Maybe it\u2019s the hot pink Mitsubishi Minicab tricked out with a wooden armoire filled with books or merchandise, or the adorable golden retriever in the logo, or perhaps the gazillion online followers \u2026 but Good Girl Books is getting noticed.<\/p>\n
And for Dr. Rayanne Streeter, an associate professor of sociology at Maryville College, that\u2019s a very good thing. As the co-owner of the bookstore \u2014 its brick-and-mortar version located in the Rocky Hill neighborhood of West Knoxville \u2014 more exposure means more business, and she\u2019s grateful for it.<\/p>\n
But the real reason Good Girl Books is getting so much attention these days \u2026 inclusion in a recent People magazine feature on romance bookstores, almost 75,000 followers on Instagram, excitement from students when they discover their favorite gender studies professor has a cool side hustle \u2026 is also the one that makes Streeter the happiest:<\/p>\n
No shame. No shame for what readers select, and certainly no shame for the genre itself. Yes, romance novels have long been disparaged by bibliophiles who consider such tomes beneath them, and even the customers themselves sometimes look and feel sheepish when they come by to pick up the latest steamy read \u2026 but Streeter, as a proud feminist, is a fierce advocate for romance, and she urges readers who enjoy such books to revel in that enjoyment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I read, I exclusively read romance novels outside of academia, because I want to feel happy, and the world is really scary,\u201d Streeter said on a warm late August Friday afternoon, the carefully manicured displays drawing almost as much attention as the Good Girl Books truck, parked in the middle of the store via a roll-up bay door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world can be tough sometimes, and I just want to feel joy,\u201d Streeter continued. \u201cI just personally love romance, and all of my friends love romance. In the beginning, I saw some other romance-only bookstores popping up across the United States, and I thought, \u2018I can focus just on this.\u2019 Rather than have a bookstore with all of these different genres, I wanted to focus on the one that I\u2019m the most knowledgeable about and most passionate about.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a feminist gender scholar, I love that we\u2019re creating a space that celebrates a genre that\u2019s often disparaged or has a lot of stigma associated with it. It was really important to me to create a space in which people can feel joy and don\u2019t have to feel shame around this thing that they love.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fairy tale beginning<\/p>\n
Streeter\u2019s side quest to become a purveyor of passionate publications began roughly a year ago, when she began looking for creative outlets outside of academia.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that teaching isn\u2019t creative, but it\u2019s a different sort of creativity, and I didn\u2019t want it to be my entire life,\u201d said Streeter, who earned her Ph.D. in sociology from Virginia Tech in 2019, the same year she joined the MC faculty. Streeter also holds a certificate in Women\u2019s and Gender Studies and serves as the coordinator of the Gender and Women\u2019s Studies minor at Maryville College.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just looking for something a little bit different,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
A bookstore focused on romance sounded like a fine idea, at least until she began researching the price of real estate in East Tennessee. A TikTok video from an Arizona book lover who conducted business out of a mobile book dispensary inspired her to pursue the next best option, however, and she began searching online for the right vehicle.<\/p>\n
Voila: A 1995 Mitsubishi Minicab popped up, already painted pink, and it felt like destiny, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we found the truck, and I have a friend who is a carpenter, and he helped me build the shelves, and we just started selling romance novels across Knoxville,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Because it\u2019s a stick shift, and a right-hand drive at that (meaning the steering wheel is on the right side of the truck), her husband, Dan Morehead, had to drive it, with Streeter following in the family car to their intended destination \u2014 markets and local businesses and other public gatherings (including the East Tennessee Maker\u2019s Market events held seasonally on the Maryville College campus). Their dog, Poppy \u2014 a golden retriever and \u201cthe original \u2018Good Girl,\u2019\u201d Streeter added \u2014 was a frequent passenger, and on social media, Poppy and the pink truck were hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really funny, when I\u2019m driving behind him, and I see people walking down the road and craning their necks to look at this pink truck,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to get reactions, like when we stop to get gas, and people really want to talk about the truck. \u2018What do you use it for? Where did you get it?\u2019 They always have a lot of questions, and at events, the husbands and boyfriends of the women who are big romance lovers will stop and look in the truck, ask a lot of questions, and sometimes even try to get inside!\u201d<\/p>\n
Every weekend for eight months, the couple and Poppy took the truck out, setting up wherever they were welcomed. It\u2019s a simple strategy \u2014 park, open up the center compartment that holds books and merch, put everything on display, then spend the day talking with visitors and encouraging them to indulge their sultry sides. The first such pop-up was at Magpie\u2019s Bakery in Knoxville\u2019s Happy Holler neighborhood; Streeter\u2019s friend, Katie Hopper, helped her set it up and now works behind the counter at Good Girl Books whenever she\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my gosh, it\u2019s so much fun,\u201d Hopper said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard work, moving 30- and 40-pound boxes of books around, but we have a good time while we do it! But the best feeling is when women walk in the door, they know it\u2019s a safe space, and they know that we\u2019re inclusive and that there\u2019s no shame or any kind of stigma about what they\u2019re getting here. We\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, be loud and proud about liking romance, because we support you!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
A permanent home<\/p>\n
After eight to 10 months of weekend excursions, a fellow member of a book club to which Streeter belonged asked if she was open to a partnership; if so, Lauren Morrill suggested, she could help Streeter out with some financial backing. (As it happens, Morrill is herself a romance author of \u201cspicy adult and sweet YA (young adult) romance,\u201d according to her website.)<\/p>\n
Streeter was overwhelmed with gratitude, and after a bit of searching, she and the store\u2019s new co-owner found space right beside Flourish Flowers, 7685 Northshore Drive in Rocky Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe became really good friends, and she\u2019s been such a big cheerleader,\u201d Streeter said. \u201cFrom the beginning, she\u2019s said, \u2018You can do this! We can do this!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
A friendship with the owners of Flourish helped; that the building has a garage door facing Northshore was even better, so that the truck could serve as the biggest conversation piece in the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, it just felt like destiny, so we spent my summer vacation painting and building shelves,\u201d Streeter said.<\/p>\n
On June 28, the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Good Girl truck, Good Girl Books officially opened its brick-and-mortar location. Around 750 people came out that day, and when the doors opened, there was already a line down the parking lot and spilling over into the adjacent Richy Kreme Donuts lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe response has been incredible, just really enthusiastic from the moment we started the truck and on into the bookstore as well,\u201d Streeter said. \u201cWe have built such a beautiful community through romance, but if we take a step back and look at the book industry as a whole, romance is the number one selling genre of fiction. It is literally a billion-dollar industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt holds up the book publishing world, so that publishers can take a chance on more experimental works, because they know they can always fall back on romance.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the uninitiated, \u201cromance\u201d is the overarching brand name of a variety of sub-genres, all catering to different tastes and desires. At Good Girl Books, Streeter and Hopper can direct you to anything that piques your interest or titillates your curiosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a variety of genres. The store is broken up into fantasy romance, contemporary, historical, young adult and dark romance,\u201d Streeter said. \u201cAnd even then, within those are subgenres, so if you\u2019re feeing the paranormal, we can direct you to that. If you want fairies instead of dragons, we can do that. Or if you\u2019re a contemporary romance girl, but you want cowboys, we can give you cowboys \u2014 or even cowgirls, if that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for!<\/p>\n
\u201cRomance is really big, so we have something for everyone. And because we want to make sure that this bookstore is inclusive of all social identities, we have a huge selection of queer books in general; of books by authors of color; of books by writers of different abilities; of indie authors and traditionally published authors and so many more. We\u2019re trying to make sure that everyone feels represented and feels safe and included here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ties to Maryville College<\/p>\n
Students who have taken Streeter\u2019s classes, and the faculty members who teach alongside her, expect nothing less. Her teaching and research interests, after all, include gender, bodies and popular culture, specifically how women push back against boundaries and limitations in social media, television and film, and ways in which women can embrace and promote the body positive movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been intentional about keeping the bookstore and the classroom separate, but when you teach gender and women\u2019s studies classes, or when you teach a social inequality class, issues of gender inequality obviously come up,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd with something like romance, which is historically read by women, there\u2019s a lot of stigma associated with it, and that\u2019s because it\u2019s considered feminine because women like it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good example I can use in classes of, \u2018Look at our androcentric society; of course they\u2019re not going to like it, and of course it\u2019s going to be stigmatized, because it\u2019s part of the larger ideas of the patriarchy and misogyny.\u2019 So in that way, it is useful as a good, real-world example of the theories and ideas we\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
She does not, however, go out of her way to promote the business in the classroom. Students aren\u2019t getting Good Girl Books swag for extra credit, or store-branded bookmarks for their textbooks. They\u2019re two separate entities \u2026 but for female students who look up to her, discovering the association often feels like being let in on a thrilling secret.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember it was a Friday before summer break, I think, and I was wearing a Good Girl Books-branded shirt, because I was just coming in for some meetings with students,\u201d Streeter said. \u201cA student saw it and mentioned that she followed them on Instagram, and when I told her I was one of the owners, we had this fun little conversation. And then last spring, at the Maker\u2019s Market, some students came by and saw me with the truck, and they were like, \u2018Oh! You own this?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the students have been very wonderful and supportive, and I think they\u2019re excited that their professor likes romance, too. It\u2019s certainly something that they connect with. And then my colleagues, especially ones in the Division of Social Sciences, are such cheerleaders. When we were featured in People magazine (\u201cBookTok Loves Love. Now, Romance Bookstores are Feeling It, Too,\u201d published on Aug. 15), the way in which that link got sent around among them was so sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s not good at taking compliments, she admitted, but the proof of the ways in which Good Girl Books resonates is irrefutable: With 75,000 followers, it\u2019s the second most-followed romance bookstore on Instagram, and while the truck doesn\u2019t see as much action as it once did now that the business has a physical location, it still catches the eyes of those who see hot pink and wonder, \u201cWhat\u2019s that all about?\u201d<\/p>\n
And Streeter and Morrill are just getting started. In August, they held their first author meet-and-greet (with Melissa Grace, who writes \u201csweet and steamy romance\u201d); for the Oct. 3 release of \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl,\u201d the new album by pop superstar Taylor Swift, the ladies at Good Girl Books are holding a release party to listen to the new record and talk about their favorite genre.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Venn diagram of Taylor Swift and romance book girlies is almost a circle, so we\u2019re excited about that!\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cAnd beyond that, we want to continue to build communities. We have our first book club meeting at the end of September, and space in that sold out in less than 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another customer enters the store, apologizing for wanting to look over a shelf behind which Streeter is standing. She waves her hands, shaking her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at all, not at all! Let me get out of your way! You go get your dark romance on, girlie!\u201d<\/p>\n
A few minutes later, the same customer is checking out, holding a handful of new reads and talking with Hopper about which one she\u2019ll probably try first. For Streeter, it\u2019s just one more meaningful moment in a business that\u2019s been filled with them \u2026 and hopefully will continue to be, as long as romantic escapes are demanded by women who can walk out of Good Girl with their arms loaded up and their heads held high.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect it from the beginning,\u201d Streeter said. \u201cYou know, you always hope you\u2019re going to be successful when you try something like this, but you\u2019re taking a chance. You\u2019re stepping out on a limb. But the way in which people have shown up consistently for Good Girl Books and for me and for Poppy has been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maybe it\u2019s the hot pink Mitsubishi Minicab tricked out with a wooden armoire filled with books or merchandise,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[489,1259,156,42,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-34308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}