22 Jun 2025

Pretty and pink: New bookshop dedicated to spicy fiction

From Culture 101, 12:35 pm on 22 June 2025

Romance novels are having a moment. England's first ever romance-only bookshop opened this week in Notting Hill, London. The romantasy genre has had a surge in popularity in recent years with with sales pushing UK fiction revenue over 2.2 billion dollars last year. With the help of Booktok; a sub-community on the social media platform Tik Tok; fantasy, dark and spicy novels have been making their way onto best-seller lists. Closer to home, Ruby Wallace has taken that digital community and turned it into real life with her romance bookshop, Enamoured Books, in Remuera in Tamaki Makaurau. Culture 101 speaks to Ruby, whose parents are both artists and getting the shop up and running was a family affair.