Page 20 of Battle of the Bookstores

Of course, it’s also fun when we argue.

BookshopGirl:So…what did you think about the structure?

RJ has a knack for identifying the structural reasons a story did or didn’t work: inciting incidents, plot points, dark moments, etc. This book bucked convention, but I thought it was effective.

RJ.Reads:It was unique, I’ve got to hand it to the author. But the pacing was a little slow to start.

BookshopGirl:What?? That first section was crucial to setting up the entire storyline! You’re just impatient.

RJ.Reads:It could of been streamlined.

RJ.Reads:*could have (sorry)

RJ.Reads:But my point still stands: the beginning was slow.

BookshopGirl:Fine, okay. What did you think about the ending?

The tension of the day releases as I relax into the familiar, comforting world of fiction.

I wish I could stay here forever.

6

Ryan

Plan a bunchof events, they said.

It’ll be easy, they said.

The last two weeks have been a flurry of emails and missed calls and conversations about budgets and community outreach and scheduling. Our store calendar looks more complicated than a treasure map—but if there’s any chance these events will lead to a chest of gold, then I have to be all in.

The first one starts in an hour: a Knitting and Knotting circle. Thirty-seven people RSVP’d to bring their knitting projects and discuss the Omegaverse, a subgenre of speculative romance with a caste system of characters, usually featuring werewolves.

My phone buzzes in my pocket—a DM from a friend from the RomSquad, my romance bookseller group.

Gretchen:I have a proposition for you.

Ryan:Before you go any further, you texted me. Ryan Lawson.

Gretchen:LOL. I know who I texted.

Gretchen:I’m not the one who keeps calling you Brian, Ryan.

Ryan:Touché. What can I do for you?

Gretchen:You mean what can I do for you?

Ryan:???

Gretchen:Can I call you?

The second I send a thumbs-up, my phone rings.

“Okay, so you know how I’m opening a bookstore on the Cape?”

“That sounds vaguely familiar,” I tease. Between Gretchen deciding to buy and convert an old ice cream shop in Provincetown and my Xander-drama, the RomSquad—a group chat with romance booksellers across the country—has been more like group therapy than book talk.

“Well, I’m in over my head,” Gretchen says. “And since you might be out of a job soon…” I wince. So much for having my friends’ support. “Anyway, I thought, maybe you could help me with the store?”

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