Hey there book bestie,

My name is Shayla. I am the owner of "It's Romance" Bookshop & Emporium. I'm so glad you've found me!

My story doesn’t begin with “I always a bookworm…”. It unfortunately begins with a whole ton of physical, mental and emotional trauma that made me into someone extremely small but ultimately safe. I spent nearly my entire life completely shut off from my creativity and I struggled so much to hold space for my imagination. 

I spent over 30 years in various modes of survival before I was catapulted by the death of my big brother into a spiritual journey that has lead me down a beautiful path of healing and finding myself. 

I’ve been asked so many times what inspired me to open a romance only bookshop. I have a few answers:

I picked up ACOTAR March of 2024. That is the book that got me in to reading romance. Reading romance has been a huge instrument in my healing. I started sharing my reviews of the books I was reading on instagram. I quickly became a “bookstagramer” and a “booktoker” and started building a little online community. I felt like I had FINALLY found my people and my passion. 

In January of 2025 I had my foot in the door enough in the online book community that I started ARC reading for authors. This is where they send you the Advanced Reader Copy of their book, you read it and review it and post about it online when it is published. 

Another part to my answer is this: My husband is really big in to playing the lottery so I imagined: “When he wins the lottery what would I do with my time and money?” The answer was to open a kick ass romance only bookshop! 

At the time when I made this declaration to the universe we were still living in Alaska. Well long story short we sold our house there and moved back to Oregon May 2025.

My husband was  so supportive of my little dream. He gave me $30k and said let’s see what you can do!! I am thrilled to share that It’s taking off like a damn rocket ship!!!

It's Romance is more than just a bookshop. I created the space intentionally to feel cozy and welcoming with touches of magic everywhere you look. I want my shop to be somewhere you can come to feel safe, and where you can explore and express yourself—somewhere that I hope you can find your own bits of healing. 

If you’re in Coos Bay I’d love to have you stop in and browse the shelves while we chat about whatever is on your heart. 

Best Wishes

XoXo

Shay