July 1, 2025 • 46 mins
This week, join host Danielle Robay as she chats with Bea and Leah Koch, the powerhouse sisters behind The Ripped Bodice bookstores. They’re diving into the billion-dollar romance industry, spilling tea from behind the scenes on Watch What Happens Live (What’s the perfect romance novel for Andy Cohen?), and of course, dishing out their top romance novel recs. Prepare your TBR lists, they’re about to get a lot longer. Danielle also gets the honor of announcing the July 2025 Reese’s Book Club Pick – Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein – and checks in with the author on her very exciting pub day.
Like what you heard? Subscribe to the Bookmarked newsletter HERE for more buzzy book talk, and be sure to follow us @reesesbookclub for more.
Spectacular Things by Beck Dory-Stein - find it HERE
Rock The Boat by Beck Dorey-Stein - find it HERE
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun - find it HERE
Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang - find it HERE
Spindle Cove series by Tessa Dare - find it HERE
The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta - find it HERE
Desperate Measures by Katee Robert - find it HERE
The Other Lata by Kirthana Ramisetti - find it HERE
Beverly Jenkins - find her works HERE
Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes - find it HERE
Sinner by Sierra Simone - find it HERE
Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone - find it HERE
Julia Whelan - find her works HERE
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danielle Robay (00:00):
Bookmarked by Reese's book Club is presented by Apple Books. Hi,
I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Reese's book Club. Okay,
before we get into today's show, I just want to
say thank you, truly the love for our premiere episode
last week has been I think the word is overwhelming.
(00:21):
Thank you all for your comments and your shares, and
your likes and your dms. Your dms are my favorite part.
I see you and I'm so grateful you're here. The
best part of this show is the club part. Like
the book Club part right, It's so fun to talk
with all of you, and also so many of you
have great suggestions. You're not just readers, you're great producers too,
(00:42):
So keep it all coming. I really meant it when
I said this space is for you today. The excitement
continues with not one, but two interviews. A little later on.
I'm talking to be and Leah Koch, the powerhouse sisters
behind the Rip Bodice, which is the country's first romance
focused bookstore. We're diving into the billion dollar romance industry.
(01:05):
It's still so underestimated. We're also spilling tea from behind
the scenes at watch what happens live where they were bartenders,
and of course they're dishing out their top romance novel res,
So prepare your tbr lists. But first it's time to
kick off a new tradition. So at the beginning of
every month, I'll be announcing the brand new Reese's Book
Club Pick right here and giving you a little treat,
(01:29):
a release date, interview with the author herself, and then
at the end of the month, we'll bring the author
back for the full deep dive, so you have all
month to read along, mark your favorite passages, and come
ready to discuss all of the juicy details. Okay, drum roll,
please our July twenty twenty five, Reese's Book Club Pick
(01:52):
is Spectacular Things by Beck Dory Stein. Beck is a
former White House stenographer turned best author, And if you
don't know what a stenographer is, I googled for the
both of us, babe. They're responsible for accurately transcribing everything
the President and senior White House officials say in public
remarks and briefings, press conferences, and sometimes private meetings. Can
(02:16):
you imagine the conversations she listened in on Beck's debut
novel Rocked the Boat Captivated readers, and her latest Spectacular Things,
is just as moving. It follows two sisters, each faced
with the question of what they're willing to sacrifice to
care for one another and for themselves, all the while
navigating ambition, big dreams, and the complicated journey of who
(02:40):
we become in pursuit of them. It's her first interview
as a Reese's Book Club pick, and what a treat
that we get to chat with her. Beck. Welcome to
the club. Your book is officially out in the world today.
Happy pub Day. I'm so excited for you. First and foremost,
how are you celebrates? Do you have a pub day tradition?
Beck Dorey-Stein (03:01):
Oh? Thank you, Danielle. Yeah, quite a day. Do I
have a pub day tradition? I try not to lose
my mind and go for a run, like wake up,
go for a run, try to clear my head and
be a sane person and just see how the day goes.
And now it's fun because this is this will be
the first book I've published since becoming a mom, so
that'll also definitely keep me humble, because that's what a
(03:23):
toddler does.
Danielle Robay (03:24):
How does being a mom change pub day? What do
you mean by that?
Beck Dorey-Stein (03:28):
No day is ever my own anymore. And I mean
that in the best way possible. But I've got a
three year old son. His name is Hank, and so
if Hank wakes up and isn't a great mood, that
is even more exciting for me. And if he wakes
up and doesn't want to get dressed, well, then pub
Day waits until I can get that into a pair
of shorts.
Danielle Robay (03:47):
I really like that Hank in shorts gets precedent over
over pub Day or text messages celebrating you, you know,
without giving too much away because we don't want any
spoilers yet. How would you describe the book to someone
picking it up for the first time.
Beck Dorey-Stein (04:04):
Ooh, okay, so Spectacular Things. It's about sisters. It's about soccer.
It's about ambition and success and failure and sacrifice. It's
about everything we do for people and things we love
and the complexity that comes along with that.
Danielle Robay (04:24):
For the girlies who are grabbing Spectacular Things off the
shelf today, or even who pre ordered it and get
to pick it up at their local bookstore, what do
you think they should be looking for.
Beck Dorey-Stein (04:34):
While they're reading The Family Dynamics. I really I had
a great time grappling with and hopefully I give each
character enough sympathy, but those those sibling dynamics get tricky
real fast.
Danielle Robay (04:46):
Your first book was a memoir, and then Rock the
Boat was your second book, and it was a novel.
And when I finished the last page of it, I thought,
you are really asking us questions in all of your books,
regardless of if their memoir or fiction. What questions are
you asking us to think about in spectacular things?
Beck Dorey-Stein (05:08):
I think the big question in spectacular things is what
are we willing to give up for the people we love?
And when, if ever, does that sacrifice on behalf of
family edge into self sabotage, because like, love requires sacrifice,
(05:30):
and so it's just sort of like where do you
find that balance?
Danielle Robay (05:33):
Is it something that you were struggling or thinking about
or dealing with as you were writing this.
Beck Dorey-Stein (05:38):
Well, I'm a middle child. I've been dealing with in
my whole life. We're called the peacemakers, So yes, especially
since becoming a new mom, it's really you know, there
were definitely in their early days of motherhood. I was like,
I don't think this book is ever going to get finished,
because I wasn't sleeping, you know, sleep deprivation is a
(05:59):
method of torture for reason. It really makes you lose
your mind. So excited to be a mom? Also, just
like what who am I? And where do the rest
of the people in my life fall into this? Because
I've always prided myself on being like a really good friend,
and all of a sudden, I couldn't. I couldn't be
the same kind of supportive friend that I had been
because I was up from four to seven every morning.
Danielle Robay (06:21):
I know that you liked to blend your real life
and fiction together, and I was wondering why you chose
soccer as the backdrop for this story. Where did soccer
fit into your life?
Beck Dorey-Stein (06:35):
I love soccer so much, it was very much my
first love. I have to give my brother doesn't get
like any props in this book because there's no older brother.
But my older brother, Zac is the one who introduced
me to soccer. We grew up playing it in the backyard.
I wanted to do whatever he was doing, and so
I grew up playing soccer. I grew up playing sports.
(06:55):
Some of my best friends today are teammates I had
from my soccer team when I was five years old,
and then in twenty nineteen, the US women's national team
won the World Cup in Paris, and that victory came
at a time when I was feeling pretty unmoored. I
had left DC, I was living in Philadelphia, and I
(07:16):
just glombed onto that team. I was reading all their biographies.
I was filling my parents in, I was feeling my
siblings in. I was like, you don't understand. I went
to the parade in New York, the ticker Tape Parade
when they won the whole thing, and that day especially,
I was like, I just want to live in this
world forever. And particularly the dynamic between teammates I think
(07:38):
is really similar to the dynamic between sisters in that
they drive you crazy, but they also drive you to
be the best version of yourself.
Danielle Robay (07:47):
I really like the title of the book, and it
comes from a poem, Ada Lamone's Dead Stars. Could you
read me a part of the poem that really struck you,
the part that made you want to name the book
after it.
Beck Dorey-Stein (08:03):
Sure, I don't know if it's a spoiler, but it's
also the epigraph of the novel. Look, we are not
unspectacular things. We've come this far, survived this much. What
would happen if we decided to survive more to love harder.
(08:23):
And that's aba Lamone's Dead Stars. So fun. Full circle
thing is I have a good friend, Nick Heebert, who
is a high school English teacher, and my first job
out of college was teaching high school English and coaching soccer,
and Nick Hebert was also an assistant coach for that
soccer team, and that was over ten years ago. We
(08:46):
have remained in touch. He writes me letters all the time.
He sent me that poem in one of his letters,
and I kept it in my kitchen on display because
I loved it so much. And then when we were
wrestling with what to title this book, I just looked
at it and I was like, Oh, it's literally been
right in front of me this whole time.
Danielle Robay (09:02):
I have this armchair theory that people sort of live
into their names, and so if we think about that
in books, I think titles are so important. And I
was reading the poem thinking, Okay, I have two theories,
and I want to know if either of them are
correcter if both of them are incorrect.
Beck Dorey-Stein (09:18):
Okay.
Danielle Robay (09:19):
My first theory was that the poem talks about the
dualities of life, which you really cover in this book.
My second theory is that it asks, I think, this
philosophical question of what if we are not just meant
to ask the big questions, but to notice these small,
spectacular things in our everyday lives.
Beck Dorey-Stein (09:39):
I don't think you're wrong in any way, but I
think the second theory is what I really have been
trying to focus on. And that's also my job as
a writer, right, is to notice these small things that
we could easily pass by, and you know, the beauty
and the mundane.
Danielle Robay (09:56):
Yeah, it's true, and I think this book focuses our
attention onto things that we all sort of experience but
don't quite know how to put into words.
Beck Dorey-Stein (10:08):
So yeah, and that's why soccer and sports in general
are makes such great metaphors, right, because everything's just heightened.
But it's the same idea. You know, you walk into
these situations and you feel like the pressure of the
world is on your shoulders, and what's going to happen
if you don't perform the way you want to?
Danielle Robay (10:25):
Yeah? Well, Beck, thank you so much, and huge congratulations
to both you and Hank. Today, everyone go grab your
copy of Spectacular Things Amazing. Thank you, Beck, thank you. Okay,
we'll be right back with b and Leah Katch of
The Ripped Bodice Bookstores. Don't go anywhere, Okay, dear listener,
(10:51):
I want you to close your eyes for a moment.
Imagine you're on the streets of New York, in the
brownstone dotted neighborhood of Park Slope. It's one of those
perfect summer days. The sky is clear and blue, and
the possibilities feel endless. Suddenly you're knocked off your feet literally,
You've bumped into someone as they reach down to pick
(11:14):
up the book they've dropped on the sidewalk. You notice
it's the latest romance novel you've been dying to read,
and wow, is this person cute? Could this be fate?
But then you look up at the storefront in front
of you, and oh my god, that storefront is pink, unapologetically,
(11:36):
unequivocally pink, and scrawled elegantly across the front is a name,
The Ripped Bodice, a romantic bookstore. No, dear listener, this
isn't a dream. The Ripped Bodice is a real bookstore,
one of two, in fact, owned by sisters b and
Leah Koch. The other, the original, is in Culver City, California,
(11:59):
and when it opened in twenty sixteen, it was the
only all romance bookstore in North America. Some people thought
they were crazy to go all in on just romance,
but B and Leah had their fingers on the pulse.
And here's why. Despite sometimes being treated like a punchline,
romance is the highest grossing genre in the book industry.
(12:21):
It brings in over a billion dollars in sales each
year and it's only growing. Print sales of romance books
have doubled over the last few years when they've fallen
across all other genres, and today there are over fifty
romance bookstores in the US. But B and Leah are
the ogs. Okay, they built a business on love being
(12:42):
out loud literally and figuratively. Here's the vibe Taylor Swift
plays in their stories. The shelves are organized by romance
subgenre rather than alphabetically, and B and Leah were so
successful that they were able to open a second location
in New York in twenty twenty three. Sisters are rock
stars in the book world. They're here to reclaim romance
(13:05):
and give us the hottest Rex of the summer. Duh.
So whether you're a romance lover or you're just romance curious.
You're in the right place. Let's turn the page with
B and Leah Koch. B and Leah, welcome to the club.
Beck Dorey-Stein (13:23):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
You were so excited to be here.
Danielle Robay (13:27):
We're really excited to have you because you two have
gone from being sisters, which is already iconic. Sisters are
great to Kickstarter queens, you crowdfunded nearly one hundred thousand
dollars for your bookstore, then you became bartenders on Watch
What Happens Live with Andy Cohen Highlight and I just
need to know Bea, how did this happen and does
(13:48):
he shop at the store.
Bea Koch (13:50):
We've never seen him in person in the store, but
we have seen some producers, some other Bravo behind the
scenes type people, and that is how it happened.
Leah Koch (14:02):
I believe I texted you are you sitting down?
Bea Koch (14:05):
Yeah?
Leah Koch (14:05):
No, she's aving. Are you driving? Because I thought you
were going to get in a car accident? Parentheses it's
a good thing.
Danielle Robay (14:13):
Yeah, we Bea. You told me that you're a Bravo head.
I love Bravo-lebrities. Which shows do you watch?
Bea Koch (14:23):
I'm embarrassed to say, but almost all of them. I'm
a big Wow Housewives gal the classic Atlanta, New Jersey.
But I love SLC because we have some family in Utah,
so I love their capturing of the Utah culture the valley.
Danielle Robay (14:44):
Now you're deep, I'm deep.
Leah Koch (14:46):
What was the name of the woman that we met
who was on before us with her son is the
model for the cover?
Bea Koch (14:51):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dolores Catana from New Jersey was on the Watch What
Happens Live episode before us. She was still in the
green room. Could not have been sweeter, like I was
so nervous, I was shaking.
Leah Koch (15:06):
I was like, I have no idea what this is.
Bea Koch (15:07):
Yeah, Leah couldn't kill it.
She was like, You're going to be great.
And she was so excited when she found out we
owned a romance novel bookstore. She was like, my son,
Frankie Junior is on the cover of some romance novels.
I was like, girl, I know, you don't have to tell.
Danielle Robay (15:19):
Me, Okay. So here's the thing about Watch What Happens
Live that I always noticed this set is so cute,
and Andy has books all over his set. Right now,
I noticed the Barbara streisand book behind him. All the time.
What do you think Andy's romance book kink is.
Leah Koch (15:38):
I mean, she's ready to go.
Bea Koch (15:40):
No no, I just like when I was thinking about
Andy and like, what book romance novel he should read. Literally,
the perfect book recently came out. It's called The Charm
Offensive by Alison Cochrane. It is a gay romance about
a reality TV producer.
So Andy, we'll get you.
Danielle Robay (16:01):
Everybody's making faces behind the scenes, by the way, Yeah,
we're silent because.
Bea Koch (16:06):
It's too I mean when I read it, I was like,
it's too perfect. Oh, this is like everything.
And I have always wanted more like crossover reality TV
romance because I just feel like there's a lot like
reality TV is in the world of genre. I think
in the same way that romances, at least in my mind.
Leah Koch (16:24):
There's a lesbian romance about two women who are on
the Bachelor and then fall in love with each other.
It's called Here for the Wrong Reasons and it's two authors,
Annabel Paulson and Lydia way Bea.
Danielle Robay (16:36):
I want to go back to something you said, reality
TV is very genre the way romance is and when
you two opened The Rip Bodice in Culver City, California,
in 2016, you were the first only romance bookstore in
North America. And just the way that reality TV creates
(16:56):
a community of fans around an obsession, and that is
what has happened with romance novels. What do you think
it is about romance that makes it such a great
community builder.
Bea Koch (17:08):
I think because it's like the genre of feelings and
like truly getting to the heart of what people care
about when it comes to relationships, not just romantic relationships.
But one of the reasons I love romance is a
lot of it is about like family relationships, friends, the
community that the people exist in. And that's the exact
(17:29):
same thing that happens on reality TV. And for reality
TV fans, it's like you connect over this person you
love on this show and you know all about like
the dogs they have and their mom and all this
like background information. Yeah, but I think fandom is such
a beautiful thing. I think when you really love something,
(17:50):
you really like seek out other people who love it.
And for romance novel fans, for so long that was
just online or in person book clubs, but there really
weren't bookstores dedicated to.
The genre and what we really wanted.
One of the things we really want to do, especially
was give people a place to celebrate new releases, because
(18:11):
we were seeing all these other bookstores have these amazing
events for all these books, but we didn't see a
lot of events for romance novels, and we knew that
the fans wanted to come to that event and.
Celebrate the new release of their favorite author.
We've even started doing midnight release parties for some authors,
which is something we grew up on, and like, it's
(18:32):
such a fun, amazing moment where like the book comes
out and everyone's there together.
It just feels like kind of magical.
Danielle Robay (18:39):
I love that you've eventized all of this because we
do that for film. We do that, and you're both
nodding your heads, like we do this for sports, we
do it for so many things, and you guys have
really done it for books. I saw the statistic that
just made me smile. Romance readers are more likely to
say they're hopeful about love than readers of other genres.
(18:59):
If you had to guess, Leah, why do you think
that is?
Leah Koch (19:03):
It's the genre of hope. That's kind of the whole
point of this.
I mean, I do think maybe something people misunderstand about
romance is like the connection people are drawing to their
own lives. Like you know that everyone who reads romance
is like, you know, starved for romance in real life,
(19:23):
which isn't always the case, but ultimately, so many romance novels,
you could probably make an argument that every single romance
novel is about hope. And I think that's what draws
so many people to the genre, so that it doesn't
surprise me at all.
Bea Koch (19:42):
I think when you're reading these stories about people finding
their partner or multiple partners or the life that they want,
it just gives you that hope that you can find
it too. I mean I was reading these romance novels
forever and people were always saying, Oh, it's going to
give you unrealistic expectations. I don't think it gave me
unrealistic expectations. I think it made me think, what do
(20:03):
I want and need in a partner and deserve in
a partner, and how do I give that back to
my partner? And you know, I got married a few
years after we opened, and I feel like sometimes I'm
just like no, I waited for the right person, and
romance novels like helped me do that in some ways.
Danielle Robay (20:24):
I love that you said that because sometimes I feel
like I actually learn more from fictional characters and then
even like a nonfiction book one hundred percent.
Bea Koch (20:34):
I think when especially when writers are writing these like
beautiful love scenes where people are saying to each other,
I feel this way about you, or you make me
feel this way, it gives us language to speak with
our own partners. And it's not always like a sexual
that's I think another big misconception about the books. Oh,
they're just like smutty sexy, like it's all about the sex,
(20:56):
and we like smut.
Leah Koch (20:57):
Great with them. Were a fan. Yeah, we have no
problem with that.
Bea Koch (21:01):
But there's also conversations about broader relationships and how you
communicate with not just romantic partners, but family, friends, like
the world around you.
Leah Koch (21:12):
Yeah, and fiction is like a way for people to.
Visualize themselves in different situations. And yeah, I love that
you said that because I think fiction sometimes people don't
feel like they're quote learning something or whatever from Yeah.
Bea Koch (21:30):
It's not like we're like a fairy princess with like
a vampire, like you know, it's not like it has
to be a really realistic setting.
They're still having these conversations.
About romance and love and you can learn so much
from it.
Danielle Robay (21:43):
Yeah, I really do feel that way. I got so
excited to learn that you both are from Chicago. I
am too, really and yeah, we had this bookstore, Books
on Vernon that was and you're both no in your heads.
It was my sanctuary. They always had brownies and cookies
and I would go in after school and they would
feed me and I would just sit there for hours.
(22:04):
My mom would have to come get me and be like,
they're closing, we gotta go. But I know that there
must be some great bookstores that you grew up around
that live in your heart and maybe even inspired.
Leah Koch (22:17):
Women and Children First was our bookstore growing up in Chicago.
And they have these fabulous hats. I recommend you buy one.
That was our home bookstore.
Bea Koch (22:26):
Yeah, I'm so glad you are.
They still open.
They are still open. I'm so glad you mentioned that
because I feel like that literally formed who we are,
like going to that bookstore because it's called Women and
Children First, and as children, we went to a bookstore
where everyone working there was so excited to recommend books
to us and cared so much about what we cared
(22:49):
about and to develop our development as readers, And I
just think that is such a beautiful thing.
Leah Koch (22:54):
Yeah, they're still open.
I went last time I was home.
Bea Koch (22:59):
Makes us emotional.
Leah Koch (23:00):
Still have a fabulous selection. Check them out if you're
in Chicago.
Danielle Robay (23:06):
First of all, thanks for giving them a shout out,
because I feel like we need to shout out as
many independent bookstores as possible. But when I was thinking
about the two of you opening this bookstore and taking
a bet on something that is so niche new right,
no one had ever done it in North America. Whose
idea was this? I don't know.
Leah Koch (23:25):
That's a.
Bea Koch (23:27):
I feel like it came about so organically. We were
having a conversation. I had just finished grad school. Leah
was about to finish college and I came to visit
her in Los Angeles.
Leah Koch (23:37):
We're in the car I had.
Bea Koch (23:39):
Yeah, we were driving to the airport. Literally.
I had just finished grad school for historical fashion.
So you has the history of fashion?
Leah Koch (23:48):
Yeah?
Bea Koch (23:49):
Really niche and I was.
Leah Koch (23:51):
I was a year and a half away from graduating
on my fourth major, Visual and Performing arts studies.
Bea Koch (23:58):
Terrifically, Leah had to.
Trouble figuring out what she wanted to do.
But I had always thought I wanted to be in academia,
and I'd written my thesis on romance novels and the
clothing in historical romance novels because I was fascinated by
the idea that we call these novels bodice rippers, and
I was like, hmm, I wonder how many bodices actually
(24:20):
get ripped in romance novels.
No bodices are written that would be almost basically impossible.
They're really hard, there's a lot of boning in there,
and it would be really difficult to actually rip it off.
But also because what people are referencing is is kind
of an older part of the history of the genre,
from the seventies and eighties, which you know, is a
(24:43):
much more problematic, honestly, part of the romance history. There's
a lot more a lot less consent than we see now,
and a lot more relationships based in weird power dynamics, yeah,
unfortunate power dynamics that we would not see today. My
thesis was titled Mending the Ripped Bodice. And when Lee
(25:04):
and I were talking about what we wanted to do
next in our lives, and we were driving to the
airport she was about to drop me off. We're like, oh,
we both read so many romance novels, Like why have
we never? And we travel all the time searching for bookstores.
We're like, why have we never been to a romance
novel bookstore? We were like googling it on the way.
Leah Koch (25:21):
To they We're sure that there were dozens.
Bea Koch (25:23):
Where there's a romance that we just didn't know about. Yeah,
where are they? Can we go on a road trip
and find one? And what we found was there was
one in Australia a little far.
Danielle Robay (25:34):
Can I ask you about the name no more? And yes,
because it it was bodice rippers was kind of a
derogatory or at least problematic term. It seems to me
like you're sort of reclaiming the.
Word in 2025 and you're nodding yes, absolutely. I think
what we were doing is saying we know what you
(25:55):
say about us, and we're gonna kind of rise from
the ashes of this term that's been used as a
pejorative and instead our.
Leah Koch (26:06):
Now, yeah, it's not yours anymore. We took it back
from you and it's better now. Yeah, there were people
who really didn't like it, I mean, like quite aggressively,
because I think they felt like, again, this had been
a word, this had been a term that had been
used to denigrate something that they loved.
Bea Koch (26:29):
But I think and I think there's well, there's lots
of conversations even today about how romance readers and writers
define themselves, like the word smut. Some people really don't like.
Other people find it really fun, And we try and
let people talk about the genre the way they want
to and identify the way they want to.
(26:49):
We try really hard not.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
To police other people's language around the genre because we
all come come at it from different places. You open
the second store in twenty twenty three, that's so wild
to time.
Danielle Robay (27:03):
I can imagine that, especially post COVID, A lot of
people were saying, do not open brick and mortar stores.
Did you have naysayers? Did you have people as you
were build for the second one for.
Leah Koch (27:17):
The first one?
Uh?
Mount Legions, Mountains Armies.
Danielle Robay (27:22):
Who was saying no, almost everybody, many let's speak frankly
men said like, essentially you're leaving money on the table
by not selling other things, when in fact we would be.
Leah Koch (27:43):
So much less successful if we had done as they said.
The point was to.
Bring a level of expertise and focus and celebration of
romance that does not exist even in a fantastic general
bookstore with an amazing romance section.
(28:05):
It's just not possible. They got to do everything.
Danielle Robay (28:08):
Did you know at the time that it brings that
the romance genre brings over a billion dollars in sales?
Was that a stat that you were slinging?
Bea Koch (28:15):
Yes, We kept telling people that, like, this is the
best selling genre, this is the genre that keeps the
lights on for the rest of publishing. Like the fact
that there isn't a bookstore for it. There's all these
comic bookstores, there's mystery bookstores, there's there were bookstores, like
there are other genre specific bookstores.
There is a true underlying.
Misogyny here that no one has thought to open a
(28:37):
bookstore for the genre that is mostly read by women.
I mean, we have tons of fabulous milk and all
gender clients, but it really is written a lot and
read a lot by women.
Danielle Robay (28:49):
My college girlfriend, who is like, I think, kind of
like my most critical feminist thought friends we all have one.
She yes, and she was watching the Super Bowl and
she texted me last year and she goes, Oh my god,
next year, during this time in February, I want every
man in America to have to watch a YouTube makeup
(29:09):
tutorial for an hour and change and eat snacks and
see how this goes, because like the reverse idea that
we're all supposed to watch football just feels crazy. And
I bring that up to say that I do think
in culture in the past there's been this like people
(29:29):
trivialize women's hobbies, things that women find interesting, and so
romance seems like it's a part of that to me.
But I'm wondering if you think romance is a feminist genre.
Bea Koch (29:42):
Yes, no, why do you say no?
Leah Koch (29:46):
Romance novels can be written by feminists. A huge portion
of them are, but it's not inherently feminist. You have
frickin people who absolutely don't believe in their own.
Equal rights writing romance novels.
Bea Koch (30:02):
Sure, I think that's true.
I think in general, one of the big misconceptions of
romance is it's really heterosexual. It's really about like a
man a woman finding a man to marry, and that
has really been turned on its head by so many authors.
Over the years.
And it feels like now so many popular romance novels
(30:25):
that are published have nothing to do with like I
must get married.
Leah Koch (30:30):
I'm also a really literal person. Feminism is a social
and political movement.
It is an actual thing, and so there's almost nothing
that's like inherently Feminists.
Even like like nothing.
You have to make an active choice to believe in
equality based on gender, sex, whatever. So a vast, vast,
(30:56):
vast probably almost all of the romance authors that we
carry I think would absolutely consider them and their work feminist.
There are large.
Swaths of the romance genre that I don't believe that
women should have equal rights, that gay people should have
equal rights.
(31:17):
You'll mostly find that that is an important point. Like
we talk about romances, if it's a mode, right, it's
not is not true. There are so many different parts
of it and so many different people reading it and
getting different things out of it. We are a feminist bookstore.
We try and carry romance novels that have feminist.
Messages, and it's because we make active choices and do
(31:40):
active things.
It's not just because we're women.
Danielle Robay (31:55):
If we were doing an MTV Cribs tour of the bookstore,
what would we say when we walk through the doors
what's the vibe, what's the aesthetic, what's the wow moment?
Leah Koch (32:05):
Well, first you would see me opening the door saying Hi,
welcome to my crib. But I love designing the spaces.
It's been the most fun part of this for me,
especially Brooklyn, just because I had learned so much from La.
I like that you ask what's the wow moment? I mean,
I hope the wow moment is kind of when you
(32:26):
open the door. Like I like to use books as
objects as art. They are misprints or somebody's dog chewed
on it or something like that. But like sometimes they'll
send us fifty books that are missing like page thirty one,
and they just tell us to throw them out, but
instead I screw them.
To the wall.
I think we really we love to celebrate the feminine.
(32:47):
I think we like to celebrate the aesthetic.
In general, like sort of speaking of things that you know,
sometimes people don't necessarily take seriously.
Bea Koch (32:56):
I think one of the things we were really focused
on is like making them light and bright and inviting,
rather than kind of like a dark attic where things
are hidden away.
Danielle Robay (33:06):
I have a controversial question Rainbow bookshelves.
Leah Koch (33:10):
Yeah, your name, yay Leah has Leah likes that makes
you happy Go nuts. Yes, I think display your books
however you want. To me, it doesn't make sense to
my brain because I'm like, the books don't have anything
to do with each other.
Danielle Robay (33:26):
You organized by subgenre in the store, yes.
Bea Koch (33:29):
Which is another reason we were like, we just want
to be romance because there's so many specific subgenres, and
when we opened, we really tried to make the areas
where the subgenres were fit esthetically. So we used to
have like this paranormal forest in the back of our
store with like literal trees.
Leah Koch (33:48):
Yeah, and just I mean.
It all comes back to fun, Like romance is supposed
to be fun. I'm thrilled when people find meaning in
it or you know, somebody tackles difficult subject matter that
resonates with someone.
At the end of the.
Day, it is primarily, at least for me, about fun,
(34:09):
And so I want the space to reflect that want it.
I want it to feel you know. I think we're
always striking the balance. Like we take romance seriously, we
don't take ourselves too seriously.
You know, it's it's meant to be fun.
Danielle Robay (34:25):
Okay, I want a cosplay. I walk into the story okay,
and I get really lucky both of you happen to
be there. Okay, it's a good day. And I let
you know that my genre what I like, even though
I haven't started in on the romance genre yet, but
what I think I like from reading other books is
(34:48):
sort of like a nuanced take, meaning like another narrator.
So like I like Sleeping Beauty but from maleficence point
of view, or a Little Mermaid but from ursula.
Bea Koch (34:58):
That's so interesting.
I love that. Okay, And do you have any preferences contemporary, historical, paranormal?
Are you open?
Danielle Robay (35:08):
I don't know if paranormals for me. I think will
X that out fair enough, but I love historical and contemporary.
Bea Koch (35:15):
I feel like a historical series you would like is
the Tessa Dare Spinster Spindlecove. They call it spinster Cove
because a lot of what it does is like take
a heroine who it's like from a different perspective, often
of like the regular heroine you would expect, and each
(35:38):
book kind of like turns a trope on its head.
Danielle Robay (35:40):
Of that, they're very fun.
Leah Koch (35:43):
Okay, the view was exhausting. I keep picking books that
have two authors Mikayla Clemens and n Julie Datta. Okay,
it's a contemporary and it's very much I don't know
if this is exactly what you're talking about, but because
it's what's called dual pov, you hear from, in this case,
the woman, you hear from the man.
(36:04):
It yeah, whatever.
You know, you think you know what's going on from
one character's perspective, then you switch to the other and you're.
Like, oh that they don't actually don't understand at all.
It's not enemies to lovers, but it's sort of like
we don't really understand each other to lovers And it's great.
Bea Koch (36:21):
Wait, I have another one too, bring them all, give
them to me.
Leah Koch (36:25):
So Katie Robert, who's one of the best erotica writers
out there, has a whole series about Disney villains. Wait,
I love this copyright whatever, don't do her Disney, you
know she she's changed them.
But the first one is Jasmine and Jafar.
Yeah there, and there's like an Ursula one there, and
(36:47):
they are very smutty, just fair warning, they're erotica.
They're very very smutty. But they're so good.
She's such a great writer, she's so creative and they're
so fun. The first one is called Desperate Measures Katie Robert.
Danielle Robay (37:07):
Okay, I like everything that you have offered me today,
but I'm so glad we landed there because I love
a Disney villain. Also, there's this author, Peggy Ornstein who
does a lot of writing on women and gender and feminism,
and she said that if you look at any T
shirt with Disney princesses on them, they're never looking at
(37:29):
each other. And it's very interesting and she always like
makes this joke like if you met a if a
Disney princess, if snow White met Cinderella in the bathroom,
don't you think that she would give her a tampon?
Why would they not be looking at each other on
the T shirt?
Bea Koch (37:45):
Yes, And like.
Female friendship, I feel like because they're in like separate worlds,
they like keep them separate. Okay, I have one more
recommendation because I feel like you would like Kirthana Ramasetti's
book The Other Letta, which is it's a really fascinating
romance because honestly, the heroine is not she steals someone
(38:08):
someone's identity. Ooh, I love a stolen She's getting these Yeah,
she's getting these emails that are like inviting her to
all these amazing things in New York, and it's for
another person who has her name, and she decides like,
fuck it, I'm gonna go to these things I'm being invited.
But then the woman who she's impersonating like finds out
(38:31):
and it's just this fascinating, like kind of morally gray
like heroin and it's a fantastic written.
Danielle Robay (38:40):
So now I'm getting stressed out because this thing happens
sometimes when I go into a bookstore or a library
and I look around at the shelves and I'm like,
there's so much to read and I know nothing, Like
I have so much knowledge to take in. I'm going
to walk into the rip Bodies and feel.
Like I have so much to approximately. Once a week I.
Leah Koch (38:59):
Am so where and I just go, I'm not going
to have time to read all the books I want
to read before I die, all the books.
Bea Koch (39:08):
You people have like emotional reactions to books. If you
see a cover that you like, pick it up, like
it's worth going with your gut.
I think a little bit in Rome.
Danielle Robay (39:19):
Are you saying to judge a book by its cover? Yeah?
Leah Koch (39:22):
Oh?
Absolutely, And I think also, don't you know, look at
the back cover, look inside like there's there's plenty else
beyond the cover.
Bea Koch (39:31):
But if the cover.
Speaks to you, that's totally legit.
Danielle Robay (39:33):
Absolutely Okay, we're gonna do a little speed read. I'm
gonna put sixty seconds on the clock and ask you both. Actually,
maybe we're gonna double it. We're gonna put one hundred
and twenty seconds on the clock because there's two of you.
So I'm gonna ask a question and each of you answer,
and then we'll move to the next one. Does that
make sense?
Leah Koch (39:54):
Who goes first?
Danielle Robay (39:56):
You guys can who was born first?
Okay?
Yeah, the older sister goes first, and I'm the older sister.
So let's just have a gun with me. I love it,
ready set Bea. What's one romance trope you would ban forever?
Bea Koch (40:12):
Oh my god, that's that's so hard. I feel like
they all have a place and people like different ones.
I mean, I'm Leah and I both. I'm not We're
not like the biggest secret baby fans.
Danielle Robay (40:22):
Okay, Leah, what's one you'll defend with your life friends?
Leah Koch (40:26):
Still lovers?
Danielle Robay (40:28):
Bea what's a romance book you wish you had written?
Bea Koch (40:30):
Oh?
My god, there's so many. I mean, Beverly Jenkins, like
to me is the queen of historical romance and research.
She just gets supposed to be was supposed to archives
and finds.
The Sorry sorry, sorry, Beverly Jenkins.
Anything by Leah Bez romance book for a breakup.
Leah Koch (40:49):
When I think of you. Uh wait, no, that's a
different one. Evie Drake starts Over by Linda Holmes.
Danielle Robay (40:55):
Great call, okay, favorite romance book to recommend.
Leah Koch (40:59):
Sierra Simo anything by her, but probably Sinner because it
scandalizes people.
Danielle Robay (41:05):
Yeah, okay, the best romance audiobook experience.
Leah Koch (41:08):
I did ask my booksellers Lex and Fernanda and they
recommended Kara bes Stone's audiobooks. They said she has really
great casts. They're all set in New York, which is
really fun.
Bea Koch (41:18):
So also anything by Anything narrated by Julia Wheelan.
Leah Koch (41:23):
She also writes, but she does write her own books.
But that's so good. Yeah, that's a great.
Danielle Robay (41:28):
One, okay, Leah. Favorite queer love story.
Leah Koch (41:31):
There are one million, but right now I would choose
Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous by May Marvel.
Danielle Robay (41:39):
That's so good. Okay. The best reimagining of a classic.
Bea Koch (41:45):
Oh my God, what would you say?
Leah Koch (41:48):
Pride, Prejudice and other Flavors by Sonali dev Oh my god,
that is literally there's a whole series. Oh also, oh
my god, cheers a price. Yeah, those are they're so
guide and premeditations.
Danielle Robay (42:03):
Okay, honestly, Bea you redeemed yourself at the end? An
ending that you hate it?
Leah Koch (42:08):
Anna Karenina, I know it could have been if there
was not a train involved.
Danielle Robay (42:19):
This is hilarious. Well, sisters, if you're ever looking for
a third sister, I'd like to be considered you are
too loftie.
Leah Koch (42:33):
We actually have an a lot and two stepsisters, so
we just keep adding to our sister crew.
Danielle Robay (42:42):
I'll be added to the friend's sister category. Okay. So
here at Bookmarked, we like to close each episode by
sharing something, something literary that we bookmarked. It can be
a favorite line in a poem, a new initiative. What
have you bookmarked this week?
Leah Koch (42:58):
A new adaptation of a book by Alphar Burke called
The Better Sister is now available on Amazon Prime, and
it happened to have been written and created by our
sister in law. Olivia Milt, Jessica Biel, and Elizabeth Banks
are sisters it's so great. It's eight episodes. Watch it
(43:18):
in a weekend. And it's based on the book, and
the book is great. Is that what you were going
to say?
Bea Koch (43:23):
No, you are a better sister in law than I.
I was gonna say the better sister.
Katie Storino wrote a romance novel called Sunny Side Up
and it's about a heroine who designs plus size swimwear.
And then she and Kitty and Vibe, which is a
swimwear brand, like collaborated and they made like the swimwear
(43:46):
that that's like in the I ordered it.
I was like, I need it.
It's so cute.
It's like I got like a biki that has like
tomatoes on it.
I'm so excited.
And I just think that's I just love when people
are like creative in their marketing of romance.
And like, I just I loved everything about it.
Danielle Robay (44:00):
That's so cool. I love that great answers. One of
you wins better sister, but the other one had a
really great recommendation.
Leah Koch (44:10):
Yours is a little more organic than mine. I was like,
oh my god, that's the perfect thing. Yeah, I had
no idea. That's so I love that. I love that
it's so cute.
I yeah, everything about it. It's amazing.
Danielle Robay (44:22):
I love your passion and fervor for books. Thank you
both so much for what you're putting into the world.
Leah Koch (44:27):
Oh, thank you, thank you for having people are great.
Danielle Robay (44:32):
And that's a wrap. If you want a little bit
more from us, come hang with us on socials. We're
at Reese's book Club on Instagram, serving up books, vibes
and behind the scenes magic. And I'm at Danielle Robe
rob a y come say hi and DM me and
if you want to go nineties on us, call us. Okay,
our phone line is open, so call now at one
(44:54):
five zero one two nine one three three seven nine.
That's one one two nine, one three three seven nine.
Share your literary hot takes, book recommendations, questions about the
monthly pick, or let us know what you think about
the episode you just heard. And who knows, you might
(45:15):
just hear yourself in our next episode, so don't be shy.
Give us a ring, and of course, make sure to
follow Bookmarked by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast or wherever you get your shows until then
via in the next chapter. Bookmarked is a production of
Hello Sunshine, and iHeart podcast It's executive produced by Reese
(45:37):
Witherspoon and me Danielle Robe. Production is by ACAST Creative Studios.
Our producers are Matty Foley, Alyia Yates, Brittan y Martinez
and Darby Masters. Our production assistant is Avery Loftis. Jenny
Kaplan and Emily Rudder are the executive producers for a
Cast Creative Studios. Maureene Polo and Reese Witherspoon are the
(45:58):
executive producers for Hello Sunshine. Olga Kaminwha, Kristin Perla, Kelly
Turner and Ashley Rappaport are associate producers for Reese's book Club.
Ali Perry and Christina Everett are the executive producers for
iHeart Podcasts, and Tim Palazola is our showrunner
Bookmarked by Reese's book Club is presented by Apple Books. Hi,
I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Reese's book Club. Okay,
before we get into today's show, I just want to
say thank you, truly the love for our premiere episode
last week has been I think the word is overwhelming.
(00:21):
Thank you all for your comments and your shares, and
your likes and your dms. Your dms are my favorite part.
I see you and I'm so grateful you're here. The
best part of this show is the club part. Like
the book Club part right, It's so fun to talk
with all of you, and also so many of you
have great suggestions. You're not just readers, you're great producers too,
(00:42):
So keep it all coming. I really meant it when
I said this space is for you today. The excitement
continues with not one, but two interviews. A little later on.
I'm talking to be and Leah Koch, the powerhouse sisters
behind the Rip Bodice, which is the country's first romance
focused bookstore. We're diving into the billion dollar romance industry.
(01:05):
It's still so underestimated. We're also spilling tea from behind
the scenes at watch what happens live where they were bartenders,
and of course they're dishing out their top romance novel res,
So prepare your tbr lists. But first it's time to
kick off a new tradition. So at the beginning of
every month, I'll be announcing the brand new Reese's Book
Club Pick right here and giving you a little treat,
(01:29):
a release date, interview with the author herself, and then
at the end of the month, we'll bring the author
back for the full deep dive, so you have all
month to read along, mark your favorite passages, and come
ready to discuss all of the juicy details. Okay, drum roll,
please our July twenty twenty five, Reese's Book Club Pick
(01:52):
is Spectacular Things by Beck Dory Stein. Beck is a
former White House stenographer turned best author, And if you
don't know what a stenographer is, I googled for the
both of us, babe. They're responsible for accurately transcribing everything
the President and senior White House officials say in public
remarks and briefings, press conferences, and sometimes private meetings. Can
(02:16):
you imagine the conversations she listened in on Beck's debut
novel Rocked the Boat Captivated readers, and her latest Spectacular Things,
is just as moving. It follows two sisters, each faced
with the question of what they're willing to sacrifice to
care for one another and for themselves, all the while
navigating ambition, big dreams, and the complicated journey of who
(02:40):
we become in pursuit of them. It's her first interview
as a Reese's Book Club pick, and what a treat
that we get to chat with her. Beck. Welcome to
the club. Your book is officially out in the world today.
Happy pub Day. I'm so excited for you. First and foremost,
how are you celebrates? Do you have a pub day tradition?
Beck Dorey-Stein (03:01):
Oh? Thank you, Danielle. Yeah, quite a day. Do I
have a pub day tradition? I try not to lose
my mind and go for a run, like wake up,
go for a run, try to clear my head and
be a sane person and just see how the day goes.
And now it's fun because this is this will be
the first book I've published since becoming a mom, so
that'll also definitely keep me humble, because that's what a
(03:23):
toddler does.
Danielle Robay (03:24):
How does being a mom change pub day? What do
you mean by that?
Beck Dorey-Stein (03:28):
No day is ever my own anymore. And I mean
that in the best way possible. But I've got a
three year old son. His name is Hank, and so
if Hank wakes up and isn't a great mood, that
is even more exciting for me. And if he wakes
up and doesn't want to get dressed, well, then pub
Day waits until I can get that into a pair
of shorts.
Danielle Robay (03:47):
I really like that Hank in shorts gets precedent over
over pub Day or text messages celebrating you, you know,
without giving too much away because we don't want any
spoilers yet. How would you describe the book to someone
picking it up for the first time.
Beck Dorey-Stein (04:04):
Ooh, okay, so Spectacular Things. It's about sisters. It's about soccer.
It's about ambition and success and failure and sacrifice. It's
about everything we do for people and things we love
and the complexity that comes along with that.
Danielle Robay (04:24):
For the girlies who are grabbing Spectacular Things off the
shelf today, or even who pre ordered it and get
to pick it up at their local bookstore, what do
you think they should be looking for.
Beck Dorey-Stein (04:34):
While they're reading The Family Dynamics. I really I had
a great time grappling with and hopefully I give each
character enough sympathy, but those those sibling dynamics get tricky
real fast.
Danielle Robay (04:46):
Your first book was a memoir, and then Rock the
Boat was your second book, and it was a novel.
And when I finished the last page of it, I thought,
you are really asking us questions in all of your books,
regardless of if their memoir or fiction. What questions are
you asking us to think about in spectacular things?
Beck Dorey-Stein (05:08):
I think the big question in spectacular things is what
are we willing to give up for the people we love?
And when, if ever, does that sacrifice on behalf of
family edge into self sabotage, because like, love requires sacrifice,
(05:30):
and so it's just sort of like where do you
find that balance?
Danielle Robay (05:33):
Is it something that you were struggling or thinking about
or dealing with as you were writing this.
Beck Dorey-Stein (05:38):
Well, I'm a middle child. I've been dealing with in
my whole life. We're called the peacemakers, So yes, especially
since becoming a new mom, it's really you know, there
were definitely in their early days of motherhood. I was like,
I don't think this book is ever going to get finished,
because I wasn't sleeping, you know, sleep deprivation is a
(05:59):
method of torture for reason. It really makes you lose
your mind. So excited to be a mom? Also, just
like what who am I? And where do the rest
of the people in my life fall into this? Because
I've always prided myself on being like a really good friend,
and all of a sudden, I couldn't. I couldn't be
the same kind of supportive friend that I had been
because I was up from four to seven every morning.
Danielle Robay (06:21):
I know that you liked to blend your real life
and fiction together, and I was wondering why you chose
soccer as the backdrop for this story. Where did soccer
fit into your life?
Beck Dorey-Stein (06:35):
I love soccer so much, it was very much my
first love. I have to give my brother doesn't get
like any props in this book because there's no older brother.
But my older brother, Zac is the one who introduced
me to soccer. We grew up playing it in the backyard.
I wanted to do whatever he was doing, and so
I grew up playing soccer. I grew up playing sports.
(06:55):
Some of my best friends today are teammates I had
from my soccer team when I was five years old,
and then in twenty nineteen, the US women's national team
won the World Cup in Paris, and that victory came
at a time when I was feeling pretty unmoored. I
had left DC, I was living in Philadelphia, and I
(07:16):
just glombed onto that team. I was reading all their biographies.
I was filling my parents in, I was feeling my
siblings in. I was like, you don't understand. I went
to the parade in New York, the ticker Tape Parade
when they won the whole thing, and that day especially,
I was like, I just want to live in this
world forever. And particularly the dynamic between teammates I think
(07:38):
is really similar to the dynamic between sisters in that
they drive you crazy, but they also drive you to
be the best version of yourself.
Danielle Robay (07:47):
I really like the title of the book, and it
comes from a poem, Ada Lamone's Dead Stars. Could you
read me a part of the poem that really struck you,
the part that made you want to name the book
after it.
Beck Dorey-Stein (08:03):
Sure, I don't know if it's a spoiler, but it's
also the epigraph of the novel. Look, we are not
unspectacular things. We've come this far, survived this much. What
would happen if we decided to survive more to love harder.
(08:23):
And that's aba Lamone's Dead Stars. So fun. Full circle
thing is I have a good friend, Nick Heebert, who
is a high school English teacher, and my first job
out of college was teaching high school English and coaching soccer,
and Nick Hebert was also an assistant coach for that
soccer team, and that was over ten years ago. We
(08:46):
have remained in touch. He writes me letters all the time.
He sent me that poem in one of his letters,
and I kept it in my kitchen on display because
I loved it so much. And then when we were
wrestling with what to title this book, I just looked
at it and I was like, Oh, it's literally been
right in front of me this whole time.
Danielle Robay (09:02):
I have this armchair theory that people sort of live
into their names, and so if we think about that
in books, I think titles are so important. And I
was reading the poem thinking, Okay, I have two theories,
and I want to know if either of them are
correcter if both of them are incorrect.
Beck Dorey-Stein (09:18):
Okay.
Danielle Robay (09:19):
My first theory was that the poem talks about the
dualities of life, which you really cover in this book.
My second theory is that it asks, I think, this
philosophical question of what if we are not just meant
to ask the big questions, but to notice these small,
spectacular things in our everyday lives.
Beck Dorey-Stein (09:39):
I don't think you're wrong in any way, but I
think the second theory is what I really have been
trying to focus on. And that's also my job as
a writer, right, is to notice these small things that
we could easily pass by, and you know, the beauty
and the mundane.
Danielle Robay (09:56):
Yeah, it's true, and I think this book focuses our
attention onto things that we all sort of experience but
don't quite know how to put into words.
Beck Dorey-Stein (10:08):
So yeah, and that's why soccer and sports in general
are makes such great metaphors, right, because everything's just heightened.
But it's the same idea. You know, you walk into
these situations and you feel like the pressure of the
world is on your shoulders, and what's going to happen
if you don't perform the way you want to?
Danielle Robay (10:25):
Yeah? Well, Beck, thank you so much, and huge congratulations
to both you and Hank. Today, everyone go grab your
copy of Spectacular Things Amazing. Thank you, Beck, thank you. Okay,
we'll be right back with b and Leah Katch of
The Ripped Bodice Bookstores. Don't go anywhere, Okay, dear listener,
(10:51):
I want you to close your eyes for a moment.
Imagine you're on the streets of New York, in the
brownstone dotted neighborhood of Park Slope. It's one of those
perfect summer days. The sky is clear and blue, and
the possibilities feel endless. Suddenly you're knocked off your feet literally,
You've bumped into someone as they reach down to pick
(11:14):
up the book they've dropped on the sidewalk. You notice
it's the latest romance novel you've been dying to read,
and wow, is this person cute? Could this be fate?
But then you look up at the storefront in front
of you, and oh my god, that storefront is pink, unapologetically,
(11:36):
unequivocally pink, and scrawled elegantly across the front is a name,
The Ripped Bodice, a romantic bookstore. No, dear listener, this
isn't a dream. The Ripped Bodice is a real bookstore,
one of two, in fact, owned by sisters b and
Leah Koch. The other, the original, is in Culver City, California,
(11:59):
and when it opened in twenty sixteen, it was the
only all romance bookstore in North America. Some people thought
they were crazy to go all in on just romance,
but B and Leah had their fingers on the pulse.
And here's why. Despite sometimes being treated like a punchline,
romance is the highest grossing genre in the book industry.
(12:21):
It brings in over a billion dollars in sales each
year and it's only growing. Print sales of romance books
have doubled over the last few years when they've fallen
across all other genres, and today there are over fifty
romance bookstores in the US. But B and Leah are
the ogs. Okay, they built a business on love being
(12:42):
out loud literally and figuratively. Here's the vibe Taylor Swift
plays in their stories. The shelves are organized by romance
subgenre rather than alphabetically, and B and Leah were so
successful that they were able to open a second location
in New York in twenty twenty three. Sisters are rock
stars in the book world. They're here to reclaim romance
(13:05):
and give us the hottest Rex of the summer. Duh.
So whether you're a romance lover or you're just romance curious.
You're in the right place. Let's turn the page with
B and Leah Koch. B and Leah, welcome to the club.
Beck Dorey-Stein (13:23):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
You were so excited to be here.
Danielle Robay (13:27):
We're really excited to have you because you two have
gone from being sisters, which is already iconic. Sisters are
great to Kickstarter queens, you crowdfunded nearly one hundred thousand
dollars for your bookstore, then you became bartenders on Watch
What Happens Live with Andy Cohen Highlight and I just
need to know Bea, how did this happen and does
(13:48):
he shop at the store.
Bea Koch (13:50):
We've never seen him in person in the store, but
we have seen some producers, some other Bravo behind the
scenes type people, and that is how it happened.
Leah Koch (14:02):
I believe I texted you are you sitting down?
Bea Koch (14:05):
Yeah?
Leah Koch (14:05):
No, she's aving. Are you driving? Because I thought you
were going to get in a car accident? Parentheses it's
a good thing.
Danielle Robay (14:13):
Yeah, we Bea. You told me that you're a Bravo head.
I love Bravo-lebrities. Which shows do you watch?
Bea Koch (14:23):
I'm embarrassed to say, but almost all of them. I'm
a big Wow Housewives gal the classic Atlanta, New Jersey.
But I love SLC because we have some family in Utah,
so I love their capturing of the Utah culture the valley.
Danielle Robay (14:44):
Now you're deep, I'm deep.
Leah Koch (14:46):
What was the name of the woman that we met
who was on before us with her son is the
model for the cover?
Bea Koch (14:51):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dolores Catana from New Jersey was on the Watch What
Happens Live episode before us. She was still in the
green room. Could not have been sweeter, like I was
so nervous, I was shaking.
Leah Koch (15:06):
I was like, I have no idea what this is.
Bea Koch (15:07):
Yeah, Leah couldn't kill it.
She was like, You're going to be great.
And she was so excited when she found out we
owned a romance novel bookstore. She was like, my son,
Frankie Junior is on the cover of some romance novels.
I was like, girl, I know, you don't have to tell.
Danielle Robay (15:19):
Me, Okay. So here's the thing about Watch What Happens
Live that I always noticed this set is so cute,
and Andy has books all over his set. Right now,
I noticed the Barbara streisand book behind him. All the time.
What do you think Andy's romance book kink is.
Leah Koch (15:38):
I mean, she's ready to go.
Bea Koch (15:40):
No no, I just like when I was thinking about
Andy and like, what book romance novel he should read. Literally,
the perfect book recently came out. It's called The Charm
Offensive by Alison Cochrane. It is a gay romance about
a reality TV producer.
So Andy, we'll get you.
Danielle Robay (16:01):
Everybody's making faces behind the scenes, by the way, Yeah,
we're silent because.
Bea Koch (16:06):
It's too I mean when I read it, I was like,
it's too perfect. Oh, this is like everything.
And I have always wanted more like crossover reality TV
romance because I just feel like there's a lot like
reality TV is in the world of genre. I think
in the same way that romances, at least in my mind.
Leah Koch (16:24):
There's a lesbian romance about two women who are on
the Bachelor and then fall in love with each other.
It's called Here for the Wrong Reasons and it's two authors,
Annabel Paulson and Lydia way Bea.
Danielle Robay (16:36):
I want to go back to something you said, reality
TV is very genre the way romance is and when
you two opened The Rip Bodice in Culver City, California,
in 2016, you were the first only romance bookstore in
North America. And just the way that reality TV creates
(16:56):
a community of fans around an obsession, and that is
what has happened with romance novels. What do you think
it is about romance that makes it such a great
community builder.
Bea Koch (17:08):
I think because it's like the genre of feelings and
like truly getting to the heart of what people care
about when it comes to relationships, not just romantic relationships.
But one of the reasons I love romance is a
lot of it is about like family relationships, friends, the
community that the people exist in. And that's the exact
(17:29):
same thing that happens on reality TV. And for reality
TV fans, it's like you connect over this person you
love on this show and you know all about like
the dogs they have and their mom and all this
like background information. Yeah, but I think fandom is such
a beautiful thing. I think when you really love something,
(17:50):
you really like seek out other people who love it.
And for romance novel fans, for so long that was
just online or in person book clubs, but there really
weren't bookstores dedicated to.
The genre and what we really wanted.
One of the things we really want to do, especially
was give people a place to celebrate new releases, because
(18:11):
we were seeing all these other bookstores have these amazing
events for all these books, but we didn't see a
lot of events for romance novels, and we knew that
the fans wanted to come to that event and.
Celebrate the new release of their favorite author.
We've even started doing midnight release parties for some authors,
which is something we grew up on, and like, it's
(18:32):
such a fun, amazing moment where like the book comes
out and everyone's there together.
It just feels like kind of magical.
Danielle Robay (18:39):
I love that you've eventized all of this because we
do that for film. We do that, and you're both
nodding your heads, like we do this for sports, we
do it for so many things, and you guys have
really done it for books. I saw the statistic that
just made me smile. Romance readers are more likely to
say they're hopeful about love than readers of other genres.
(18:59):
If you had to guess, Leah, why do you think
that is?
Leah Koch (19:03):
It's the genre of hope. That's kind of the whole
point of this.
I mean, I do think maybe something people misunderstand about
romance is like the connection people are drawing to their
own lives. Like you know that everyone who reads romance
is like, you know, starved for romance in real life,
(19:23):
which isn't always the case, but ultimately, so many romance novels,
you could probably make an argument that every single romance
novel is about hope. And I think that's what draws
so many people to the genre, so that it doesn't
surprise me at all.
Bea Koch (19:42):
I think when you're reading these stories about people finding
their partner or multiple partners or the life that they want,
it just gives you that hope that you can find
it too. I mean I was reading these romance novels
forever and people were always saying, Oh, it's going to
give you unrealistic expectations. I don't think it gave me
unrealistic expectations. I think it made me think, what do
(20:03):
I want and need in a partner and deserve in
a partner, and how do I give that back to
my partner? And you know, I got married a few
years after we opened, and I feel like sometimes I'm
just like no, I waited for the right person, and
romance novels like helped me do that in some ways.
Danielle Robay (20:24):
I love that you said that because sometimes I feel
like I actually learn more from fictional characters and then
even like a nonfiction book one hundred percent.
Bea Koch (20:34):
I think when especially when writers are writing these like
beautiful love scenes where people are saying to each other,
I feel this way about you, or you make me
feel this way, it gives us language to speak with
our own partners. And it's not always like a sexual
that's I think another big misconception about the books. Oh,
they're just like smutty sexy, like it's all about the sex,
(20:56):
and we like smut.
Leah Koch (20:57):
Great with them. Were a fan. Yeah, we have no
problem with that.
Bea Koch (21:01):
But there's also conversations about broader relationships and how you
communicate with not just romantic partners, but family, friends, like
the world around you.
Leah Koch (21:12):
Yeah, and fiction is like a way for people to.
Visualize themselves in different situations. And yeah, I love that
you said that because I think fiction sometimes people don't
feel like they're quote learning something or whatever from Yeah.
Bea Koch (21:30):
It's not like we're like a fairy princess with like
a vampire, like you know, it's not like it has
to be a really realistic setting.
They're still having these conversations.
About romance and love and you can learn so much
from it.
Danielle Robay (21:43):
Yeah, I really do feel that way. I got so
excited to learn that you both are from Chicago. I
am too, really and yeah, we had this bookstore, Books
on Vernon that was and you're both no in your heads.
It was my sanctuary. They always had brownies and cookies
and I would go in after school and they would
feed me and I would just sit there for hours.
(22:04):
My mom would have to come get me and be like,
they're closing, we gotta go. But I know that there
must be some great bookstores that you grew up around
that live in your heart and maybe even inspired.
Leah Koch (22:17):
Women and Children First was our bookstore growing up in Chicago.
And they have these fabulous hats. I recommend you buy one.
That was our home bookstore.
Bea Koch (22:26):
Yeah, I'm so glad you are.
They still open.
They are still open. I'm so glad you mentioned that
because I feel like that literally formed who we are,
like going to that bookstore because it's called Women and
Children First, and as children, we went to a bookstore
where everyone working there was so excited to recommend books
to us and cared so much about what we cared
(22:49):
about and to develop our development as readers, And I
just think that is such a beautiful thing.
Leah Koch (22:54):
Yeah, they're still open.
I went last time I was home.
Bea Koch (22:59):
Makes us emotional.
Leah Koch (23:00):
Still have a fabulous selection. Check them out if you're
in Chicago.
Danielle Robay (23:06):
First of all, thanks for giving them a shout out,
because I feel like we need to shout out as
many independent bookstores as possible. But when I was thinking
about the two of you opening this bookstore and taking
a bet on something that is so niche new right,
no one had ever done it in North America. Whose
idea was this? I don't know.
Leah Koch (23:25):
That's a.
Bea Koch (23:27):
I feel like it came about so organically. We were
having a conversation. I had just finished grad school. Leah
was about to finish college and I came to visit
her in Los Angeles.
Leah Koch (23:37):
We're in the car I had.
Bea Koch (23:39):
Yeah, we were driving to the airport. Literally.
I had just finished grad school for historical fashion.
So you has the history of fashion?
Leah Koch (23:48):
Yeah?
Bea Koch (23:49):
Really niche and I was.
Leah Koch (23:51):
I was a year and a half away from graduating
on my fourth major, Visual and Performing arts studies.
Bea Koch (23:58):
Terrifically, Leah had to.
Trouble figuring out what she wanted to do.
But I had always thought I wanted to be in academia,
and I'd written my thesis on romance novels and the
clothing in historical romance novels because I was fascinated by
the idea that we call these novels bodice rippers, and
I was like, hmm, I wonder how many bodices actually
(24:20):
get ripped in romance novels.
No bodices are written that would be almost basically impossible.
They're really hard, there's a lot of boning in there,
and it would be really difficult to actually rip it off.
But also because what people are referencing is is kind
of an older part of the history of the genre,
from the seventies and eighties, which you know, is a
(24:43):
much more problematic, honestly, part of the romance history. There's
a lot more a lot less consent than we see now,
and a lot more relationships based in weird power dynamics, yeah,
unfortunate power dynamics that we would not see today. My
thesis was titled Mending the Ripped Bodice. And when Lee
(25:04):
and I were talking about what we wanted to do
next in our lives, and we were driving to the
airport she was about to drop me off. We're like, oh,
we both read so many romance novels, Like why have
we never? And we travel all the time searching for bookstores.
We're like, why have we never been to a romance
novel bookstore? We were like googling it on the way.
Leah Koch (25:21):
To they We're sure that there were dozens.
Bea Koch (25:23):
Where there's a romance that we just didn't know about. Yeah,
where are they? Can we go on a road trip
and find one? And what we found was there was
one in Australia a little far.
Danielle Robay (25:34):
Can I ask you about the name no more? And yes,
because it it was bodice rippers was kind of a
derogatory or at least problematic term. It seems to me
like you're sort of reclaiming the.
Word in 2025 and you're nodding yes, absolutely. I think
what we were doing is saying we know what you
(25:55):
say about us, and we're gonna kind of rise from
the ashes of this term that's been used as a
pejorative and instead our.
Leah Koch (26:06):
Now, yeah, it's not yours anymore. We took it back
from you and it's better now. Yeah, there were people
who really didn't like it, I mean, like quite aggressively,
because I think they felt like, again, this had been
a word, this had been a term that had been
used to denigrate something that they loved.
Bea Koch (26:29):
But I think and I think there's well, there's lots
of conversations even today about how romance readers and writers
define themselves, like the word smut. Some people really don't like.
Other people find it really fun, And we try and
let people talk about the genre the way they want
to and identify the way they want to.
(26:49):
We try really hard not.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
To police other people's language around the genre because we
all come come at it from different places. You open
the second store in twenty twenty three, that's so wild
to time.
Danielle Robay (27:03):
I can imagine that, especially post COVID, A lot of
people were saying, do not open brick and mortar stores.
Did you have naysayers? Did you have people as you
were build for the second one for.
Leah Koch (27:17):
The first one?
Uh?
Mount Legions, Mountains Armies.
Danielle Robay (27:22):
Who was saying no, almost everybody, many let's speak frankly
men said like, essentially you're leaving money on the table
by not selling other things, when in fact we would be.
Leah Koch (27:43):
So much less successful if we had done as they said.
The point was to.
Bring a level of expertise and focus and celebration of
romance that does not exist even in a fantastic general
bookstore with an amazing romance section.
(28:05):
It's just not possible. They got to do everything.
Danielle Robay (28:08):
Did you know at the time that it brings that
the romance genre brings over a billion dollars in sales?
Was that a stat that you were slinging?
Bea Koch (28:15):
Yes, We kept telling people that, like, this is the
best selling genre, this is the genre that keeps the
lights on for the rest of publishing. Like the fact
that there isn't a bookstore for it. There's all these
comic bookstores, there's mystery bookstores, there's there were bookstores, like
there are other genre specific bookstores.
There is a true underlying.
Misogyny here that no one has thought to open a
(28:37):
bookstore for the genre that is mostly read by women.
I mean, we have tons of fabulous milk and all
gender clients, but it really is written a lot and
read a lot by women.
Danielle Robay (28:49):
My college girlfriend, who is like, I think, kind of
like my most critical feminist thought friends we all have one.
She yes, and she was watching the Super Bowl and
she texted me last year and she goes, Oh my god,
next year, during this time in February, I want every
man in America to have to watch a YouTube makeup
(29:09):
tutorial for an hour and change and eat snacks and
see how this goes, because like the reverse idea that
we're all supposed to watch football just feels crazy. And
I bring that up to say that I do think
in culture in the past there's been this like people
(29:29):
trivialize women's hobbies, things that women find interesting, and so
romance seems like it's a part of that to me.
But I'm wondering if you think romance is a feminist genre.
Bea Koch (29:42):
Yes, no, why do you say no?
Leah Koch (29:46):
Romance novels can be written by feminists. A huge portion
of them are, but it's not inherently feminist. You have
frickin people who absolutely don't believe in their own.
Equal rights writing romance novels.
Bea Koch (30:02):
Sure, I think that's true.
I think in general, one of the big misconceptions of
romance is it's really heterosexual. It's really about like a
man a woman finding a man to marry, and that
has really been turned on its head by so many authors.
Over the years.
And it feels like now so many popular romance novels
(30:25):
that are published have nothing to do with like I
must get married.
Leah Koch (30:30):
I'm also a really literal person. Feminism is a social
and political movement.
It is an actual thing, and so there's almost nothing
that's like inherently Feminists.
Even like like nothing.
You have to make an active choice to believe in
equality based on gender, sex, whatever. So a vast, vast,
(30:56):
vast probably almost all of the romance authors that we
carry I think would absolutely consider them and their work feminist.
There are large.
Swaths of the romance genre that I don't believe that
women should have equal rights, that gay people should have
equal rights.
(31:17):
You'll mostly find that that is an important point. Like
we talk about romances, if it's a mode, right, it's
not is not true. There are so many different parts
of it and so many different people reading it and
getting different things out of it. We are a feminist bookstore.
We try and carry romance novels that have feminist.
Messages, and it's because we make active choices and do
(31:40):
active things.
It's not just because we're women.
Danielle Robay (31:55):
If we were doing an MTV Cribs tour of the bookstore,
what would we say when we walk through the doors
what's the vibe, what's the aesthetic, what's the wow moment?
Leah Koch (32:05):
Well, first you would see me opening the door saying Hi,
welcome to my crib. But I love designing the spaces.
It's been the most fun part of this for me,
especially Brooklyn, just because I had learned so much from La.
I like that you ask what's the wow moment? I mean,
I hope the wow moment is kind of when you
(32:26):
open the door. Like I like to use books as
objects as art. They are misprints or somebody's dog chewed
on it or something like that. But like sometimes they'll
send us fifty books that are missing like page thirty one,
and they just tell us to throw them out, but
instead I screw them.
To the wall.
I think we really we love to celebrate the feminine.
(32:47):
I think we like to celebrate the aesthetic.
In general, like sort of speaking of things that you know,
sometimes people don't necessarily take seriously.
Bea Koch (32:56):
I think one of the things we were really focused
on is like making them light and bright and inviting,
rather than kind of like a dark attic where things
are hidden away.
Danielle Robay (33:06):
I have a controversial question Rainbow bookshelves.
Leah Koch (33:10):
Yeah, your name, yay Leah has Leah likes that makes
you happy Go nuts. Yes, I think display your books
however you want. To me, it doesn't make sense to
my brain because I'm like, the books don't have anything
to do with each other.
Danielle Robay (33:26):
You organized by subgenre in the store, yes.
Bea Koch (33:29):
Which is another reason we were like, we just want
to be romance because there's so many specific subgenres, and
when we opened, we really tried to make the areas
where the subgenres were fit esthetically. So we used to
have like this paranormal forest in the back of our
store with like literal trees.
Leah Koch (33:48):
Yeah, and just I mean.
It all comes back to fun, Like romance is supposed
to be fun. I'm thrilled when people find meaning in
it or you know, somebody tackles difficult subject matter that
resonates with someone.
At the end of the.
Day, it is primarily, at least for me, about fun,
(34:09):
And so I want the space to reflect that want it.
I want it to feel you know. I think we're
always striking the balance. Like we take romance seriously, we
don't take ourselves too seriously.
You know, it's it's meant to be fun.
Danielle Robay (34:25):
Okay, I want a cosplay. I walk into the story okay,
and I get really lucky both of you happen to
be there. Okay, it's a good day. And I let
you know that my genre what I like, even though
I haven't started in on the romance genre yet, but
what I think I like from reading other books is
(34:48):
sort of like a nuanced take, meaning like another narrator.
So like I like Sleeping Beauty but from maleficence point
of view, or a Little Mermaid but from ursula.
Bea Koch (34:58):
That's so interesting.
I love that. Okay, And do you have any preferences contemporary, historical, paranormal?
Are you open?
Danielle Robay (35:08):
I don't know if paranormals for me. I think will
X that out fair enough, but I love historical and contemporary.
Bea Koch (35:15):
I feel like a historical series you would like is
the Tessa Dare Spinster Spindlecove. They call it spinster Cove
because a lot of what it does is like take
a heroine who it's like from a different perspective, often
of like the regular heroine you would expect, and each
(35:38):
book kind of like turns a trope on its head.
Danielle Robay (35:40):
Of that, they're very fun.
Leah Koch (35:43):
Okay, the view was exhausting. I keep picking books that
have two authors Mikayla Clemens and n Julie Datta. Okay,
it's a contemporary and it's very much I don't know
if this is exactly what you're talking about, but because
it's what's called dual pov, you hear from, in this case,
the woman, you hear from the man.
(36:04):
It yeah, whatever.
You know, you think you know what's going on from
one character's perspective, then you switch to the other and you're.
Like, oh that they don't actually don't understand at all.
It's not enemies to lovers, but it's sort of like
we don't really understand each other to lovers And it's great.
Bea Koch (36:21):
Wait, I have another one too, bring them all, give
them to me.
Leah Koch (36:25):
So Katie Robert, who's one of the best erotica writers
out there, has a whole series about Disney villains. Wait,
I love this copyright whatever, don't do her Disney, you
know she she's changed them.
But the first one is Jasmine and Jafar.
Yeah there, and there's like an Ursula one there, and
(36:47):
they are very smutty, just fair warning, they're erotica.
They're very very smutty. But they're so good.
She's such a great writer, she's so creative and they're
so fun. The first one is called Desperate Measures Katie Robert.
Danielle Robay (37:07):
Okay, I like everything that you have offered me today,
but I'm so glad we landed there because I love
a Disney villain. Also, there's this author, Peggy Ornstein who
does a lot of writing on women and gender and feminism,
and she said that if you look at any T
shirt with Disney princesses on them, they're never looking at
(37:29):
each other. And it's very interesting and she always like
makes this joke like if you met a if a
Disney princess, if snow White met Cinderella in the bathroom,
don't you think that she would give her a tampon?
Why would they not be looking at each other on
the T shirt?
Bea Koch (37:45):
Yes, And like.
Female friendship, I feel like because they're in like separate worlds,
they like keep them separate. Okay, I have one more
recommendation because I feel like you would like Kirthana Ramasetti's
book The Other Letta, which is it's a really fascinating
romance because honestly, the heroine is not she steals someone
(38:08):
someone's identity. Ooh, I love a stolen She's getting these Yeah,
she's getting these emails that are like inviting her to
all these amazing things in New York, and it's for
another person who has her name, and she decides like,
fuck it, I'm gonna go to these things I'm being invited.
But then the woman who she's impersonating like finds out
(38:31):
and it's just this fascinating, like kind of morally gray
like heroin and it's a fantastic written.
Danielle Robay (38:40):
So now I'm getting stressed out because this thing happens
sometimes when I go into a bookstore or a library
and I look around at the shelves and I'm like,
there's so much to read and I know nothing, Like
I have so much knowledge to take in. I'm going
to walk into the rip Bodies and feel.
Like I have so much to approximately. Once a week I.
Leah Koch (38:59):
Am so where and I just go, I'm not going
to have time to read all the books I want
to read before I die, all the books.
Bea Koch (39:08):
You people have like emotional reactions to books. If you
see a cover that you like, pick it up, like
it's worth going with your gut.
I think a little bit in Rome.
Danielle Robay (39:19):
Are you saying to judge a book by its cover? Yeah?
Leah Koch (39:22):
Oh?
Absolutely, And I think also, don't you know, look at
the back cover, look inside like there's there's plenty else
beyond the cover.
Bea Koch (39:31):
But if the cover.
Speaks to you, that's totally legit.
Danielle Robay (39:33):
Absolutely Okay, we're gonna do a little speed read. I'm
gonna put sixty seconds on the clock and ask you both. Actually,
maybe we're gonna double it. We're gonna put one hundred
and twenty seconds on the clock because there's two of you.
So I'm gonna ask a question and each of you answer,
and then we'll move to the next one. Does that
make sense?
Leah Koch (39:54):
Who goes first?
Danielle Robay (39:56):
You guys can who was born first?
Okay?
Yeah, the older sister goes first, and I'm the older sister.
So let's just have a gun with me. I love it,
ready set Bea. What's one romance trope you would ban forever?
Bea Koch (40:12):
Oh my god, that's that's so hard. I feel like
they all have a place and people like different ones.
I mean, I'm Leah and I both. I'm not We're
not like the biggest secret baby fans.
Danielle Robay (40:22):
Okay, Leah, what's one you'll defend with your life friends?
Leah Koch (40:26):
Still lovers?
Danielle Robay (40:28):
Bea what's a romance book you wish you had written?
Bea Koch (40:30):
Oh?
My god, there's so many. I mean, Beverly Jenkins, like
to me is the queen of historical romance and research.
She just gets supposed to be was supposed to archives
and finds.
The Sorry sorry, sorry, Beverly Jenkins.
Anything by Leah Bez romance book for a breakup.
Leah Koch (40:49):
When I think of you. Uh wait, no, that's a
different one. Evie Drake starts Over by Linda Holmes.
Danielle Robay (40:55):
Great call, okay, favorite romance book to recommend.
Leah Koch (40:59):
Sierra Simo anything by her, but probably Sinner because it
scandalizes people.
Danielle Robay (41:05):
Yeah, okay, the best romance audiobook experience.
Leah Koch (41:08):
I did ask my booksellers Lex and Fernanda and they
recommended Kara bes Stone's audiobooks. They said she has really
great casts. They're all set in New York, which is
really fun.
Bea Koch (41:18):
So also anything by Anything narrated by Julia Wheelan.
Leah Koch (41:23):
She also writes, but she does write her own books.
But that's so good. Yeah, that's a great.
Danielle Robay (41:28):
One, okay, Leah. Favorite queer love story.
Leah Koch (41:31):
There are one million, but right now I would choose
Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous by May Marvel.
Danielle Robay (41:39):
That's so good. Okay. The best reimagining of a classic.
Bea Koch (41:45):
Oh my God, what would you say?
Leah Koch (41:48):
Pride, Prejudice and other Flavors by Sonali dev Oh my god,
that is literally there's a whole series. Oh also, oh
my god, cheers a price. Yeah, those are they're so
guide and premeditations.
Danielle Robay (42:03):
Okay, honestly, Bea you redeemed yourself at the end? An
ending that you hate it?
Leah Koch (42:08):
Anna Karenina, I know it could have been if there
was not a train involved.
Danielle Robay (42:19):
This is hilarious. Well, sisters, if you're ever looking for
a third sister, I'd like to be considered you are
too loftie.
Leah Koch (42:33):
We actually have an a lot and two stepsisters, so
we just keep adding to our sister crew.
Danielle Robay (42:42):
I'll be added to the friend's sister category. Okay. So
here at Bookmarked, we like to close each episode by
sharing something, something literary that we bookmarked. It can be
a favorite line in a poem, a new initiative. What
have you bookmarked this week?
Leah Koch (42:58):
A new adaptation of a book by Alphar Burke called
The Better Sister is now available on Amazon Prime, and
it happened to have been written and created by our
sister in law. Olivia Milt, Jessica Biel, and Elizabeth Banks
are sisters it's so great. It's eight episodes. Watch it
(43:18):
in a weekend. And it's based on the book, and
the book is great. Is that what you were going
to say?
Bea Koch (43:23):
No, you are a better sister in law than I.
I was gonna say the better sister.
Katie Storino wrote a romance novel called Sunny Side Up
and it's about a heroine who designs plus size swimwear.
And then she and Kitty and Vibe, which is a
swimwear brand, like collaborated and they made like the swimwear
(43:46):
that that's like in the I ordered it.
I was like, I need it.
It's so cute.
It's like I got like a biki that has like
tomatoes on it.
I'm so excited.
And I just think that's I just love when people
are like creative in their marketing of romance.
And like, I just I loved everything about it.
Danielle Robay (44:00):
That's so cool. I love that great answers. One of
you wins better sister, but the other one had a
really great recommendation.
Leah Koch (44:10):
Yours is a little more organic than mine. I was like,
oh my god, that's the perfect thing. Yeah, I had
no idea. That's so I love that. I love that
it's so cute.
I yeah, everything about it. It's amazing.
Danielle Robay (44:22):
I love your passion and fervor for books. Thank you
both so much for what you're putting into the world.
Leah Koch (44:27):
Oh, thank you, thank you for having people are great.
Danielle Robay (44:32):
And that's a wrap. If you want a little bit
more from us, come hang with us on socials. We're
at Reese's book Club on Instagram, serving up books, vibes
and behind the scenes magic. And I'm at Danielle Robe
rob a y come say hi and DM me and
if you want to go nineties on us, call us. Okay,
our phone line is open, so call now at one
(44:54):
five zero one two nine one three three seven nine.
That's one one two nine, one three three seven nine.
Share your literary hot takes, book recommendations, questions about the
monthly pick, or let us know what you think about
the episode you just heard. And who knows, you might
(45:15):
just hear yourself in our next episode, so don't be shy.
Give us a ring, and of course, make sure to
follow Bookmarked by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast or wherever you get your shows until then
via in the next chapter. Bookmarked is a production of
Hello Sunshine, and iHeart podcast It's executive produced by Reese
(45:37):
Witherspoon and me Danielle Robe. Production is by ACAST Creative Studios.
Our producers are Matty Foley, Alyia Yates, Brittan y Martinez
and Darby Masters. Our production assistant is Avery Loftis. Jenny
Kaplan and Emily Rudder are the executive producers for a
Cast Creative Studios. Maureene Polo and Reese Witherspoon are the
(45:58):
executive producers for Hello Sunshine. Olga Kaminwha, Kristin Perla, Kelly
Turner and Ashley Rappaport are associate producers for Reese's book Club.
Ali Perry and Christina Everett are the executive producers for
iHeart Podcasts, and Tim Palazola is our showrunner
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