THE FUSE

August is a big month for the romance genre. It’s officially Romance Awareness Month (alternatively, Read a Romance Month), which is generally celebrated by libraries and other organizations. It’s also when we have Bookstore Romance Day, an international celebration of bookstores that celebrate romance, whether they are dedicated romance bookstores or not. It was created when there weren’t that many romance bookstores, and there also weren’t quite as many indie bookstores that acknowledged and celebrated romance. So this was both a way to get romance into readers’ hands and to point them toward indie shops they could safely shop at for their romance needs. Now, it includes a weekend of virtual panels and celebrations all over the globe! See if your favorite indie is participating on August 15, and check out the virtual celebrations happening throughout the month.