About Us

The Ripped Bodice is the only exclusively romance bookstore on the West Coast. Sisters and owners Leah and Bea Koch raised $91,000 on Kickstarter to bring their dream of a romance-only bookstore to life and opened their doors on March 4, 2016.

The Ripped Bodice features a vast and diverse selection of romance fiction. In addition to books, the store has a wide selection of gift items with a focus on supporting independent, female owned businesses.

Bea and Leah Koch are sisters and the owners of The Ripped Bodice. They grew up in Chicago, IL. Bea went on to attend Yale and NYU, where she wrote a graduate thesis titled “Mending the Ripped Bodice.” Leah moved to Los Angeles to attend USC, graduating cum laude with a degree in visual and performing arts. Both sisters are lifelong romance readers and feel lucky to spend their days surrounded by books.

The store and its owners undertake several large projects each year including The Ripped Bodice State of Racial Diversity in Romance Report, The Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction and the development of television projects based on romance novels in association with Sony Pictures Television.

The Read, Romance, Repeat subscription box launched in November 2020 as an exciting new arm of a thriving romance business!