Love is in the air at Slow Burn Books
Daria Orth, Contributor
What makes this indie bookstore so iconic? While any bookstore is a paradise of literature all on its own, Slow Burn Books is a hopeless romantic’s heaven, with different kinds of love stories in every corner of the space.
This little bookshop located in Marda Loop, is perfect for passionate romance readers. It could be a potential next date or a gift stop for Valentine’s Day.
From following the latest and greatest trends on ‘BookTok,’ Slow Burn Books offers a wide selection of romance genres. The shop has a book for everyone depending on their type of preferred story content.
The shop layout is a cozy, feminine setup displaying various shelves that house a stunning collection of dark romance, sports romance, contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and anything else the heart desires.
The gaps between the shelves are decorated with cute book nook chairs, small plants, and fun merchandise such as signs, tote bags, mugs, and crew necks. It sets the perfect atmosphere to curl up with a book and a cup of coffee. In other words, a recipe for pure bliss.
Nicola and Shannon MacNaughton, the store owners, are two sisters with a mission of growing the book community beyond the heavy presence it has online.
While the community on TikTok or rather ‘BookTok’ keeps expanding, Nicola wanted to create a safe space in real time where that energy can be replicated with in-person connections.
Romance has always been a popular genre, and keeps attracting more bookworms by the day.
“I was scrolling on TikTok one day, as one does, and I saw some romance bookstores start popping up all around the world,” Nicola said. “I think the one that I was particularly looking at was in Australia. And I was like, ‘that’s so cool I wish I could do something like that here.’”
For both MacNaughton sisters, the end goal is sharing that powerful and unique escapism only found within book pages. The small business has already been a huge success, with the welcoming atmosphere.
Reading has become a favoured hobby for noticeably Gen Z individuals in the same way it has brought comfort to all the generations before.
Slow Burn Books also shines a bright light on talented authors such as H. D. Carlton, Sarah J. Maas, Rina Kent, Ana Huang, and many others.
There are a multitude of different kinds of story genres and authors that produce amazing pieces, but there is something so special about romance that many people seem to always come back to.
Maybe it’s the idea of relationships that are either too perfect, or thrilling because they are the exact opposite that makes romance such an engaging topic to dive into. Or maybe it’s because romance can be any kind of story with the inclusion of burning tension between characters that quickly becomes a reader’s kryptonite.
From spicy to wholesome words on paper, this gallery of novels offers a treasure hunt made up of fictional love that every dreamer yearns to explore.
Thanks to Slow Burn Books, going into a store and tracking down a book from the ‘saved story collection’ in apps like Goodreads, has been made a whole lot easier for the Calgary bibliophiles. This way, the romance genre is the entire shop, and the subheadings organize and narrow down the favored universe to get lost in.
Romanticizing life has a next-level meaning with being able to walk into an all-romance bookstore and smell the fresh scent of books waiting to be read.
The small business owners work hard to constantly keep up with the high-selling demand of eager readers ready to come back for more.
Perfect for a rainy day, or a day off looking for something to do, the shop awaits the hearts of those who can’t get enough of poetically charming works of art.
