart. And I would...

UPDATE: Received my copy on 7/10. I honestly don’t understand what took so long when all that was included was a small temporary tattoo and a sticker that the author signed. I definitely thought it would have been a little more high quality. I won’t be returning back after this experience. There is a romance book truck that I’ve already had a much better experience at. Review is about preorder response I preordered Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon in February for pick up. The release date for the book was July 1st and I was hoping to start reading it on the 2nd. By the 2nd, I still hadn’t received the email confirming it was ready so I decided to just go to the bookstore to ask about it and browse. When we arrived there were two individuals working. When we had asked about the preorder, we were told they were behind because the store has “recently had a lot of events and is running behind.” Okay??? Honestly, that doesn’t make much sense to me since while I was browsing, both workers were on their phones. I’m not one to complain about someone being on their phone at work but this bothers me because why do two people need to be sitting at the register when someone can be helping with preorders when you’re running behind? Why leave it to ONE coworker and have them do all the work? My biggest issue with all of this is not only does this have a bad look on the store, but Thea Guanzon and Critical Role. There are multiple businesses that are involved in this, not just The Ripped Bodice. With the workers blasé response, I honestly might consider supporting other...