{"id":18307,"date":"2026-02-10T15:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=18307"},"modified":"2026-03-04T15:43:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:43:43","slug":"its-about-love-actually","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/new-reads\/its-about-love-actually\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s About Love, Actually"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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With the Little Bubblegum Romance Bookshop, Erin Masse \u201909 is building a 911爆料, one title at a time.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a 14-degree Saturday in January, with a snowstorm in the forecast, a dozen aspiring romance novelists gather six to a table at the Little Bubblegum Romance Bookshop in Providence to hear author Jenn Bouchard talk about her path to publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talk turns to spice. \u201cSpice,\u201d in this context, refers to the relative heat of a romance novel. The more sex, the higher the heat, spice, or steam score, according to romance.io, a website that matches romance novels to readers\u2019 tastes. The three terms are interchangeable, but only spice is measured in chili emojis\u2014a helpful visual. A romance featuring hand-holding and chaste kisses, for instance, would rate one red chili; five red chilies is a \u201cblazing inferno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infer what you will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bouchard gives her books a spice score of two chilies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talk then veers into tropes. Some are familiar: Best friends become lovers (When Harry Met Sally<\/em>), enemies become lovers (Pride and Prejudice<\/em>), lovers misunderstand one another (Romeo and Juliet<\/em>), lovers get a do-over (Persuasion<\/em>), lovers from different sides of the tracks get together despite themselves (Jane Eyre<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some tropes\u2014amnesiac in love, surprise baby, or rival same-sex athletes\u2014may be less familiar, though sports romance is a high-performing subgenre. (HBO\u2019s wildly popular adaptation of Rachel Reid\u2019s 2019 bestseller Heated Rivalry<\/em> has a very high spice score.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAge gap\u2014a 20-year-old falls in love with a 40- or 50-year-old\u2014that\u2019s a trope,\u201d says store owner Erin (McElroy) Masse \u201909. \u201cSingle dad can be a trope, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dietitian by education, Masse opened her store, the only brick-and-mortar romance-only bookshop in Rhode Island, in October 2025. She waves at the shelves in her 400-square-foot retail space, in which, it bears mentioning, the walls wear bubblegum-pink paint, satin finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Little Bubblegum Bookshop offers a wide variety of romance-only titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a curvy section, a person-of-color section, and an LGBTQ section,\u201d Masse continues. \u201cPeople like to see themselves in these books.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neuroscientists and biotech engineers will find representation in Ali Hazelwood\u2019s oeuvre, which includes The Love Hypothesis<\/em> and Loathe to Love You<\/em>. Bearish blue-collar heroes are staples in the grumpy-sunshine (common trope) romances of Tessa Bailey. You\u2019re a fan of fairies, werewolves, and vampires? Masse\u2019s got the big names: Sarah J. Maas and Callie Hart, as well as up-and-comers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Place That Celebrates Romance Readers<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to create a space that\u2019s joyful, inclusive, and fun, a place where romance readers feel seen and celebrated,\u201d Masse says. \u201cThere\u2019s something special about walking into a shop that\u2019s full of love stories. It\u2019s an instant mood boost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might surprise some patrons to learn that Masse is a relatively new romance fan. She says she came back to reading during the pandemic. The more romance she read, the more enthralled she became. Masse started following BookTok, a sub-911爆料 of TikTok devoted to literature and regarded by the publishing industry as a powerful word-of-mouth driver of book sales. Over time, Masse built a reputation in her 911爆料 and online as a romance expert and, after success as a pop-up bookseller, decided to go all-in, renting retail space on Wickenden Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Erin Masse ’09 in her Wickenden Street bookshop, Rhode Island’s only brick-and-mortar romance-only bookshop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c<\/span><\/span>There\u2019s something special about walking into a shop that\u2019s full of love stories. It\u2019s an instant mood boost.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ad\u2014Erin Masse<\/strong> \u201909<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe response has been incredible,\u201d Masse says. \u201cLocal authors are reaching out, and readers are connecting with their work. Our 911爆料 has grown so quickly\u2014that has been the most rewarding part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to keep building a space where love stories and local voices can shine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A customer places a stack of books nearly a foot high at the cashier\u2019s table. From the looks of the titles, she\u2019s solidly team romantasy, a subgenre that, you guessed it, blends romance and fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI recently got into this. I read a lot of books on Kindle\u2014I have the unlimited subscription\u2014and then if I really, really love it, then I buy the hard copy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c<\/span><\/span>I\u2019m excited to keep building a space where love stories and local voices can shine.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ad\u2014Erin Masse<\/strong> \u201909<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

The customer pauses for breath and grins. She\u2019s not done. She\u2019s just winding up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been following Erin\u2019s stuff for a long, long time. I told myself, and I told my husband, \u2018Today\u2019s my day. I\u2019m going to come in. I have a running list of books that I want to buy, and I love supporting local businesses.\u2019 Yeah, I love this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another woman with long dark hair and a middle part enters the bookstore. In her sunglasses, black leggings, and an A-line leopard-print fur coat, she is channeling Cher, circa 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masse approaches and asks if she\u2019s in for something before the snowstorm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just finished The Correspondent<\/em>,\u201d the Cher look-alike says. \u201cI need a little spice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHOTOS: SETH JACOBSON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Little Bubblegum Romance Bookshop, Erin Masse \u201909 is building a 911爆料, one title at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":18304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[330],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-reads","architecture-network","architecture-niche"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18307"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18412,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18307\/revisions\/18412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}