Lovestruck Books, a new romance bookstore, is now open in Harvard Square.
Per Boston.com, the new store is owned by former educator Rachel Kanter. She told the outlet, “I have always loved romance. It was sort of my guilty secret, and I would sort of slip my friends my favorite romance books growing up, and then as I’ve gotten older, I’ve just become more and more overt about it.”
Lovestruck Books aims to appeal to readers who are new to the romance genre and those who’ve carried a torch for romance books for years. The store is 5,000 square feet and will feature the many sub-genres within the popular romance genre.
Lovestruck Books is located at 44 Brattle St in Cambridge. Its normal business hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. The store is closed on Christmas Day and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Complete store details can be found at LovestruckBooks.com.
Harvard Square Kiosk Reopening as Community Space
Lovestruck Books isn’t the only opening happening in Harvard Square. Back in November, it was announced that the historic Harvard Square Kiosk is reopening in early 2025 as a community space.
The City of Cambridge announced this news in a press release sharing that the space will be named the Cambridge Kiosk which will also act as a “vibrant cultural incubator” and a “visitor information center.” The city announced the space will be be run by the new Cambridge Kiosk Advisory Committee. Those interested in serving on that committee can apply here.
Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang said in a statement, “The activation of the Cambridge Kiosk represents a significant milestone for our community. By transforming this historic landmark into a dynamic public space, we will provide greater opportunities for creativity, connection, and collaboration in the center of Harvard Square.”
The kiosk has existed since 1927. Notably, it featured the Out of Town Newsstand from 1983 until the kiosk closed in 2019.
Commissioner of Cambridge Public Works Kathy Watkins said in a statement, “The Kiosk has adapted over its nearly 100 years to meet the needs of the community and it is exciting to see it transform yet again. The current renovations have been led by a dedicated team of architects, engineers and historians and will support this treasured building becoming a modern amenity, while honoring and celebrating the historic details that make it special.”
Updated on: December 20, 2024 / 7:02 PM EST / CBS Boston
CAMBRIDGE – A romance bookstore – the first in the Boston area – has opened its doors in Cambridge, giving fans of the genre the chance to revel in romantic reads.
A first for the Boston area
“We’re the first brick-and-mortar romance-focused bookstore in the Boston area,” Rachel Kanter, owner of Harvard Square’s new Lovestruck Books, said.
For customer Birukti Tsige, there’s no better feeling than cuddling up with a good romance novel.
“There’s just something comforting about it. I love the hallmarks of the genre,” she said. The twists and turns of a good love story are what keep her flipping through the pages. “I probably read, like, two or three a week sometimes.”
According to Kanter, the store is stocked with 10,000 books. “We have Romantasies; we’ve got sports, dark romance, historical books … I mean literally everything,” she said.
Books aren’t the only thing available on the bookshelves. “We’ve got everything meant to enhance the reading experience: We’ve got tea; we’ve got things for a cozy night in. We’ve also got craft activities if you want to take a mental break from the things going on in your life.”
A community brought together by romance
Kanter hopes her store becomes more than just a destination for readers. She wants to create a community.
“So much that’s going on in the world right now is hard. I wanted it to be a place that almost felt like an escape,” she said. “I think people just really want something that is optimistic and hopeful.”
She wants readers to feel a sense of belonging here and an inspiration to find love and write novels of their own.
“My dream is to have a wedding here. But also first dates would be great, too,” Kanter said.
Rachel Kanter stands under the silk flowers at the entrance to her new store, Lovestruck Books, in Harvard Square.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
The Brattle Theatre was packed for a screening of the 1998 film “Practical Magic” a few months ago.
I was there, like a sardine in the crush of people waiting to get good seats. The crowd was mostly women wearing witchy outfits, who had also purchased the Alice Hoffman book on which the movie was based.
Local author Hoffman would introduce the film and tell the audience how her famous book about sisters — and their love lives — became such a hit.
Harvard Square’s new romance bookstore, Lovestruck Books, had organized it all — the first of many events on its calendar. The feat of the night, to me, was that Lovestruck had sold out the event — even though the store itself hadn’t opened yet.
“We were totally surprised at the influx of interest,” said Lovestruck owner Rachel Kanter. “Part of it was that Alice posted it on her social media channels, but I think it was also that people were excited to support us.”
Ever since Kanter, 38, started spreading the word that she’d be opening a romance bookstore, there’s been excitement. Anticipation. A thrilling tension.
Basically, people are hot for it.
“It just felt like the fates were aligned for this to happen,” said Kanter, who opened Lovestruck’s doors for a soft launch on Wednesday.
The store, in the former Ann Taylor space on Brattle Street, is more than 5,000 square feet devoted to swoony stories from all romance sub-genres. There are about 10 shelves of other titles, fiction and non — some Sally Rooney, Dennis Lehane, and other big sellers — but 75 percent of Lovestruck’s stock is romance, defined as stories where romance is the main plot, and central characters are guaranteed their happily-ever-after.
I moderated a discussion for Lovestruck last month, and then days before the store’s opening, Kanter gave me a tour. She pointed out some of the extra features — including the children’s book area, where a grown-up can drop a younger reader before moving on to browse. Kanter has stocked that area with confidence-building titles.
There’s also the spot she expects to be a big draw — the George Howell coffee spot and wine bar, set to open by the end of January.
Kanter, who’s from Keene, N.H., comes to the indie book world from education; she’s taught in public, charter, and private schools, from grades 1 to 11.
“The through line for me was always literature — getting kids excited about reading and exposing them to new writers, ideas, genres that they hadn’t experienced before.”
When she and her husband moved back to the Boston area after 10 years in Washington, D.C., she grieved the closing of the Curious George Store, among other Harvard Square staples. That’s when she got serious about her dream to open a bookstore.
“Ten years later, things looked a little different, a little less funky, a little less independent. So I was really excited about this idea of of being part of this literary community, maybe bringing a bookstore to life.”
Shelves of books at Harvard Square’s brand new Lovestruck Books. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
But a romance book shop? Is that a good business model, you ask?
Well, yes. Let me — a romance reader who watches both love and publishing — explain.
In 2019 I wrote about how many Boston-area independent bookstores had finally added romance shelves to their retail spaces. They realized they were missing out on customers. Romance sells well and has a wide range of sub-genres, from paranormal to hockey romance. Some of the biggest movies of 2024 were adaptations of wildly popular romance novels. Also, think of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” series, based on the books by Julia Quinn. In October, Publisher’s Weekly reported that romance titles represented seven of the top 10 books of the year so far.
Local retailers told me five years ago that it helped that the covers of these books had changed — far fewer naked torsos and six-pack abs. Most covers these days are ambiguous or tame, even if a book is not. Many titles at Lovestruck have cute rom-com illustrations, a picture of a sword or crown (for fantasy romances), or flowers.
But beyond the subtler covers, bookstores started to recognize the belittling and exclusion of romance as simple misogyny. Sure, there are bad romance novels, but there are also excellent ones. There is also bad literary fiction. There are bad mysteries and bad horror books. Isn’t it interesting that only romance — a category that tends to prioritize the happiness of women — became the butt of jokes? But I digress.
The Ripped Bodice in Los Angeles, a store devoted to romance novels, opened in 2016 and has been an active gathering space for fans and authors. Last year, it opened a second location in Brooklyn.
Some of the books and other items for sale at Lovestruck Books in Harvard Square. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Kanter says The Ripped Bodice’s second location helped her feel confident about Lovestruck.
“Clearly, there is a demand for romance. This is not a fluke. This is not going anywhere.”
As Kanter, who had the resources to open the store without business loans, dove into learning about running a bookstore, other area indies were supportive, instead of seeing her as competition. “Dina [Mardell] and and David [Sandberg] from Porter Square offered to let me tour with them,” she said, adding that she also shadowed staff at Brookline Booksmith and talked to owners at Belmont Books and other local shops.
Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said it’s felt celebratory over by Brattle Street, which she’s now billing as the “most romantic corner of the square.”
“The fact that we’re closing banks and opening bookstores is a really good sign,” Jillson said.
Sarah Wendell, cofounder of the blog Smart Bitchy Trashy Books, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in January, keeps a list of romance and romance-friendly bookstores popping up around North America; it includes Pages of Passion in Canada, and Smitten in California. In Boston, there is also a Boston-area romance popup called Read My Lips, which launched in February, but Lovestruck is Boston’s first permanent store of its kind. (Kanter said she hopes to work with Read My Lips by having them curate a shelf.)
Wendell said the Ripped Bodice— and now other shops — understand their mission isn’t just to supply readers with books.
“Readers are looking to gather in real spaces, not just online,” she said.
Kanter has packed her official opening weekend — which starts Jan. 17 — with activities like a Polaroid station, and appearances by authors including Jasmine Guillory and Chloe Gong.
Lovestruck manager Kayla Januchowski, who prepped for this week’ssoft opening, said she expects business to be busy.
“Nowadays,” she said, “people just need a happily ever after.”
Updated on: December 20, 2024 / 7:02 PM EST / CBS Boston
CAMBRIDGE – A romance bookstore – the first in the Boston area – has opened its doors in Cambridge, giving fans of the genre the chance to revel in romantic reads.
A first for the Boston area
“We’re the first brick-and-mortar romance-focused bookstore in the Boston area,” Rachel Kanter, owner of Harvard Square’s new Lovestruck Books, said.
For customer Birukti Tsige, there’s no better feeling than cuddling up with a good romance novel.
“There’s just something comforting about it. I love the hallmarks of the genre,” she said. The twists and turns of a good love story are what keep her flipping through the pages. “I probably read, like, two or three a week sometimes.”
According to Kanter, the store is stocked with 10,000 books. “We have Romantasies; we’ve got sports, dark romance, historical books … I mean literally everything,” she said.
Books aren’t the only thing available on the bookshelves. “We’ve got everything meant to enhance the reading experience: We’ve got tea; we’ve got things for a cozy night in. We’ve also got craft activities if you want to take a mental break from the things going on in your life.”
Boston Globe Love Letters columnist Meredith Goldstein discusses the region’s newest romance-specific brick-and-mortar bookstore, Lovestruck Books, in Harvard Square.
And, the team from the Urban Nutcracker joins Jim and Margery at the BPL for Live Music Friday.
An upscale take on pigs in a blanket at Source in Cambridge’s Harvard Square. (Photo: Tom Meek)
We’ve extolled the virtues of Source, with its balsamic-drizzled pepperoni pizza done New York style and rich pasta plates, and we were a huge fan of the brunch menu’s deconstructed grilled cheese (a delicious, giant fried mozzarella patty with tomato sauce and a fried egg, sadly not on the menu anymore). But Source, when it opened just before the pandemic, was to be something more than just pies and penne; it was to have an entree slate balancing land and sea with meat, poultry, fish and vegetarian offerings. Now that we’re well out of the worst of Covid, Source has gone back to that plan, changing up the menu and expanding its hours, and now offers lunch and a revamped weekend brunch. It’s re-Sourced, if you will.
You can still get that New York-styled pepperoni, but the pizza and pasta sections have been parred back a tad. Of those seasonally rotating mains you can now get grilled swordfish, roasted squash with eggplant quinoa, a pork schnitzel and a half-chicken wood fired under a brick. That sword steak is on my to-try list, and I can testify to the chicken’s moistness, offset nicely by a perfectly crispy skin and served atop a bed of truffle risotto with crispy parsnips.
Boston comes alive with festive cheer on the weekend before Christmas, offering something magical for everyone. From the beloved melodies of the Holiday Pops Concert to the twinkling lights of the SoWa Winter Festival and the joy of skating on the Frog Pond, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this weekend.
Holiday Pops Concert
What: Holiday Pops Concert
When: Dec. 16-24, 2024
Where: Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02115
Cost: Tickets range from $57 to $92 per person
Santa Claus makes a guest appearance at the Holiday Pops Concert, a beloved Boston holiday tradition that captures the season’s magic. Conductor Keith Lockhart and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus unite to celebrate the festivity with songs such as “Jingle Bells,” “The 12 Days of Christmas,” and “Sleigh Ride.”
Harvard Square Holiday Craft Fair
What: Harvard Holiday Craft Fair
When: Dec. 20-22, 2024, Friday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: 1426 Massachusetts Ave., close to the T station
Cost: Free
Celebrating its 39th season in 2024, the Harvard Holiday Craft Fair is the perfect pit stop on your holiday shopping spree. With over 30 vendors specializing in products ranging from wheel-thrown pottery and handcrafted jewelry to exotic artisan items and handmade chocolate, you’ll find something for everyone on your list — including yourself.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Under an awning covered in flowers, a new bookstore dedicated to the romance genre opened its doors in Cambridge, Mass. on Wednesday.
Lovestruck Books, in Harvard Square, was founded by Rachel Kanter, a Harvard graduate and former English teacher.
“This is the sort of thing that when I was younger, I would sort of be a little sheepish about it and hide my book under a book cover. And now, I’m just shouting it to the rooftops,” Kanter said.
Shops like this have been popping up all over the country, and Kanter said Lovestruck Books is the first brick and mortar romance bookstore in Greater Boston.
“I think that there’s a really robust literary community here, and obviously a robust romance enthusiast community,” she said.
Kanter said Lovestruck Books will soon also have a café and wine bar.
Whitney’s of Harvard Square on Monday, after Cambridge city councillors discussed its expected closing. An email address and phone number on the sign have been blurred. (Photo: Marc Levy)
The potential forced closing of 71-year-old bar Whitney’s of Harvard Square has Cambridge city councillors pleading with the landlord for “a reprieve” to see if the sides can find a way to keep the historic business open.
The response by fans of the bar to its expected closing by Jan. 1, though, is making that harder, because the bar’s owner has posted a sign in its 37 John F. Kennedy St. window asking them to support Whitney’s directly – calling or emailing the building’s owner, billionaire Gerald Chan. And he gives Chan’s email address and phone number.
Councillors issued a different plea to bar owner, Dan McGuire: to take down the sign.
“I know that you can’t control everything people say, but I would encourage the people who are supporting Mr. McGuire to stop making comments like he should ’Hire Luigi to take care of the problem,’” councillor Paul Toner said. Luigi Mangione is a suspect in the Dec. 4 killing of millionaire health insurance executive Brian Thompson. It’s turned Mangione into a folk hero among people angry over industry practices.
Councillor Sumbul Siddiqui agreed with Toner: “I want to support local businesses. I can’t condone personal threats.”
An executive of the property owner, Mayhaw LLC, told councillors in a letter that over the past several days, Whitney’s has “engaged in a coordinated public relations effort that incited racist, hate and violent personal threats against a member of the local community.”
The sign in the Whitney’s window does not call for hate or threats, but does suggest people call Chan directly to ask about the closing and notes other Harvard Square institutions that have been “lost” to Chan’s ownership, including Leo’s Place Diner, which lasted 32 years as a neighbor to Whitney’s; restaurants Night Market, Tamarind Bay, Pizzeria Uno and Upstairs on the Square; and Dickson Bros. Hardware and the AMC Loews Harvard Square 5, neither of which Chan closed, but has kept empty long enough to draw widespread ire. Councillors gave Chan an ultimatum in 2017, around five years into the disuse of the former AMC theater, that if he didn’t present plans for the space they might talk about seizing the property.
“The theater has sat vacant for 10 years. Dickson Bros. for, I think, four. And you know, that’s forgoing a whole lot of rent and money” in comparison to the $44,800 in back rent owed by Whitney’s, vice mayor Marc McGovern said. That “is peanuts in Mr. Chan’s portfolio,” while Whitney’s is “really a valued institution in this city.”
“There’s got to be a better way to do this,” McGovern said.
Differing accounts
Bar owner McGuire and property owner Mayhaw give different reasons for the expected closing, and different accounts of why $44,800 in back rent is being discussed. In the Mayhaw version presented by White, the property owner gave Whitney’s significant breaks on rent during and after the Covid pandemic and offered in January 2021 to let the bar take part in building power upgrades – but McGuire “chose not to connect to the power upgrade and never raised this matter further,” then stopped paying rent in November 2023.
As McGuire explains it, Eversource did a power upgrade that Whitney’s expected to be part of, and when the bar didn’t benefit “I was reaching out, saying, ‘What’s going on with the upgrade?’ I wanted to expand my kitchen, build sales. No response, no response, no response. Finally, I started withholding the rent” and put it into an escrow account until the issue was worked out – a situation complicated by property management turnover. When his Fat Heady LLC finally heard from Mayhaw, it was with an order to leave over noise issues.
White does not raise noise issues in an explanation to councillors about why Mayhaw wants Whitney’s to vacate, and said McGuire “has never raised the issue of a rent escrow, nor nonpayment due to repairs.”
Councillors diverge
Support for a local business and McGuire was enough for McGovern and councillor Ayesha Wilson to ask to be added to Mayor E. Denise Simmons’ late resolution about Whitney’s.
Councillor Patty Nolan, meanwhile, said she couldn’t support the order at all given “a long timeline of ways in which legal settlements were signed [and there was] a legal agreement to vacate the space on the part of Whitney’s.”
“Since I don’t know the full story,” advocating for the overturning of a signed legal agreement is “uncomfortable for me,” Nolan said.
For Simmons, trying to bring the sides back to the table was just an attempt to hold onto a historic part of Cambridge. If not a dive bar, Whitney’s is the closest thing to it in Harvard Square.
“As the community changes, these institutions and the history that they have about them go away. Harvard Square – this is not a criticism, it’s just a fact – is getting more and more upscale,” Simmons said. “Any opportunity to be had that we can hold on to just a good, old, regular place to go, it’s something that we should at least raise our voices for.”
The owner’s take
Dan McGuire, owner of Whitney’s of Harvard Square, speaks Monday to the City Council in an image from Cambridge city video.
McGuire told the council that as a native Cantabrigian who grew up eight blocks from Whitney’s and was a longtime customer before buying it, the history is part of why he returned after four years in another state. “I love this city. Whitney’s, to me, embodies what I love about Cambridge. We are town and gown, and who comes into Whitney’s is everyone from the local residents and merchants to established professors,” he said. “Whitney’s is the best of Cambridge … a place where the town and gown can come together.”
The humbleness of Whitney’s – which is below and in the center of Chan’s businesses and offices – may be what Mayhaw dislikes, McGuire said in an interview.
“I started hearing rumors that it wasn’t the image that he liked, and I fought for five years now to hold on to the original look,” McGuire said. “If you look at everyone around me, they’re all 8-foot-tall glass windows, very cold, very corporate, which is the look he is going for. Ever since they moved upstairs, I guess they’ve been more and more unhappy.”
Whitney’s in Harvard Square is closing at the end of the month after more than 70 years in business, according to a press release on Friday sent out by Whitney’s.
Owner Dan McGuire said the bar was handed an eviction notice by landlord Mayhaw, LLC because of the bar’s “daytime noise level” being an issue.
According to the press release, Whitney’s ownership was notified about their eviction back in June, and in those six months McGuire tried to remediate the noise issue with the landlord before the restaurant and bar was given a final eviction notice of Dec. 31.
“Whitney’s has always played music in accordance with our entertainment license, and we have never had to meet with the City of Cambridge and its license commission for any noise complaint,” McGuire, owner of Whitney’s for six years, said in the press release. “We’re beginning to think ‘noise’ truly cannot be the reason for wanting us to leave, and leave in such a hurry, after our repeated assurances that we would keep the volume down.”
In a statement received from other news outlets, Mayhaw’s attorney Lori A. Drayton said the eviction notice was actually handed out over the bar’s “failure to pay any rent since October 2023, not due to any noise issues.” Boston.com reached out to Drayton for a statement and more information but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
