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Sizzling reads paired with sizzling sips await at a new bookstore-cafe concept coming soon to downtown Los Altos.
A Novel Affair, created by longtime friends Yung Le and Julie Pham, is debuting as a six-month pop-up beginning Nov. 29 on State Street. The bookshop will offer a wide variety of romance books – including dark romance, romantic comedy, small-town, young adult and religious subgenres – as well as bookish merchandise. After six months, Le and Pham plan to introduce a coffee and wine program and offer appetizers and hors d’oeuvres.
“Usually book reading is almost an isolated experience,” Le said. “Wouldn’t it be cool if it’s more of a social third-space environment?”
Le, a Sunnyvale native and Redwood City resident, first got into romance books while taking a break from her career as a tech marketer. She had gone on a solo vacation and wanted to try reading a new genre. It was the five-book romantasy series “A Court of Thorns and Roses” that made her go “down a deep hole of this whole new space of romance books,” she said.
“This is where I sucked Julie, my co-founder, into (the romance space),” Le continued. “It’s a brain chemistry-altering type of book.”
The pair realized that there’s a bustling online community discussing favorite romance books and characters, but no designated space offline for romance readers.
“If you want to find a romance book, you are subjected to more generic or commercial experiences, like the Target of the world, and there isn’t a more curated experience for people like us,” she said.
Le and Pham, a kindergarten teacher at the Mountain View Whisman School District, met in high school and both grew up in separate family businesses. Opening A Novel Affair in Los Altos is a full circle moment for Le, who grew up working there before her tech career.
“Los Altos has that small-town, cozy, romance-read vibe that I really love, and I think that really supports the space that I’m trying to create,” she said.
A Novel Affair, located within the former home of Cranberry Scoop (Cranberry Scoop is now located on Main Street), will have an electric fireplace with a sofa and chairs for reading, as well as a big dining table in the back, which will be used to host book clubs and book bedazzling nights. Black bookshelves line the walls, creating a moody, vintage, cozy and inviting atmosphere, Le said.
For its grand opening, A Novel Affair is partnering with Calligraphy Wines, which has a bottle shop across the street from the bookstore, to offer wine tastings inspired by romance books. Choose between a dark romance or a cozy romance tasting, depending on “what mood you’re in to discover,” Le said.
After six months, A Novel Affair may stay in its current location or move to a different spot. At that point, Le and Pham plan to introduce a cafe component in the daytime and a wine bar component in the night.
“When you read a book, you want to pair it with a nice glass of wine or a tea or a coffee, and oftentimes, those are separate experiences,” Le said.
The cafe side of A Novel Affair will focus on robusta beans (think Vietnamese iced coffee) and creative tea offerings inspired by romance books. For example, “People We Meet on Vacation” by Emily Henry features a friends-to-lovers trope.
“The friends-to-lovers trope is that feeling of it’s almost like a slow burn,” Le said. “You’re dealing with feelings of just normal, mutual, friendly affection, and then it starts to build up.”
To translate the feeling into a drink, Le plans to create a drink that’s light at first but builds into something heavier, such as a coconut water matcha.
The romance-book-themed drinks will continue into the cocktail program, which will feature low-ABV cocktails made from soju and Aperol. For example, an enemies-to-lovers inspired cocktail will feature soju, pomegranate, black tea syrup and bitters.
Light bites will also be available after the six-month pop-up, including charcuterie, crostini, dip flights, flatbread, hand pies and truffle popcorn. During the pop-up, A Novel Affair plans to partner with various food and drink vendors, such as matcha carts.
“I want A Novel Affair to be that third space for all literary lovers and for us to find our happy place,” Le said. “It’s really just a third space for women to come and be able to find that place for them, where they can feel like they’re part of something, they’re part of that community.”
A Novel Affair, 295 State St., Los Altos; Instagram: @anovelaffairbookcafe. Grand opening Nov. 29 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Regular hours Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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