Burn Bright Books offers a romance haven 

A few years ago, after a long day of wrangling her three kids, including a newborn, Shauna Cox was at home in Greece scrolling through TikTok when she came across a video by @MeetCute. On the other side of the country, a group of women were documenting the beginning of their romance bookstore.

This TikTok inspired Cox to launch her own bookstore, workshopping names like Nesta’s Nook, inspired by one of her favorite romance series, “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” before settling on Burn Bright Books.

The store, located in the heart of Park Avenue, provides a niche most other bookstores in the city don’t have—a romance-only book catalog and merchandise.

It was during the height of the pandemic that Cox, like others, found herself getting lost in books to escape the reality of a newly restricted world. She also discovered BookTok, a dedicated community of reviewers, influencers, and enthusiasts who post videos about books. Romance is the most popular fiction genre by far. The community gained popularity as women cultivated an online safe space to discuss their interest in romance novels.

“I really wanted a space for women,” says Cox. “Romance gets such a bad rap. I wanted to make a safe space for people to explore romance and everything that comes with that.”

Suffering from postpartum depression while working her corporate job, Cox found that immersing herself in this world sparked her to make a change.

“I did this for myself, and I want to show my kids that. I’m in my mid-30s, and I managed to start a business,” Cox says.

The decision to create a bookstore around a specific genre was, in part, influenced by a love for romance novels. 

Cox explains her growing fascination with the genre as “(a) kind of taboo to the rest of the world. You talk about sex, and it’s body-positive. I think everyone deserves to see their own love story.”

She adds jokingly, “It’s helped my sex life.”

Cox’s career shift was guided somewhat by her relationship with online communities. She bought a guidebook on how to open a bookstore and chatted with other romance bookstore owners.

Burn Bright Books has come a long way from its origin as an online-only store with Cox ordering books for distribution from a room in her home where she would record TikToks. Her husband pushed her to take the leap from the occasional pop-up to a brick-and-mortar shop, supporting her as she left her job and turned her hobby into a career. Today, Burn Bright’s TikTok presence has garnered over 13,000 likes.

During the day, Cox occasionally stocks the shelves, accompanied by her kids, and curates the store’s selection.

“I like having a wide variety, so that everyone can escape, if they want to, into a love story and see themselves,” she says.

As she serves customers at the cash register, she trades recommendations and gushes over the latest expected releases. 

“I’m a one-woman show,” says Cox, who indeed does it all herself: social media, outreach to local businesses for collaborations, planning events, and the business side, negotiating deals with local authors for self-published books, and prioritizing local businesses.

Candles, bookmarks, and stickers with sayings like ‘I’d rather be with a fictional character’ from local vendors line the countertop. On a recent visit, the selection receiving the most attention was the local authors’ table, which is overlooked by a hand-painted mural created by the daughter of a local author. 

“They’re all love stories, and everyone deserves love in some capacity. You can find any type of love story that fits you in a book,” she says. “If there’s something you’re lacking, something you want more of in your life, you can find it in a book. Or if you just want to have fun and escape from the world a little bit.”

Emmely Eli Texcucano, a University of Rochester student, is a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.

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