Cosy Cottage Romance – Bookshop at the Harbour Arm

The Harbour Arm is about to open it’s own, specialist Romance Bookshop.  Cosy Cottage Romance is a new venture that is part of the growing trend of Romance Bookshops growing across the world.  The first started in New York a few years ago, and now with 3 stores in London, and around the same number across the country, Folkestone Harbour Arm is going to join in the fun.  Folkelife spoke to Chelsea about what to expect.

“A romance as a genre has a few rules to it.  The main characters need to fall in love, and there has to be a happy ending.  Those main characters don’t die, that’s not allowed!  Normally, romance fiction is packed in with general fiction in a bookshop, and that’s not fair.  You don’t know what you’re getting, and you might pick something up that doesn’t have those elements you’re looking for.  Here, in a dedicated Romance Bookshop, you know that you’re getting a good story with that happily ever after ending.”

romance bookshops

“These are becoming really popular across America and the UK. The first one started up in New York a few years ago, and now there are around 5 or 6 in the UK.  People will travel to a Romance Bookshop because it’s not only a good day out, but you know you have some good reads when you get home, which just extends that experience.  

“There are Romance Book conventions such as the RARE – Romance Author and Reader Events – which people travel around the world to.  I met Willow Winters there, and a bunch of other authors, and I’d definitely plan my next holiday around where they’re going to be next.”

independent publishers

“What I want to focus on at Cosy Cottage Romance, is promoting independently published books and local authors.  We have people who are coming to do signings at the Cosy Cottage Romance hut, which is great.  There are new and used books on different sides of the hut, and then there are accessories you need whilst reading!  We’ve got some mugs for your tea, and candles, and book sleeves, if you need to protect your book or just give you a bit more privacy when reading.  I’ve been preparing some merch such as tote bags and cold cups, I’m a big cold coffee fan.”

real life romance

“I’m originally from Arnold’s Cove in Newfoundland, Canada.  I met this guy online who lived in Folkestone and I came across to meet him and we got on pretty well.  He came back to meet my folks in Canada and again, we were getting on well.  I thought that I needed to spend a bit more time with him than just holidays, so planned to do my Masters at University of Guildford.  I’d be in the UK, and we could spend more time together and see if this was going to go anywhere. 

“I started my Masters in Criminology with a focus on cybercrime and cybersecurity, so I was aware that travelling to the UK to be with some guy I’d met online could be seen by some as a bit crazy.  But those who know me, knew I was quite aware of what I was doing.  I’d see him on the weekends, like a normal person, and if it worked out, that would be great.  If it didn’t, then I’d go home with a degree, so it was a win-win situation.”

the covid years

“I was staying at his parents house in Folkestone on that weekend in March 2020 where it was becoming clear that we were going into lockdown.  His parents asked if I wanted to stay, because we all didn’t know how much we’d be able to move around, and if we’d be able to cross county borders and so on.  I decided, on the spot, that I wanted to be in Folkestone, with my partner and his family, and so we spent the next 12 hours moving my stuff down and, well, I haven’t left.  He’s now my husband, and we have a dog together (he adopted my cat in 2020), and we couldn’t be happier. 

“People have asked if I’m going to write about it, and funnily enough, I already have!  I’m an independently published writer too, and will have some of my books on sale at Cosy Cottage Romance.  I wrote a story, about five years before I met my husband, about a girl who goes on a study trip to London and falls in love there.   It didn’t really click that I’d already written this until I was at a book signing at home and someone asked if it was about me and my husband.  It wasn’t but maybe I was manifesting and then it came true.”

book selection

“There are my next two books available at the hut, and one follows a couple for 24 years, it’s set out like an Advent calendar.  And my third book goes a bit deeper, it’s about a couple who meet on the Golden Gate Bridge, both thinking about suicide, but they realise they don’t want to see the other person jump, so they go off on a road trip together and fall in love.  It has that happily ever after that’s so important in this genre. 

“I’ve got some Katie Ginger books, she’s a local author, and I love her work.  I have also met Jo Bavington Jones and love her work too, but I’m focusing on romance, and hers are crime novels.”

romance carries the book industry

“Year on year, the romance genre carries the book industry.  Every year, apart from when the last Hunger Games book came out, romance has topped the charts, and ensures that the industry stays alive.  There was obviously the 50 Shades of Grey wave, and there are always trends that we go through, but romance will always be there.  

“There’s also the self-publishing phenomenon where people can get books out so much quicker as they’re doing everything themselves.  But then the readers are devouring book after book, so it feeds a demand.  Then there are the discreet books which just have a name on the front and a book colour cover, rather than any blurb on.  It means you start reading, with nothing to give away what’s going to happen.  I started on one of those and have got obsessed with them!

“I can’t wait to open and meet my readers.  It’s going to be so much fun to suggest new books to each other, and to discover new authors too.  There will be a regular stock change so that you will always find something new.  I’m looking forward to it.”