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Forbidden Fiction Bookshop brings dark romance genre to San Diego<\/p>\n
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5\/KUSI) \u2014 Nestled along South Coast Highway in Oceanside, a brand-new haven for book lovers is bringing taboo romance genres to the front shelves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0a dark romance girly, and\u00a0so every time I go to romance stores,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hard finding dark romance,\u201d said Samantha Matouzzi, the founder of Forbidden Fiction Bookshop.<\/p>\n
Forbidden Fiction Bookshop<\/a> is a woman-owned bookstore in Oceanside, dedicated to the vast genre of romance, and the niche shop doesn\u2019t shy away from some of the darkest titles of the category. The shop also supports local indie writers and readers who love \u201cmorally gray characters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBack\u00a0when I was younger, I was like, oh, romance books, okay. But I\u00a0didn\u2019t really know too much cause not a lot of people talked about it. And so, I started reading again, and I was like, \u2018this is amazing,’\u201d Matouzzi explained.<\/p>\n While readers who visit Forbidden Fiction Bookshop will certainly find stories of the aforementioned morally gray characters along with tumultuous journeys of love, the shelves also share space with contemporary romance titles, as well as Indie works and local authors.<\/p>\n \u201cSo,\u00a0one of my\u00a0goals is for people to pick up new books and new titles\u00a0by\u00a0new authors,\u201d \u00a0Matouzzi said. \u201cI believe that the store\u00a0is\u00a0gonna\u00a0bring more diversity and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0gonna\u00a0bring a bigger community together, including with the local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n With the array of titles amid the Victorian backdrop of the niche store, people have not only been turning out in person to support the shop, but the store has also gained a following online and through social media.<\/p>\n Matouzzi has been posting on TikTok and Instagram<\/a>, which have been hubs for book lovers in recent years. People join subcommittees like \u201cBookTok\u201d to share posts about everything related to reading, and Matouzzi has seen the benefits.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce\u00a0I started posting more, it was weird, like just\u00a0blew\u00a0up.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0never had that experience, and so it\u2019s just like, oh my gosh, this is great.\u00a0It actually made me feel like, wow, I\u2019m doing the right thing,\u201d Matouzzi said.<\/p>\n For more information about Forbidden Fiction Bookshop, you can visit their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9f33b95968319343c1cd50fb844ed338.jpeg\"\/)
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